NightTrain
02-11-2016, 08:06 AM
Stumbled across this little beauty this morning. This is made in Russia where ATV rides you! No, not really, but it sounded funny.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3j7n00Xx38o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I can see a couple of great benefits to this design and a few serious flaws.
This one is demonstrated on a frozen lake with no sort of uneven terrain. He drives it on thin ice and breaks through, and it floats perfectly fine. Thanks to those paddle-style tires, it can achieve a top speed in water of 3.7 MPH, which isn't bad at all for a wheeled vehicle in that environment. And then it easily climbs back out of the water and onto the ice.
This would be great for Fire Departments & Coast Guard rescue operations where they're trying to rescue people or animals that have fallen through the ice and can't get out, and in that situation seconds count because of imminent hypothermia. I've seen a ton of videos of a rescuer slowly inching his way to the victim on his belly, tied with ropes to other guys so they can pull him back... this takes time to set up and many people end up drowning while the rescuers try to figure out how to get to them safely.
The downside is that in any kind of frozen river with a current greater than 3.7, this wouldn't work - the river would force it on the downriver side of the ice and I can see it flipping - and that's almost certain death to the operator. Besides the current exceeding the ATV's water speed, rivers fluctuate in depth constantly, and most river ice is hollow. This means if you break through, there's a difference in the surface of the water and the top of the ice pack of a few feet sometimes - and that would make it impossible for this to climb back out. Still, that would buy time for rescuers to get other equipment to the site to extricate all parties.
The dangerous aspect of this ATV, though, is the general public having one of these and trying to use it like you would any ATV. That means a lot of hills and uneven terrain. It doesn't take a genius to see at first glance that this is a serious rollover hazard design because of the center of gravity being so high combined with a short wheelbase. It has to be high because of the huge tires, there's no way around that.
Another hazard are those paddle-style tires. Any kind of side-hilling with this and that baby will go sideways in a hurry - until you slid into something like a small rock, and then it's going to roll like a beach ball.
Still, if you used this one properly and kept it on level ground with the knowledge of that tippy nature, it would be a blast!
Just the cool factor of this looking like a Tonka from my childhood makes me want one.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3j7n00Xx38o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I can see a couple of great benefits to this design and a few serious flaws.
This one is demonstrated on a frozen lake with no sort of uneven terrain. He drives it on thin ice and breaks through, and it floats perfectly fine. Thanks to those paddle-style tires, it can achieve a top speed in water of 3.7 MPH, which isn't bad at all for a wheeled vehicle in that environment. And then it easily climbs back out of the water and onto the ice.
This would be great for Fire Departments & Coast Guard rescue operations where they're trying to rescue people or animals that have fallen through the ice and can't get out, and in that situation seconds count because of imminent hypothermia. I've seen a ton of videos of a rescuer slowly inching his way to the victim on his belly, tied with ropes to other guys so they can pull him back... this takes time to set up and many people end up drowning while the rescuers try to figure out how to get to them safely.
The downside is that in any kind of frozen river with a current greater than 3.7, this wouldn't work - the river would force it on the downriver side of the ice and I can see it flipping - and that's almost certain death to the operator. Besides the current exceeding the ATV's water speed, rivers fluctuate in depth constantly, and most river ice is hollow. This means if you break through, there's a difference in the surface of the water and the top of the ice pack of a few feet sometimes - and that would make it impossible for this to climb back out. Still, that would buy time for rescuers to get other equipment to the site to extricate all parties.
The dangerous aspect of this ATV, though, is the general public having one of these and trying to use it like you would any ATV. That means a lot of hills and uneven terrain. It doesn't take a genius to see at first glance that this is a serious rollover hazard design because of the center of gravity being so high combined with a short wheelbase. It has to be high because of the huge tires, there's no way around that.
Another hazard are those paddle-style tires. Any kind of side-hilling with this and that baby will go sideways in a hurry - until you slid into something like a small rock, and then it's going to roll like a beach ball.
Still, if you used this one properly and kept it on level ground with the knowledge of that tippy nature, it would be a blast!
Just the cool factor of this looking like a Tonka from my childhood makes me want one.