Tricycle vehicles

Claim 1

A tricycle vehicle comprising a front main frame, a single steerable front wheel mounted thereon, a seat for a rider supported by said main frame, a rear subframe assembly, a pair of rear wheels mounted on said assembly on a common transverse axis, a pivot joint connecting said main frame to the forward portion of said rear subframe assembly at a point intermediate said front wheel and said rear wheels to enable the main frame to tilt to one side or the other when travelling around a bend in accordance with the leaning over of the rider whereby said joint is laterally displaced, with the turning axis of said joint disposed on a longitudinal axis extending forwardly substantially from the vertical center line of said rear wheel axis through the normal upright steering axis of said front wheel and sloping upwardly from the rear of said vehicle to the front thereof, said tilting of said main frame laterally displacing said pivot in the direction of tilt to cause said rear wheel on the outside of the bend to move forwardly with respect to the inside said rear wheel, and spring means between the subframe assembly and main frame said spring means comprising torsion bar means held at the rear end by the subframe assembly and extending forwardly therefrom, and held at the front end by the main frame, said torsion bar means resiliently resisting tilting of the main frame and applying a downward force on said rear wheel which is on the inside of a curve when the vehicle is turning and also providing shock absorbing and spring mounting of the main frame.