Our friends up north are building a trike and thought you might like to take a peek at what they have so far. Mike Sabatino of Jesler Enterprises in Peterborough, Ontario sent us these photos of the Crossbow. The prototype for this three wheeler, shown here, is powered by an 1100cc 140hp Kawasaki engine but Mike says that may change with final engine selection currently in progress.
The Crossbow is built on a tube frame and covered with a fiberglass body. The engine sits up front and drives a reversing gearbox. The rear wheel is currently belt driven but they may go with a chain depending on testing. A single 20×10 wheel in the back carries a BF Goodrich radial, front wheels are 17×7 also running BFG tires.
The transmission is the standard 6 speed and all controls are in the standard motorcycle configuration with twist throttle, left hand clutch and foot shift.
They were careful to follow both Canadian and U.S. regulations for a 3 wheeled vehicle to make registration as easy as possible.
The whole unit weighs just 980 pounds and two months of road and track testing show 0-60 in 4.43 sec., quarter mile in 12.57 sec. They’re pretty happy with how everything works and handles but want to do a bit of restyling before launching the final product. They anticipate a launch sometime next year with price somewhere around $30,000 USD.
Link: Crossbowcycle
Related: Motorcycle powered cars
More photos below:
Alex says
A little bit of restyling? What about a little bit of restarting? …from scratch.
Mayakovski says
Ugly.
alejandro martinez says
I can tell just by looking at the steering that this vehicle doesn’t work well. The handlebar setup has very little rotational movement, about 90 degrees maximum. 90 degrees is not enough rotation to move a standard rack and pinion setup. Typically 4 turns lock to lock (1440 degrees) is standard, as some exotics have about 2.5 turns lock to lock (900 degrees). Therefore this vehicle’s steering is either too sensitive at high speed and is gittery beyond belief or too slow at low speed making turning sharp and slow corners near impossible. Definitely no easy u-turns here. I know the designers have already experienced this problem. Unfortunately there are few solutions available. A variable rate rack and pinion would help but there are no manufacturers for off the shelf racks such as this. Or they can change the driving system and go with a steering wheel setup.
Glenn says
What if it does not use a rack and pinion, Alejandro? What if they have a system that works, and well, at speed? It is a little heavy steering in the parking lot, but no more than any other heavy bike.
A steering wheel means that this becomes a car. Right now it is licenced, and used daily, as a motorcycle.
Alex says
Alejandro is right. Motorcycle steering and car steering differ a lot due to the vertical angle of the wheels relative to the ground. And watch the pics more carefully. Compare handlebars and wheels in the first pic.
design@crossbowcycles.com says
The issue that cars and bikes steer differently is not what was pointed out, it was that we had found a very good compromise that allows the handlebars to be incorporated and yet control the steering effort and action quite well.
This machine handles very well, but not strictly like a bike. You can be a more agressive rider by leaning and adding your weight to control the bike, but it does well without the weight shift.
The package is designed to allow whatever level of aggression the rider wants to display. A novice can easily find throttle induced thrills, but the same is on tap for the advanced riders as well.
It is a true open-air sports machine that can be easily harnessed for the daily commute, receiving all the benefits of a motorcycle.