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Full Catalog 3 Wheelers Thread

Rickb

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2yrs vs 9yrs and counting. To my understanding Sondors did a lot of the work in his garage. This is one of the things that doesn't add up to me.
SONDORs all adds up to me. It was Paul Elio that tinkered with a concept in his garage with off the shelf parts that never quite fit. To my understanding Storm did a lot of brainStORMing, supplied rendered sketches, his vision, $1Million from a successful crowd funding campaign, and most importantly took the concept to a top rated team of Italian designer's, engineers, custom parts fabricators, and polished, detail oriented prototype builders that had the proven talent to get the job done. Storm consulted directly with that team throughout the entire design, engineering, and prototype building process. Sondors posted details and photos of that progress on Facebook and no marketing BS. A tangible production Milestone event completed without a high salaried CEO, Board of Directors, CFO, VP of Marketing, VP of Government Affairs, or Marketing Team touring the country with a non-test driveable, non-validated prototype. That's the thing that never quite added up to me, which is why my Elio reservation deposit refund check is in the bank. I do hope to test drive and purchase an Elio direct from an Elio Store some time in the future.

Performance and handling on the test track will be the true test to see what parts they got right and what needs changing during the process of building a series of pre-production vehicles and testing likely accomplished with the $20Million phase 2 funding round. If the initial SONDORs prototype screams around the test track with rave performance and handling reviews the $20Million of venture capital will be easily obtained. Even with a record fast and fiscally efficient Prototype build, Sondor's requires much more time and funding to successfully get a vehicle to production.
 
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Dr. Werner

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Here is some nice three wheel enclosed trikes that interest me besides the Elio! http://www.terracraftmotors.com/gallery
fb09634400631b5712ece6f6dcd86ea9--reverse-trike-funny-cars.jpg
 

Made in USA

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Looking at the Terracraft website a few thoughts came to mind. Safety for one. I like that the Elio will have airbags. I also wonder if the enclosed model would be considered an autocyle. It looks like it is rear wheel drive. If so, I prefer the front wheel drive of the Elio for driving in snow. The leaning into the corners on the Terracraft looks interesting, but the technology looks pricey. I also like that the Elio has roll-down windows. The Terracraft with the roof looks awkward pulling up to a drive-through or ATM. As the Terracraft does not mention MPG or even what engines it could use, I wonder about interior noise too. Not enough details about the basics on the Terracraft to determine if their "prototype" is mostly just a test bed for the leaning ability. Nope. I still like the Elio better.
 

Rob Croson

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The leaning into the corners on the Terracraft looks interesting, but the technology looks pricey.
"A TerraCraft vehicle is the ultimate limited-production, leaning super-trike handcrafted specifically for each investor. We use specific details about your riding style, use, specifications and physical characteristics to handcraft each TerraCraft vehicle to fit you perfectly.

All of the TerraCraft super-trikes are freestyle designs built off our core technology and chassis platform. As no two custom TerraCraft vehicles are the same, the pricing starts at $65K for a copy of our prototype then the cost goes up based on the client's vision, budget and the vast amount of uses and options available with our technology, advanced components and materials."

My emphasis.

It looks like almost all of the photos on their front page are computer renders 'shopped into stock photos. Makes me think they've never built any more than the one white, and the one blue prototype. both of which look rather silly.
 

Coss

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I don't see why not; it's rather impractical though.
It's like they did it just to say they have a 3-wheel bike.
I didn't see were it offers anything really that different, it's just got a widened front fork with 2 wheels.
Yippiee <yawn>
 
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