Whether it is electric-powered or gas-powered, the drift trike is super fun and exhilarating on hard grounds like tarmac, concrete, and interlocking tiles paver. It works on softer surfaces like grass too but not without kicking up copious amounts of dust or chewing up the grasses. And not chewing up the grass was the goal of mad garage inventor Colin Fuze’s latest drift trike.
The man has made quite a handful of trikes, including a regular electric one, a gas-powered one, and even a pulse jet-powered trike but this latest project, an attempt to make a gas-powered drift trike with wheels that will not tear up the lush greens, or at least minimize the impact. The result is this: a drift trike with spherical wheels that is grass-friendly.
Colin scratch built the drift trike and equipped it with hydroformed steel spherical wheels. As always, the build video is satisfying to watch but it is particularly satisfying with this video as we witness the spherical wheel take shape through hydroforming.
Anyhoo, the custom drift trike with spherical wheels does drift on the grass and yes, does donuts too, all without separating the grass from the dirt. Though it may have suffered some burns in the process… However, the traction is erratic.
Because of the smooth ball wheels and the naturally low coefficient of friction of grass, this trike sometimes doesn’t get the traction it needs to power up slopes. I suspect it guzzles more gas than it should when doing the drift as the motor has to work harder for little result. But it works and we never knew spherical wheels would look so cool on a trike. Skip ahead for the said video.
Images: YouTube (colinfurze).
