Japanese tow trucks

[Jenn]

Comment: Is this real?

Look....there's one now....



Here's two of them...



How do they work, you ask????



..... and away you go .......



If I hadn't seen the pictures, I would not have believed it!!!

[Aimee Evilpixie]

Transformers are real?!?

[RLS]

I would guess if the bike had a large enough engine it could tow a small car. Think how much easier it would be to get the tow bike to a stalled out car and get traffic moving again.

[jw]

Video here.

The tag line says, Orsm, A Swedish company came up with the design and modifications for the Goldwing tow bike.

However, goggling orsm brings up sites that are definitely nsfbsk.

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by RLS

I would guess if the bike had a large enough engine it could tow a small car. Think how much easier it would be to get the tow bike to a stalled out car and get traffic moving again.

With most of the weight up on the frame of the tow assembly, there is no reason these cycles could not tow any thing up to the size of a panel truck. They do not have to have heavy acceleration, particularly if they are not dealing with very steep inclines.

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by jw

Video here.

The tag line says, Orsm, A Swedish company came up with the design and modifications for the Goldwing tow bike.

However, goggling orsm brings up sites that are definitely nsfbsk.

Orsm.net seems to be a website for tittilating photos which just happens to have posted the video Sort of an online lads mag I suppose. The website of the company that makes the tow bike is:

http://www.comingthrough.se/

[Hero_Mike]

The Honda Goldwing has a 1.8L engine with over 100HP, and peak torque of 167 lb-ft. More than enough to power a large motorcycle, or a small car, or a large motorcycle towing a small car - as long as they don't have to go anywhere quickly, or uphill.

[RLS]

Does seem to have some limitations tho. Towing weight limit of 5500 lbs so it could tow a car or a small truck/SUV. Towing speed of 20mph so would not work well on interstate highways.

[Il-Mari]

Probably helps that there are lots of very small cars in Japan. Those things would have no problem with kei cars:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_cars

- Il-Mari

[TripleAAA]

Originally Posted by Aimee Evilpixie

Transformers are real?!?

Of course. They're more than meets the eye.

[niner]

I recall seeing pictures of these coming up on motorcycle boards a few years back, when the Swedish company first started demoing them. Pretty cool idea, especially in areas where smaller cars and shorter distances are common.

The Honda Goldwing is a huge, American-styled bike, so no surprise one could tow with it. I rode with a guy who had one like these and he could take off pretty well. They've got an 1.8L engine, which is bigger than some small cars in America - my Yaris had a 1.5L and could tow (in Canada) 800 lbs. The Yaris weiged 2300 lbs, and the Goldwing weighs 800 lbs.

Henry

[Troberg]

Originally Posted by jw

The tag line says, Orsm, A Swedish company came up with the design and modifications for the Goldwing tow bike.

Some thoughts on this:

* Orsm does not sound Swedish, but of course, it could be an acronym.
* It's unlikely that such a design would originate in Sweden, because:
** You are not allowed to tow with a motorcycle (there are a few exceptions, with light weight trailers).
** You are not allowed to tow something heavier than the towing vehicle (with some exceptions for trucks and slow speed towing).
** The brakes of a motorcycle would not be able to stop that load, so it wouldn't be allowed. Being able to get the load moving is easy, stopping it is hard.

Now, just because it's far, far from street legal in Sweden doesn't mean that it couldn't have been made exclusively for the export market, but it's so far from Swedish thinking that I think it makes it more unlikely.

That said, it's cool and I want one.

[Floater]

I've never heard of the thing but the film was made in Stockholm. The fence you can see at the end goes around the Italian embassy.

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by Troberg

Some thoughts on this:

* Orsm does not sound Swedish, but of course, it could be an acronym.

Eddylizard pointed out that Orsm.net seems to be a lad-mag type site that's a possible source for the pictures.

I think it's a play on "Awesome" (presumably hosted in an area with non-rhotic accents...).

[DemonWolf]

Originally Posted by Troberg

Now, just because it's far, far from street legal in Sweden doesn't mean that it couldn't have been made exclusively for the export market, but it's so far from Swedish thinking that I think it makes it more unlikely.

As you said, perhaps it was made for exportr. Perhaps they are hoping that the local authorities will make an exception for towing companies using this type of bike.


It would also be useful for tight areas where a conventional tow truck would not be able to reach, like towing a disabled vehicle out of a tunnel or a very narrow street.

[Troberg]

Originally Posted by DemonWolf

Perhaps they are hoping that the local authorities will make an exception for towing companies using this type of bike.

Trust me, that will not happen. It's too far outside what's street legal for them to even consider it. You can't even get an exception for having orange lights instead of yellow lights on the front. Trust me, I've tried.

Legally, it fails for all the reasons I've mentioned above, and all of them are too severe to get an exception, and together, it's downright impossible.

Safety wise, it's a too heavy load for a too light vehicle. It can't properly control the load, it can't brake properly, and if the brakes are insufficient, the driver is likely to get squished between whatever is in front of him and the towed vehicle.

You can get an exception for heavy/large/dangerous/emergency transports (my company makes software to assist the cities in this), but these are handed out on a per case basis and usually requires the transport to follow a special route at a certain time, to have warning vehicles in front and behind the transport and to have a person responsible for the safety of the transport. The exception is also a one time thing, you need to apply for it for every single transport, and it requires some manual handling of paperwork each time. I just don't see that working with these tow bikes.

If I were to make a motorcycle based assist vehicle, I would instead stuff it full of tools and a starter battery and have mechanics zoom around and fix broken down vehicles. That would be useful and street legal.

It would also be useful for tight areas where a conventional tow truck would not be able to reach, like towing a disabled vehicle out of a tunnel or a very narrow street.

They have the authority to move other vehicles if needed to reach a vehicle that needs to be towed, as long as they are returned or not moved out of sight from where they were parked. Streets that are so narrow that a tow truck can't operate are closed for traffic anyway.

[JoeBentley]

Originally Posted by A Turtle Named Mack

With most of the weight up on the frame of the tow assembly, there is no reason these cycles could not tow any thing up to the size of a panel truck. They do not have to have heavy acceleration, particularly if they are not dealing with very steep inclines.

That's what I was thinking, that these is a concept or prototype, probably not a production vehicle, and an urban tow vehicle for retrieving broken down vehicles within the confines of a city, where speeds are going to stay moderate and road conditions and elevation are not going to be a big issue.

Yes it's probably a tow truck, but I doubt it fills the exact same niche as what we generally think of as a tow truck.

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by JoeBentley

That's what I was thinking, that these is a concept or prototype, probably not a production vehicle, and an urban tow vehicle for retrieving broken down vehicles within the confines of a city, where speeds are going to stay moderate and road conditions and elevation are not going to be a big issue.

Yes it's probably a tow truck, but I doubt it fills the exact same niche as what we generally think of as a tow truck.

I know when we have breakdowns around here on the major roads, the lanes get backed up so thoroughly that it is hard for regular tow trucks to get to them. A vehicle like this could navigate even the tightest of emergency lanes and between lines of traffic under most conditions. I don't think we have a major road in the whole metro area that is steep enough that this tow vehicle could not handle it. For these reasons, I think something like this would be awesome around here, as an auxiliary to our HERO units which offer mechanical, tire-changing, extra gas, etc. to keep traffic moving.

[kanazawa]

Originally Posted by Il-Mari

Probably helps that there are lots of very small cars in Japan. Those things would have no problem with kei cars:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_cars

- Il-Mari

For one thing the license plate on the car being towed is not Japanese.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle...on_plate#Japan

It must be some other country where they use chinese characters, so China, Taiwan, HK or San Francisco

And, I can't recall seeing a tow truck in Japan. Japanese cars never break down, and Japanese people are too polite to park in violation of the law...

[Richard W]

I think it's a Chinese plate, but you can't see it clearly enough to read the character for the region.