October 15, 2025
The Art and Science of Motorcycle Design
Michael Littman
Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and a 25-year Director of Undergraduate Studies in the MAE Department.
The Art and Science of Motorcycle Design
Michael Littman
Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and a 25-year Director of Undergraduate Studies in the MAE Department.
Henry Farber, introducer, and Michael Littman
Minutes of the Sixth Meeting of the 84th Year
Vice president Micky Weyeneth presided over the meeting. Sarah Ringer led the invocation. Owen Leach read the minutes of the preceding week’s meeting. In attendance were 101 members and four guests. Cynthia Maltenfort brought Dennis Asselin; Carol Anderson brought Douglas Horne and Barbara Fant; John Cotton brought Jeff Griesemer. None are applying for membership.
Membership chair Teri Lemischka read the names of 21 candidates for membership, which is the largest number of applicants in recent history; they will be voted on at the 22 October meeting.
Henry Farber introduced Professor Michael Littman, today’s speaker, who has been a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University since 1979, after having received his Ph.D. in physics from MIT in 1977. He has been the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the MAE Department for nearly 30 years and is an expert in STEM education.
Professor Littman’s bio describes him as an experimentalist with expertise in tunable laser design, laser spectroscopy, mechatronics, and space telescope design, with other research interests in automatic controls and bio-mimic robotics. His principal research concerns the Terrestrial Planet Finder, a project involving design and control of a high contrast coronagraph. He holds two patents and has published over 60 book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals on such topics as “Field Ionization Processes in Excited Atoms” and “Observations of oscillations in resonance absorption from a coherent superposition of atomic states.”
Fortunately, his Old Guard talk involved none of these esoteric topics but was rather about The Art and Science of Motorcycle Design, based on Professor Littman’s freshman seminar of the same name, which he has taught for nearly three decades. Professor Littman’s talk was notable for its humor and its inclusion of elaborate working models that he later used to demonstrate key concepts (see photo below).
These minutes should really be accompanied by the videos and live demonstrations that were an integral aspect of his talk.
Membership chair Teri Lemischka read the names of 21 candidates for membership, which is the largest number of applicants in recent history; they will be voted on at the 22 October meeting.
Henry Farber introduced Professor Michael Littman, today’s speaker, who has been a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University since 1979, after having received his Ph.D. in physics from MIT in 1977. He has been the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the MAE Department for nearly 30 years and is an expert in STEM education.
Professor Littman’s bio describes him as an experimentalist with expertise in tunable laser design, laser spectroscopy, mechatronics, and space telescope design, with other research interests in automatic controls and bio-mimic robotics. His principal research concerns the Terrestrial Planet Finder, a project involving design and control of a high contrast coronagraph. He holds two patents and has published over 60 book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals on such topics as “Field Ionization Processes in Excited Atoms” and “Observations of oscillations in resonance absorption from a coherent superposition of atomic states.”
Fortunately, his Old Guard talk involved none of these esoteric topics but was rather about The Art and Science of Motorcycle Design, based on Professor Littman’s freshman seminar of the same name, which he has taught for nearly three decades. Professor Littman’s talk was notable for its humor and its inclusion of elaborate working models that he later used to demonstrate key concepts (see photo below).
These minutes should really be accompanied by the videos and live demonstrations that were an integral aspect of his talk.
The course comprises both a precept and a lab. In the precept, students read and discuss two books: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig, which is a travelogue about art and aesthetics, and Shop Class as Soulcraft, by Michael Crawford, which is an enquiry about the value of work.
In the lab, 15 first-year students--from both engineering and liberal arts majors--build a motorcycle from scratch. The motorcycle is a Triumph Tiger Cub, an actual small trail bike produced from 1954 to 1968, which Professor Littman chose for the salience of its name, referring to first year students (cubs) at Princeton (Tigers). The students take it apart and “if they are lucky” they put it back together again.
Professor Littman began his talk by asking the question: “what is engineering” and—drawing on a similar response to the question “what is art” –identified the four categories of engineering: (1) structures (civil engineering), (2) machines (mechanical engineering), (3) networks (electrical engineering), and (4) processes (chemical engineering). He used these four categories to design the course and elaborated on each in his talk.
At this point, he explained the elaborate plastic exact-scale working model of a Model-T engine which was sitting on a table at the front of the room (the larger model to the right in the photo above). This model demonstrated the workings of a 4-cylinder, 4-stroke engine, showing the piston going up and down, with a light bulb representing the spark.
After the thorough discussion of the categories of engineering with these examples from a motorcycle, he quickly discussed other aspects of the course. For example, that the course requires students to work in various teams in the lab. Students are evaluated on the basis of a power point presentation on the technical aspects and science behind the piece of the motorcycle the team worked on. One example was a recent “clutch team” of four women, whose final report cover he showed in a slide; it was pictures of handbags and the women in the audience laughed. Professor Littman noted that the men in today’s audience would likely not “get” this and that it took him a while to “get” it, too.
The question and answer period generated both general and technical questions. He was also asked whether the class would be open for community auditing; sadly, the answer was “no.”
An important question asked Professor Littman what he was really teaching and what he hoped the students would get out of the course, and how he determined whether the course was successful? His answer was two-fold: first, that the students got the confidence to try to repair a common household item instead of throwing it away and replacing it. And second, that the course got the students to reflect about what they wanted to do with their lives.
Respectfully submitted,
Marlaine Lockheed
In the lab, 15 first-year students--from both engineering and liberal arts majors--build a motorcycle from scratch. The motorcycle is a Triumph Tiger Cub, an actual small trail bike produced from 1954 to 1968, which Professor Littman chose for the salience of its name, referring to first year students (cubs) at Princeton (Tigers). The students take it apart and “if they are lucky” they put it back together again.
Professor Littman began his talk by asking the question: “what is engineering” and—drawing on a similar response to the question “what is art” –identified the four categories of engineering: (1) structures (civil engineering), (2) machines (mechanical engineering), (3) networks (electrical engineering), and (4) processes (chemical engineering). He used these four categories to design the course and elaborated on each in his talk.
- Structures are basically static. One motorcycle structure is the tubular frame, another is the wheel, which comprises a tire, rim, spoke, hub, bearing, axle. Students “trued” the wheel (not an easy task) and computed the necessary diameter of the spokes.
- Machines move; various parts of the engine move in unison. He demonstrated the movement of a two-speed transmission, using a small plastic model (in the center of the above photo). He showed how the gears work, shifting from low gear to high gear.
- Networks are the elements of the electrical system (alternator, stater (which generates AC), rectifier (which changes AC to DC), battery, coil, and braker) that work together to produce a spark in the engine. He showed this in a difficult-to-make video animation of a 4-stroke engine (intake, compression, power, exhaust).
- Processes—the chemical process of gas engines –in which the carburetor atomizes the fuel, gas and air mixture is ignited and explodes to produce heat, which raises pressure, pushes the piston and provides the power stroke. He illustrated this with a demonstration which (he hoped would) launch a ping-pong ball upward (at the left in the above photo). The demonstration worked and the ping-pong ball flew into the air, causing the audience to gasp with appreciation and wild applause.
At this point, he explained the elaborate plastic exact-scale working model of a Model-T engine which was sitting on a table at the front of the room (the larger model to the right in the photo above). This model demonstrated the workings of a 4-cylinder, 4-stroke engine, showing the piston going up and down, with a light bulb representing the spark.
After the thorough discussion of the categories of engineering with these examples from a motorcycle, he quickly discussed other aspects of the course. For example, that the course requires students to work in various teams in the lab. Students are evaluated on the basis of a power point presentation on the technical aspects and science behind the piece of the motorcycle the team worked on. One example was a recent “clutch team” of four women, whose final report cover he showed in a slide; it was pictures of handbags and the women in the audience laughed. Professor Littman noted that the men in today’s audience would likely not “get” this and that it took him a while to “get” it, too.
The question and answer period generated both general and technical questions. He was also asked whether the class would be open for community auditing; sadly, the answer was “no.”
An important question asked Professor Littman what he was really teaching and what he hoped the students would get out of the course, and how he determined whether the course was successful? His answer was two-fold: first, that the students got the confidence to try to repair a common household item instead of throwing it away and replacing it. And second, that the course got the students to reflect about what they wanted to do with their lives.
Respectfully submitted,
Marlaine Lockheed