Sunday, December 13, 2015

The Can-Am Bombardier 500cc prototypes

This time some pics of a very rare bike the Can-Am 500cc two stroke twin.
"The 1977 500cc CanAm street bike never made it into production. Only 2 or 3 prototypes were ever built (circa 1975). One was a street version which produced about 60 horsepower, while the other was an 85 horsepower road racing version. The engine was borrowed from a Bombardier snowmobile and modified to accept a 5-speed gearbox. The powerplant was liquid cooled and utilized a single horizontal rotary valve. The exhaust system was unique. The lower pipe on each side was an expansion chamber, and was connected to the top pipe (mufflers) with a small tube. This allowed expansion chamber performance while remaining quiet enough for street use. This machine never went into production because proposed EPA emission standards threatened its marketability in the United States. Tony Murphy wrote a magazine article about this motorcycle in 1976. He recently informed me that the prototypes are still running strong somewhere in Canada."
This information came from 
Classiccanam
Tony Murphy's article
Giant killer 
For more pics see
Can-Am Bombardier 500cc prototypes