The world of ATVs and personal watercraft was a wild and wonderful place in the 1970s and 80s, and this 1979 Spirit Marine Wetbike is a perfect example. Some might say it’s a pointless exercise to essentially combine a jet ski with a snowmobile, but the reviews at the time indicated the Wetbike concept was actually pretty sensible, especially with more than one passenger. You got the handlebars of a motorcycle with two front skis to change direction, which was a shift from the traditional jet ski method of changing the rear jet angle. The seller claims the Suzuki-powered contraption has been thoroughly refreshed and has excellent cosmetics, and is listed here on Facebook Marketplace for $3,700.
If money were no object, I’d love to have a collection of machinery like this, all the whiz-bang contraptions used for water, land, and ski with their awesome period decals and colors on full display. The Wetbike was a relative success sales-wise and enjoyed a long production cycle but decent examples like this are hard to find today. Over the years, we’ve seen any number of watercraft like this pop up for sale, both those built by legit manufacturers and ones created by lake-side entrepreneurs. The Wetbike had some legitimate development behind it, as it was built by a company called Spirit Marine with a two-stroke Suzuki engine beneath the engine cover.
The Wetbike was in production from the 70s to the early 90s, and it still has its fans today. It even enjoyed time on the silver screen, featuring predominantly in movies like The Spy Who Loved Me and Police Academy 3. The original concept came with 50 horsepower on board, which was certainly respectable, but later models would increase that number to 60 b.h.p. and make the Wetbike into one of the fastest personal watercraft available at the time. But it wasn’t necessarily the speed that made it so exhilarating; rather, riders would likely tell you it was the increased handling and steering precision that previously wasn’t possible on persona watercraft.
The Wetbike has a solid fanbase today, and I’m a little surprised this one hasn’t been snatched up. Of course, it’s not the best time of the year for selling something like this, especially given its popularity on midwestern lakes and other places that are likely cold as hell right now. The Wetbike looks to have excellent cosmetics and if the mechanicals are as healthy as the seller indicates, the asking price seems more than fair. Have you ever ridden a Wetbike? If so, would you ever own another? Thanks to Barn Finds reader Matthew for this epic find.
I rode one of these at a lake day with my car club once. There’s a definite learning curve on these that I didn’t have the patience for. My experience: Once it’s up, it builds speed very quickly, then the front end gets wonky and you go down hard…over and over. I was really glad to finally get it back to shore.
Boatercycle.
“the increased handling and steering precision that previously wasn’t possible on personal watercraft”? Um, no. These things were horribly squirrely, even compared to their contemporary competition.
The videos online of people trying to master these, is Hilarious!! Definitely something I wouldn’t want in my garage…
I think getting the hang of it BEFORE getting in the cooler might be the key to the Wetbike.
The Wet Bike was designed and patented by Tyler Alexander who made his fortune designing movie camera stabilizing equipment. The ownership eventually was Ultranautics and manufacturing in Brainerd MN. The power/pump was also used in a conventional personal watercraft and a small jet boat. The UN President sought more power from Mercury Marine and we provided 70hp and 90hp three cylinder powerheads. Eventually Mercury built a similar drive called the Sport Jet with power to 200 with V6 engines. The Wet Bike was a challenge to get up on the skis, but stand-up watercraft required skill as well.
The Wet Bike was popular in a West Coast drag racing series.
Spirit Marine was a subsidiary of Arctic Enterprises. Arctic Cat Snowmobiles. Some may have been built in Thief River Falls,MN. Employees could rent them for pennies for the season each year for awhile. Then turn them in and get a new one the next year.Same with snowmobiles. In laws worked there so I got to ride them.Mother in law was a janitor in her 60’s. She got them. I rode the Red Lake River that goes thru Thief River Falls. There is a learning curve. Flat water would be best as a beginner. There is one ski out front. Not two. Front lifts out of the water first then the back comes up. Steers a lot like a motorcycle when you are up. Fun. You will wipe out a low speeds at first. If it starts to go down just let go of the throttle. They have a shut down tether also. Water is softer than gravel or pavement. I never wiped out at high speed.
When i had my Jet Ski i rode a few of these, easier falling off then getting on it. Listed 14 weeks ago.
1st let me say, PWC’s are an absolute BLAST! Not here, but back home, they can be ridden in shallow conditions, making northern lakes a veritable slalom course around islands. It’s an unusual concept, as usually in a boat, one is surrounded by a structure, but being out in the open, like water skiing, takes some getting used to. PWC’s have taken what was once only possible with a gas guzzling, hard to launch, big sow, into a “personal” thing, easy to handle, cheap to run, and the freedom to go where you want.
Now, as an older person, I don’t like getting wet and cold, and with a unit like this, pretty hard to not to get wet, but some PWC’s today are literally mini-boats, and it’s like snowmobiling on a open lake, only not freezing. These were made to “jump” the waves, and while fun, it’s not my cup of tea anymore. Nice find, and while much of the country shivers (-10 in Minnesota) a WetBike may not be on their minds, but 1/3 of the country is warm still, and this would be a hoot.
At 66, I’m still water skiing pretty much every weekend, although I’m a little more selective in January and February; I’ll pass if it’s below about 75 degrees. I will disagree on the fuel consumption; my Ski Nautique burns about 4.5 gallons per hour at skiing speed (which is 34.2 mph at my age). Most of the newer PWCs are not so thrifty, with some of the 300 hp models sucking down about 10 gph. It takes me about 5 seconds to launch my boat or drive it on the trailer, so it takes longer to back the trailer down the ramp than to launch. When my body eventually tells me I can’t ski any more, I might break down and buy a PWC, but I will probably go with the old stand-up variety that I first tried in the early ’70s; while the acceleration of the big supercharged models is fun, they feel like driving a bus compared to the more agile versions. Also, 70+ mph sitting down on a PWC is rather boring compared to rounding a buoy and accelerating to 60+mph across the wake on a ski. Until the day comes when I am forced to retire from skiing and join the PWC ranks, I will continue to curse them, along with the wakeboarders and other assorted heathens who ruin “my” water.
Sorry you refer to it as “joining the PWC ranks”, and ruining “YOUR” water? Whew, I don’t what to say after that, and launching a boat remains one of the all time entertaining aspects of boating,,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oq0YNo02KM
Ha! Yeah, always lots of (mostly) good-natured back and forth between skiers and those who ruin the water! We all have to share the public water; that’s why I prefer the private ski lakes. Here’s a link to a short clip from Cedar Ridge, a few miles from my house: https://youtube.com/watch?v=i4gCox4bPJg&feature=share
Your boat launch video is entertaining; I can’t say that I have ever seen anyone quite that bad, but I have seen a couple who had to pull forward a few feet to “reset”.
What we have here is pretty much from where the personal water crafts started. Interestingly the writeup omits James Bond – The spy who loved – as first time these came to public knowledge. Roger Moore drives an exact visual copy of this Wetbike.
https://www.jamesbondlifestyle.com/sites/default/files/ckeditor/images/news/201123-wetbikes-tswlm.jpg
Definitely unique discussion starter amongst modern watercrafts. And yes, I do have one.
Anyone who would have a Wetbike wear ring for sale, please chime in
Read the write up again. “The Spy Who Loved Me” is listed first as a movie that featured one.
I wouldn’t say that the Wetbike represents the start of the PWC movement. I still have a copy of the 1968 Popular Mechanics issue that includes a test of the then-new Bombardier SeaDoo. It had a whopping 25 horsepower! I rode one of the first Kawasaki Jet Skis in the early ’70s, and loved it. I would have bought one, but my number of toys was limited by my income. I rode one of the first Wetbikes (owned by a friend who was a Yamaha/Honda dealer), and found it to be rather clunky compared to the agility of the Jet Ski, but it was entertaining.
@PAW You would be entertained to know the development I did with the WB pump and derivatives. In you predicament I would have your wear ring ID plasma coated. If cut-true first, that may be enough. Otherwise plasma coat and re-cut to size.
You could also have your impeller blade edges welded and re-cut to size.
Indeed I could ty to fill in with plasma, weld, etc. If I would only have the part – which I do not. Wear ring never came with my Wetbike. Have been running so far with a borrowed one
So I am still looking a wear ring to buy :-)
Under your circumstances I would have a WR cut from billet. They are very simple, easily programed for CNC. I designed the pump in the Mercury PWC and investment cast it in stainless. They last a long time.
i remember when these came out, i was a teenager and the neighbor hood young adults all had gotten union carbide plant jobs and were buying 4wd broncos/camaros/toyota pickups and one of them hauled all us younger kids to the local Suzuki shop where they were out on display, intending to buy one…..he ended up getting a Honda 250 odyssey instead
Had one of those discovered really quickly why they never cought on.The learning curve for riding is very steep. Lasr time I tried to ride it a fisherman rescued me as it was sinking,his only question was are you trying to drown!
For a wear ring check out the Ultranautics Vintage PWC page on Facebook. Look for Jim Gernes. Last I knew he had 2 in stock. Tell him Beeman sent you. Great product. Rally coming up too, in June. Jim will most likely be there.
Thanks for the comment. In between my initial message on Jan 22nd and today I have indeed bought two wear rings from Jim. Gettign ready for summer 22