Man, stranded in the desert, makes a motorcycle from his broken car

http://hackaday.com/2012/05/21/man-stranded-in-the-desert-makes-a-motorcycle-from-his-broken-car/

by jcubic • 14 years ago

300 100 14 years ago

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zoidb• 14 years ago

would be awesome if it was true

bnegreve• 14 years ago

What makes you think it is fake ?

unimpressive• 14 years ago

The motorcycle may be real, but the story is bull.

12 days. In the desert.

I doubt this dude keeps two weeks of water in his trunk.

debacle2• 14 years ago

It's very likely that it's fake. It's very difficult to survive in the desert for twelve days, even if you have adequate water, let alone survive and find the energy to build a motorcycle, as rudimentary as this one might be.

Finally, in a few of the pictures the supposed engineer of this contraption is shown in a thong. I don't know about you, but if I were in an arid place the last thing I would want is my skin exposed to sun and the air.

It may be a real motorcycle, and that's cool, but it's very unlikely it was built under the conditions discussed in this article.

maak• 14 years ago

Agree. The motorcycle may well exist, but it certainly wasn't constructed by a man stranded in the desert. Not plausible.

Estragon• 14 years ago

Yes. Also, would he really have bothered to attach a kickstand to it, in an emergency like that?

ovi256• 14 years ago

I see no reason why it can't be true. He left equiped for a long distance desert trip (raid). He had water and food for more than two weeks. At no point was his life in danger.

His car broke down several dozen kilometers from a town, and he knew that. He chose not to go back on foot, because he didn't find that fun, and he wanted to have fun. He's a mechanic and tinkerer, went there on holiday, the military turned him around, so he found something else to do: build a motorbike.

In a subsequent trip he turned the same car model (Citroen 2CV) into a floating barge, just to cross a river. He could have crossed that river farther away in a multitude of ways, but this is his idea of fun.

tl;dr: guy can walk back to civilization in a day or two after his car breaks down in Morocco, he chooses to build a motorcycle from car parts instead.

Why? For fun.

Edit: I feel that reading the full story on the original site (in French) dispels much of the doubt.

S_A_P• 14 years ago

I'm having trouble believing that one person can accomplish this in 12 days with few tools could disassemble a car and build something even remotely drive-able without a welding torch, engine jack, and countless other tools. Was he stranded in the desert in the way that I imagine?(no water, sand dunes everywhere) Or did he end up in some desert town that had basic facilities for him to do this type of work?

Even the most skilled machinist would have a tough time doing this. Seems implausible.

gouranga• 14 years ago

A Citroen 2CV is pretty much tinfoil with an engine attached. It's definitely feasible even with hand tools.

With respect to survival, if you head into a desert, you take supplies galore. The 12 days was probably due to the heat so you can only work at dusk/dawn and seek shelter during the day to conserve water/rations. 2CV is very simple and can carry a lot of stuff. It's nearly ideal.

I take a 72 hour pack and am happy doing 50mi+ on foot if i go more than 10mi from home after a couple of experiences being stranded in rural areas in the UK. Imagine what that guy was carrying in the desert!

AkThhhpppt2• 14 years ago

It's stated that he didn't have to go far; one of the reasons he didn't just abandon the car and walk was the amount of tools that he'd be leaving behind to be stolen, so...

kghose• 14 years ago

Also, I would like to add to the general skepticism. A kick stand? Really?

GigabyteCoin• 14 years ago

He even took the time to attach a license plate again: http://chameaudacier.free.fr/moto3.html

Something tells me this was planned.

mkr-hn2• 14 years ago

The last thing you want after a 12-day ordeal in the desert is a four-hour wait at the DMV to get a new plate.

astrodust3• 14 years ago

I don't know about you, but I'd rather not end up in a Moroccan jail for driving an unlicensed vehicle.

brohee4• 14 years ago

You really got to read it in French to get it. The "kick stand" really is the tank filling tube, repurposed.

rokhayakebe• 14 years ago

By the way, it seems he used the reverse gear, which means there would be no need to shift.

ComputerGuru• 14 years ago

If I'm not mistaken, the only reason you don't have to shift a reverse gear is just because there's only one of it (you're not supposed to be able to do 150mph in reverse in a car that can do 150mph normally).

If you had a one-speed car, you wouldn't have to shift gears if you were in "forward," either.

xd3• 14 years ago

When I was young, I really really wanted a motorbike and at the same time my dad collected 2CVs which for some I would strip for parts .. this guy would have been my hero back then.

leftnode• 14 years ago

The man just happened to be named Tony Stark.

cellis• 14 years ago

Reminds me of Flight of The Phoenix more than Iron Man

robomartin• 14 years ago

I hope Myth Busters read HN. This would be a good one: Can you take a 2CV and turn it into a motorcycle and river-crossing barge.

xd3• 14 years ago

2CVs where the first cars I ever stripped apart .. you can see in the pictures where he has one of the drive shaft brake hubs strapped up and the other side is placed in direct contact with the wheel to drive it .. simply genius. No question this is real and would work .. however the jury is out on it being constructed in the desert in 12 days .. but I'd put my money on it being true.

wazoox• 14 years ago

The concept of transmission by friction with the tire comes directly from the Solex, another highly hackable vehicle that any young Frenchman born between 1930 and 1980 would be quite used to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solex

astrodust3• 14 years ago

They could build a bike like that on Junkyard Wars in less than two commercial breaks. Granted, they do have all the equipment they need...

drostie• 14 years ago

I didn't see it on their forum, so I submitted it there, under the "Historical 'Fact' Myths" section. With hope it will make it into next season.

Splines• 14 years ago

Turns on Mythbusters

Narrarator: On this episode of Mythbusters...

Adam shouts: I can't believe it works!

cut to build team blowing up unrelated object

Turns TV off

Well, that answers that question.

Luc• 14 years ago

Supposing it's a true story, here's the region where he took his 2CV off-road: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=agadir&hl=en&ll=28.294...

Looks deserty to me!

Plus, his 2CV was loaded with tools, and they are really quite simple mechanically....

antidoh• 14 years ago

Was the guy an RC motorcycle designer?

studio816• 14 years ago

+1 for a true hacker!

bryanlarsen• 14 years ago

vladsanchez is right, but he's been hell-banned, so I'll rephrase his comment:

This is the sort of thing that would make a great Mythbusters episode.

obilgic• 14 years ago

lol, one simply can't move that engine by himself...

brohee4• 14 years ago

Weakling.

A 2CV motor is at most (later versions with 600cm3 motor) 66kg heavy.

See https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moteur_de_Citro%C3%ABn_2CV

nicholassmith4• 14 years ago

I understand why people are calling 'hoax' on it, but it is really possible, especially given that area of Morocco has an average temp of about 18C according to the internet. If he built himself a shade from the shell as the first stage he'd be pretty good for surviving the aspects of dehydration.

Plus anyone who's ever been near a 2CV know you could probably drill through the metal with a pencil if you tried hard enough.

Edit: some more info on why it's possible.

- 2CV weighs roughly 560kg, they were built to save weight all round so the body panels, frame work and mechanical components were built 'light' (read thin, no carbon fibre here).

- The engine will have been heavy, but it's a relatively small simple block, it won't have been easy but "give me a fulcrum and I will move the world". It's doable, I'm pretty sure if I bug the petrol heads I know I'll find one who's done it on something similar or tell me how it's done. Edit: brohee (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4008052) posts that the engine is 66kg, which isn't super ridiculously heavy. Find someone who's around that weight and see if you can pick them up.

- If you're going on a desert holiday, taking water is a smart idea. 14 days water would be about 8/9 gallons for a man weighing 12 stone (I think, unless the 'recommended minimum water per day' calculation I found is useless). That seems like a lot, it's about 4 of the jugs used on water coolers, so he might have rationed it out and had less.

To round it off for you naysayers: http://citcity.citroen1.info/2CV/water.htm if multiple people can make boats out of them to race about a local lake there's every possibility someone could figure out how to make a bike.

(and yes, I'm locked into a 2CV research spiral now)

einhverfr4• 14 years ago

I was right with you until I started thinking about cooling the engine down and little things like that. I concluded that if you took the engine block from a car to do this, you'd end up with something looking like a cross between a motorcycle and a lorry....

rjsw• 14 years ago

The engine in a 2CV is aircooled.

Peroni• 14 years ago

Aircooled engine plus is a relatively small engine. One person could lift it clean off the ground without any extra leverage.

You need to consider that the mechanics of an engine back in 1990 (last year the 2CV was produced) were unbelievably basic compared to modern engines.

To be honest, I've no doubt the guy built this however it baffles me that he chose to take this approach rather than repair the vehicle. People argue it was more than a snapped swing arm but I'm confused as it would take significantly more damage to render it irreparable for a man of his obvious ability. We can rule out engine and chassis failure as these were key components in his 'motorbike'.

Bottom line, this is bloody fascinating, regardless of what the truth may be.

why-el2• 14 years ago

I have been in the area several times and it is very habitable (Although the temperatures are not very accurate, I don't think its anything less that 25-to-30 around March, especially when sites are reporting 19 even now, in May). The southern Sahara is less harsh that its eastern one (The one bordering Algeria), and has less dunes of course, thats way you don't see them in the pictures. Living dozens of kilometers away from the city of Tan-Tan (French article said he could have walked there) can boost confidence.

nicholassmith4• 14 years ago

Even 30(C or F, I'm guessing C) is dealable. Being inside shade helps a lot, especially one conducting heat mostly into the ground (someone with a better physics background can tell me I'm wrong on that though).

dclowd9901• 14 years ago

The hoax people are calling surround the fact he somehow fabricated a motorcycle from his car with a broken swing arm, but couldn't simply fabricate a new or fixed swingarm.

nicholassmith4• 14 years ago

From the people who've read the French that's not the only thing that was broken.

GitHub is littered with people who came up with crazy solutions rather than fixing the problem in the existing. Hacking is not limited to just software.

ktizo4• 14 years ago

I wonder what the hoax people really are.

lloeki• 14 years ago

The swing arm was bent, while the subframe was dead broken. That's not especially easy to fix.

Tsagadai• 14 years ago

I've seen a bear of a man lift a 750kg engine out of a chassis (he gave himself a hernia several years later doing the same thing). I'd say it's possible but possibly a hoax.

nessus42• 14 years ago

I mail ordered my girlfriend from Romania and she arrived in a box:

http://gaffa.mit.edu/ydelivery/index.html

screwt2• 14 years ago

For all the people expressing doubt, please:

- read the original story [1], in full. Google translate is your friend if you can't read French.

- find out a bit more about the 2CV car before commenting. It really is a very simple vehicle.

Ovi256's explanation [2] also gives a bit more context.

This story is emminently believable. And an impressive hack!

[1] http://chameaudacier.free.fr/moto2.html

[2] http://news.ycombinator.org/item?id=4007857

brohee4• 14 years ago

http://french.cars.free.fr/moto2cv/index.htm

is a much better article about what was really done.

einhverfr4• 14 years ago

Interestingly as per my comment above, the image they shows does look like a cross between a lorry and a motorcycle.....

periferral• 14 years ago

Credibility of this is very doubtful indeed. Even if the 2CV was easy to deal with mechanically, the task of doing this in itself is a challenge in the middle of the desert. Add to that he didn't plan on breaking down and had tools + food/water to last him the trip. Then you take the precision of the work itself. He even bothered to add a license plate and he managed to level it as well.

djbender• 14 years ago

I want to believe.

drone• 14 years ago

The part that sets off my incredulity here is that the whole purpose was "he had a lot of tools that he didn't want to get stolen." I have a hard time believing that bike can hold more tools than one could carry, or otherwise drag with a simple sled.

einhverfr4• 14 years ago

The picture suggests to me that the "bike" if you could call it that is actually more of a two-wheeled open car. The changes are remarkably minor. I suspect it could hold the tools just fine.

sbmassey• 14 years ago

Even more amazingly, he made a boat from another broken 2CV on another occasion in Africa. My, those 2CV's sure do break a lot.

http://chameaudacier.free.fr/bato1.html

giardini• 14 years ago

I'm starting to get the picture here. Emil Leray just happens to serendipitously have the tools available to convert a 2CV to whatever he needs at the moment. I thought we would have to wait for nanotechnology for this to happen, but apparently Citroen got there first with the 2CV.

I think we've found the solution for lunar colonization: we'll launch Emile into a moon orbit with 5 or 6 2CVs and let him figure it out from there. Only downside: official language of the moon will be French.

ktizo4• 14 years ago

This has already occurred, is just that the French are keeping it secret until they have finished the final alignment checks on the giant laser. I think they plan to unveil it for the London Olympics by burning the words Vive la France onto Boris Johnson live on TV during the opening ceremony.

aqme28• 14 years ago

The 2CV is the modern-day transformer. It just took us a couple of years (and also a full set of tools and a whole lot of talent) to find out.

schme• 14 years ago

In this light this article is obviously fabricated, but I don't understand what people are so worked up about even without this information. It makes a nice story and that's what media does, nice stories. At this day and age I think people should have enough mediareading-skills and sceptisism that colouring a story would be an assumption, not a shock.

noonespecial• 14 years ago

If happen to have the tools to turn you car into a friggin' motor bike in the middle of the desert, wouldn't it have been easier just to fix whatever went wrong on the car in the first place?

AkThhhpppt2• 14 years ago

The swing arm and one of the two main structural parts of the chassis broke. He'd want to have a welder with him.

screwt2• 14 years ago

Well if you read one of the original articles, you'll find out why.

ktizo4• 14 years ago

But possibly a lot less entertaining.

xd3• 14 years ago

From memory the 2CV had brake drums attached to the gearboxs differential CV shafts, you can see this in the pictures and he has strapped one up which puts all power into the other side allowing him to drive the wheel by placing the brake drum in direct contact with the wheel.

Later version of the 2CV had discs .. I wonder if it would have been possibly if he had that configuration.

frontier• 14 years ago

When I read this I just thought (assuming he couldn't just Macgyver the original problem) why didn't he just dig a hole, bury the 'expensive' tools, walk back to civilization, buy the spare part, return, fix, dig up tools, be on his way!

astrodust3• 14 years ago

There's no spare part when you break the frame of a car. Burying is probably an option, as was probably just pushing the damned car the 10km distance (<1km a day over twelve days).

Then again, he did think, in classic programmer units, that it would take only "three days" to make it work.

waivej3• 14 years ago

I have to admit, I had a shred of doubt. Though I can see myself doing this exact project. I would absolutely add the kick stand and license plate. He probably also wanted to make it look cool.

Camping in the desert isn't outrageous either. Anyone that's spent a week at Burning Man tinkering with art cars and construction projects can appreciate the challenge. You're there with a partial tool kit, enough water for 10-12 days, and appetite for a creative project. The one thing out of my comfort is the "war zone".

waivej3• 14 years ago

It looks like it would perform very poorly (a bit like a recumbent tricycle project I abandoned.) It has a really long wheelbase and a lot of weight up high. I bet the steering was less than ideal too.

I wonder if he would have been better off keeping the front axle/engine assembly intact and adding a single trailing wheel.

waivej3• 14 years ago

BTW, this would be an awesome event. Everyone camps in a desert with a 2CV (or collection of parts) take a week and have a race/parade back to some location.

kaybe• 14 years ago

This event has a similar spirit: http://www.4ltrophy.com/ (french) / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4L_Trophy

They're using Renault 4s, and it's not mainly about hacking, but still.

seanp2k2• 14 years ago

As a long-time fan of Junkyard Wars, I approve :)

georgieporgie• 14 years ago

The part that made me dubious was that he had sufficient hacksaw blades and a rat-tail file, but no hand drill. I'm having a hard time thinking of why one would pack blades and a file, but no drill...

But hey, I figure this is the type of guy who knowingly puts himself into risky situations with sub-par transportation for the sake of testing his own resourcefulness. I do that sort of thing, too.

wisty• 14 years ago

This was 1993. Battery powered hand drills may not have been so common. They certainly wouldn't have been so cheap.

ars• 14 years ago

Hand drill: http://www.garrettwade.com/a-real-solid-hand-drill/p/89B04.0...

They are human powered.

matthiasb• 14 years ago

The guy actually got a ticket for riding a vehicle which is not conform with the local legislation ;-) http://chameaudacier.free.fr/pv.jpg

That pic is so funny, don't miss it: http://chameaudacier.free.fr/moto8.html

That would be a great subject for analysis by the owner of this blog I like to read: http://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/

sparknlaunch12• 14 years ago

Looks like something out of Mad Max or Water World. It sounds like a hoax just by the fact - why didn't the guy just fix the car instead of building a motorcycle? Also, don't think he followed the desert survival guide (1):

"Stay as hydrated as possible before going out.

Take along food that packs the most nutrition in the least size and weight.

Wear wicking fabrics with a UPF of at least 30 as a base layer, and take along one warming layer (wool or fleece) and one windbreak layer.

Many deserts are prone to dust storms - protect yourself.

Travel at night when possible.

Try to stay as warm as possible at night.

Be wary of nocturnal animals that can harm you."

Typically you are meant to stay with the vehicle.

http://www.wikihow.com/Survive-in-the-Desert

elorant• 14 years ago

MacGyver would be jealous!

Aissen• 14 years ago

So, I'm a french native and I read the story. Here are simple facts:

- it's from 2003, and at the time all the magazines were talking about it - I don't remember it.

- the guy was a few tens of kilometers of a city/village — he could have come back on foot in less than a day, but chose to stay to protect his car (haha ! ;-)) and his equipment.

- He had lots of resources (food/water), so he decided to stay, and build the project he probably have been dreaming for a long time.

- the guy wasn't a newbie in mechanics and knew the car (a very well known french brand) by heart. He also happened to have all the tools necessary in his car.

Timothee• 14 years ago

Correction: the events took place in 1993 but it was published in 2003. (see http://chameaudacier.free.fr/moto1.html)

Killah911• 14 years ago

It's also interesting to note that the entire motorcycle looks like a large driveshaft. This is straight up BS. putting in a tranny that doesn't belong in a certain type of car id pain in the butt enough. Unless this guy was traveling with a pack of Snap-On trucks & a mobile mechanic shop, this would be impossible, not to mention an utterly stupid thing to do, no matter how much of a "petrol-head" you are.

The only part of the article that has any validity to it is the citroen breaking. Apparently that can happen if you look at it wrong...

wizzard• 14 years ago

Thank you for these clarifications. When I read the summary my only thought was that his life was a bit more important than any tools he was trying to protect. This gives it more context.

zephjc• 14 years ago

I like how he supposedly did it to prevent his car from being vandalized. I don't think vandals could do much worse to it than what he did.

A cool project, but there's no reason to dress it up in a BS story.

rdtsc• 14 years ago

Sounds like he almost wanted to have a story published about him...

Steko• 14 years ago

A lot of people seem to be extrapolating "stranded in the desert" into a scene out of Survivorman or some Hollywood movie or The Little Prince.

Alternate title: "Mechanic camps not far town, repurposes broken car as motorcycle"

ken• 14 years ago

What makes it seem fantastical is not the facts of the story itself, but that it's so similar to the plot of a 1965 Jimmie Stewart movie -- and seems to make no mention of this.

Freestyler_3• 14 years ago

If that picture above article is the motorcycle...then that guy sure didnt build it to survive.... I mean why would you need a standard??? (im reffering to the thing that keeps it standing straight) that doesn't work well in sand either,

tif• 14 years ago

There's a (very short) video of someone riding it near the bottom of this page on the adventure rider forums:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=773613

Man, stranded in the desert, makes a motorcycle from his broken car

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