A) In comparison with motorcycles and snowmobiles:
These new 3-Wheelers are close to regular motorcycles and snowmobiles by their complexity and weight.
Obviously, 2-Wheel motorcycles may always be slightly lighter and narrower than these 3-Wheelers, because of the third wheel.
But these 3-Wheelers may always be better equipped and more powerful, without the rider having any difficulty holding them up at standstill.
Also, these 3-Wheelers add more easily an additional vehicle family:
(1) There may be the without safety belts and protective structure: (2) And the with safety belts and protective structure:
We cannot show the latest developments of these 3-Wheelers that are secret.
Nevertheless it’s still possible to get an idea of what they may be like:
The first Moto-Motoneige prototype dating 1983-84 illustrates the type without safety belts and protective structure:
The model at the left and the prototype at the right illustrate well how simple this new 3-Wheeler concept can be, just like 2-Wheel motorcycles and snowmobiles (hence it’s ‘Moto-motoneige’ name).
A second 1985-1987 prototype (COOP-2000) illustrates the second type with safety belts and protective structure:
It was equipped with a Citroën 2CV engine displacing 602cc’s. The displacement was small compared to today’s motorcycles and this Citroën 2CV was more or less of a ‘lunch box’, but the propulsion system was a nicety, particularly well adapted for such a 3-Wheeler application: This engine was a flat twin with hemispherical (‘Hemi’) heads for more power and was equipped with an oil cooler, similar to the ‘Boxer’ flat twin of BMW motorcycles. The two low ‘flat’ cylinders had the advantage of further lowering the center of gravity of the vehicle, which is particularly important for a 3-Wheeler.
Furthermore, the disc brakes were mounted on each side of the differential (in-board) instead of in the wheels. This lightened the front wheels in order to let them follow better the irregularities of the road, while providing for larger discs. A fan cooled the engine and, pretty stuff of that 2CV, pushed air through two tubes against the exterior surface of these big brake discs. So like for a Formula-1 racecar, these discs were cooled on the friction surface where the heat was generated by braking.
It was personalized by André Rouillard from Les Soudures de Précision that had gone over 150 000 kilometers up to summer 2003:
B) General specifications:
Being close to regular motorcycles and snowmobiles, weight of these 3-Wheelers may range from around 150 to 350 Kg (330 to 770 LB).
Being slightly larger then these motorcycles and snowmobiles, their dimensions may nevertheless be less then for a small 4-Wheel car, and may thus be about:
– Width 1600 mm (63 in),
– Length 3600 mm (140 in),
– Height 1100 mm (42 in) in the case without safety belts and protective structure.