"It was never our intention to re-invent the wheel but we thought we might be able to make it rounder"
FRAMES. As of the June 1 2004 we
stopped making the 03/TB frame. (The one that uses the heavy VW torsion bar
system) as we are concentrating on the newer lighter 03/SA
frame.
*Note: Since this article was originally written a number of changes have been made to the VW trike frame and suspension but it gives you an idea what Ding Bob set out to achieve with this VW trike - so read on. |
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Story excerpts with thanks to:- RICK McDOWELL. |
The Robbo's - Dave and Sherry in NSW on an 'Overlander' Sports single rear seat model. Contact |
It's probably because he's from Western Australia that Bob Busellato hasn't received the national publicity he deserves. After all, nothing serious comes out of WA, now does it ? Everything is based on the east coast and any Australian engineering achievements must come from Sydney or Melbourne. (according to Sydney and Melbournites)
So much for stereotypes. In reality, 'Ding' Bob has been building custom and one-off motor vehicles for the best part of thirty years. One of the first in the country to make a chopper motorcycle legal for road use, Bob quickly moved onto trikes and produced Australia's first road legal, non factory (i.e. Harley servicar) motorcycle trike.
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SINGLE REAR SEAT VERSION WITH ENGINE COVER REMOVED. |
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Photo by Rick McDowell. See links. |
In the years since, Bob has seen numerous Australians attempt to build trikes and there's been plenty of imported three wheelers over the years too. Bob has simply carried on regardless of them all, relying not on flashy advertising schemes, but incredibly, word of mouth. And, make no mistake about it, when people ride one of Bob's trikes, they want to talk about it!
Although he's not
into volume production, Bob now supplies many of the country's Harley Davidson
trike tour
operators with his weird and wonderful machines, while kits have been sold overseas to places such as
the USA - Germany and Japan. Motorcyclists
and
others who have lost limbs or the use of them including paraplegic's turn to Bob also and he's
something of an expert on putting vehicles for such people - with their highly
individual controls - through the licencing system.
The Volkswagon trike you're looking at here though, is a major turning point in Bob's trike building business. "I'd basically gone as far as I could go with motorcycle trikes and the growth of the business necessitated that I start looking at car engines," explained the ever friendly Perth personality. "With a car engined trike you automatically get a reverse gear too and the engine isn't as stressed in this application as a motorcycle engine."
Right: DUAL REAR SEAT DELUXE VERSION OF THE AUSSIE OVERLANDER WITH THE FRONT FAIRING - ONE IN THE FRONT - TWO IN THE BACK - LOW LUGGAGE COMPARTMENT HELPS WITH THE EXCELLENT HANDLING CHARACTERISTICS. |
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