Last summer, we reported that Spider-man 3 broke the record for the most successful opening weekend. I’ve just heard that this record has been broken by The Dark Knight, which is on the verge of becoming the best superhero movie ever.

I’m sure a lot of you saw it over the weekend. Some of you might have been greatly impressed by the Batpod, director Christopher Nolan’s take on the classic bat-cycle, without the sidecar for Robin. The Batpod was designed by Nathan Crowley, the same man who designed the Tumbler from the Batman Begins.

The stuntmen had a difficult time riding the Batpod. The vehicle has no handlebars, but shields for the shoulders that allow for steering. It was also difficult to keep balance on the huge 508 millimeter tires, with engines in both hubs of each wheel. Not only that, the driver has to lie belly down on either side of the tank, balanced on two foot pegs spaced 3 ½ feet apart.

I suppose learning how to ride a bike again is a small price to pay for riding the Batpod, especially when it has grappling hooks and machine guns. Boo-yeah!

Since six Batpods were built for this movie, we might see one of these available on Ebay, assuming they were not all wrecked during filming. Perhaps these Batpods might inspire some new extreme sport of some kind, and more of these special cycles could be designed for the casual, non-bat consumer.

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