"Jonee" (Jonee)
10/24/2014 at 13:37 • Filed to: Unisport, 3 wheels, batshit
3
10|
"Jonee" (Jonee)
10/24/2014 at 13:37 • Filed to: Unisport, 3 wheels, batshit | 3
| 10 |
The Unisport was a bat-fucking nuts kit you could get for a brief time in the 70's that allowed you to drive a car while your friend rides a motorcycle presumably hanging on for dear life behind you.
The kit was the front part. You'd take your own Honda CB bike, 450-750 depending on how white you'd like your knuckles, remove the front fork and then attach it to the fiberglass car part. The really cool thing was that there were two electric motors and a bunch of electronic actuators attached to a parallelogram front suspension that allowed the thing to tilt, essentially leaning into turns. You could control the tilting with a pair of buttons on the steering wheel. Sounds pretty complicated for a home build, but it apparently worked.
I'm not sure you were supposed to have someone ride the bike part, but why the hell wouldn't you? I love how the ad says "all the advantages of a motorcycle without the disadvantages." The disadvantages being all the reasons one rides a motorcycle.
The company only lasted a couple years apparently because of problems with the tilting mechanism which shouldn't be a surprise. They did make a follow-up called the Duo Delta that seems to have been designed to prevent hop ons which must have been another issue.
Has anyone ever seen one of these? They apparently sold a few hundred, but I don't know how many survived. I also wonder how many owners survived. I know people have built their own versions of this, but it's amazing that one was sold to the general public apparently DOT approved. The 70's was truly a magical time.
505Turbeaux
> Jonee
10/24/2014 at 13:40 |
|
this is pretty cool. SO WEIRD THOUGH
|
Jonee
> 505Turbeaux
10/24/2014 at 13:44 |
|
I kind of want one. It's so 70's-licious.
TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut
> Jonee
10/24/2014 at 13:46 |
|
Reminds me of this.
jariten1781
> Jonee
10/24/2014 at 13:47 |
|
With that wheel base and no reverse, parking that thing would be a nightmare. So rediculous.
I'd certainly fool around with one if it showed up in my driveway though.
Mattbob
> Jonee
10/24/2014 at 13:49 |
|
hop-ons.... everytime
Raphael Orlove
> Jonee
10/24/2014 at 16:42 |
|
wait, how does the throttle/brake work?
|
Jonee
> Raphael Orlove
10/24/2014 at 17:37 |
|
I guess you would run the throttle cable into the cabin somewhere. Or, maybe there's some kind of "port" for the brake and throttle cables that extends them to the driver? The front wheels have hydraulic discs so maybe that's all you need. The linkage running underneath must go to the transmission. I'm wondering how much grip it has with no one riding the cycle part. Basically all the weight on the bike is now where the front wheel would be. Seems to have worked, though. Here are some pictures of one undergoing restoration that may give some clues. There's a bunch of wires running from front to back.
bob and john
> Jonee
10/24/2014 at 21:16 |
|
O.o
plainnottoasted
> Jonee
10/27/2014 at 17:17 |
|
I imagine that one of the disadvantages it shared with it's two wheeled progenitors was the way it handled meeting a 1972 Delta 88 (or similar) making a left turn across its lane.
|
Augie
> Jonee
12/25/2017 at 14:28 |
|
I know the real inventor of this machine and it’s not who they say it is his real name is Ray Carston and the smartest man I know