So You Want a Sportbike-Powered Trike for the Snow? Sure, Why Not?

Who's ready to shred some powder and then immediately die?

Photo by: YouTube

By: Jonathon Klein

Jan 17, at 7:50am ET

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The guys at the YouTube channel BUM are known lunatics. Emerging from the YouTube channel Grind Hard Plumbing Co, they've taken the platform by storm with increasingly chaotic videos full of custom insanity and wanton abandon toward their own health and well-being. I mean, these are the folks who took a mobility scooter and said, "It needs a Harbor Freight Predator motor and wheelie bars!"

And the group's latest video is no different.

Now, back in the day, trikes were all the rage. Until people started dying and getting seriously injured that is. But for a second, nearly every manufacturer built and sold a trike designed for off-roading. And, usually, they'd be powered by a modestly powerful engine. Not huge, but still more than enough for an ER visit by whoever rode them.

But even the manufacturers, the folks selling these deathtraps, knew that you shouldn't have phenomenal cosmic power under your right fist. They knew that too much power would be bad for everyone's survival rates, which, again, were really low when piloting these machines. BUM, apparently, didn't get the memo and stuffed a sportbike motor into a three-wheeler and then took it to the deep snows of Utah to test it out.

They've lost their minds.

The trike in question is a Coleman pit bike-converted trike and has a 1,000cc sportbike motor making 180 horsepower out of a Honda CBR. Cause, sure, why not?

But the guys from BUM, which stands for Builds Ugly Machines, did a lot of backyard mechanical work to get it working and driving, including swapping in the trike rear end, getting bigger wheels and tires, making sure the clutch actually works, and even installing a mass airflow sensor from a Subaru because the prior one just didn't work.

And, of course, what's a test without adding a few more folks to the firing squad, I mean, testing regimen? In addition to the boys from BUM, Matt Spears and the guys from Shred Eighty also make an appearance, along with bringing along their "snow" machines, including Spears' Ducati snow bike.

What could go wrong? Well, click the video and find out.