Dodge's Four-Wheel Motorcycle! (The Tomahawk)

Popular Science ^ | April 2003 | by Dick Teresi

[Bikers4Bush]

Nice.

[m18436572]

KILLER !!!!!!!!!!

[Lysander]

I have 34-year-old "road rash" on my back to show why only young men would think about riding this type of death machine. I guess at 50-something I am still young! Gimme one.

[yankeedame]

That bike, WILL sell. It's cool, and all sorts of people have crazy money to throw around.

LOL! Well, you're certainly right on that point! So, we shall see...

[martin_fierro]

KEWWWWWL!

[Range Rover]

The "hubless" bike you speak of is one of Choppers Inc's creations - the Psycho Billy Cadillac

You can see a pic at:

http://www.choppersinc.com/projectbikes/assets/images/psychobilly_cadillac/wPsycho1.jpg

As for this dodge TRON bike, more of a styling exercise than anything. With no fairing, you probably couldn't get the thing over 150 mph with a rider. Pretty to look at, pretty useless on the road. It will end up in Jay Leno's garage next to a Stanley Steamer.

I'd trade the billet monstrostity for a vintage Indian, a Vincent, a Brough Superior or an EL Knuck any day of the week.

[Range Rover]

[boris]

"http://www.choppersinc.com/projectbikes/assets/images/psychobilly_cadillac/wPsycho1.jpg"

Thanks but that doesn't look like the one I'm recalling. And that wheel in the pic is the rear one. Do they have additional photos?

--Boris

[boris]

Oops. I scrolled down. It is definitely not the same. In the one I recall the tire rolls and the hub is stationary. On the rear wheel of this bike it looks as if the whole rear wheel turns; hard to tell. It looks cool because there is no apparent center of rotation.

On the bike I saw, it was the front (steering, unpowered) wheel that had a tire rolling in a raceway; I could not see how the stationary part was 'affixed' to the fork.

--Boris

[Range Rover]

I think I remember the one you're thinking of. If I find a pic, I'll post/link.

Was some form of leading link setup from what I recall.

[maxwell]

Holy CRAP. I dunno about that steering thing...

(And they won't even let ya use the john?)

Sure is purty to look at though...

[maxwell]

AWESOME.

[knews_hound]

V10 BUMP

[Charles Martel]

With the correct mods, it would outrun a 750 triple. The downside was that it couldn't corner worth a damn.

Heh, I've often toyed with the idea of putting that three-cylinder 2-stroke engine in a more modern chassis, just for kicks (and to put a finger in the EPA's eye). I rode an H1 some 20+ years ago, so I know exactly what you mean about the barely-there suspension and brakes. That front fork... ugh.

There was a neat trick I recall, something about a wiring connection that would kick the oil injection pump to full-volume, "limp-home" mode (my neighbors referred to it as the "mosquito fogger"). I can still smell the burning Castrol. :-)

[husky ed]

Isn't this the same company that put down conservatives earlier this year?

Let the FatArseChix ride their bikes, I won't.

[Lx]

I always ran under the theory that more oil than less was better. There were a lot of people running the injection pump as lean as possible to prevent fouling of those weird looking pinpoint electrode plugs. I always thought it better to foul plugs than burn bearings and scuff pistons, if you had a two stroke and didn't carry spare plugs and tools you soon learned to. If you had the one with the distributor, it was also wise to carry a spare coil for the reluctor. In fact, I think I still have both the A and B boxes for the ignition around here somewhere.

In my minds eye, I see the throttle cable going into the injector but I don't remember any electrical connection. One way to make the injector pump run full out was to pull the cable that went into the housing so it would open up the injector. Then again, for some reason, a lot of people removed the injector pump and mixed the gas and oil, I used to see this mostly on RD's. When they went to the three coil ignition, I think they changed the injector pump as well so it very well could have been electrically controlled.

Hell, I still carry a spare injection computer in one car and a complete distributor and computer in my older car.

Putting that engine on a shifter cart or a snowmobile, now that would be cool and give Christie Todd Whitman apoplexy.

[Charles Martel]

Putting that engine on a shifter cart or a snowmobile, now that would be cool and give Christie Todd Whitman apoplexy.

I actually saw a Kawasaki Triple on a shifter kart, and not too long ago. Didn't get to see it run, but I'll bet it was impressive. The owner of the kart had the Kawasaki gauge cluster mounted on his steering column... I could see that tach with the redline wayyyy over there to the right. I wanted a shifter kart *bad* for a month or so after spotting that triple-powered example, but even a used and abused kart chassis costs $$$ - it's cheaper to build a Toyota MR2 for SCCA SOLO competition. Now, if I could find a set of shifter kart chassis plans, I'd drag out the MIG welder and tube bender. All I've been able to find are basic "yard kart" plans. But yeah, it *was* cool!

[section9]

It's been done. First, it was Hollywood that can't come out with anything original and now Detroit is ripping off classic anime....

Yeah! That looked like Tetsuo's motorcycle in Akira. Dayyum! All it needs is the windshield and the decals.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Lx]

I used to know a guy who's company made shifter carts and they were waaay expensive. Then you had to add the engine.