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Last Update 8/11/08
FAQ Page:
This page will be added to on a regular basis in an attempt to answer the most common questions pertaining to reverse trikes. It is a compilation of your questions that I get via email and my responses. I figure these questions are going to be asked on a regular basis, so this should be the first place to look for answers so you don't ask things that we've already covered.
Most of the answers are from David Ewing, the Club Founder, though most everything on this page has been reworded for better reading. If any members want to create some material to go on this page I would surely welcome it! I've gotten requests for sources of businesses that can build a custom fiberglass body or design and fabricate a trike frame, and a few are interested in electric vehicles these days, so many people currently are looking at the possibility of building something around a reverse trike kit.
Disclaimer: Keep in mind that what's posted here is questions and answers from various members of the club over a
period of time and the answers are not necessarily always going to be 100% accurate or the ONLY solution to the question.
I've read through all of them and some answers are based maybe solely on the basis of one members opinion or experience.
I make no claims as to the accuracy of the answers, rather I ask that if any member notices something that doesn't appear to be stated correctly that they email me so I can add their changes or concerns to
this page when I update it.
If you need parts for your trike or other info, the Links page has the most up to date info available
for what's on the internet related to RT's.
Q: Why is the RT design with 2 wheels in the front and one rear considered to be so much better than a standard trike with one wheel in the front and 2 rear? It seems to me that the standard trike design historically has a huge following and the RT design doesn't. If RT designs have been around since the early 30's at least as you indicate, it seems to me that there's more than just marketing of the RT design or the looks of the design that's kept them from being popular in the marketplace. Mark T.
A: That's a good question and unfortunately I really don't have a good answer for that. Pricing is one issue. I've noticed RT kits are as expensive as regular Kit cars and they really shouldn't be that high priced. Looking at the performance data on the T-Rex for example, there's no doubt that the RT designs are capable of cornering performance rivaling that of an Indy car! RT's do have particular handling quirks inherent to this design but so do standard trike designs. Both typically use motorcycle engines as the drive-train so acceleration performance should be pretty equal depending on how much rubber you're putting to the ground.
I think one of the problems is that people see them as an unproven concept. One of the reasons for that is because motorcycle manufacturers and dealers have historically only supported the standard trike designs, but they haven't afforded the same following behind RT's. Some years ago as the story goes, Harley Davidson bought the company making the Tri-Hawk RT. After a very short period of time offering the Tr-Hawk in select dealerships, they shut production down and decided not to make the trike anymore. Why they did that exactly I don't know, but I've read that there had been about 100 or more of these Tri-Hawks made up to that point.
Maybe it had to do with marketing strategy. Offering them in a Harley dealership may not of been the best place, but it doesn't mean the Tri-Hawk couldn't of been a good seller if sold in the right market. I think all it would take to lend major credibility to the RT market is for a motorcycle manufacturer to start marketing a design themselves. If that happened, I think they'd have more demand for their product than they could supply, assuming the design was reasonably priced. BRP is doing that now with their Spyder and first year sales have been very good. david@reversetrike.com
Q: It would be great to have a database state
by state on the
requirements for operating 3-wheelers.
I'm specifically interested in the requirements for Texas and any links to the titling, registration, and licensing information?
What is the method or requirements for making your 3-wheeler street-legal in your state?
David N.
A: See the license and regulations page on this site. I will keep this page up to date as new info is submitted. david@reversetrike.com
Q: In regards to your marketing strategy. The reason I think no RT manufacturer had been successful, is that no manufacturer has had the capital to really launch a product. It's still a bunch guys like us playing around. Your plan to travel around and represent 4 - 6 manufacturers is great, but I think it will confuse the buyer. I would like to see a formation of a RT company by taking 4-6 companies that have good products, roll them all into the one company, and market the trikes under that one name. Strength in numbers, one name, build value in one brand, no confusion.
I do not think there is one of us out there, that has the size, dollars and resources to launch a product alone. My whole goal for my company from the start was to create a product, and find a partner or bigger company to take the product to market. I have talked to investors, but they will not touch it until there solid continual sales. To get sales, is going to take a lot of capital.
I believe in RT's, they are a most efficient, safe means of transporting two passengers. With oil and the environment issues getting worse, there will be a market for these types of vehicles. If us little guys are going to survive, we need to get to market soon. If Bombardier is successful, look out for Honda, Suzuki or some other big player. The little guy will get eaten alive.
A: That's one way to look at it, but the custom chopper industry is a bunch guys
that were initially just 'playing around', and they're still very successful at selling product at a price that makes them a substantial profit.
The difference in what they're doing and what we're doing has a lot to do with credibility.
You take your product out to shows and as good as it is, no one knows 'Trike Enterprises'
or whatever your company is, few will be inclined to plunk down their hard earned cash.
Put the name Honda, Kawasaki, etc., on it and see how fast that changes. People are very aware of the kit car industry and how many people have paid for cars up front that were never
delivered! Or the company went out of business shortly thereafter, and there was no support, or they were shipped a partial kit, etc.
My idea was to take small manufacturers like yourself and allow them to market their product and stay small.
Bigger is not always better, but you need someone on the street actively selling your product until the demand is great enough and there's name recognition.
That can take a lot of time to establish, especially with only one product.
As you say, IF you could get those companies together under one roof that could be nice, but I can't even imagine how that could be accomplished. All these guys want to be the one making the big bucks and they want equal promotion of products and a few other things that come to mind besides the fact they're scattered across different countries. Seems like a legal nightmare for one thing, and I can't even guess how much effort it would take to actually accomplish an agreement like that.
Bombardier will be successful and others could ride their coat-tails to market with their own products, but for a complete RT at $15,000 USD, the question is, can you even compete with that on your
product price wise? Target range on many of these trikes currently is $25,000 -
$45,000+ USD.
We don't have a complete RT out there for under $15,000 right now except for something like the Piaggio MP3 which
no doubt will be upgraded to a larger motor as time goes by. Most of my members have said
they don't even want an open trike like that.
They want something more like the XR3 Hybrid kit or the Alé Concept that is enclosed, or at least
something that CAN be easily enclosed by adding a top.
The top might have to be optional in some states so it can be licensed as a motorcycle.
Not that everybody cares about how it's licensed, motorcycle versus car, but some care because they want to be able to hit the HOV freeway
lanes and need a motorcycle to qualify.
If I was a manufacturer in today's market the way things are, what I would do is come up with a good design for your product and have it built in China, Argentina or some place like that and import it back to the USA and sell it as a complete kit minus the engine.
Make the motor available through another source, or sell them yourself
separately. But not try to manufacture a complete bike, since the regulations will be easier to sell in kit form just like the kit car manufacturers are doing, and
like the custom chopper guys are doing.
By making it overseas you can keep the price low enough to compete with anybody out there and you can still make money.
You should have an open style bike like the Spyder and/or an XR3 style that's very light and uses
a generic motorcycle engine of which a few are available. On the enclosed model I would switch to FWD like the XR3 or Blackjack Zero uses in that general concept except with your motorcycle engine/trans combo all you need is a small light differential, not a transaxle like they have.
There's a company on my links page that sells these for motorcycle powered vehicles.
The lighter the better within reason, add good aerodynamics and your mileage will be as high as it can be.
Either one should be designed to accept different motorcycle engines, so a
builder could use his existing engine as the power plant if he had a wrecked bike for instance.
Then all they have to do is buy your kit, adapt their engine and electronics and they have a
ride-able machine. There's some difference in weight between engines, but that shouldn't pose a huge problem I wouldn't think.
What I would do is use something like Progressive Suspension air shocks on all 3 corners, so that weight could be compensated for with more or less air pressure in the shocks.
As far as the stability control system the Can-Am uses, I would see if Bosch would sell that system to other manufacturers like yourself and if so,
maybe it could be incorporated as an option if that's possible. I don't think the enclosed models would need this necessarily as the weight rides much lower than a trike you sit on top of and the handling with FWD should already be much better than your typical hot
rod. Like a Corvette for instance as the T-Rex and Ale have already contested to.
However, the RWD models like the T-Rex and even your design have the tendency to lift the front wheel under hard acceleration in corners, and the FWD designs don't do that.
Now if you were looking at making yours a tilting design like the TMW -
reversetrike.com/tmw.html
... then that's a whole other ball game. A full 'roller kit' that uses a tilting front suspension and accepts different engines is a concept that needs to be considered.
If you made that overseas you could sell that kit for $10,000 in the USA and make money and people would scarf them up at that price.
I already know someone that's looking at that idea and everyone is patiently awaiting Bob's new prototype to see how well it works.
Personally, I wouldn't try to compete with Bombardier unless you could sell a complete bike of some kind with a motor for under
about $12,000.
There are cheap Korean made motorcycles being imported now and there are 650cc-850cc motors with the auto shift trans on them that would made a good under
$12,000 RT product.
If no one else does it, someone like Hyosung out of Korea might just step into the market with an under
$12,000 RT product using a motor like this.
I think the kit idea is better where we can use a sportbike motor of our choosing, and a tilter; now you have your own market.
I'll certainly help any RT manufacturer market their product if I can, but I would like to get into the sales end of the
business eventually, if my wife and I can travel and make
enough money promoting these products on the road. david@reversetrike.com
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