Kiwi businessman Alan Gibbs’ company has unveiled three new street-legal amphibious concepts – a side-by-side all-terrain-vehicle (ATV) and two and three-wheel motorcycles.
Gibbs Amphibian Ltd used the American International Motorcycle expo in Florida to show off the Terraquad ATV and the Biski and Triski motorcycles.
All three become jet skis in seconds, retracting their wheels and switching to jet propulsion at the touch of a button.
The side-by-side Terraquad is based on the earlier Quadski platform and adds roof bars and a rear load deck.
At 690kg it’s heavier than the Quadski but uses the same 104kW engine for a top speed of 80km/h on land and 65km/h on water.
The Biski (pictured at top) is a two-wheeled motorcycle powered by a two-cylinder 40kW engine.
It can hussle along at 80km/h on land and, once its wheels are tucked into the aluminium hull, can reach 60km/h on water. The company says it can cope with a rider weighing up to 120kg.
The road-legal Triski gets one more wheel, a much more powerful engine and a slightly bigger payload rating.
Its turbocharged two-cylinder engine is rated at 100kW, good enough for 135km/h on land. But the three-wheel design slows it down on water, where its limit is 65km/h.
Gibbs’ first vehicle was the 160km/h Aquada sportscar of 2003, but production was stymied by regulatory safety issues for an amphibious passenger car.
Others, like the Humdinga and Quadski ATV, found a way to market because, as recreational vehicles, aren’t subject to the same safety scrutiny. Nor are motorcycles and trikes.