Just because someone is an automobile fanatic does not mean they would also be blessed with a fertile imagination. While many a bizarre mechanical ideas often remain confined to the brain, there are many enthusiasts who go to any lengths to try and breathe life into their imagination.

Practicality be damned. These contraptions, which the builders like to term as motorcycles and cars, are built just for the heck of it and production is never ever thought about.

Creative satisfaction, you might say. We bring you some of the weirdest motorcycles ever built. Some of these are actually rideable and are headed for production.

Radial engine

This bike seems to have been inspired by the engines of a Dakota aircraft. The builder seems to be a recluse and didn't believe in giving his name. He wants his creation to do all the talking and which it surely does.

There are others who claim to have manufactured motorcycles with radial engines but for all their claims, these motorcycles featured only two cylinders. This motorcycle goes the whole hog and features as many as seven cylinders, and produces an estimated power of 110 bhp. The engine has been built by Rotec Engineering of Australia.

Tracked bikes

Offroading will never be the same again for motorcycles. German designers Tilmann Schlootz and Oliver Keller have come with the idea of a tracked motorcycle that can tackle anything - snow, sand, rocks.

The Hyanide and Ball concept are designed to accept a number of engine variations. The ones seen here are powered by 500cc ATV engines which are already mass produced.

Both these designs are based on bendable rubber tracks which can adjust themselves according to the shape of the terrain. These tracked bikes, which have to be steered both by hands and feet seems to be the sort of bikes which can be used in the tough Paris - Dakar rally and the Baja races. However, it is not known how much

Steam bikes

Vintage is always beautiful. Even if it is make believe. There are people who want to create motorcycles from an ancient era when vehicles were powered by steam. The only difference is that these motorcycles look like they run on steam but in reality they have some kind of conventional engine. That's the idea behind steampunk (that's what these bikes are called). The interesting machine shown here started as a drawing in a biker comic and the artist's brother thought it was so neat that he decided to bring it to life. However, it doesn't actually run on steam but it looks like it does. And that is the whole idea.

The single engine cylinder has been taken from a tractor and has a displacement of 1440cc. Just imagine the racket it creates. The tyres and wheels are from a Ford Model A while the fork is made of ash wood with forged iron strapping. The rider sits on a shovel which doubles as a seat.

There are other examples of steampunk and they are all about the design and very little about practicality.

Leonhardt V Twin motorcycle

Here is another motorcycle with a radial engine and the only difference is that it is huge. Clemens F Leonhardt of Germany has been working his bike for years in order to build a one off. And there sure are no other such bikes around.

The bike uses two cylinders from an old nine cylinder radial aero engine. The engine is a large 6728 cc, 350 horsepower, fuel injected V-Twin. It has a 3 speed transmission box with a reverse gear. The motorcycle's overall length is 134 inches and seat height is only 31.5 inches, pretty reasonable and lower than some production bikes out there. Speed for the monster is electronically limited to 248 kmph.

Leonhardt had originally planned to use tyres from a Boeing 767 but then found a firm which supplied customised tyres. He plans to make a small number of these bikes for a handful of customers and they will have sidecars too.