Kinda OT I guess, especially since it's all gussied up as a modern billetcycle. But I thought it looked pretty neat, definitely outside the box. I don't know anything about the bike, but the engine looks really old. Anyone know more about it?
Jesse James creation. Not a big fan of fat tired bikes or anything too crazy, but that thing is neat for the sake of craftsmanship. I wanna' know what it sounds like!!! Plus I love the radial engines. That is a newer one, but still looks like the old radials.
I believe it's a Rotec R2800 engine. http://www.rotecradialengines.com/ Here's one that has the crank spinning the right direction: http://www.rotecradialengines.com/0JRL/JRLMotorcycle.htm
Ooops, I agree. I saw the exposed pushrod covers and ***umed it was old. It's still pretty neat IMO.. but it could do without all the ugly junk on it.
The idea is an old one, there was a 1910 era bike with a 3 or 5 cylinder rotary engine in the front or rear wheel of the bike. If I can find the issue of the AMCA magazine it was on the cover of I'll post it.
OK, I'm gonna build one with a 1917 LeRhone rotary with a tire wrapped around it as the rear wheel...solves all the design issues and puts the driver ahead of the oil leaks... Oh, wait, I don't know how to ride a bike, and the junkyard just sold its last rotary...never mind.
nothin beats this guy... ej potter = the MAN this was RIDDEN... notice the pic, by his house not a drag strip... rode this bike, didnt just build to wheel out and sit on it... homespun and i bet scary as ****
Or if you want the ferris wheel look for your bike, check out jrl cycles. I'm not a fan of the look at all but I still think the radial engines are cool. I've got four radial engine bi-planes on the ramp here right now. They kick ***.
There is a guy in Australia that cut two cylinders off a V12 merlin from a spitfire and put them in a motorbike. That thing fairly hauled ***!
I thought you might have come across something a little more intereting than what some goof with more money than brains screwed together for a publicity stunt. Like a Megola, or a Redrup Radial. The Redrup is the later version, can't find the 1920 version's photo, yet...
Cut me some slack, I saw it somewhere else and shared it here so I could learn more about it, or any other history. Which is exactly what I got. So thanks for sharing the pictures...
Sounds to me like somebody's jealous. Thanks for posting the pics, Gotgas. I've always been fascinated by radial engines.
When I first brought my Continental home, that is one of the thoughts that crossed my mind..... a 298 cubic inch V-twin
I saw The Michigan Madman run at the KDWB Dragmeet in the Twin Cities, MN, in the late 60's. He showed up in a green binder pickup with a topper made of corrugated metal (like the side of a grain bin) and the back was a sheet of plywood with a door cut in it. He opened the door and pulled out a 2x10 and rolled that monster out of it. I think it was about the seventh ot ninth one he'd built. He wrecked all the others. He set it up on the start line on a stand and when the light turned green, his ***istant kicked it off the stand. He had a wide (at that time) Indy 500 tire on it and had to change it every three runs. At that time he had a 327 with Hilborn injection and a magneto. Reason I remember the mag is that we holed our block and loaned him our Scintilla Vertex.
i like bruce's suggestion best. cant beat that smell of castor oil burnin and the burp switch instead of a throttle. i wonder how the centrifical force of that spinning crank and pistons affects the handling?