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The Bat Pod


The Batpod is intended as a kind of "escape pod" integrated into the Tumbler, it also served an auxiliary vehicle. Armed with dual front-mounted cannons, machine guns and grappling hooks, the Batpod affords Batman greater mobility at the cost of some protection.

The bike has 20" front and rear tires and is powered by a high-performance, water-cooled, single-cylinder engine - geared toward the lower end for faster acceleration and with no exhaust pipes. The exhaust is routed through the hollow steel/aluminum/magnesium tubing used for the frame of the bike.

The Batpod is steered by the shoulders instead of hands, and the rider's arms are protected by shields. The two foot pegs are set 3½ feet apart on either side of the tank, which the rider lies on, belly down. The engine noise was designed around the shepard tone, for which sound effects came, in part, from the sound of the Tesla Roadster's electric motor. The Batpod ejects out of the Tumbler's front end, with the Tumbler's front wheels becoming the Batpod's front and rear wheels. Because the Tumbler is ordered to self-destruct, the Batpod allows Batman to continue his pursuit. For the film, the bike is armed with grappling hooks, cannons, and machine guns. Six models were constructed for the film's production to anticipate some of them crashing. One action sequence in the film shows the wheels rolling against their normal axes, seemingly for added stability in sharp turns or other maneuvers. This also allows for instant changes in direction - if the driver approaches a wall, the Batpod's central frame will rotate to keep the driver upright (the inspiration for this useful chassis feature may well have been the innovative wheel configuration on a Killough Platform into omnidirectionally mobile chasses). The Batpod's chassis also elongates, allowing the rider to pass under low-hanging obstacles, as when Batman slaloms underneath a tractor trailer the Joker is driving. The term "Batpod" is mentioned by Alfred Pennyworth only once in the movie.
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