Why no Trikes?

 

All the Trikes I've seen advertised on the net are converted bikes. Why
do the major manufacturers not come out with their own Trikes? Seems
the prices would be much more affordable that way.

--

Tim McBride  A.K.A.  "Numan"

 



There is not a supply bottleneck in the trike market, but rather the
demand which is vanishingly small.

--
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Which make no sense to me. A Trike would be safer than a motorcycle, fun
to drive, and get great gas mileage. Is it a case of people not knowing they
are an alternative?
--

Tim McBride  A.K.A.  "Numan"

 



Just curious. Why would perceive trikes to be safer? They banned 3-wheeler
ATVs I believe, due to being inherently unsafe. Maybe I'm wrong, but I
think, a 2 or 4 wheeled vehicle is always going to be safer stability wise
compared to a 3 wheeler,Adysthemic

 


Numan wrote:


When you realize how dangerous the classical trike is, who would want
to take the risk, besides lifestyle bikers who think home brewed VW or
Corvair powered trikes are "cool" looking?

After what happened with off-road all terrain cycles, it's doubtful
that the manufacturers
would take the product liability risk to mass produce three wheelers
for the street.

And, the often seen trike with two wheels on the back and one up front
is really not the best arrangement for a great handling three wheeler.

A far better arrangement is two wheels up front, perhaps using front
wheel drive like a Morgan Trike and just let the rear wheel roll along
unpowered.

Then the driver and his passenger could sit side by side, very cozily,
in a little three-wheeled convertible.

The British tend to build such things and there are even kits available
for them. In America, the Badsey Bullet comes to mind.

Renault used to build a an econobox called the Alliance and Alliance
front subframes found their way into a small sportsracer called Sport
Renault.

Two subframes would be used and the engine from the front wheel drive
econobox drove the rear wheels, while an empty subframe did suspension
duites up front.

I would like to get ahold of a subframe like that to build my own three
wheeler.

Two British sidecar racers took an original Austin Mini Cooper and
removed the bodywork. They moved the undriven rear wheels together and
went out and kicked ass on all the sidecar racers with a rig that had a
steering wheel and turned the same either direction. The passenger had
no duties whatever, he didn't need to hang off like a monkey.

The FIM outlawed three wheelers with two wheels up front and one or two
wheels in the back.