Anybody remember 3 wheelers?

I had one! One winter, my brother wore skis and I pulled him behind the three wheeler. He got the tips crossed going over a ditch bank. The binding was frozen so it didn't release. He broke his leg. My mom made us sell the three wheeler. Her argument: Because the government says they're dangerous. Umm... it wasn't the three wheeler. It was my brother's skis. And he didn't have to sell them. Anyhoo... I used the money to help pay for my first CB when the weather got warm. I did way more dangerous things on that bike than I ever did on the three wheeler.
 
You gotta love FortNine’s blurb, “This cultural hot potato of the 80s had everything - flawed design, thoughtless marketing, irresponsible dealers, young lives lost, sickening injury rates, bad parenting…the lot.”
 
But the Reliant Robin wasn't as bad as the UK's invalid carriage. These used to be issued free to those who needed them. When I was a young lad I lived in the UK, they were very common. These were three wheelers and bloody awful.

 
I have fond memories of riding my friend’s Honda ATC when I was in my teens, taking a turn too fast, and being thrown off of the seat while one foot was sucked under a back tire. Yeah, it hurt, but we were young, indestructible, and danger hadn’t been invented yet.

After an exhilarating morning of being thrown from the 3-wheeler, I’m sure we capped the day off playing lawn darts and ingesting Pop Rocks and Coke simultaneously.
 
Tev62_imp said:
But the Reliant Robin wasn't as bad as the UK's invalid carriage. These used to be issued free to those who needed them. When I was a young lad I lived in the UK, they were very common. These were three wheelers and bloody awful.
Click to expand...
Changing the front tire was a pain?
 
GoldOxide_imp said:
Tev62_imp said:
But the Reliant Robin wasn't as bad as the UK's invalid carriage. These used to be issued free to those who needed them. When I was a young lad I lived in the UK, they were very common. These were three wheelers and bloody awful.
Click to expand...
Changing the front tire was a pain?
Click to expand...
I would say so!
 
We had a Big Red (200 cc?) on the farm in the early eighties growing up, I believe it was an '84 because it had reverse. What a giant, lumbering, bouncing beast. I loved it.
 
A late friend of mine had a Big Red big bouncing lumbering beast. I think I was the only one that didn't get busted up on it. I was riding it along a narrow ledge, right rear tire dropped off the side, it went over in a split second. I rolled down a very steep hill about 40 or 50 ft. expecting to get ran over by it. Luckily there was a small tree just to the side of the trail, the machine ended up against the tree totally upside down still idling. That was the last time I went near it. My friend rode it into a ditch in an open field among 4ft tall weeds, went over the bars, got ran over by the machine and broke his neck. Spent 30 years in a wheelchair. Not good. There was always something about 3 and 4 wheelers, never did feel right to me.
 
Yikes! I'm sorry about your friend, Doug.
 
It's one of the cornier James Bond chase scenes, but in Diamonds Are Forever, it's fun to watch the security guards on early Honda three-wheelers trying to catch Bond crash, displaying the inherent hilarious safety faults this machine displayed.
 
Sadly :( Because of Southern California deserts and dunes, was very popular in 1970s amongst my friends, workmates, and acquaintances. To many had to be airlifted to desert hospitals and suffered permanent injuries. To many deaths. Darn things were to easy to wheelie and flip. To small and unstable for average adult. To much power for a child. Was working at metal shop in those days while attending college. Most of my workmates did custom cars, custom jeeps, and custom 3Wheelers. For the 3Wheelers they replaced the tube frame with a stronger/longer custom steel frame, but did not improve its safety. Glad the flippin things are gone.
 
We had a Big Red come into the shop that had 4-5 kids on it that were bombing down the road, took a corner right into a moving freight train. Killed several of them. Very very sad. Grandpa finally got the courage to bring it in for repairs months later. :(

Everyone wondered how it could happen as they lived near the tracks and were supposed to be train aware.
 
Rboe_imp said:
We had a Big Red come into the shop that had 4-5 kids on it that were bombing down the road, took a corner right into a moving freight train. Killed several of them. Very very sad. Grandpa finally got the courage to bring it in for repairs months later. :(

Everyone wondered how it could happen as they lived near the tracks and were supposed to be train aware.
Click to expand...
That is indeed sad.


As with many, many humans, carelessness comes regardless how well we think they were made aware.
 
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