Normally something as visually and potentially intimidating as a Boss Hoss or V8 Choppers trike could be considered pretty far out as old John Denver used to say, but this goes to a whole ‘nother level of far out. It’s far far out. Their big V8 engines dominate the landscape of their design, but nothing like this wicked gem of a build. Compared to this orange UFO, they’re tame.
On this build, the engine completely dominates the bike from front to back courtesy of a twin turbo installation aft of the rear axle and all the attendant plumbing necessary to go with it. The fat twin induction tubes running over the engine and then shooting under the seat could be mistaken for frame tubing instead of induction tubing at first glance. That somehow not-over-the-top and still graceful wing houses a radiator (Or is that the intercooler for the turbos and the fan under the driver’s seat on the left side is for the engine’s radiator? Probably not.) in a perfect airstream of cool both for the engine and the bike. It’s a three-wheeled version of a Can Am wing car from the ‘70s and probably has at least as much horsepower, if not more, too.
Everything you see looks purpose-built like the chunky air bag fork which has a set of handlebars incorporated into it. Like a lot of things I notice on this trike that are a first for me, so are the bar’s hand controls which I can only assume is an acquired taste. It looks more like a steering yoke on a plane than a set of typical trike bars. Like everything else on this trike, there’s probably a reason for them that I can’t comprehend and that wouldn’t surprise me a bit as someone somewhere had a master plan and made it a reality.
What little you can see of the frame in the photos is pretty unconventional as far as motorcycles or trikes go, but I want to believe it all works just peachy. I can’t figure out if the frame is more Bonneville streamliner or front-engine rail dragster from the flywheel back, but it’s a wild choice either way. The trike has a most aggressive, yet very good looking stance and for the builder to keep everything flowing smoothly front-to-back took some real thought and good taste on their part.
It may not be your kind of trike, but it’s a looker. What’s amazing is that everything appears to be well done especially the styling. With all that’s going on mechanically, there’s not a line out of place in the design. Yeah I see what could be considered Can Am, Bonneville streamliner and front-engine rail dragster influences and maybe even a bit more with the orange Plexiglas sides that brings a vintage A/Gasser look to the mix, but the end result is all its own. Or, that the engine looks like something off the cover of Hot Rod magazine in the mid-‘80s when radical alcohol-fueled, turbo’d Pro Street cars ruled the fairgrounds more than raceways. It’s all about the “What the . . . . factor?” than street sensibility and you gotta appreciate that for what it is. I know I do.