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KillaCycle Electric Dragbike Crashes at Wired NextFest

By Paul Crowe

KillaCycle electric dragbike crash

Bill Dube, designer and builder of the KillaCycle was giving an interview and demonstration at the Wired NextFest by the LA Convention Center. After the interview, in which Dube did mention he was not the usual rider, he rolled the bike into what looked like a little bit of water on the sidewalk and began a burnout.

The KillaCycle, it should be remembered, is an 8 second dragbike. The bike rolled forward slightly out of the water as he was doing the burnout, the slick hooked up on the concrete and Dube took about a one or two second ride into the right front fender of a minivan. Although you cannot see clearly in the video, he flew over the front of the van onto his back on the asphalt. He was wearing no safety gear at all, just street clothes, no helmet.

Dube is certainly fully aware of what the bike is capable of but the promise of media exposure can sometimes lead to taking a few shortcuts. Unfortunately, the media exposure from this mishap will not be exactly what he wanted.

Fortunately, he was conscious and talking and moving everything after the accident though he continued to lie on the ground until paramedics arrived and took him to the hospital for X-Rays. It could have turned out much worse.

Link: video at TG Daily

Posted on September 14, 2007 Filed Under: Electric motorcycles, Motorcycle Safety

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Comments

  1. akbar says

    September 14, 2007 at 8:12 am

    oops

  2. Richard says

    September 14, 2007 at 9:14 am

    This story reminds me how utterly stupid burn-outs are. Is anybody really impressed by seeing someone generate a bunch of really foul smelling pollution as they destroy their rear tire?

    I hope Bill is OK and I hope that he learns to be more careful in the future.

  3. Erik says

    September 14, 2007 at 9:24 am

    I did something similar back when I was just learning how to ride. But I was, at least, wearing a helmet.

    A bike with this much power needs to be treated with an awful lot more respect than Bill did. And I’m sure he’s kicking himself for it. I hope he’s okay though.

  4. Ryan says

    September 14, 2007 at 10:40 am

    Wow!
    That is crazy, I hope he is okay and the bike wasn’t too damaged (I like following it’s progress).
    Burnouts really aren’t that impressive, I can do a burn out with my wifes 1987 Savage 650, but no way would I do one on a 8 sec bike with a big racing slick on the back.

    (Is it bad that I laughed a little while watching the video?)

  5. Ry says

    September 14, 2007 at 10:45 am

    nice.

  6. mark says

    September 14, 2007 at 1:21 pm

    Maybe he should remember that a wide drag racing slick has a little more traction than that skinny little rubber band that passes for a front tire.

  7. taxman says

    September 14, 2007 at 1:57 pm

    i hope this doesn’t get him to much bad publicity. I’m eager to see an electric motorcycle with the phrase MSRP

  8. todd says

    September 14, 2007 at 2:28 pm

    Waddayamean? This is great publicity! What better way to show how much power an electric motorcycle has than it getting away from you and hurting yourself? Maybe he should have shorted something out when he was in the puddle…

    -todd

  9. Jeff says

    September 14, 2007 at 4:31 pm

    Todd is right . Once you prove how dangerous it is you have made your point .
    Glad the guy was ok . I would bet he won’t do that again!

  10. Sean says

    September 14, 2007 at 5:50 pm

    What an idiot. I hate to say it, but what a complete idiot. He’s lucky he hasn’t got a horrible brain injury at the moment. Incidentally, I think this will help their publicity. It must be powerful enough to do that.

  11. wendell says

    September 14, 2007 at 6:10 pm

    He should stick to his day job….I wonder how much of that bike was “developed” on our dime. dip_ _ _ _.

  12. Zac says

    September 15, 2007 at 9:22 am

    Well orchestrated publicity stunt? Notice the van appears to have no damage and the front tire of the motorcycle is actually between the fender and the wheel of the van. You never actually see any of the crash, and there are no pictures of the damage on their website.

  13. byak says

    September 15, 2007 at 10:01 am

    Looks like he just pinned the trottle…freaked out and didn’t let go. Classic beginner mistake. What an idiot, he could have killed someone.

  14. Insideous says

    September 15, 2007 at 11:16 am

    Zac, If you think that is a publicity stunt, you have spent too much time looking at UFO sightings. It was an unfortunate accident that fortunately NOONE was seriously hurt. Considering the power (both HP and watts) capable of the bike, this could have been alot worse with a different bike and batteries. Bill was able to slow it down abit before he hit his own van. Pics of the damage to the bike can be seen at http://www.electricmotorcycles.net Take a look at the damage before you call it a hoax.

  15. Alex says

    September 17, 2007 at 10:22 pm

    Dumbass for not wearing gear. What do the kids learn? You will not even get hurt when riding the KillaBike without helmet. So why should you do in open traffic…

  16. Jason says

    September 18, 2007 at 5:56 am

    Just saw the video. Man that thing hooks up! Pretty dam quick, hope he’s ok. That looked painful.

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