The Black Hills Travel Blog

Now that’s a motorcycle

By Dan • Dec 21st, 2009 • Category: Events

gunbus 580

I’d love to see this monster rolling down Sturgis Main Street during the 2010 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. It would definitely turn some heads — not an easy thing to do in the midst of the world’s largest gathering of bikers.

You have very expensive custom bikes parked all over the place. You have tattooed men with horn hats. You have dogs with goggles. You have women wearing practically nothing. And then there’s the guy who drags a wooden cross up and down Main Street every year. It all blurs together in a colorful carnival of sights, sounds and smells.

But this big bike would stop traffic even in Sturgis. At more than 11 feet long, the GUNBUS 410 is the world’s largest running motorcycle, according to its maker, Leonhardt Manufacturing of Eppingen, Germany.

The GUNBUS is powered by a 410-cubic-inch V-2 engine. The rear tire is 42 inches in diameter. But the seat is 32 inches, so you really can ride it. (But I’d hate to try parking it in Sturgis.)

Leonhardt built the GUNBUS prototype in 2008. The company said it will produce the bikes in a small series — the only thing small about this motorcycle.

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About the Author

Dan is an on-again, off-again Black Hills resident since 1978. The Aberdeen native hit the road after high school, building houses in Boulder, working oil rigs on Colorado's Western Slope, delivering cars in California. In Wyoming and Idaho, he worked as a newspaper journalist. But the Black Hills kept luring him back. For 18 years, he wrote for the Rapid City Journal. The job gave him a chance to see the Hills from atop Mount Rushmore and the bottom of the Homestake Mine. Whenever possible, Dan grabs his dog Kody and heads to the Hills. These days, he's perfecting the art of low-impact backpacking: hike two hours to a scenic spot, break out the wine, cook up the pasta, watch the sunset and fall asleep under the stars.
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