...the equipment Q sent for me, can I have it?...
AVT Wetbike – The Spy Who Loved Me 1977
When Stromberg escapes to his lair, Atlantis, Q sends Bond the latest prototype Wetbike to complete the pursuit. Bond takes off on the Wetbike from the nuclear submarine, the USS Wayne, and uses it to travel to the ocean laboratory, Atlantis, hoping to save Major Amasova.
The machine was the brainchild of American inventor, Nelson Tyler, the three-time Oscar winner who pioneered the design and manufacture of stabilized camera mounts. His new invention utilized a Suzuki 50bhp two-stroke engine which delivered 500lb of thrust.
Tyler taught Roger Moore to ride the bike in Sardina who as 007 was required to do so in full naval Commander uniform.
The prototype caused a lot of excitement on set and Italian tourists were begging to know where they could buy one.
Two Wetbikes were utilized by the production in Sardinia and at Pinewood Studios. After the film, the two Bond Wet Bikes sat in a corner of Tyler’s Van Nuys workshop in Los Angeles. In 1992 the Ian Fleming reached out to Tyler who generously donated one of them, the actual bike ridden on screen, to us. Arctic Enterprises began manufacturing the bike in 1978. They sold 50,000 before it was discontinued in the early 1990s when it was deemed too expensive to compete with the Japanese market.
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