September 17, 2007 We recently covered the record-setting Killacycle electric drag bike, a 350bhp animal of a machine that has been verified at the drag strip as the fastest electric motorcycle ever. The bike’s in need of some TLC now, though, after owner Bill Dube accidentally ploughed it into a parked van while showing off for the video cameras. Thankfully, he wasn’t too badly hurt and the Killacycle will live to drag again.
As a drag racer, Bill Dube must have performed a thousand burnouts in his time – which is probably why he didn’t bother putting on any protective gear when showing off the amazing power of his KillaCycle drag bike to journalists from TG daily at the Wired NextFest.
But when you’re dealing with 350 brake horsepower, it doesn’t take much to go wrong before all hell breaks loose – and when the rear wheel gripped instead of slipping, Dube was catapulted across a courtyard and into a parked minivan in the space of seconds.
Video of the painful incident here.
Luckily, Dube wasn’t seriously hurt, and damage to the bike was limited to a bent front rim, forks, cowling and some battery cell damage. According to Dube’s KillaCycle website, the incident quells any safety concerns people may have had about the batteries – “No smoke. No fire. Ultra safe cells. Had these been anything but A123 Systems Nano-phosphate cells, shorts would have caused a serious fire.”
We wish Bill and his bike a quick recovery and look forward to seeing the KillaCycle back in record-breaking form.