Rat Trikes

Okay, so these aren't HPVs. But they ain't in Chicago, neither. Upon my visit to the Rat Patrol UK in Ross-on-Wye, I noticed a curious concentration of three-wheelers, perhaps related to the fact that Morgans are made just up the road.

While most were nice custom jobs, these two stood out as being particularly ratty.

The first is ratty because RPUK member Tallmartin found it in the trash. He'd bought a garage for 200 quid with the caveat that he clean out all the garbage in there. And look what was among the garbage! This is a Rialto trike from the 80s. It's classified as a motorized tricycle even though it can go 65 mph for hours on end and is essentially a car. 850ccs, 4-cyclinder rear-wheel drive and a plastic body... we figured the only way to change that front tire would be to roll it up on its side, which one person can easily do.

We spent the day zipping around the orchard, spinning out on the slick grass, and trying to get it up on two wheels, which is particularly easy. The presence of a passenger greatly effects the handling of this plastic, lightweight, highly entertaining hunk of trash.

Folks in England tend to have very nice cars, and I suspect that the presence of many ratty-ass motorcycles is a backlash to that. This one is ratty simply because it's made from a VW Bug and scrap iron.

If you look, you can see how the chassis of the VW has been chopped and rewelded at an angle, then a headtube's been welded onto that. The highway pegs are just steel bar, and the seats and floor are all gussied up from angle iron.

Suicide shifter!

Johnny 2:03 PM