Chances are slim that when you think of a two wheel drive, you envision yourself riding smoothly through a muddy, sticky situation. Well, there is a Russian motorbike – the Taurus 2×2 – that wants to change that.
The Taurus 2×2 looks nothing like your typical motorbike; for one, it’s a two wheel drive bike. In addition to the fact it has 25-inch diameter fat wheels, which are 12-inch wide. It oozes off an aura of a tractor than a motorbike at first glance, and it probably will take you through placed only tractors are used to.
It is actually an agricultural bike meant to take you through all the mud and slush of the upcountry farms. It is a lightweight bike that you can actually disassemble and put in the trunk of your car.
There is nothing to write home about on the bikes engine power. The Russian maker recommends a Honda GX210 engine, but you can also have it with a lightweight chainsaw motor on a budget. It all depends on your preference on performance versus the weight.
The Taurus 2×2 bike specs
The bike comes with a 210 cc engine, weights 82kg (181 lb) as the recommended specs, but one can get a really lightweight 60kg (132 lb) engine. Making the Taurus really light to haul up into the trunk of your car or over any obstacle on the way that you can ride over with its gigantic 25×12 inch fat tires.
You are advised to keep the tires pressures low, not more than 3 psi. The bike was designed for the real extreme outback, rough, and muddy roads. Thus it has no suspensions, keep the tires too inflated, and you will be thrown off the bike when you ride even a big enough stick on the road.
The front end of the bike has a rigid geometry that makes two-wheel drive possible, as it has a second chain drive powering the front wheel. The maker of the bike, however, does not give many details as to how the bike proportions power between the front and rear wheels.
The bike appears to have a two-speed gearbox with top speeds of 35 km/h (22 mph). The Taurus 2×2 comes with a utility rack on the front and rear that can be used to carry things around. And when you get into a lot of mud on the road, with big tires filled with air and the lightness of the bike, you can wash off the must by floating it on a river and throttling it a bit.
At the end of the day, you can take the bike apart in about five minutes and haul it up inside your station wagon or SUV. You can remove the wheels, and disassemble the motorbike very quickly. To get your hands on this bike, you will have to part with about $1,100, though the company is not shipping internationally just yet.