The Retriever is a two-wheeled towing vehicle based on a Honda Goldwing motorcycle that can worm its way through city gridlock and congested highways like no four-wheeled towing vehicle could ever dream of. The Retriever is the ingenious invention of the aptly named Swedish firm Coming Through. According to the company, it takes a little over a minute to convert from a nimble motorcycle to a towing device powerful enough to haul most passenger cars. The Retriever’s driver simply extracts a folded bracket stored behind the motorcycle’s high back seat and then hitches the car’s front end to the bracket.
As a business venture, a towing service based on the Retriever could take a little more time to set up, however. Throughout the world, towing firms compete under various schemes for the right to rescue cars stalled on public roads. Police are often the authorities who order a tow truck on the scene, and they would need to be sold on the Retriever’s ability to handle the job. And some accident-damaged cars might require a heftier vehicle to haul them away. That said, the Retriever’s ability to rescue a vehicle and quickly unsnarl traffic could make it a hit. So the real opportunity might be for distributors who could sell Retrievers either to private companies or public road authorities. (Related: Motorcycle taxis rescue stranded business travellers.)
Website: www.comingthrough.se
Contact: info@comingthrough.se
Spotted by: Lilia Parra Ledesma
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Regarding stopping:
Troy, you do have a point. However, since the towing device have a set brakes that will automatically brake the towing unit the issue you lift is not a problem. Just like any other vehicle combination the rider must take extra care. (Compare this to driving your car with a large trailer/caravan.)
The Retriever is fully capable of stopping quickly.
Again, your comment is quite right, it's not pulling the load that is the problem, the trick is to make it stop. Something we have solved with our patented brake system.
This stuff is old news... saw the same report on discovery channel 4 years ago, in April 2004!
our group is doing a parade in june and boy would we have loved to have these bad boys pulling our floats!
If you have any questions regarding Retriever, you can contact me, the North American distributor at RSwaffer@Retriever-NA.com and visit the web site at http://Retriever-NA.com.
I find this an intriguing concept. All though the ability to maneuver through a grid lock to get to a stalled vehicle is great, I still greatly worry about the safety of such a device. I work with a company that rents construction equipment. It's amazing what people think their vehicles can haul. It's not a matter of the ability to pull an object...it mostly a matter of being able to stop it safely.
You can not control the action of other drivers no matter how safe you are. In a setup like this, if someone was to pull out in front of the tow-bike suddenly, it would not be able to stop period. Simple physics show that if the item you are towing is heavier than you are and you try to stop...you won't be able to because the larger mass will push you. The motorcycle tow idea simply does not have enough weight to safely tow and stop.
Troy | April 24, 2008 4:25 PM