Tank tracks have been doing the rounds on various military vehicles, off-road trucks and snowmobiles since their creation in 1904. But now, the belt-based means of movement has reached a final form: getting fitted to a bicycle.
The odd-looking bike in question was modified by Sergii Gordieiev, the brain behind The Q on YouTube. Now, if you like weird bikes you might already be familiar with this channel, as it previously premiered a bike with triangular wheels and another that was fitted with two chains. So we can blame Gordieiev for this latest abomination innovation for the bike world, first brought to our attention by the folks at DesignBoom. And we love it.
To make this tank bike, Gordieiev starts with a pretty normal looking mountain bike frame, which he then fabricates his new powertrain around. He starts with some lengths of box tube, which are cut down to size to fit where the wheels would normally be. Then, he fabricates the hardware to mount this in place, so that it doesn’t spin like a traditional wheel would.
The whole process is repeated at the rear, but Gordieiev has to make a few other modifications to the chain to ensure his pedaling is transferred to the tank tracks.
Sure, the finished bike doesn’t have any gearing, and it looks like Gordieiev is putting in an awful lot of effort to keep moving, but how cool does it look? And the best part, it can even be pedaled in reverse!
I feel like it’s only a matter of time before some military-minded e-bike manufacturer copies this design for its own “revolutionary” new model. In the meantime, I’d love to have a go on this... if someone is reading this. Please, let me ride this bike.