Greg Fisher isn't trying to save the planet with his two-seat, human-powered mechanical mountain goat.
It could help do that - or at least save it from some fossil-fuel exhaust - but Fisher is a practical guy. If his invention, the Animas Quadracycle, ever goes into production - and that's a big "if" at this point - he figures most of the people who buy it will use it for basic road transportation. The quad's off-road capabilities will just be frosting on the cab.
To make enough Animas Quadracycles to kick in the economies of scale and lower the price - now about $15,000 a copy - he thinks it will take major mass production. He believes a Chinese manufacturer could bring the retail price down to about $2,000 with production of roughly 100,000 units.
And that kind of production would require demand from the masses - "Africans selling gas in glass quart jars … countries where there isn't a gas station on every corner," as Fisher puts it - rather than American thrill sporters looking to conquer some gnarly trails.
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He estimates it would cost between $2,000 and $3,000 just for the parts to build a copy of his latest prototype, plus 300 to 400 hours of labor. Hence, the $15,000 current price.
But Fisher understands that practical side of the Quadracycle, using his latest prototype - which includes an electric assist - as urban transportation himself.
Fisher said he uses the electric boost, activated by a thumb lever on the mountain bike-style handlebar, to get that extra push needed to make a light on East Speedway or maintain speed on a hill. In heavy, rugged off-road use, he kicks in the electric assist when he and his passenger's legs and lungs are burning.
But those who would buy it strictly as efficient transportation would be missing some major thrills. It's as serious an off-road vehicle as any pumped-up 4WD Jeep or baja buggy.
Fisher proved that during a recent off-road, boulder-bashing ride on the Chiva Falls double-track trail off Redington Road on the east end of the Santa Catalinas.
Fisher won't say "you can't tip it over," but he does say he never has - despite his best efforts.
When you're riding in the right seat (the steering is on the left) and he's heading straight for yet another car-sized boulder that seems impossible to top, you'd swear the first time may be mere seconds away.
Fortunately, the driver and passenger are busy pumping the bicycle-style pedals, which keeps the lungs gasping for air too hard to spare any breath for screaming.
Fisher's invention has been getting some interest resulting from YouTube videos in which he and the Quadracycle seem to violate the laws of physics.
But nobody's beating down Fisher's door to buy the rights and open a factory, and he says he's OK with that.
He doesn't see himself becoming the Henry Ford of human-powered vehicles. He's an auto mechanic by trade, and a philosophical mechanical engineer with a big green streak at heart and mind.
The specs
• Turning radius: 25 feet.
• Top speed: 32 miles per hour.
• Maximum range: Seven or eight miles, full electric power.
• Frame: Chromoly steel tubing.
• Weight: 300 pounds with electric-assist motor and batteries, 160 without electric-assist components.
• Drivetrain: Dual, independent bicycle cranks, chains, derailleurs and freewheels with on-demand one-horsepower DC electric motor assist through a differential.
• Brakes: Hydraulic discs/front, cable-actuated drums/rear.
• Wheels: 16-inch custom aluminum wheels with motorcycle tires/rear; stock bicycle rims with off-road bicycle tires/front.
• Seating: Side-by-side nylon sling seats.
Online
Check out the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7SmipOh5FU
Contact reporter Dan Sorenson at dsorenson@azstarnet.com or 573-4185.
