Triking :)

[Zak33]

Something Tumble mentioned in another thread reminded me of these beauties

Its a MOTOGUZZI V twin engine.....and a cockpit like a plane...and a single rear wheel with drive to it...

they are FAST...they slide like demons......monster rear wheel drive...

http://www.triking-cyclecars.co.uk/

and they are pure class!

I know they are an aquired taste tho...dont expect many of you to fall in love and they AINT CHEAP...but they exude a WW1 feel cos of the cockpit feel and the sound is lovely.

Long long ago, Auto Car and Motor reviewed one...somewhere I still have that article....I alwaya lusted

[Zak33]

[Devilbod]

That does look fun

Not sure I like the modern trikes that are poping up:

Just doesnt look right...

[Zak33]

noo.....the whole beautiful premise of Trikings is the wheel at the BACK.....the balance of a Trike can be superb...only if you reversed hard and turned and braked in one movement would you unsettle it...

think about a car...its body rolls.....this is different....it doesnt HAVE outter suspension to roll onto....it has A CENTRE LINE of gravity and only the front can lean....

and as we've pointed oyt previously the WIDTH of tyres doesn't make for more grip...only the WEIGHT on the tyre and the compound makes more grip...and that single back tyre has all the weight on it ALL THE TIME>......when you corner the weight doesnt swap from left to right rear wheel....its all on one wheel!

Only under braking does weight change.....and then only slightly.

They're quick off the mark too

Can imagine Tumble in it with flight goggles and soot marks round his eyes with a silk scarf flapping in the wind

[turkster]

Damn they look lovely
Especially from the front with the engine shocks and disk brakes

Can you buy them anywhere?

[Zak33]

the more you look the more perfect it becomes...

front engine AIR COOLED...rear wheel drive....disk brakes on the fronts, with spats over the tyres and wish bone suspension....

its just heaven

[Zak33]

just CLASSY HUH?

[Zak33]

SMILEY bloke

can't blame the old boy, can ya ?

[turkster]

Oh s**t they look cool from the back too.

I'd be smiley too if I was sitting in that

I want one

[Zak33]

me too mate....always have...and they've been making them since 1978.

Engines are well modable.....normal ones are 70 to 100 bhp....and this thing weighs NOTHING.....

and according to the website...they can be tweaked to 140 ish...

that is SERIOUS SPEED....we're talking "MOVE OVER TYPE-R...I'm coming through "

[turkster]

Yeah I've always liked open type cars. I know you get wet and they are cold etc but just so cool. Had always hoped to get a Caterham 7 of some kind but these look petty nice though. I reckon the Caterham would be safer though.
You say these are stable but they do look fairly scary.


Anyway what am i talking about I havnt even got my license yet .

[IainB]

Im sure that back when I lusted over a Kit Car that a UK company had these for sale (rather cheaply) as a 'kit' - but for the life of me, I cant remember the name

[Zak33]

very very very stable....something you MUST understand about a tripod....is that it is actually very very stable indeed.

A Robin Reliant ONLY had trouble when cornering and braking HARD because the front wheel was the single one....same with Trike bikes.....but this is REVERSED....is the other way around....

Imagine sitting in it, with the signle rear wheel under your bum...well a bit back from that.....now go play imaginary driving games...in your head...

When you corner in a 4 wheel car the car leans....the two springs on the outside of the corner compress and the two inner springs stretch as the body mass "rolls" with interia.

Now.....do same in the Triking....where's it gonna lean? The FRONT can lean, and the front of the cockpit can roll a little, but the further back you sit the further you are from the roll centre.... where you sit...the only way the suspension can move is UP and DOWN in the centre...for bumps...

so the arse of the car hangs out and slides nicely...and as you are SAT OVER IT....you get a much better feeling for it....its like being in a pendulum....in a normal car it all happens behind you...and the movement your body feels as the arse slides is only a fraction of the distance the BOOT moves...

not in a car like this...or a Caterham...you are OVER the back wheels.....ever inch it slides you slide with it...

I'd love some video of this thing

[Crazy Cricket]

noo.....the whole beautiful premise of Trikings is the wheel at the BACK.....the balance of a Trike can be superb...only if you reversed hard and turned and braked in one movement would you unsettle it...

Doesn't always work like that in RL though Zak. You're right that on the most part you can't upset them when going fowards. But when they raced the JAP morgans (J.A.Prestwich and Co. Ltd, not Japan) they managed it. Infact some of the guys with bigger balls used to wear metal gauntlets to push the cars back onto the road...

[Zak33]

true.....but thats more a case of Motorbike style effects...not car effects...where the entire cockpit rolled and I have to tell you, a car will do that too....its cos the rear wheel often has SO MUCH grip that the sideways inertia is just too much.....ask Landrover Discovery drivers

On road tyres they are good as gold....I'm convinced cos the tyres will let go first

[Crazy Cricket]

Don't have to tell be about the Landie ilk Zak, knew a 'press on' driver who bought a 3.9 vouge classic back in the early 90s to slow him down (managed to write of 5 911s, so his licence was 'well' decorated). It's not pleasant being rushed down a backroad with a high centre of gravity and soft suspention