hydrostatic drive

[Sawfly]

i've seen some people build custom bikes (street and dirtbikes) with a hydrostatic drive.
for those of you who dont know a hydrostatic drive is basically a hydraulic pump pumping a liquid through a gear or paddle attached to a spindle to create movement. (in a nutshell)
so in theory you could have a trike with a pivot point somewhere between the front and rear tires that could spin/articulate so you could lean most of the bike into a corner. in practice its a 3WD trike, yes they have made 2WD dirtbikes so it's possible. any input on the possibility of putting this in a trike is appreciated. i'm trying to gauge how innovative everyone is when it comes to custom stuff.
note: the hydraulics could also act as brakes by turning the pressure direction or around or stopping it completely.

sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_drive

http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2007/05/22/hydrostatic-drive-diesel-motorcycle/ (keep in mind this is a 1123cc engine)

http://home.mira.net/~iwd/2x2x2/intro.html

[Billy Golightly]

I have a zero turn lawn mower that works off of hydrostatic drives, and I've often though that it would be really, really cool to make a trike some how powered the same way. The only thing is, and maybe its just the mower (It does have an 18hp gas motor mated to the pump though) but the thing has no torque, and there certainly is no RPMs. I see it being virtually useless in any type of hill climbing or terrain where you need high rpms and torque. Perhaps with the right pumps and motors it would be better, but thats been my experience with the mower.

[dksix]

I've seen vid's from YouTube where rock crawlers have hydro motors driving the front wheels that gives incredible amount of suspension travel. Without have to mechanically drive the wheels by drive shafts but rather being about to run hoses to the torque motor (I think that's what I've heard them called) the travel on trailing arm type suspension and be, what looked to me, like 6+ feet. I looked but couldn't find the vid. As far as torque, that's the same drive system that is used in some heavy equipment, such a earth movers and such. So if you use the correct pump and motor anything should be able to be accomplished. I don't know how cost effective it would be. Pumps and such are very expensive. I considered using a hydro system to power the rear wheels of a FWD drag car, but didn't follow up or even do much research. From reading hear, I see that it seems like several members are familiar with heavy equipment. They would probably be able to add some light on the subject.

[Sawfly]

find a junkyard with some construction equipment and you can probably find everything you need minus the fluid(maybe even that) for about 100bucks... depending on what you can hide in your pockets. if you got cracked hoses lowes and home depot sell some i think, if u cant find any there try a farm store or tractor repair shop. i want to see some photo's of these built for small things along with some project costs(even better, a video). even if its a water pump with a prop powered by hydraulics.