The Sexiest Sidehack EVAR!

October 12, 2009 6:08 PM

After 10000 hours of hard work, more than 10 years from time to time in the garage and about 15000 Euros spent, the Snaefell was ready to ride!Ever wonder what the teleportation booth mishap result of a sportbike crossed with a sportscar would look like? François Knorreck spent an insane amount of time finding out and the results are, well, you decide whether you like it or not but you can't say the workmanship is anything but top notch.
posted by fenriq (42 comments total)

I wat'd.
posted by mullingitover at 6:15 PM on October 12

No comment is possible which explains this vehicle more than it explains itself.
posted by voronoi at 6:21 PM on October 12

Seems like a fun way to die.
posted by martens at 6:21 PM on October 12 [5 favorites has favorites]

Front right corner is going to scrape/hit something. Guarantee it. Also, I don't think we can really say much about the workmanship other than what we see in the pictures. Again with the fear of crashing. "Craftsmanship" is more than pretty and well-put-together. I don't call it good craftsmanship if it's likely to cause a wreck that will kill me, and we have no way of judging whether or not that's true. That thing looks like it will go fast. Untested and fast ≠ my cup of tea.

On preview: what martens said.
posted by tarheelcoxn at 6:23 PM on October 12

you haters need to go to bed! :-)

That said...this is a beautiful machine... curious as to how it rides....
Thanks for the post!
posted by HuronBob at 6:25 PM on October 12

Reminds me of every local news story about a two-headed turtle or a goat with nine legs. Except more off-putting.
posted by Nomiconic at 6:25 PM on October 12

Oh dear - that's horrid looking...
posted by jalexei at 6:27 PM on October 12

"Craftsmanship" is more than pretty and well-put-together

Disagree. That's exactly what craftmanship is, and this bike is a work of craftsmanship.

Now, the engineering behind this bike, that's a different question.
posted by eriko at 6:27 PM on October 12 [5 favorites has favorites]

That sure is...something.
posted by ghharr at 6:30 PM on October 12

That's one heck of an art project. But it's not much of a bike. Car. Bike-car. Whatever.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 6:30 PM on October 12

[...] but you can't say the workmanship is anything but top notch.

Yes I can, because for this, we need to tape some cardboard onto the scale and draw three more notches above the top one.
posted by FishBike at 6:31 PM on October 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

you know when you get really really drunk and start coming up with stupid, unworkable ideas? here's proof that some people go through with them!
posted by litleozy at 6:33 PM on October 12

On the one hand, adult me is not sure what to think about this. On the other hand, 10-year-old me knows for certain that it is unambiguously awesome. And honestly, adult me thinks that the world is a better, cooler, way more fun place for having maybe this, but definitely the kind of people who make things like this, in it.
posted by mhoye at 6:34 PM on October 12 [2 favorites has favorites]

Yes. Yes, I can imagine this thing slowly swinging out one malformed limb, lifting a shotgun to its head, then pleading silently with me to end its life.
posted by adipocere at 6:37 PM on October 12 [7 favorites has favorites]

Y?
posted by Doohickie at 7:12 PM on October 12

Because he could.
posted by oddman at 7:16 PM on October 12

Very Cronenburg.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:17 PM on October 12 [2 favorites has favorites]

Reminds me of the wooden Ferrari.
posted by LordSludge at 7:19 PM on October 12

Or this
posted by stargell at 7:23 PM on October 12

I'd rather have the 10,000 hours and the 15,000 Euros but that's just because I'm sane.
posted by jamstigator at 7:40 PM on October 12 [2 favorites has favorites]

Yes. Yes, I can imagine this thing slowly swinging out one malformed limb, lifting a shotgun to its head, then pleading silently with me to end its life.

You rang?
posted by brundlefly at 7:47 PM on October 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

Heheh. Side car.
posted by luftmensch at 8:13 PM on October 12

Sure he came up with the idea while high. The impressive thing is he stayed high long enough to actually make one.
posted by chairface at 8:13 PM on October 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

I don't call it good craftsmanship if it's likely to cause a wreck that will kill me

That's rather the point of fast cars and fast bikes. Take it away, Hunter S.:

I am not without scars on my brain and my body, but I can live with them. I still feel a shudder in my spine every time I see a picture of a Vincent Black Shadow, or when I walk into a public restroom and hear crippled men whispering about the terrifying Kawasaki Triple... I have visions of compound femur-fractures and large black men in white hospital suits holding me down on a gurney while a nurse called "Bess" sews the flaps of my scalp together with a stitching drill.

Ho, ho. Thank God for these flashbacks. The brain is such a wonderful instrument (until God sinks his teeth into it). Some people hear Tiny Tim singing when they go under, and some others hear the song of the Sausage Creature.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:17 PM on October 12 [3 favorites has favorites]

It turns? Really? It looks cool and all but I have trouble seeing how you ride and/or turn it.
posted by GuyZero at 8:43 PM on October 12

Ever wonder what the teleportation booth mishap result of a sportbike crossed with a sportscar would look like?

I would have thought that it'd resemble something closer to Kaneda's sweet bike, maybe with more swing away side paneling (in addition to the top front & back enclosure).
posted by porpoise at 8:45 PM on October 12

Yes. Yes, I can imagine this thing slowly swinging out one malformed limb, lifting a shotgun to its head, then pleading silently with me to end its life.

Look what your careless hands have wrought.
posted by Sebmojo at 8:54 PM on October 12 [3 favorites has favorites]

Yes, it looks cool, purists would say it's a desecration. The Laverda RGS is a classic.
posted by Duke999R at 9:04 PM on October 12

Um...is it supposed to be ugly as fuck?
posted by clockzero at 9:20 PM on October 12

Ten years and 15k euros? For that?

What the hell is the point?
posted by aesacus at 9:48 PM on October 12 [1 favorite has favorites]

Possibly the daftest thing I've seen on the internet, and I've come straight from the in-car turntable thread...
posted by pompomtom at 9:55 PM on October 12

I'd try driving it.

As far as I can tell, it's effectively a car with the steering wheel mounted outside. It would be more fuel efficient than a car, I suspect, and it would have to be safer than a bike. You certainly have more cargo space than you'd get on a motorcycle. Gull wing-esque doors door -- you've got to love that. It looks easy to park (you're up above the car, high enough to see all four corners). What's not to like?

Sure, the mind reels at the astonishing wrongness of its appearance, but from a practical point of view this might actually be a decent way to get around.

Bonus: unlike a motorbike, you certainly don't need to worry about being blindsided by a truck that didn't notice you.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 10:48 PM on October 12

That's no side car, that's a car, on the side!
posted by paulsc at 1:38 AM on October 13

Malcolm Gladwell: 10,000 hours' hard work = outlier = success!
Him: 10,000 hours' hard work = outrider = almost certain calamity!
posted by dowcrag at 3:39 AM on October 13

That's a fine motorbike, but it has only three cylinders. This one has four
posted by hortense at 4:30 AM on October 13

Not a single SNAFU joke? What, too easy?
posted by rahnefan at 4:46 AM on October 13

If you have to ask why or wonder what the point is, you just don't get it.

That is fucking awesome!
posted by dg at 5:13 AM on October 13 [1 favorite has favorites]

When it's raining, and you're constantly wiping the water off your visor while feeling your crotch getting colder from the puddle forming at the low point of the seat, you'll look over at your passengers sipping a Starbucks latte and laughing at something on the radio and it will hit you:

I'm fucking nuts.
posted by tommasz at 7:58 AM on October 13

I would have thought that it'd resemble something closer to Kaneda's sweet bike, maybe with more swing away side paneling (in addition to the top front & back enclosure).

Something like this?
posted by brain_drain at 9:38 AM on October 13

Reminds me of the guy who just had to make his Ferrari look like a 2CV, at a cost of $250k.

To those of you who ask why people do this?

Because they can.
posted by MuffinMan at 12:47 PM on October 13

As to what the point is, I imagine this is the perfect vehicle for a man who is married to a high maintenance woman who wont shut up. Obviously its not aesthetics or performance.
posted by phoffmann at 7:41 AM on October 14

I love how he got it so incredibly wrong and apparently doesn't care.
posted by The Monkey at 9:47 PM on October 14