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The power of the Rewaco trike is better than a Golf GTI. While the Wolfsburger comes to 6 kilograms per HP, the RF1 GT driven by me only has to carry 4.5 kilograms per HP. Clear points win for driving pleasure? Or why do you drive such a trike?
Driving a trike - open air driving fun on three wheels?
Rewaco RF1 GT in the driving report
First of all, it must be made clear: if you count motorcycle riders to your friends, you shouldn't necessarily ask them about riding a trike. Or even invite you to a tour. A trike is something completely different. Yes, of course both share this freedom from crumple zones. And both should wear a helmet. And motorcyclists usually drive through the landscape more for enjoyment than for duty. But that's where the similarities end. The motorcyclists I know couldn't stop laughing. A trike? A trip on a tricycle? Whether I'm already retired - the most common question. In terms of evolution, single-track organ donors and trike drivers are not quite on the same level. I quickly realized that.
Trike driving, retiree hobby?
To blow the wind around your nose, you are never too young. And contrary to different rumors, you just do not have to retire to get a runny nose when driving trike. The biggest advantage of the trike? You need a helmet, but no motorcycle license. Standing at a traffic light you can not fall over. So not so stupid. Such a trike.
REWACO RF1 GT
Such a trike is by nature not something you should drive around with, even if you do not enjoy the attention of others. Children are staring at you with big round eyes and open mouths, grandmothers shake their heads in confusion and women of wedding age look either shyly aside or smile offensively in the direction of the trike handlebar.
The trikes from Rewaco are also particularly reluctant. Endless chrome, thick, wide handlebars, double headlight batteries at the front, four-pipe exhaust systems and sweeping body curves. The RF1 GT test device was also tested in an eye-catching two-tone paint scheme in black and red. That makes you stand out. Always. Quickly to the Edeka and bought a few more tomatoes? Sure, if you have the time to talk. Because these conversations always arise. Sometimes it's the children, sometimes the grandmas who want to know how something like this works, because the deceased husband, mercy on his soul, always wanted a trike like this and sometimes it's the bleached women just before menopause. Someone is always looking for conversation. And not infrequently it ends in a small demo round across the parking lot. Big eyes. Again. And smiling faces. Actually from everyone who comes down again.
Like other trikes, the RF1 GT also has a second seat. Way up. In a pretty exposed location. However, the passengers feel comfortable. In front of one of the drivers, behind it a decent backrest and, in the case of the Rewaco, a headrest. So it can be gondola through the landscape, not unlike a presentation plate. And if you have to, you can just take a quick trike to Aldi.
But actually the trike is not for everyday life, too unwieldy, too flashy, but also too sensitive.
So - the driver is too sensitive. At 100 km / h the mosquitoes can still be borne, but if you do not wear gloves at 140 km / h you will be amazed at how painfully the flight of insects ends when it ends in the hand of the trike driver. This is nothing new for motorcyclists, but - the trike rider is not a motorcyclist.
And so the glove-free speed on the trike also settles at 90 km / h on country roads - preferably a little slower. Driving a trike is more like rolling through the landscape than racing through the landscape. Trike drivers and moped pilots also differ here. Such a motorcycle can be thrown from curve to curve, the trike with its massive front wheel and the much more massive rear wheels prefers to roll straight on a quiet road.
If you use Rewaco's option price list properly, you can use 335er rear tires on 18 custom rims to ride through the landscape. The solitary front wheel can be upgraded to a Superbike rear tire size of 200 / 50-17. These tires in conjunction with the generously distributed chrome makes the trike stand martially on the road. Getting on and off is once unusual, but with a little practice quickly made. The thick struts to the feet of the trike pilot are suitable as running boards and help to climb the trike.
Once seated in the seat, one hangs hands on the wide handlebars and hopes to be able to drive as straight as possible. For trike pilots with short arms, park maneuvers and especially winding lanes can become a real job.
worn
For my first trike experience, I chose the RF1 GT with a 140 hp four-cylinder and automatic transmission. And an automatic trike like this - I don't have to have driven the others - is definitely the best solution! Simply turn the throttle and off you go. The Peugeot four-cylinder grumbles bad-temperedly through the four-pipe exhaust system, puffing wildly, pulls the intake air through a large trunk directly behind the driver's helmeted ears and otherwise looks much more rock 'n' roll than its technical data would suggest.
140 hp at 6.100 revolutions, 190 Nm at 4.800 revolutions - the trike, which weighs around 630 kilograms, can reach 7.5 km / h in 100 seconds, and if you are brave and wear gloves, the forward thrust only ends at 175 km / h.
But that's insane. The grumbling and roaring into the environment French four-cylinder makes one go wild, when leaving the supermarket parking lot and in front of ice cream parlors it is also very impressive and does not fail to have an effect on the spectators - but - actually - you only want the trike quietly let grumble roll in the highest gear on the country road. The legs then rest relaxed on the massive chrome frame, the hands hang loosely on the handlebars, the grin on the driver's face remains relaxed.
Zahltag
There's a reason, a good reason, to put trikes in the corner of senior vehicles. Such a trike is not something you just buy on the side. The driven RF1 GT with the 140 hp four-cylinder and the automatic transmission costs at least € 33.190 and that's far from being the end of the line. Options and other equipment variants send a friendly greeting and more than € 40.000 is quickly spent. And because you don't drive the trike as an everyday vehicle, it only remains as a hobby. In order to be able to afford this hobby, however, it takes a little wealth. The kind of wealth one hopes for after a long and fulfilling working life.
If you are not yet retired, you are less wealthy, but you have always been like one “Super nose"Wanted to feel, you can of course rent such a trike!"
The tricycle conclusion:
"Refreshes your life" - that's the Rewaco slogan. And without a doubt, a trike with an automatic and a decent four-cylinder engine is really fun to drive. And without a doubt, the Rewaco trikes look technically solid. Nothing seems improvised, the entire trike meets the highest standards in workmanship and choice of materials.
For me it would still be nothing. Because even if such a trike has a better power-to-weight ratio than a Golf GTI, it would only come into the garage as a fourth or fifth variant. But before I buy a trike, a convertible comes in front of the house, then a motorcycle and then ...
... so if there was still space ...
