1973 Royal Rickshaw 3-Wheeler Trike - 4-Page Vintage Custom Motorcycle Article

Description

1973 Royal Rickshaw 3-Wheeler Trike - 4-Page Vintage Custom Motorcycle Article
Original, vintage magazine article
Page Size: Approx 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
In the years 1955 through 1959
the Royal Enfield was imported and
sold under the Indian label. The para-
dox is that the purist Indian and Royal
Enfield fans will both dispute that they
were truly Indians, but for different
reasons.
The Indian fanatic believes unless
it had deep front wheel pants fenders
and went by the name Scout or Chief,
it can't be an Indian. The Enfield nut
maintains that a Royal Enfield by any
name is still a Royal Enfield.
Whatever they were, in 1958 an
"Indian" dealer in San Diego, Cali-
fornia ordered at least one each of the
various Royal Enfield-Indian models
and sold all but this lonely trike.
George Beseler, the dealer, used the
trike for demo for several months,
then, because of no buyer, relegated
it to a life of errand running and
midget pickup truck.
After some years of this it got shuf-
fled to the back of the lot and piled
over with the normal flotsam of a
motorcycle yard. The carburetor and
battery got cannibalized or ripped,
and rust and decay began its insidious
toll.
In 1 967 after three years of stand-
ing outdoors the tutored eye of Ed
Thompson spied a corner of the trike
box peeking from beneath a mountain
of junk (the dealer had given up on
Indians and was dealing in scrap
metal and junked autos). Ed unpiled
it enough to know he wanted it, made
an acceptable offer, and so, in 1 967,
nine years after it was made, became
the Enfield trike's first registered
owner. The original condition and the
expert job of restoration done by Ed
can be appreciated by viewing the
snap shot taken by Ed just after get-
ting his trike home.
The trike is basically customized
stock with three major exceptions. The
single cylinder mill was replaced by
a 750 twin, the frame was shortened
about three inches, and the metal
utility service box was replaced with
a sharp woodie in birch.
The complete restoration and re-
building took four years but it was
worth it. In four times out Ed has
taken four class firsts with it—all in...
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