SLS AMG Velomobile

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A blue Mercedes SLS AMG sports car body with bicycle wheels. The gull wing is open to reveal the spartan interior and the hood is open to reveal an empty engine compartment since this is actually a bike.

Many gearheads dream of owning a supercar, but their exorbitant prices make them unattainable for all but the most affluent. [Andrzej Burek] decided to make his dreams come true by building his own supercar with a human-powered twist. [YouTube]

At first glance, [Burek]’s SLS AMG looks like the real thing. Pop the hood, and you’ll find this “car” is missing it’s V8 which has been replaced by a beefy speaker pumping out engine sounds from any car you choose. Both driver and passenger can provide propulsion for the sociable tandem, and the power is routed through a differential to the rear wheels. [Burek] decided to install the differential to make installing power assist motors simpler in future revisions of this quadracycle.

[Burek] said it’s taken him four years from buying the first component to the bike’s status in the video after the break. Other than the front and rear bumpers, he built the body himself out of fiberglass to learn how to work with the material. He welded the frame himself as well, and, in a testament to good measurements, the two parts fit together when united despite being built in separate locations. You can checkout more pictures on his Instagram.

If you want some more bike hacks, check out this Open Source Bike Computer or this Exercise Bike Game Controller.

14 thoughts on “SLS AMG Velomobile”

  2. Pretty awsome build. Makes me wish I had a garage.

    Though I would be temped to add hub motors, in the US that would result in it being classed as a car, which would have downstream issues for registration and inspection.

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    1. Think that would probably depend a lot on the state. A million years ago when I was in solar car racing, whether your solar car was classed as a car or a motorcycle depended on where your team was from, and there was the additional designation of Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (like the GEM) which were easier to register but limited to a top speed of 25 mph.

      I’m not 100% up-to-date on how states are handling e-bikes, but I’m fairly certain my 750W e-bike that is capped at 20 mph doesn’t require registration at the state level anywhere, but might in some municipalities. I suspect we’re still in the wild west for something like this, but given an appropriate governor on whatever assist you used you probably wouldn’t need to register this vehicle here in the US.

      Since [Burek] is from Poland, I suspect things would be quite different given how much more strictly regulated e-bikes and cycle cars (a big thing in the also EU Netherlands, I’m told) are over there.

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  3. It might be worth noting that the differential was _invented_ for pedal-powered vehicles and then adopted for motor cars.
    It was first used on the Humber tricycle.

    Or so I was led to believe by a plaque on such a machine in a museum display. Having searched the internet for confirmation I find that it is not that simple, and the differential gear significantly predates the invention of the cycle tricycle.

    Nevertheless, a differential gear on a pedal-driven vehicle is just as appropriate as on a motor powered one, possibly even more important as efficiency is more of a concern.

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    2. It’s likely a type of differential gear was used in antiquity for a sort of toy that had a cart with a soldier in it and the soldier always pointed south no matter what direction the cart was pulled. Chinese versions were documented from about 2000 years ago under the name “south pointing chariot.”

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