Video Reveals Questionably Safe DIY Project in Action – "Futuristic Motorcycle"

Folks, a YouTube channel named Meanwhile in the Garage has posted a video showing the progression of a moped into a vehicle unlike others seen on the streets.

The project before you has been dubbed nothing more than Futuristic Motorcycle by its creator. Frankly, it doesn't matter much what you call the design; the idea behind it is simple, how to protect a rider from the elements like rain, snow, and cold weather while taking a ride around town.

In this spirit, the channel's craftsman begins designing a sort of enclosed capsule around a moped's body, in the process, also adding a car seat, windows, and even a door for this one-person ride. Time to look at how you, too, can put together a trinket like this for your enjoyment.

Now, the video below is over one hour long, so to allow you to go about your life and not sit here reading an article for over an hour, I'll stick to the essential aspects that make this trinket what it is.

Step one of the process is to acquire a moped. It seems that just about any ride might do as long as you adapt the body frame to its size. The one used here is a two-person version.

Once you've got your vehicle, start stripping panels away, eliminate electrical lines, take off tires, all of it. Even the frame is cut into at one point, and the rear construction moved further away from the front.

It's now time to build another frame, and sure enough, square tube steel is used to create a new base for the machine. Once the bottom portion joins the front and rear of the moped, the craftsman creates an arched shape over the body, offering a preview of the things to come.

Once a few details have been worked out, it's then time to join the front of the motorcycle to give it its near-final appearance. But at this stage, you can already begin to see the machine taking shape.

With the front connected, it's time to start putting together the final touches. We see that the motorcycle handlebars are not quite what the gentleman in the video wants, so he shifts them to point downward with hand positioning at 9 and 3. However, this also meant tweaking the steering column to appropriately react to steering movements.

With final touches meaning the addition of a floor, doors, electrical lines, and everything else, and what you're left with is the Futuristic Motorcycle.

If you've had a chance to check out the video below, then you've also noticed how this sucker handles; to call it fidgety is an understatement. Why this happens could be because the machine is now very top-heavy with a shifted center of gravity and a modified steering column that is sure to add to the control issues displayed.

To combat this loss of control and to be able to take a turn without tipping over, we can see that the designer integrated a safety mechanism in the shape of a set of training wheels. I have no other point of reference to get you to grasp what's happening here. This means that, yes, nearly any time a turn is taken, these smaller lateral wheels must be deployed.

Oh, and this doesn't always work either. In one instance, just a tiny miscalculation in steering gave the whole column one heck of a speed wobble, ending in an eventual collapse with no injuries, just minor damage to the motorcycle. With some slight modifications and tuning, it was back on the road. Still, some things need to be addressed if you want to make your own.

Even though there are slight issues that revolve around handling, as was the case at one point, by enclosing the rider completely inside a protective shell, the aim of offering a barrier against the world around seems to have worked. I can't wait until this crew figures out how to solve the handling issues.