There seems to be a group of dedicated owners of these somewhat rare vehicles, every now and then one shows up for sale but it's not often you see 2. The LiteStar and the Owosso Pulse were almost identical vehicles, originally designed by Jim Bede of BD-5 and BD-5J aircraft fame (among others). Bede created the original as a road going version of his airplane and called it a GCRV (Ground Cruising Recreational Vehicle). They were produced from 1985 through 1990, less than 400 total were built and somewhere around 150 are known to exist.
Early versions were powered by a Yamaha 400, then a Yamaha 450. There were versions powered by a Honda 450 Automatic, a Honda 750 and finally the Honda GL1100 and GL1200. There's an electric reverse.
These 2, one powered by a Yamaha 450 and fully restored, the other uses a Honda GL1100 and was formerly used by Coors for advertising as a Silver Bullet, are pretty good examples of the breed. You have to examine all of the features on each one to determine exactly what model they are.
Just the kind of thing you might expect to see running around as gas prices rise, little aerodynamic, motorcycle engine powered vehicles. Interesting and kinda cool.
Link: auctions have ended
Link: LiteStar & Pulse registry
Kickboxer Subaru WRX Powered Motorcycle Concept
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“Just the kind of thing you might expect to see running around as gas prices rise, little aerodynamic, motorcycle engine powered vehicles. Interesting and kinda cool.”
Not a bad thought, but these were plagued with handling issues. Lot’s of light weight three wheeled designs out there, and many could see major gains in aerodynamics.
Jim Bede’s name doesn’t invoke good comments in the kit plane industry, and his efforts with the Pulsar were about as bad. And I’m being to kind in my wording.
I wonder what sort of gas mileage these get…gotta be at least as good as the bikes they’re based on, maybe even a bit better. (The vastly superior aerodynamics should more than offset any weight gains.)
cl
Uh, FOUR wheels? its a car, innit?
also, who would buy one of these when they could have KTM X Bow?
“Uh, FOUR wheels? its a car, innit?”
There were only three wheels in contact with the ground at any one time, thus classified as a motorcycle. Kind of skirting around the laws in some peoples eyes, and the cause of all the handling ills.
Looks like no coincidence, that there are two of them. Both at the same price and located in the same town? No coincidence at all, I’m thinking.
I never have really cared for this particular vehicle’s design but I do like the idea of an enclosed three wheeler/ 2 wheeler. Was even part of a project to do an enclosed electric bike in college. I think in most states it registers as a bike but you don’t have to wear a helmet (though same states may make you?). So long as they are actually somewhat safe it is kinda the best of both worlds.
It is probably going to be fairly expensive (their site says around $30k for the hybrid, which actually compared to some companies is not that bad) but I really like the Aptera…
http://www.aptera.com/
It shows promise with is MPG possibility and is actually attractive (at least to me). Over the years I have drawn up a bunch of similar vehicles, it is nice to see someone trying to make it happen.
Chappy,
How about this with a Hayabusa motor?
http://www.rqriley.com/xr3.htm
I really like his chassis design as it would be easy for do-it-your selfer, though the bodywork looks dated already.
Since I initially way the XR3 I though it would be neat to take basically the font clip out of a small (3 cylinder Metra would work) and using a similar style chassis and some nice swoopy bodywork to make a very efficient vehicle (probably avoid the hybrid side of his design due to cost).
Do you still have these? if so how much are you asking?
would like to know if you still have the pulses…
thanks
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