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R.Q.Riley was founded in 1986 by Robert. Q. Riley as a Design Consultancy who specialise in Product design and development. Along with a
number of other innovations the company has also created a number of 3-wheelers that are sold as plans ready for the owner to build them selves completely from scratch.
The first of these was the Trimuter, this first appeared on the cover of Mechanix Illustrated magazine in February, 1980 and was also
used as a back ground vehicle in the film Total Recall. The Trimuter is powered by either an electric engine or a 16-hp, two-cylinder industrial engine. (The electric version uses ten 6v batteries) The
body is a fibreglass / urethane foam composite and houses a two seater cabin.
The Tri-Magnum which was designed as a high performance 3-wheeled sports car and was first featured in Mechanix Illustrated
magazine, February 1983. The original Tri-Magnum was powered by a Kawasaki KZ900 motorcycle engine though this has now been changed to the Honda Gold Wing engine as this features an electric reverse
facility. The chassis of the Tri-Magnum is a stripped motorcycle chassis minus the fork and front wheel. This is then attached a VW Beetle front suspension assembly using a simple framework. The
body is a "sandwich" of urethane foam and fiberglass bonded together and houses a two seater cabin with seats side by side. In addition it also features a lift up canopy which has a steel framework
embedded into it. Steering is via handlebars whilst gear change is by a "jet-fighter-style control stick" that emerges from the floor.
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