Jeff Goldblum spends most of his screen time in Nashville dressed in silly clothes and riding around on an unusual three-wheeled motorcycle. What’s the general name for this type of motorcycle, and what’s the specific model used in the film? Does anyone still make or ride these? I don’t recall ever having seen one in real life.
A trike? The ones I’ve seen were built by the owners, sometimes scavenging parts from other rides.
The general name for them are simply “trikes”. The ones I see are usually Harleys or Victorys. Can-Am makes a reverse one with the single wheel in the back.
Goldblum’s looks like a custom job.
Those were popular back in the 70s. The drivetrain is from an air-cooled VW beetle.
Yep, as others said, they are called trikes.
The type like the one Jeff Goldblum is riding are usually custom built. Sometimes they will be based around a Harley or some other bike, and sometimes they will take the rear end of a VW Beetle and will mate it with the front end of a chopper. It’s hard to tell from the pic, but it looks like that might be the top end of a VW motor behind Jeff’s seat. I have seen a lot of VW based trikes over the years.
The Can-Am ones are off-the-shelf (not custom built), and have the two wheels in the front for better stability. Having two wheels in the back makes the trike less stable in turns, so much so that if you take a turn at high speeds you can easily flip them over. Other 3-wheeled vehicles like the Reliant Robin have the same issue, which Top Gear demonstrated to great comedic effect in one of their episodes.
Some states will let you get a motorcycle license using a trike. Where I live (PA), if you take your test on a trike you get a motorcycle restriction that allows you only to ride a trike. You need to retake the test using a 2 wheeled motorcycle to get the full motorcycle license.
Billy Connolly rode a Boom Lowrider LR8 Muscle trike on his TV travelogue series “Bill Connolly’s Route 66”
Additionally, some states don’t require a special license for 3 wheel vehicles, at least ones like the Can-Am. - your regular driver’s license is sufficient. Can-Am’s learntoride page lists the requirements in your specific state (scroll down). For instance, in CA: “A car license is sufficient to ride a Can-Am On-Road product. No skill test required.”. They quite sensibly also suggest that you take the course anyway.
the Honda Goldwing is another popular starting point for aftermarket trike conversions.
For straight-from-the-factory trikes, in addition to the Can-Am Spyder, there’s also the KTM Slingshot. Both of these are two-wheels-in-front, one-wheel-in-back. the Spyder is more like a motorcycle (or snowmobile, really), with pilot and passenger straddling a saddle and sitting very upright. The Slingshot is more like a three-wheeled car, with low-slung, side-by-side bucket seats for its two occupants.
If you’re used to riding a motorcycle, riding a trike for the first time is weird. The vehicle doesn’t lean to turn, which has two consequences:
#1: no countersteering to initiate turns. Want to turn left? Turn the bars left. That’s it, now you’re turning.
#2: Whereas the leaning of a conventional motorcycle means you always feel planted in the saddle during turns, the non-leaning of a trike means you always feel like you’re going to get flung off the saddle to the outside of the turn.
It’s definitely a VW. Besides the doghouse cooling tin behind the seat, there’s the torsion bar visible in front of the rear tire, and a gearshift with a wooden knob. Also, it’s shown from behind in the movie trailer and is clearly a type 1 engine.
I hadn’t thought of that. I think I’d kill myself trying to ride one of those. I don’t know if I could get my brain to stop thinking “countersteer, lean”.
That’s why 3-Wheel ATV’s were banned.