Towards a single-seater future

Terracraft said it is ready to take bespoke orders for its self-tilting SuperTrike. Prices will start around an eye-watering R860 439 ($60 000) before import taxes, and scale upwards depending on what engine a customer wants (the prototype uses a 1 500 cc Honda Goldwing engine), and what level of components the buyer’s use case demands. The trike uses an intelligent CoPilot computer system that keeps the cabin perfectly level over any road surfaces while leaning the trike into corners at up to 30
degrees.

When the Wheels team predict our children will be riding in roll-caged vehicles with unique cladding, we have something like this trike by American electrical engineer Don Davis in mind. You know you want it just by looking at it, but Davis said he will only make this DiamondBack to order after a deposit has been paid on the final amount of just over R430 000. Power in this model comes from a 1 300 cc Suzuki Hayabusa engine, the pneumatic leaning system automatically keeps the trike level and a Formula 1-style racing seat with a five-point harness keeps the rider safe. The roof, by the way, is also self-raising to facilitate getting in and out.

A new take on the pennyfarthing, the KerVelo is a recumbent bicycle that will soon be a tricycle if its Norwegian inventor Marc le Borgne has his way. He designed the bike to be pedalled without any chain using an 18-speed Pinion gear hub transmission that he fitted into a custom hub on the front-wheel axle. Why make it a trike? Because the front wheel rubs against the outside knee of the rider in low-speed turns. He has no prices on the KerVelo yet.

After we pointed out how the hype surrounding the Elio trike is starting to sound a lot like the bluster that came (and went) with the South African Joule electric car, the American team announced a week ago that the final stage of engineering has been completed and crash testing is next. Then only will building of the trikes already ordered by 52 601 Americans, begin. The Elio is the dream of Paul Elio, who according to the website, ‘saw Americans struggling with an economy that was taking too much and giving back too little’, and decided the world needs a ‘three-wheeled masterpiece of automotive brilliance that bears his name’. Since 2013, Elio has been promising to sell the trike for $6 800 (R98 408), which will be the cheapest trike on the market, if the company delivers on the hype.