Buying a trike without getting mislead This guide is designed to help you out if your thinking of buying a trike and to hopefully point you in the right direction. Basically if you buy a trike
it has to have paperwork saying that it is a trike from DVLA, (unless
its an unfinished project which will then need an MSVA inspection). Some trikes, offered for sale,
are being offered as trikes but are still registered as Reliant tricycles
with Reliant V5's, these are strictly not road legal Trikes. If you present one like this for an MOT it SHOULD BE REFUSED A TEST. More and more folks with "Reliant"
trikes are now finding out the hard way. There are no so called 'Grandfather
rules' here either, where vehicles registered or customised before a specific
date are exempt from the ruling. There are also a number of tricycles, that are currently on the market, with incorrect documentation. They are not registered with the DVLA as motorcycle derived tricycles, but are still registered as the donnor vehicle. (A motorcycle derived tricycle must meet the following description, "a three wheeled vehicle, where the wheels are symmetrically arranged, designed and built, with a motorcycle type, or derived, steering and suspension, with a mass not exceeding 1 tonne, a length not exceeding 4 metres, a height not exceeding 2.5 metres, and width not exceeding 2 metres".) If changes or modifications
have been made to any vehicle, the registered owner, is required by law,
to inform the DVLA of these changes which include:
Some trikes have what is called
a bolt on rear end that can be unbolted and the original bike rear end
bolted back in making it back into a bike. Before buying any vehicle you
should satisfy yourself that the vehicles documentation is correct and
that seller either owns the vehicle, or is entitled to offer it for sale.
Go and look at it first. If the vehicle does not match the description or obvious faults/problems have been omitted then walk away. Most sellers will omit faults and leave it to you to spot them or not as the case may be If you have never built a Trike then take someone with you that has if you can. Failing that someone who has a good head for engineering and mechanical details who will not be affected by the excitement of buying the Trike. When you buy something you want you will tend to miss the obvious faults. The general quality of the workmanship is the biggest clue. If it looks rough then it's likely that little care was taken in the build process. Your life will depend on it so be cautious and if in doubt walk away. But Best Of All Build Your Own I hope this guide has been of help in navigating the path to buying you perfect trike. Thanks to the following for
their help in writing this guide. Sooze, Addjunkie, ByzMax and Mrs.StrangelyMade |