This Trike Is A Double Pedal Metalhead's Idea Of Riding Heaven

A patent has been filed for a trike integrated with a drum kit; the trike comes equipped with a 12-piece double-bass kit and a secondary set of controls to ride the vehicle from the passenger seat.

Updated: Friday, February 24, 2017, 18:55 [IST]

What we have here is a patent application for a trike motorcycle with a full drum kit.

The design is the brainchild of one Michael Pestritto of Pompano Beach, Florida; this patent describes a trike with a 12-piece double-bass kit and a secondary set of controls so someone can control the trike from the passenger seat, while the rider in front can play a wicked drum solo.

Pestritto's design has the drums located in such angle that the drummer is centrally located with the weight of the extra equipment evenly distributed on either side.

The patent shows that the sidecar set-up may be too side-heavy, affecting its capacity to turn. Pestritto's solution was to arrange the drum set so that its parts are more or less balanced.

Among the two seats is a second set of handlebars for controlling the trike from the passenger seat as well. The patent defines a hydraulic system for steering the front wheel, though it makes no mention of how the throttle is managed or the gearbox is engaged. The drawings of the secondary controls require a clutch lever, so the problem does not have a solution yet.

Pestritto calls the motorcycle trike as the "Iron Thunder, America's Only Extreme Motorcycle Trike Drum Machine." The motorcycle trike was conceived as the centrepiece of a cross-country tour to raise awareness for heart disease.

According to his website, HeartbeatRider.org, Iron Thunder was to be built with the help of Sam Nehme of custom builder BMS Choppers, though it's unclear whether the trike was ever produced. Trademarks filed by Pestritto for "Iron Thunder" ceased but the patent, filed after the trademarks were lost, gives some hope that the project might eventually make it to production.