After our post on the Dodge Tomahawk replica, we received a comment pointing out these were for sale on Alibaba as the X Racer. Well, that's true, but it gives a misleading idea about the one we had in our post.
I had a phone conversation with Howard Dorf, the builder of the replica in the photo, a replica he designed and built. In the course of building this project, he contracted a number of parts to some shops in China. When drawings and details of his project got over there, some folks decided to "borrow" his idea and go into production on their own. The X Racer for sale on Alibaba is an unauthorized knockoff, it is not something Howard bought and imported. Howard wanted to also point out, the Alibaba versions are not EPA or DOT approved so they cannot be imported. He also pointed out, the photo they are using is his photo so he isn't sure if they've even built one yet.
Howard has been building all sorts of interesting things over the years, including a full size Robby the Robot, some guys and their workshops never cease to amaze me.
We wanted to make sure the whole story was reported so people didn't get the wrong idea about who was actually doing the building here.
RH says
I’d love to believe that, but the tires on the Shukeda one are different.
There’s also this one, with slotted wheels and other differences:
http://www.ykkt.com/ArticleShow.asp?ArticleID=476
Thanks for doing the research. I really do hope Howard is right…..
HemiDakota says
The bike is patented and protected from any other company infringing on this novel idea right down to the suspension system.
The best thing to do is to clear it through DamilerChrysler first before proceeding in building even a knock pint size.
Bill says
How can it be a knock-off if it is much smaller than the Dodge one.. You can see it on youtube.