Wasp Motorcycles

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Wasp Motorcycles
Company typePrivate
Industry Motorcycle
Founded1964 [1]
FounderRobin Rhind-Tutt
Headquarters Dunkeswell, Devon EX14 4RS,
United Kingdom
ProductsMotorcycle sidecars and frames
Website Wasp Motorcycles

Wasp Motorcycles is a British motorcycle and sidecar manufacturer that specialises in building competition solo and sidecar machines for motocross, trials and sidecar grasstrack, [2] as well as the Wasp 3 Wheel Freedom for disabled riders. [3]

Contents

Wasp first saw racing success in 1971, when it won the European Championship. [1] Wasp sidecars have been the winning chassis eight times in the FIM Sidecarcross European and World Championship. [4] [5] In 1972, all of the top eight places in the European Championship were riding Wasp outfits. [6]

History

Wasp was founded in 1964 by engineer and off-road motorcyclist Robin 'Robbie' Rhind-Tutt, [6] who was originally employed by the Ministry of Defence as an engineering apprentice at Boscombe Down. [6] [7] He designed and built a number of off-road motorcycle frames which he used in motocross competitions. [8] Other competitors were interested in Rhind-Tutt's frames and commissioned him to build specialist frames, so he decided to form Wasp Motorcycles Ltd. The company changed its name to Wasp Engineering Ltd in 1997, [9] but continues to trade under the name of Wasp Motorcycles. [10]

The company was based at Berwick St James, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, where Rhind-Tutt had been born and brought up. [1] Rhind-Tutt died in September 2019, aged 78. [11] Around that time the company was at Dinton, still in the Salisbury area; [12] in 2024 it opened on a business park at Dunkeswell, near Honiton, Devon.[ citation needed ]

A Wasp/BSA motocross sidecar outfit ridden by former world motocross champion Dave Bickers was used in the 1979 World War II film Escape to Athena , disguised to look like a German military BMW R75. [13]

Products

Wasp manufacture and modify sidecar motocross, [14] sidecar grasstrack ('side-car-cross'), [15] and solo motocross motorcycles. [16] They also produce motorcycle leading link suspension for sidecars [17] and fork conversion kits for road bikes to improve braking and handling, and they manufacture Métisse frames pioneered by Rickman Motorcycles. [6] [10]

Wasp 3 Wheel Freedom

The 3 Wheel Freedom is designed for use by disabled riders, [18] including paraplegic motorcyclists, and has an electrically operated ramp to help access. With a tubular space frame bonded to fibreglass body it has independent suspension and a twin-piston brake connected to the motorcycle brakes. The design of the sidecar enables it to carry a wheelchair and it can be attached to any motorcycle of over 500 cc. [3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Wasp Motorcycles". Grace's Guide. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  2. ↑ Bacon, Roy; Hallworth, Ken (2004). The British Motorcycle Directory: Over 1,100 Marques from 1888. Crowood. ISBN   1-86126-674-X.
  3. 1 2 "The Wasp 3 Wheel Freedom". Wasp Motorcycles. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
  4. ↑ "Norton Wasp". Norton Motorcycles. 2006. Archived from the original on 23 August 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
  5. ↑ "Sidecar-Cross racing World Champions History of the sport". sideacross.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Westlake, Andy (2008). Off-Road Giants!: Heroes of 1960s Motorcycle Sport. Veloce Publishing Ltd. pp. 117–118. ISBN   978-1-84584-190-4.
  7. ↑ "Robin Rhind-Tutt". Grace's Guide. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  8. ↑ Morley, Don (1986). Classic British scramblers: all post-war two-stroke and four-stroke scrambles motorcycles, AJS to Wasp. Osprey Colour Series. Osprey collector's library. ISBN   9780850456493.
  9. ↑ "Companies in the UK". Companies in the UK. 2010. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
  10. 1 2 "Robbie Rhind-Tutt and Wasp". Wasp Motorcycles. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
  11. ↑ "Rob Rhind-Tutt obituary" . The Times. 2 October 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  12. ↑ "We Have Moved". Wasp Motorcycles. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  13. ↑ Crosse, Jesse (2006). The Greatest Movie Car Chases of All Time. MotorBooks International. p. 100. ISBN   978-0-7603-2410-3.
  14. ↑ Nothcote, Bill (August 2001). "Dnepr / Russengalerie" . Retrieved 22 November 2010.
  15. ↑ Chadwick, Ian (23 April 2001). "British motorcycle manufacturers" . Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  16. ↑ "Twinshock racing in the UK - RT2 Wasp outfit". Archived from the original on 13 November 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  17. ↑ Axon, Jo (4 March 2008). Sidecars. Shire Album S. Shire Publications Ltd. p. 27. ISBN   978-0-7478-0344-7.
  18. ↑ "Riding for Wheelchair Users and people with 'balance' problems". National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). Retrieved 24 November 2010.
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