The Merlin and Harry Potter

just a little bit today, sort of like Chris is doing. not much here, but something to talk about. (don’t mind the lower case – its on purpose – a much easier way to write – besides, this is the weekend so who wants to be formal? …)

have you seen the merlin motorcar website?

http://www.phoenixenvironmentalmotors.com/Merlin

Its a new iteration of a bike as a small single person car.

what do you think of the vehicle? (see the photos too)
(all the worst features of bike and car combined, right?)

i think i like the design a lot,

but who made the engine?
what’s its horsepower?
what warantee is there?
what are its performace profiles?

some automotive magazine should do a write-up on this so we could know if its just a pretty piece of junk or something better.

even the headlights look cool, but aren’t they just those aftermarket foglights you can buy from an auto parts place?

it has a three-point harness, but the gearstick set seems to be in the wrong place for a front wheel drive.

the steering wheel tilts, but what is its turn radius?
how is the trike at high speed manuevers or lane changes?
shouldn’t there be a rollbar behind the driver’s head?

a bike’s wheels would lean into a turn, but this set up looks like the tires would not lean at all on a curve.

at least with the earlier GM version of this kind of vehicle, the whole front end leaned like a bike in the turns.
therefore, this setup might require low speed turns, and thus no performance to speak of.

i would also guess the driver would need a helmet to drive this bike? – car?
would the Merlin be allowed in the car pool lanes?

too bad there isn’t a coupe version, but that probably would negate the whole ‘bike’ feel, right?

————-

anyway…

you see the new Harry Potter film yet? its way better than the first two movies!

from what I have read, all of the scenes, from the school interiors to the vast open landscapes are computer generated graphics! – but you never notice it when you are watching the film, -its that good.

this new Harry Potter film seems to be genuine cinema, where the first two, although great, were merely movies.

what do you think?

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