Downright About the Bushpig Outback Scooter

I'm not much of a unprompted soul I've always been full of envy those mortals who are in condition to do amazing aerial stunts and tricks using only gravity and a piece of wood with wheels attached. Regular so, anyone riding the Wheelman Bushpig motorized skateboard won't be doing any ethereal aerobatics anytime soon, but they will have one of the coolest new-sprung wheeled gadget to reach the streets since the cycle.

The Wheelman Bushpig is a bit of a hybrid between a skateboard and a scooter. It has motorized wheels that at high speeds can be steered by pitching your weight left and right, much like riding a skateboard or snowboard. The rider's At low travel speeds, the Bushpig's front tire can be angled to change directionis controlled by a hand-held controller with throttle and brake controls and is attached via wire direct to the engine, which is mounted directly between the front and rear wheels. The wheels themselves are spoke-less and the rider can slide their foot into them to move them left and right. There are no axels on the Bushpig to be found, and it's the axel-less, spoke-less design that the manufacturers claim allows the Bushpig to handle rough terrain on the beach and in the woods and brush as well as on city streets and sidewalks.

The Bushpig takes a mixture of oil also gas as fuel, much like a lawnmower, and can hold about a liter at a time. That liter allows for over an hour of ride time before needing to refuel, so don't expect the Bushpig to substitute your bike or electric scooter anytime soon. Even so, the manufacturer claims that it's "the best thing to hit personal transportation since the invention of the shoe." I'll reserve judgment on that, but the Bushpig has been recognized in Time magazine and according to the manufacturer has been highlighted in Australia as a "Best Invention of the Year."

The Bushpig comes in a couple of different colors: black with blue trim, silver with orange trim, and several more color combinations are on the way. It weighs more or less 45 pounds. Fortunately, the Bushpig amazingly comes with a 90-day warranty, really good for such a complex machine, but if you can bargain it at $499.00, you can also likely afford repairs should anything go wrong.
(by ;Jared Randall)