The Ballad of Douche Quadbike opens a new chapter.

What the fark? This article is all over the map.

If it has three wheels, it's not a quad.

It has been crafted with an impressive mix of names, with an engine fitted by Ferrari and a six speed gearbox, controlled by the handlebars from a BMW M3.

I sure don't believe Ferrari makes an engine with only 250 horsepower.
And the handlebars from a BMW M3? Would you care to explain that, given that the M3 is a CAR and cars don't generally have handlebars?

wild9: rpl: Does it run on Ed Begley's electric motor, the most evil propulsion system ever conceived?

Nope, a Wankel.

I am waiter hear me roar: My ZX10r has (had) two wheels, and it would smoke this thing for less than 1/10th the price.

Rolling sculpture, my ass.

I'd imagine it would be amazingly close.

Think about the size of your contact patch at the rear wheel, and your power to weight ratio.

Now look at those two huge slicks on the back of the Lazareth creation. It's putting that 250bhp to the ground far better than you can put the 210bhp of your ZX-10 to the ground. Unless you have dropped forks, a four foot long swingarm, and are running a square profile M/T qualifier slick.

While you're trying to keep the rear wheel from spinning or looping your bike. The rider on the Lazareth bike is simply going to use the traction/launch control from the M3 package and check out on you off the line.

I knew it had to be from Lazareth before I even clicked the link. They've been cranking out crazy quads and trikes in France for years.

Their 500bhp ethanol fueled BMW V12 powered nightmare machine they put out a bit back looked like a far more impressive way to kill yourself than this mid 80's Ferrari 308 GT V8 unit.





MadMattressMack: [www.tuvie.com image 500x275]

is a quad and laughs at your eurotrash.

/hot like a header

Till you get to a corner... Then it's time to load that polished turd back on the trailer because it does not turn.

new_york_monty: And after reading the article rather than just looking at the pictures, it sounds like there are two rear wheels joined on a solid rear axle without a differential.

Yes. The article describes it as such:
Lazareth describes the quad as an 'atypical three-wheel vehicle', with the rear two wheels linked together.

For one, with no center diff, I have a hard time thinking that this would turn that well given even the moderate axle spacing of the two rear wheels.

For another, I still have a hard time calling this a quad. Granted, the quad/trike distinction is my least worrisome niggle with the article, but c'mon.

gozar_the_destroyer: Maybe it has a really small displacement? (checks article) Ah, it says 250BHP, which means break horsepower and is explained here. (new window) It still seems low for a Ferrari since the 360 runs a 3.6 L V8 with 400BHP (Citation here)

Look at the headers and plugs; that's tremendously close cylinder spacing. Even a 308 has much larger cylinders. 250 brake horsepower or not, I can't think of a modern Ferrari engine that would put out that kind of figure. It looks to be a fairly modern engine judging from the black valve covers. I just don't know what puts out 250 hp and has a modern black cam cover, let alone such small cylinders. I can't tell if, in the photo, those are velocity stacks or carburetors -- though I can't see throttle vanes. The other option is that it's a bespoke engine, but that seems like it would drive the price of the "quad" much higher than it already is.

Kahabut: I believe I can enlighten you. The BMW M3 has a pretty kick ass transmission called a SMG, it's a 6speed.

Given that, I'm pretty sure the thing in the article uses that same transmission. Meaning the article writer is a moron.

I can buy the SMG thing, sure, but the author specifically says it uses the "handlebars from a BMW M3." Is it too much to ask that if you're writing a gearhead piece on an exotic unit that will appeal specifically to gearheads that you at least do ten minutes of fact-checking? Or, y'know, at least a Google image search?