Remember the Dodge Tomahawk? It is a shame it never went into production because I still remember the reveal to this day because it was ridiculous in the best way possible. A ten-cylinder motorcycle that made 500 hp and was kind of arguably not a motorcycle since it technically had four wheels? It was incredible. But if you thought the Tomahawk had a lot of cylinders, the 24-cylinder Dolmette absolutely blows its cylinder count out of the water.
Even though the Dolmette was originally built in 2004, I had never heard of it until The Drive wrote about it a couple of days ago. As soon as I learned it existed, though, it was clear that it was something I had to make sure Jalopnik readers knew existed, too. Because, I mean, it’s a custom motorcycle powered by 24 chainsaw engines. Yes, you read that right. Chainsaw engines.
The Dolmette is the brainchild of Germany’s Rötger Feldmann. Even better, Feldmann isn’t a racer or professional motorcycle mechanic. He’s a cartoonist who created the popular German character Werner. He just wanted a wacky motorcycle with an unnecessarily complicated powertrain, so he convinced the chainsaw company Dolmar to build it. And the world is a better place because of that.
With all those chainsaw engines combined, the Dolmette made a claimed 170 hp, which is more power than anyone needs on a motorcycle but also not that crazy these days. But even today, it would be considered a torque monster in the world of motorcycles because it also made 134 kg-ft.
Oh, and did I mention that in order to start the bike, you have to pull-start all 24 engines? Yeah, there is no push-button start here. Each one has to be individually started by hand. So it’s not exactly a practical bike, but what 24-cylinder motorcycle is?