Steve's Reliant trike.

My older, far more talented, brother Steve is now heavily immersed in the drag racing scene, but has had a few forays into the murky world of trike building as well. This is a very tidy little Reliant he put together a couple of years ago. Although similar to mine & borrowing a few design ideas, it’s got a more radical look with the front down tubes following the line of the Mini radiator, a stretched or “goose-necked” headstock with plenty of tubular bracing, & a narrow hard-tailed back end. The forks & front wheel are Kawasaki, probably GT750LTD, the tank is Suzuki Savage & the headlight looks like a Superdream item. Being annoyingly clever, Steve created his own moulds & produced the fibreglass rear guards to mimic the lines of the kwacka front one. Rear wheels are Revolution 5 spokes that previously graced a Ford Capri & the frame & bars are constructed from the same 1 3/8” O.D tubing I use. This was a budget machine but managed to outclass many far more expensive “pro built” trikes. Must’ve been well engineered cos I last saw it several years later at the 2004 Magna Carta show in Hertfordshire. Steve’s idly talked of building a seriously radical Reliant show trike with some very trick engineering details. Hope it happens one day.

-Andy.