Despite the topshot, I have never driven construction equipment – my apologies if you were hoping for a riveting tale of backhoe operating experience. I have, however, driven a few not-cars in my life, excluding two-wheeled motorcycles – which certainly count, but aren’t really in the spirit of the question, though I am for sure interested to hear what bikes you’ve driven.
… or trikes, which is why I made the rather odd clarification of “two-wheeled motorcycles” above. While a traditional motorcycle is likely the most common not-car for a person to have “driven,” three-wheeled motorcycles are much less common. Same for four-wheeled ATVs, but especially three-wheeled off-roaders, having been banned and all.
Pre-ban, I got a lot of seat time on the neighbor kid’s ATC 200 just like the one below. On my first ride, I instinctively stuck out my leg to lean into a turn, only to discover solid-axle ATVs do not lean. I also ran over my own leg. I quickly learned to keep my foot on the pegs, and if I wanted the thing to turn with any kind of speed, I had to hang myself way off the side of the saddle lest the contraption go up on two wheels. Fun once you got the hang of it, but I definitely preferred two-wheelers.
Another weird-ish Honda off-roader I’ve piloted is the original Odyssey (aka FL250), which kid-me thought was going to me some kind of Pismo Beach thrill fest, but when I finally got to ride one on a sketchy go-kart track’s timid off-road course, my whelm was under. Even after I defeated the throttle limiter (a spacer taped under the throttle lever? Come on man), the thing just bogged around with little power and lots of slip from the torque converter, and the rigid rear end threatened to launch me out of the seat. Blech.
Your turn:
What Have You Driven That Isn’t A Car?
Top graphic image: DepositPhotos.com
Back in the early 90s I volunteered with a Bicycle Advocacy Organisation that oddly had 2 Leyland double deckers in the fleet. We once push-started one with just 2 people – fortunately something that heavy barely needs to be moving to be able to clutch start it. The other one we tried once to tow start it using a brand new Landcruiser the guy in charge had picked up from the dealer just a couple of hours earlier. I was at the wheel of the bus, and we got it up to 10-15 km/h before I realised it had a manual gearbox with a hydraulic shift mechanism, so it wouldn’t go into gear at a low speed without the engine running, plus without the engine the brakes did not work at all. When the guy in the Landcruiser realised it wasn’t going to start, he stopped, and I had nowhere to go but right into the back of him! Fortunately the front bumper (made of railway track!) hit square on the end of his tow hitch, and the only damage to his brand new Landcruiser was a small paint chip!
Besides that, the usual stuff like various forklifts, small trucks, once did donuts in a wet/muddy carpark in a mate’s tip truck, motorbikes, a 1WD car (Datsun 510 with welded then broken diff, so only driving the left rear).
And when I was about 12, I got to drive short distances in a Daimler Scout Car and a Bren Gun Carrier!
– Piper aeroplane
– Jetski
– Skidoo
– Zamboni
– Motorcycle
– Moped
– Tractor
– Semi-truck
– Horse
– Forklift
– Wheel loader
– Unicycle
– Road train
– Motorized kicksled
– Excavator
I’d like to test drive a hovercraft, airship, helicopter and hot air balloon.
Well…
I’m going to lump all 4-6 wheel road-legal vehicles together as “Cars” in order to truncate the list:
Motorcycle
Snow mobile
Excavator
Forklifts (Up to 55,000lb capacity)
Man-lifts
Tugboats
Fishing Boats
Sail Boats
Airplane
Cranes
Golf carts…
Haven’t done a helicopter or a semi-truck yet.
Well, snowmobile is pretty much it.
I drove a battlebot once or twice. Not in competition, but during construction and testing. Being in control of something that weighs that much and moves that fast is certainly exciting.
Hmm…snowmobile, go-cart, tractor, bulldozer, steam locomotive (which sounds like it should be easy but is absolutely terrifying), ATV. And several “cars” that were so far away from actually fulfilling the function of a car as to create their own category!
Occasionally at work I drive a Telehandler. (Huge four-wheel steering telescoping forklift.) Fun to drive but I have to suppress the urge to pick up co-workers cars and dump them into a dumpster or a nearby pond.
Let’s see…
Pony, Horse, nearly the same Honda trike from the article, other 4-wheelers, Canoe, Motor Boats, Jet Ski, BUS (school), Skid Steer (bobcat), Mini-excavator, GeoProbe DPT rig, many garden tractors/ride-on mowers, actual tractors, combine harvester.
Do you drive an RC Car or Plane? (do you only steer a canoe?)
Iv’e driven the predecessor of the car, a Horse, and an early version of a cargo hauling truck, a two horsepower hay wagon
A 155 tonne, 5-foot gauge Pacific class steam train formerly of the Finnish State Railway, in a garden near Slough
A large tractor with frontloader was my favorite. These things are such a brute force. Even over the stuff that would easily defeat your prepped landrover.I have a commercial forklift licence. These things demand respect for their density. A small forklift can easily weigh double compared to a car. Don’t get under one!A flat bottom boat on a lake. It is remarkable how these behave exactly not like a car. You need a lot of steering input just to keep it pointed straight.A segway. Shits and giggles. Everytime I see someone ride one of these things unironiccaly, I just lauch. How can you not know the bicycle exists?Oh, and a horse. These are also like a car, but completely different.Oh, oh, and a nuclear reactor. Though the technical term would be ‘piloted’ a reactor. Pretty sweet to go from kW to MW in a few instances. I was not allowed to go into the GW terittory. Depending on type and model, these things have low to zero turbo lag.
I have driven lots of construction equipment like wheel-loaders and excavators. Road rollers are also surprisingly fun to drive. I have also of course driven boats and busses and stuff. And boats.
I got to ride around on a jetski once, I only flung myself off it a few times!
Over the weekend I drove some nails into the cladding of a cabin I’m building.
My most exotic experience was “driving” a train. I was 4 years old and had a hand on the controls of a Penn Central EMU for a short distance. I’ve also taken a rail rider tour, basically a human powered rail speeder and of course motorcycles and karts.
I’ve also operated various heavy equipment including forklifts, backhoes skid steer loaders and excavators. I also drove a Benford dumper on the street. These had a small diesel we occasionally crank started and a 3 speed.