Caterham Cars launches bike range
This has been on the cards for a while, but now it seems that Caterham Cars has spun another wheel of possible fortune by revealing a range of bikes that it plans to put onto the market as early as next year (2014).
▲ Above: Caterham Cars plans to move into the bike world with the 750cc, DOHC, water-cooled Brutus. Looks like a big Tonka Toy, but does it have any off-road cred? Or is Caterham just muddying its identity?
There are three models in the pipeline. The first is the (above) Brutus which is being hyped as "the SUV of motorcycles" and is powered by a 750cc quad bike engine driving 14-inch wheels via a quad bike (CVT) transmission.
We don't know where Caterham expects this bike to be deployed, but no doubt someone somewhere will find a use for it. Al Quaeda, maybe.
▲ Above: Looks like a board tracker racer and probably sounds like a hairdryer. But the Classic E-Bike is (sort of) British, and electric is the future. Allegedly.
Also on offer is the Classis E-bike (immediately above) which is designed to look like a board track racer from the early part of the last century, but is powered by pedals and a 250-watt electric motor. That V-twin lump in the middle of the frame, by the way, is a dummy casing to house the 36-volt battery pack. The frame is aluminium. The fork is a springer design. The rear hub is a 3-speed Shimano unit. And the wheels are 26-inch (with a disc brake at the front).
Caterham reckon that this "fusion" machine, designed by Alessandro Tartarini, will offer a range of 25-50 miles, and the firm reminds us that the bike doesn't need a licence in the EU. But there's no word on the maximum or cruising speed. In fact, there's no comment on the performance of any of these bikes. So pick a number, and halve it.
▲ Above: We think Caterham is missing a trick. They should drop the phoney engine idea and make a feature of the bike's electric credentials as we have with our Photoshopped rendition. Just stick a decent battery pack in the middle of the frame and sell the advertising space.
▲ Above: Plenty of high-tech on offer, but they won't be giving it away. The Caterham name, however, has a fair amount of kudos attached and might translate into hard cash. We can see them selling a few of these. But how few?
Finally, the bike above, marketed as the Carbon E-Bike, has a similar specification to its Classic-E stablemate, but with an 8-speed Shimano Nexus gear hub. The technology, say Caterham, is largely drawn from its F1 developments. The fork is girder. Rear suspension is monoshock. Brakes are disc.
Caterham Cars is a private limited company founded in 1973 by Graham Nearn. During the 1960s, the company had been a dealer for the iconic Lotus 7 designed by Colin Chapman. When Chapman announced that he was ending production of the "Seven", Graham Nearn stepped in and bought the manufacturing rights.
Two years ago (April 2011), the company was bought by Malaysian Formula One Team owner Tony Fernandes who's trying to move the game on. So what's the price for these creations?
No word as yet, but they're not going to be cheap, and times are tough. Some would say that Caterham should stick to what it does best. But we say good luck to 'em if they can pull it off.
— Big End
Copyright Sump Publishing 2013