Triski Was Once the Peak of Amphibious Engineering Then It Just Disappeared

Cue the Triski, a vehicle that you no longer need to leave behind once you’ve encountered lakes, streams, and even coastlines. The Triski is an amphibious vehicle that switches roles at the press of a button so that the only thing you need to worry about is getting water in your boots.

The crew behind this weird invention is Quadski, a team that was only on the market from 2013 to 2016, time in which they put out 1,000 vehicles, no more, no less. Today, the only presence they report having on the market is as a spare parts supplier for their existing vehicles. Even though this crew is no longer selling new rides like the Quadski, Quadski XL, and Biski, it should still be nice to see what the heck we missed out on; the fourth vehicle in their lineup was the Triski.

What is the Triski exactly? Well, just like all the other vehicles that came out of this company, it’s an amphibious one and also based around a tricycle design, as its name would suggest. Two wheels at the front and one at the back is the sort of tricycle design that offers more stability than ATC designs, with one wheel at the front and two at the rear.

Now, the Triski is the sort of vehicle that will perform on land as well as on water. So to give riders a complete feeling of speed no matter if they ride on land or a lake, a two-cylinder turbocharged engine can kick up the land speed all the way up to 85 mph (136 kph) due to a peak 135-horsepower output.

As for when it may be time to hit the local coastline, all you’ve got to do is slowly drive into water, press the button found on the handlebar, and watch the magic happen as your Triski shifts abilities. With the help of a Gibbs dual-jet and custom propulsion system, all 1,323 lbs (600 kg) of this machine can zip around with speeds upwards of 45 mph (72.4 kph). Honestly, that’s pretty dang fast, considering you may have a hard time holding on at speeds over 50 mph; I know I did when I rode my first jetski.

Making sure you stay as safe on the streets as you do on the seas, road and marine lighting are available on the Triski. Giving you a smooth ride as you hit the streets trying to dry yourself off with speed, a coil-over spring suspension with dampers will be taking care of you and your ride’s components.

If you have a look at the video below, you’ll be able to see this puppy and all its wonderous might in action. All I can say is that this thing looks like a heck of a lot of fun, and I may have to track down someone who may have one of these as I feel a test drive is in order. Since no one is building these anymore, it may be rather tricky to find one in working order.

When these unicorns were selling, they were going for a cool $40,000 (€34,447 at current exchange rates), which isn’t bad considering you can rip open the streets and seas with the same cool vehicle. I wonder how well these stood up to the elements.