Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Other Bikes VW's new Motorcycle

Has anyone seen this yet? What will be next? I like V Dubs but not too sure about this thing. Oh well, just wait til you all see what that big American MC company is starting in the design stages, its a hoot as well.

http://www.sema.org/main/semaorghome.aspx?id=54406

That is flat out ugly.

Soren

Hey Mike

I saw this recently in some Brit press.
There are too many of these type of bikes / cars around to go for one as butt ugly as this one!

Here's another one:

www.sub3wheeler.com

Although not to everyone's tastes, I am personally intrigued by these things, and I wouldn't mind owning one as a recreational vehicle for Sunday drives in the twisty roads. I could also envision a new category of racing devoted to these vehicles.

Ouch....$80,000???? I do like the red lines though.

I like em!

That is one horrible vehicle. What an abortion. Stick to making cars VW.

Thinking about so more, it may a good vehicle for the EMO kids to kill themselves in.

Fryguy

This is going to be the wave of the future. As fuel becomes more expensive, and demands for air pollution abatement increase, demand for small, fuel efficient, practical and fun vehicles will also increase. Just look at the increase in motorcyclists in the last 15 years. Electric hybrid vehicles are not as practical since they have two power plants.

The objection I have to these is safety related. They are classified as motorcycles, so they aren't obligated to install the same safety devices as cars have - such as airbags, safety bumpers, crumple zones, etc. Also, on a "motorcycle," one of the options we have in reducing damage to ourselves is to lay it down and una$$ the bike if we have time. You don't have that option with these three wheelers. Finally, (and this was noted in the article I read in the latest Cycleworld), the single rear tire has less of a traction patch than two do in a car, and since it doesn't lean like on a motorcycle, the "traction break point" comes a lot sooner. This results in a rear wheel spin out if you take a corner too quickly.

Like I said, these look like they'd be a gas on a Sunday drive through the twisties, but I wouldn't want one for regular commuting.

JB,

Regarding the rear wheel spin of three-wheelers...
That would only apply, of couse, to that type of configuration where the rear wheel was the driven or powered one.

You may remember the Tri-Hawk of a few years back that H/D bought the rights to, but eventually dropped development and manufacture of. I remember reading a road test of this front-wheels driven(Citroen powered, I believe)runabout, just before H/D purchased it. The skid-pad figures were amazing...something like .91Gs, and the tester raved about how stable it was. Basically, these types are car-based, not motorcycle, based vehicles.

I've also seen a few of those three-wheelers that have only the rear wheel driven, which are decidedly M/C based, and have heard that the handling phenomenon that you just described was very prevalent.

I can't tell from this photo whether VW designed this thing with front or rear wheel drive(I can't see through that left front wheel to see the spindle) but I'm guessing that VW, having never entered the M/C market, built this one with front-wheel drive.

Cheers,
Dwight

Stupid question...front wheel steering?

It looks like a front wheel drive/steer vehicle. the rear would be a trailing support. This is actually a refinement of automobiles that we're all familiar with, check the specs and you will see that the front track is wider than the rear. The logical progression is to a single rear wheel, easier to align, suspend and lighter to boot.

bigbill,

Yep. Similar to the old Citroens(the SM of the '70s was a marvel) and the little BMW Isettas. Actually, a very smart design.

And Dwight(the Cincinnati Ki(n)d, that is....Hey, do ya play poker?...McQueen Movie....Get it?!!!...oh, never mind ).....
I don't think rear-wheel steering would ever work for anything other than a low-speed vehicle, such as a forklift or motorized wheelchair. From what I would suppose, the dynamics of a tail-steering set-up for a high-speed vehicle would create a very nebulous feel at the wheel, especially upon braking, as the mass(weight) of the vehicle shifts forward.

Cheers,
Dwight
(and NO...it wasn't a "stupid question")

uuuuuuggggggglllllllyyyyyyy definatly not as sexy as the old reliant robin heh heh heh ,rodney you plonker

Last time I saw anything that ugly was when I woke up after a wild weekend.
If they had made it 250 pounds heavier, you wouldn't need a motorcycle license to drive it.
I'd rather have one of the old Brit 3 wheelers like a Morgan or Riley.
Here is a link to some (mostly) better looking modern 3 wheelers. http://www.ccpc.net/~jaho/on3wheel.html

GB,

Cool website! Yeah...there are some great lookin' three-wheelers on that site.

And BTW......HAPPY BIRTHDAY, dude!

Cheers,
Dwight
(ya know in just a few short years, you're gonna haft'a change that to WHITEbeard, don't cha?!!)

Corbin's motor division went down trying to build the better mouse trap, err, three wheeler!

No wonder.
It looks like a Reebok .