Russia is home to a bunch of wacky vehicles from whatever gets built by Garage 54 to the Sherp. One inventor is adding another creation to the list with his Hamster, a motorcycle that traverses terrain with a snowmobile track.
A video of the Hamster recently went viral and I’m glad it did because this thing is absolutely adorable.
According to Core77, a blog for industrial designers, the Hamster is the invention of Eduard Luzyanin. The vehicle’s name in Russian is Хомяк, which translates to Hamster in English. Russian blog Yandex Zen says that Luzyanin calls the machine Hamster due to its looks and its ability to traverse all kinds of terrain.
Hamster is a fitting name as this vehicle is absolutely tiny. It’s sized more like a minibike than a motorcycle or even an ATV. Check it out in action in this YouTube video from EXROADmedia:
Forget tires, give me a minibike with snowmobile tracks! It’s like an escape pod for when your bug out vehicle breaks down.
I’ll address the elephant in the room right now. It doesn’t have any steering gear. Those bars are only really there to keep you on the Hamster.
It turns in a similar manner as a skateboard. The rider shifts their weight to the desired direction and the Hamster follows. It turns best off-road, but the rider can turn on pavement by popping a fun wheelie.
Power is provided from a 150cc single-cylinder engine meant for a Chinese scooter.
That engine’s automatic transmission turns a driveshaft and chain drive, which move a snowmobile track. The adorable all-terrain vehicle is said to top out at around 27 mph and only weighs in at 187 lbs. But given its lack of any real suspension, you’ll probably need to visit your chiropractor after riding it.
The Hamster comes equipped with a headlight, a cute little 1.3-gallon jerry can, some storage for tools and a 2.6-gallon fuel tank. The best part is that due to its diminutive size, it fits into the back of a car.
Unfortunately, if you want one you’ll probably have to build one yourself. Luzyanin built one for himself and another for a random man that asked for one.