Revealed: Mad American trike that can be ridden on a bike licence
Vanderhall Venice about to hit Britain and will appeal to bikers
‘It will shoot from 0-60mph in just 4.5 seconds’
Vanderhall have made a name for themselves in the US with their handmade, fun-packed three-wheelers. They’ve even bagged a few famous fans, such as renown petrolhead Jay Leno. Now they’re coming to Europe and, thanks to funny licensing laws, it’s sort of a motorcycle. Vanderhall’s most wellknown model is the Venice, a lightweight three-wheeler for cruising around Los Angeles. In Europe, it’s counted as an autocycle, so you can take the wheel of the 1.4-litre turbocharged inline four with a full Category A in your pocket. Mercifully, it goes just like a bike, too. Strapped to the engine is a six speed sequential gearbox (just like a bike) and a lightweight composite body (just like a bike). This means the Venice will shoot from 0-60mph in just 4.5 seconds and motor on all the way to a top speed of 140mph. It’s also got all the usual kit you’d expect such as a pair of heated seats, dual-servo ABS, traction control, fullyadjustable suspension and a Bluetooth stereo.
It’s even got stuff you wouldn’t expect, such as power steering for when things get frisky and a roll bar for when things have got far too frisky. This isn’t the first vehicle like this we’ve seen over here. The Polaris Slingshot, from the same parent company as Indian and Victory, has been on sale in the UK for a while but never really took off.
There are currently no dealers in the UK, and it’s left hand drive only, but Vanderhall hope to set up some UK dealers here very soon. In the meantime you can import one from Europe easily, as it’s fully homologated, with a Venice starting from £40,000.