When a Car Manufacturer tries to make a Motorcycle

There is an idea as old as ideas themselves, a question really so radical and controversial that it rarely goes beyond the idea phase and yet does not disappear, it was with us 100 years ago and it will continue to be with us 100 years. As of now, some would argue that this notion itself transcends time and space and everything we can comprehend with our human minds. Yes, it's just the idea of ​​putting a car engine into a

motorcycle

, that's really all it is, but what if said

motorcycle

was built specifically for that car? engine and even more so, what if the engine itself was one of the most powerful car engines in the world?

And perhaps even more importantly, what if this entire package were completely designed and built not by a motorcycle

manufacturer

but by an automobile

manufacturer

? That's what we're looking for. Today's crazy story about an even crazier motorcycle, the Dodge Tomahawk, the Tomahawk wasn't the first motorcycle to come out of an auto

make

r and it certainly wasn't the first motorcycle powered by a car engine. Rumor has it Ford even tried its hand at a motorcycle, but it never really got past the concept stage and was most likely just a rebadged Harley. Early American motorcycle manufacturers like Henderson and especially the Cleveland motorcycle company had bikes powered by what were essentially automobile engines even as recently as the Honda nc750, that engine was heavily influenced by the power plant of the Honda Jazz, and then, of course, there is the boss.

Later in history, it has always been much more likely for a motorcycle manufacturer to venture into the automotive world. that conversely there's just not much reason to do it for these big automotive companies, the profits really are in the production of four wheeled vehicles and that's why we see Honda and Suzuki and of course in the early days Bruff Superior and Triumph. and BMW and many other motorcycle manufacturers that entered the automotive world with at least some success, some not so much. In 2003, the world was shocked

when

the North American International Auto Show introduced this thing: the tomahawk, a functional motorcycle built and designed in-house by Chrysler Dodge despite having made some radical moves as a company over the 9 years.

I think cars like the Viper and the PT Cruiser, like the other major American auto

make

rs, the bosses at Chrysler had a total of zero interest in making motorcycles, but these kinds of projects usually start with an overly persistent guy. and passionate, someone who doesn't take no for an answer and in this case there were two of those people, two quite lower level guys who worked at the Chrysler Group and who had a vision of a motorcycle powered by the now iconic V10 Dodge Viper engine , their names were Bob Shider and Dave, officially Bob worked in design and Dave was a construction specialist, okay, they weren't junior level, but you know it's not like they were running the company, but most importantly.

There were two drag racing enthusiasts, Dave, and Bob, motorcycle enthusiasts, and the two began discussing water cooler ideas and soon the dream of building a motorcycle powered by the V10 Viper engine began to take shape. If this 8.3L engine was completed, it would be the The largest displacement engine ever put into a motorcycle completely eclipses the V8-powered bosses and also the largest displacement production motorcycle which was and still is the Triumph Rocket. Oh, and it would make about 500 horsepower, which could go wrong, so the two took their idea. to then-senior vice president of design Trevor Creed, who wisely responded with this statement: We don't make bicycles and he wasn't wrong, not only did Chrysler not make motorcycles, none of the major American automakers had made motorcycles, but Bob and Dave knew that . that they were onto something that they could create something so different from anything the Pyle engine makers had tried to invent, they knew that being Chrysler wouldn't be a disadvantage in this case and with this particular motorcycle, so they decided to take things seriously .

Going a step further, he urged colleagues at Chrysler that No Doubt use company time to make more detailed design sketches, and soon afterward they took a more developed version of the idea to Mr. Creed, who finally relented. I think I knew it was unlikely that any part of The Chrysler Group would ever move into full-fledged motorcycle production, but that really wasn't the point, but to invest in these kinds of crazy concept vehicles, even if they weren't from the four-wheeled variety it matched. Chrysler's previous motivation for making some pretty outlandish concept vehicles, that is, they served to showcase Chrysler's passion for design and innovation and really just sparked a conversation and, boy, the tomahawk would do just that and sometimes even

when

Chrysler didn't think it would happen.

There would be so much interest in these vehicles actually going into production, with the Prowler being one such example. Now the entire process of manufacturing this motorcycle began and focused on the Dodge Viper engine. Could a legitimate two-wheeled machine have such a power plant? And if it did, what would it look like, how big would it have to be, how much would it weigh, and what kind of suspension would it have to address some of these engineering issues. They took the concept to Freeman Thomas, who served as vice president. Daimler Chrysler president of advanced design Thomas then assigned Mark Walters to join the project, who proposed the idea of ​​using two front and rear wheels instead of the traditional single-wheel configuration, which practically turned it into a car and He reasoned that a single wheel would appear.

Too thin next to the unusually wide engine, you know, think of a motorcycle like the Honda cbx and for this they were inspired by the light four-wheeled motorcycles featured in the movie Tron, although Walters anticipated criticism from motorcycle enthusiasts who might argue that this setting would disqualify them. If it's a motorcycle, apparently motorcycles have to have two wheels. What's up with these guys? He believed that uniqueness outweighed convention. In this example, he figured that having a single wheel in front of and behind the engine would create a visually unbalanced look, and so they got to work.

To design a four-wheeled motorcycle in the spring of 2002, Walters had developed a large-scale design presentation with huge sketches and showing a borrowed hyper engine mounted on an engine stand with two wheels at the front and rear to really give An idea of ​​the scale of this motorcycle and this entire presentation was taken to Chrysler group COO Wolf Gang Bernard and CEO Deer Zet who approved the concept and thus the tomahawk was underway and executing Walter's task of creating a fully functional motorcycle with an 8.3L V10 engine. It wasn't simple, but in just 6 months the team took the sketches and manufactured a full-scale mockup.

Both engineering and manufacturing were outsourced to RM Motorsports, a specialty shop located in Wixom, Michigan, famous for manufacturing one-of-a-kind parts for rare and vintage race cars. Kurt Bennett of RM Motorsports was actually responsible for translating Walter's sketches into what we might call mechanical sound reality. Walter's initial sketches incorporated a front suspension design reminiscent of the center hub steering of the Honda elfa racing motorcycle based on these sketches. RM Motorsports developed a new patented front end. and a rear wishbone suspension setup that allows both parallel wheels to tilt simultaneously, ensuring all four wheels maintain contact with the ground and allowing for things like counter-steering.

Now, if he really wanted to, he could argue that the Dodge Tomahawk was the spiritual predecessor of the Yamaha. Nikin is the same basic concept, just much cooler, the wheels and engine really form the basis of this bike, but connecting everything together would be difficult. They knew that traditional suspension probably wasn't going to work, so they developed a new way. center steering hub at the front and incredibly a patented form of front and rear suspension and swing arm which allowed all four wheels to be independent and this is again what allowed the wheels to tilt independently and made it work like a traditional motorcycle despite being technically having four wheels overall, the design and then the execution is just crazy with this motorcycle, each rear wheel for example has its own chain and there are some who wonder if this was really rideable or if it really had the kind of performance specs that Chrysler claimed, but everything you look at, when you really dig into this motorcycle, shows that it was a functional motorcycle, otherwise why would you go to the trouble of patenting these things?

The thing could have just rolled straight on the screen and then off the straight line, but I really wanted it to be a motorcycle that could be ridden and that could function for the most part like a real motorcycle. As much as you know, a gigantic Behemoth like this could be a motorcycle, of course, it could never function as a sports motorcycle. for example, or really any normal production motorcycle with only an 18° handlebar turn and around 1,500 lbs of weight, yes you couldn't just go into corners with this, but that was never really the point I would assume if If you were to find one, the place for this motorcycle would have to be on the race track with its low center of gravity and crazy 500 horsepower engine, but the complete lack of aerodynamics wouldn't help you much.

Quite a few changes were necessary for the V10 Viper engine first. They removed nine of the cylinders to make it a small single-seater, just kidding, but they had to change it from the wet sump to the dry one to be able to leave it so low and so that the rider could reach the ground, the large radiator was changed to two smaller radiators and the force-fed air was again brought in from a Porsche 911. This is all due to the idea that it is a pretty legitimate motorcycle. None of this kind of stuff is done just for a rolling concept motorcycle, so the end, you know, the motorcycle design not only came from Walter's mind, but also from a pretty decent amount of testing in the Rumors of drivers crashing were also rife, but you know Chrysler has always denied those claims.

One of the most radical aspects of the tomahawk was its overall appearance is made to match its name in every way when you don't have many preconceived notions about what a motorcycle should look like along with a whole history that includes things like color combinations that you have to follow. at least to some extent. when all that is simply not relevant and you are free to do whatever you want, this is what you end up with Most of the bike components are created from large blocks of aluminum, some of which were polished to a shine mirror and In my opinion, the end result is one of the craziest and most striking designs in the history of motorcycles.

Dodge called it a drivable automotive sculpture, which I think is quite appropriate, but the big question would be whether the general public and specifically the motorcycle world would agree that competition is pretty. rigid for the 2003 North American International Auto Show, that year the incredible Cadillac 16 concept car was introduced along with the promising hydrogen-powered GM Highwire, over 800,000 excited enthusiasts, journalists and executives and really everyone watched as this ridiculous Viper-powered Dodge motorcycle concept was completely Completely stole the show, it wasn't even close, okay, technically it lost Special Vehicle of the Year concept through a panel of 35 nerds and lost to GM's hydrogen issue, but the public Buzz was really around the extravagant Dodge motorcycle, unfortunately this.

It would mark the end of big American automakers trying to outdo each other with concept vehicles. It was all downhill from here, but it was a good peak. The Tomahawk was not without its share of criticism, though especially from motorcyclists and most of the criticism focused on Dodge's claims about the bike's performance if they had released it recently and said yes, we don't really know how fast is, but I'm sure it's pretty fast, that would have been nice, but instead Dodge gave it a theoretical top. speed of 400 mph and a 0 to 60 of 2.5 seconds, the latter of which is possible, although it would probably fall apart and probably not be aerodynamic enough, but 400 mph was based on the fact that a Viper weighed about3400 lbs and had the same. engine, so you know, this thing weighs 1500 lbs, right, but look, that's not how it works, that's some dodgy math, according to Jeff Carr, who writes for motorcycle magazine, agreed with the assessment of the chief designer Mark Walter that achieving speeds of around 250 mph with the tomahawk could be plausible and that seems more realistic Kur's analysis was based on rough calculations indicating that motorcycles with significantly lower drag, such as the Hyabusa and Kawasaki ZX12R, would need approximately 460 horsepower to reach speeds of 300 mph, given the tomahawk's considerably greater strength.

Compared to those bikes, he estimated it would take at least 700 horsepower to reach speeds of 300 mph, but again, whoever drives this thing will just fly away. This estimate takes into account the fact that drag increases exponentially with speed and you know that's nice. Where the tomahawk fails, however, he also noted potential safety issues associated with high-speed operation of the tomahawk. The fact that you don't have wind protection means that there wouldn't really be a stable driving position and even going 200mph let alone 250 could pose problems for you. I am aware of significant risks due to the inherent instability of the design and also the absence of measures to prevent aerodynamic lift which could lead to the rider being lifted out of the seat at high speeds, so yes it would not be safe, let's put it that way Dave Campos achieved a motorcycle land speed record.

The rider expressed skepticism regarding the tomahawk's ability to reach consistent speeds of 200 mph, noting that the lack of a fairing to protect the rider from wind resistance could again result in the rider being lifted off the bike at high speed, plus He expressed concern about the functionality of the four-wheel steering system at high speeds, so yeah, either the bike would probably fall apart completely or you'd just fly off it. Now the criticism of the tomahawk actually goes much further than this, to the very heart of what a motorcycle is. The only journalist who really digs deep and

tries

to take the tomahawk seriously as a true motorcyclist and evaluate it that way is Glen Kerr in his 2004 MCN article where he criticizes Dodge's performance claims while having a clear unwillingness to follow the basic principles of a motorcycle.

Obviously, designing a motorcycle capable of reaching 400 mph would need a fairing like what are we talking about? He claims that the tomahawk illustrates how the auto industry views motorcycles as a lesser form of its own discipline and thus feels completely qualified to redesign a motorcycle whenever it runs out of ideas for sports cars, and of course to a certain extent. you're right, the truth is we have no evidence that anyone has been brave enough to take a tomahawk even up to 100 mph, it would probably fall apart because even though Dodge has a known great and deep knowledge of how the cars, motorcycles are different and there is a reason why center steering and giant car engines haven't really been used in two wheeled applications like this, it just doesn't work, unfortunately Dodge never allowed independent testers to ride the bike, but somehow they got it into limited production with nine models selling for $555,000 a bike, all of which are probably in museums and never raced, so if you're out there and you're watching this video and you have a Dodge Tomahawk, Let's get to know us, get it out to the public and let us try it Now in 2009, this whole saga became even more fun when Alan Milard finished his own custom Viper-powered motorcycle that, by almost every way, is a significantly better motorcycle than the Tomahawk he go on. the main tenants of motorcycle engineering, as I guess you probably already know, Alan Millard is just a total genius and a brilliant engineer and this is one of his greatest achievements, in my opinion, his V10 motorcycle was clocked at 27mph and it's completely manageable. and it has two wheels of course, comparing Millionard's creations to anything is a little unfair, he really is a special talent, but it still shows that the tomahawk could have been a little more conventional and probably worked and could have been a motorcycle of production. that Dodge could have still been sold, I think Dodge and Chrysler are owed some credit for their design, even if the product was never fully tested, as much as creating a working concept was important.

You know, they never expected to make a working production motorcycle and I think the design and engineering problems they addressed were pretty impressive for a company that has never made a motorcycle. If you're looking for a modern equivalent to the tomahawk, look no further than Ludovic Lazarus's futuristic creation which, in many ways, started right where the tomahawk did. What's left has many of the same features as the lm847 and basically has the same suspension and steering features, but this time it's powered by a 4.7L Maserati V8 engine that makes about 470 horsepower, which is why it's so ridiculous. as costs. same thing and yes it looks great despite its absolute ridiculousness and maybe thanks to that Chrysler was able to prove once again that they were more than just a giant corporation looking for money, that's what the tomahawk was really about , which they were also invented. of automotive enthusiasts who have a passion for everything related to the engine, even when it is not four-wheeled, except in this case it was still four-wheeled, few other car companies today or then would dare to make a motorcycle and especially this motorcycle, but I wonder if it's not time once again for a car company to try to solve the two-wheel problem.

Who do you think among all the major automakers could make a good-looking motorcycle and what kind of motorcycle would it be? You know Jeep would make a good adventure bike, of course, Ferrari would probably make a good sports bike. Let us know in the comments below what you think and we'll see you next time.