A motorized tricycle, motor trike, or motortrycle is a three-wheeled vehicle based on the same technology as a bicycle or motorcycle, and powered by an electric motor, motorcycle, scooter or car engine.
A motorized tricycle, motor trike, or motortrycle is a three-wheeled vehicle based on the same technology as a bicycle or motorcycle, and powered by an electric motor, motorcycle, scooter or car engine.
Depending on the design of the vehicle, a motorized trike may be categorized as a motorcycle, motor scooter, or simply the three-wheeled counterpart to a motorized or electric bicycle. The main difference between a motorcycle trike and a scooter trike is that motorcycles are sat on in a "saddle"-style seating (as with a horse), with the legs apart, and motorcycles have manual transmissions. Scooters have a "step-through" seating style, in which the driver sits on a more chair-like seat, with the legs together; as well, scooters have automatic transmissions. Laypersons often associate the engine size as a dividing line between motorcycles and scooters,[ citation needed ] since a typical scooter has a small 50 cc engine, but scooter engines can also be as large as 650cc as used in the Suzuki Burgman.
Motorcycles with sidecars are not usually considered tricycles. It can be harder to categorize three-wheeled automobiles. While some early prototype automobiles were steam tricycles, three-wheeled cars such as the Morgan 3-Wheeler are often classified as cars rather than motorcycles. Generally, the motorcycle classification will require passengers to sit behind the driver, whereas in the car classification, at least one passenger is able to sit abreast to the driver.
The motorized tricycle had quite a boom period at the end of the 19th century. Early engines weren't as compact or lightweight as modern ones, and clutches, and electric ignition were still new ideas being incorporated. Given this, the tricycle offered a better platform to add an engine to than a bicycle. The addition of engines to tricycles was covered in a motor supplemenet to Cycling magazine in 1899 [1] from which the following are taken :
There were many more makes, and then variations with tandem seating to allow a passenger. Prices were typically £70 to £85, so they were not budget transport - though a lot cheaper than the early cars. Most had no gears and no clutch (the Pennington being the exception), so you had to pedal start them. Other makers had twin wheels at the front and a single at the back allowing a passenger to be carried in comfort right at the front - away from the noise and smoke of the engine, but vulnerable in the event of a collision.
A motorized tricycle's wheels may be arranged in either configuration: delta or reverse (tadpole). A delta trike has one wheel in front and two in back, and the reverse or tadpole trike has two wheels in front and one in back. Occasionally, rear wheel steering is used, although this increases the turning circle and can affect handling (the geometry is similar to a regular trike operating in reverse, but with a steering damper added).
Tadpoles are more stable under braking and more likely to slide instead of roll; front braking hard on a delta requires the vehicle to steer almost straight to avoid tipping. The balance of friction patches and rolling resistance also means that tadpoles tend to oversteer and deltas understeer.
Motor trikes are attractive for those with mobility or balance problems.
Under some local regulations, while riding a three-wheeled vehicle, it may be possible to carry multiple passengers with a motorcycle driving license, to ride a motorcycle-style vehicle with a car license, or to avoid motorcycle helmet use regulations.
These machines are generally custom-built. A common arrangement is to fit chopper-style ("ape hanger") front forks to a VW Beetle engine and transaxle, popular because it is largely self-contained on a single subframe. Similarly, the engine, transmission and rear wheel may be taken from a large motorcycle as a single unit, and used in the construction of a tadpole trike.
Mass-manufactured motor tricycles include the Piaggio MP3; the Piaggio Ape (Italian for Bee) delivery trike (delta); the Harley-Davidson Tri Glide Ultra Classic; the Bombardier Recreational Products Can-Am Spyder (tadpole); the Polaris Slingshot (tadpole); the T-Rex reverse trike; trikes used by municipal authorities in the USA; and, historically, vehicles such as the Scammell Scarab railway dray, a common sight around post-war British railway stations.
In Asian and Southeast Asian countries, motorized trikes are used as small freight trucks and commercial vehicles. Nicknamed "three-wheelers" or "tuk-tuks" in popular parlance, they are a motorized version of the traditional pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw. While they are mostly used as taxis for hire, they are also used for commercial and freight deliveries. They are particularly popular in cities where traffic congestion is a problem.
They usually have a sheet-metal body or open frame that rests on three wheels, a canvas roof with drop-down sides, a small cabin in the front of the vehicle for the driver, an air-cooled scooter version of a two-stroke engine, with handlebar controls instead of a steering wheel. The smaller motorized trikes are used as delivery vehicles for lighter loads. The larger trikes, with more powerful engines, have larger cargo bays, and they can carry freight within a city.
Motorized three-wheel freight vehicles are a common sight throughout China. They come in various sizes, from open saddle-style trikes to "three-wheel trucks" with a fully closed cabin.
In the Philippines, a motorcycle with a passenger cab (either to one side or centered) is called a tricycle. They are commonly used as a public utility vehicle and for personal transportation.
Since 2012, electric tricycles known as e-rickshaws have become popular, replacing other commercial transports. For vehicles other than electric rickshaws, various locally made configurations are used in India. They fall under the category of Jugaad and serve as both passenger and commercial vehicles. The motorized versions are popular for their low cost, because they are put together from salvaged motorcycles and often do not require the operator to have a drivers license.
A tricycle, sometimes abbreviated to trike, is a human-powered three-wheeled vehicle.
A cargo bike is a human powered vehicle designed and constructed specifically fo →r transporting loads. Cargo bike designs include a cargo area consisting of an open or enclosed box, a flat platform, or a wire basket, usually mounted over one or both wheels, low behind the front wheel, or between parallel wheels at either the front or rear of the vehicle. The frame and drivetrain must be constructed to handle loads larger than those on an ordinary bicycle.
An auto rickshaw is a motorized version of the pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw. Most have three wheels and do not tilt. They are known by many terms in various countries including auto, auto rickshaw, baby taxi, mototaxi, pigeon, jonnybee, bajaj, chand gari, lapa, tuk-tuk, tum-tum, Keke-napep, Maruwa, 3wheel, pragya, bao-bao, easy bike, cng and tukxi.
Quadricycle refers to vehicles with four wheels.
De Dion-Bouton was a French automobile manufacturer and railcar manufacturer operating from 1883 to 1953. The company was founded by the Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion, Georges Bouton, and Bouton's brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux.
Humber Limited was a British manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, and cars incorporated and listed on the stock exchange in 1887. It took the name "Humber & Co Limited" because of the high reputation of the products of one of the constituent businesses that had belonged to Thomas Humber. A financial reconstruction in 1899 transferred its business to Humber Limited.
A three-wheeler is a vehicle with three wheels. Some are motorized tricycles, which may be legally classed as motorcycles, while others are tricycles without a motor, some of which are human-powered vehicles and animal-powered vehicles.
A tilting three-wheeler, tilting trike, leaning trike, or even just tilter, is a three-wheeled vehicle and usually a narrow-track vehicle whose body and or wheels tilt in the direction of a turn. Such vehicles can corner without rolling over despite having a narrow axle track because they can balance some or all of the roll moment caused by centripetal acceleration with an opposite roll moment caused by gravity, as bicycles and motorcycles do. This also reduces the lateral acceleration experienced by the rider, which some find more comfortable than the alternative. The narrow profile can result in reduced aerodynamic drag and increased fuel efficiency. These types of vehicles have also been described as "man-wide vehicles" (MWV).
Waltham Manufacturing Company (WMC) was a manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, motorized tricycles and quadricycles, buckboards, and automobiles in Waltham, Massachusetts. It sold products under the brand names Orient, Waltham, and Waltham-Orient. The company was founded in 1893, moving to self-propelled vehicles after 1898.
A motorized bicycle is a bicycle with an attached motor or engine and transmission used either to power the vehicle unassisted, or to assist with pedalling. Since it sometimes retains both pedals and a discrete connected drive for rider-powered propulsion, the motorized bicycle is in technical terms a true bicycle, albeit a power-assisted one. Typically they are incapable of speeds above 52 km/h (32 mph).
Humber Limited was a pioneering British motorcycle manufacturer. Humber produced the first practical motorcycle made in Britain by fitting one of their Humber bicycles with an E. J. Pennington two-horsepower motor in 1896.
A scooter is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame and a platform for the rider's feet, emphasizing comfort and fuel economy. Elements of scooter design were present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and scooters have been made since at least 1914. Scooter development continued in Europe and the United States between the World Wars.
Motorized tricycles, or simply tricycles, is a type of motorized vehicle from the Philippines consisting of a motorcycle attached to a passenger cab. Along with the jeepney, it is one of the most common means of public or private transportation in the Philippines, especially in rural areas. These public utility vehicles either ply a set route or are for-hire, like taxis.
An electric trike is a three-wheeled vehicle powered by an electric motor.
The De Dion-Bouton tricycle was the most successful motor vehicle in Europe from 1897 until 1901. With about 15,000 copies sold, the de-Dion-Bouton motor tricycle scored the first breakthrough for the distribution of motor vehicles. In particular the fast-running de Dion-Bouton engine set new standards for vehicular motors, and is regarded as the precursor of all motorcycle engines.
Motorized tricycles are three-wheeled vehicles based on the same technology as bicycles or motorcycles, and powered by motorcycle or scooter engines or electric motors.
