Three wheeler - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A three wheeler is a vehicle

Vehicle

A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....

with three wheel

Wheel

A wheel is a device that allows heavy objects to be moved easily through rotating on an axle through its center, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, or performing labor in machines. Common examples found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle,...

s, either "human or people-powered vehicles" (HPV or PPV or velomobile

Velomobile

A velomobile or bicycle car is a human-powered vehicle, enclosed for aerodynamic advantage and protection from weather and collisions. They are virtually always single-passenger vehicles. They are derived from recumbent bicycles and tricycles, with the addition of a full fairing . There are few...

s) or motorized

Engine

An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...

vehicles in the form of a motorcycle

Motorcycle

A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...

, All terrain vehicle (ATV) or automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

. Other names for three-wheelers include Trikes, Tricars and Cyclecars. The term Tricycle

Tricycle

A tricycle is a three-wheeled vehicle. While tricycles are often associated with the small three-wheeled vehicles used by pre-school-age children, they are also used by adults for a variety of purposes. In the United States and Canada, adult-sized tricycles are used primarily by older persons for...

is used somewhat interchangeably, but the term three-wheeler is more often applied to motor vehicles.

Many three-wheelers which exist in the form of motorcycle-based machines are often called trikes and often have the front single wheel and mechanics similar to that of a motorcycle and the rear axle similar to that of a car. Often such vehicles are owner–constructed using a portion of a rear–engine, rear–drive Volkswagen "Beetle"

Volkswagen Beetle

The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle or Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003...

in combination with a motorcycle front end. Other trikes include ATVs that are specially constructed for off road use. Three-wheeled automobiles can have either one wheel at the back and two at the front, (for example: Morgan Motor Company

Morgan Motor Company

The Morgan Motor Company is a British motor car manufacturer. The company was founded in 1910 by Harry Frederick Stanley Morgan, generally known as "HFS" and was run by him until he died, aged 77, in 1959. Peter Morgan, son of H.F.S., ran the company until a few years before his death in 2003...

) or one wheel at the front and two at the back (such as the Reliant Robin

Reliant Robin

thumb|right|250px|1975 Greek advertisement for Mebea Robin The Reliant Robin is a small three wheeled car formerly manufactured by the Reliant Motor Company in Tamworth, England...

).

Three-wheeler cars, usually microcar

Microcar

A microcar is the smallest automobile classification usually applied to standard small car . Such small cars were generally referred to as cyclecars until the 1940s. More recent models are also called bubblecars due to their egg-shaped appearance.-Definition:The definition of a microcar has varied...

s, are often built for economy reasons, or as was the case in the UK, to take advantage of tax advantages, or as in the US to take advantage of the lower safety regulations, they are being classed as motorcycles. As a result of their light construction and often relaxed pollution reqirements, leading to higher efficiency, three-wheeled cars are usually very economical to run.

Safety

When the single wheel is in the front (the "delta" form, as in a child's pedal tricycle

Tricycle

), the vehicle is inherently unstable in a braking turn, as the combined tipping forces at the center of gravity

Center of gravity

In physics, a center of gravity of a material body is a point that may be used for a summary description of gravitational interactions. In a uniform gravitational field, the center of mass serves as the center of gravity...

from turning and braking can
rapidly extend beyond the triangle formed by the contact patch

Contact patch

Contact patch is the portion of a vehicle's tire that is in actual contact with the road surface. It is most commonly used in the discussion of pneumatic tires, , where the term is strictly used to describe the portion of the tire’s tread that touches the road surface...

es of the wheels. This type, if not tipped, also has a greater tendency to spin out ("swap ends") when handled roughly.

With two wheels in the front (the "tadpole" form or "reverse trike") the vehicle is far more stable in braking turns, but remains more prone to overturning in normal turns compared to an equivalent four–wheeled
vehicle, unless the center of mass is lower and/or further forward. Motorcycle-derived designs suffer from most of the weight being towards the rear of the vehicle.

Due to the incidence of injuries related to their use, a 10-year ban was placed on the sale of new three-wheeled ATVs in the United States in January 1988.

In Pop Culture

One of the most famous three wheeled cars is the dirty yellow Reliant Regal Supervan III

Reliant Regal

The Reliant Regal was a small three-wheeled car manufactured from 1953 until 1973 by the Reliant Motor Company in Tamworth, England. As it was a three-wheeler, and it was fairly lightweight, the vehicle could be driven on a motorcycle licence in the United Kingdom...

from the TV series Only Fools and Horses

Only Fools and Horses

Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

.

In the TV series Mr. Bean

Mr. Bean

Mr. Bean is a British comedy television programme series of 14 half-hour episodes written by and starring Rowan Atkinson as the title character. Different episodes were also written by Robin Driscoll, Richard Curtis and one by Ben Elton. The pilot episode was broadcast on ITV on 1 January 1990,...

, a Reliant Regal

Reliant Regal

(a three wheeler) was often driving around town. The car was sort of a nemesis to Mr. Bean, as he would drive in such a manner as to cause the car to roll over and even refused a ride from the three wheeler when hitchhiking.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Safety

In Pop Culture

See also

External links