June 1, 2006 In the world of tow trucks, the early bird gets the business, so getting to the scene of an accident faster than all the other towtrucks is vitally important. One thing that might not be obvious to people who have never driven a towtruck is that the accident the towtruck is trying to reach often causes a traffic jam, rendering the towtruck just as helpless as all the other four wheelers. Which is why a Swedish company has modified a Honda Goldwing into a fully-fledged towing machine – the Retreiver. Motorcycles are immune to traffic jams, and the exceptional manoeuvrability and power of the Retriever gets it to the scene quicker than any other tow truck plus cover a wider area. The Retriever’s towing device remains folded on to the back of the motorcycle allowing for normal motorcycle operation (the towing device is just 95 cm wide when folded) and is unfolded just prior to towing. Fearful that the GoldWing might not have enough grunt for the job? Fear not – at 1800cc, the bike isn’t short on pulling power as can be seen from these videos (here, here and here)
The Retriever is also very small in comparison to four wheeled towtrucks, so it can get to places that many ordinary tow trucks can't even get to.
Andreas Liljeberg of Coming Through in Stockholm invented the Retriever and can be contacted here.
