Russian DIY bike

WE’VE seen 2WD bikes before but this Russian machine has got to be the lightest and most versatile yet. But if you want one you’ll have to earn it; instead of selling them as complete machines its creator is offering nothing more than a set of plans.

For 1300 rubles, around £22, you can have the plans for either the two-stroke ‘Tarus 2’ version, with 5.5bhp and a dry weight of just 47kg, or 7bhp ‘Tarus 2m’ four-stroke that tips the scales at as much as 74kg. Or you can get both sets of plans for 1800 rubles, which is about £30. The specs don’t mention little details like the engine capacities, but since you’ll be making the bike yourself, presumably it’s not too big a deal to stick something a bit fruitier in there, provided it will fit in the space. From the pictures, it looks like the 2-stroke has a minimoto engine, while the four-stroke might well be from a lawnmower or generator. Both have pull starts and a three-speed transmission, while the bikes make do with a single brake, fitted to the transmission; since there’s no differential between the two wheels, the brake will act simultaneously on both the front and rear.

You’ll have to source all the bits and do all the cutting, bending, welding and bolting, but after all that you should end up with something a bit like what you see on the official website. For a great video demonstration of its abilities, just look here.

With no suspension and just a handful of horsepower, performance was never going to be its strong point, but its ability to climb stairs and even float on water (at least, the lighter two-stroke, which uses balloon-like low-pressure tyres, can) makes it the ultimate go-anywhere bike. It can even be packed up into a couple of soft bags and loaded into the back of a tiny Russian car, while another video on the site shows it pulling a massive trailer (although with that single transmission brake, we’d suggest that trailer-pulling is probably best avoided if you’re going to be going down any hills…)

Surely there’s a Visordown reader out there with the time, patience and metalwork skills to turn a set of these plans into a working bike? If you decide to do it, make sure you let us know!