Three-Wheeler Project: 1973 Alsport Tri-Sport
This 1973 Alsport Tri-Sport isn’t your average ATV or ATC or anything of the kind, even though it does have three wheels. It was advertised as an all-around fun and utility vehicle that could even pull a lawnmower. The seller has this great little project listed here on eBay in Vernon-Rockville, Connecticut, there is no reserve, and the current bid is $510. Thanks to the anonymous tipster who sent in this one, let’s check it out.
Just to get it out of the way, yes, these are the folks who have had several other recent cool old motorcycle eBay auctions that we’ve shown here over the last few days. They’re Kaplan Cycles, based out of a beautifully restored mill in Connecticut which also has a world-class motorcycle museum and restoration shop. As I’ve mentioned several times lately, they are great people and we don’t receive anything from them. We receive hundreds of tips at Barn Finds and most of them are sent in by folks who don’t list their names. This is another one of the anonymous tips and it just happens to be an auction from the same seller. They currently have 129 auctions running so they have a giant pool of vintage motorcycles for sale on eBay and folks keep running across their listings and sending in their auction tips. If you see something you like from another seller that catches your eye, please send in the tips. Let’s get back to this Alsport!
Certainly not as tippy as a Honda ATC or one of the other three-wheel all-terrain-cycles that we all know about, the Tri-Sport came in almost a literal Heinz 57 varieties of sizes and engine options with other features and options, including a front ski. Engine sizes ranged from 3-horsepower units all the way to a 340 cc 28 horsepower twin-cylinder street-legal version called the RTS-340 SL. I’m not exactly sure which model this is, I don’t see any stickers or other markings on it anywhere. I believe that in 1974, Alsport added a headrest in the name of safety so it must be a 1973 model or earlier.
As always, the seller has provided a video here on YouTube showing this trike in detail but I still couldn’t make out exactly what model it is. One of you might know. I’m not even sure what size this engine is and it sounds like the recoil is kaput but that can be fixed. The next owner will want to take the fiberglass body off, fix a couple of cracks in it, restore the frame and get it looking nice. The main issue, aside from this one not having been started in a while, is that the front forks are a little bent. Hopefully, those can be straightened and you’ll have the only Tri-Sport in your neighborhood. Have any of you heard of an Alsport Tri-Sport, or better yet, owned one?
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Comments
Never abused but front forks are bent. Someone took a ride, but was built for fun. Maybe not end over end though. Don’t know if there is a big market as a collectable but should provide some fun fixed up.
Er mi gurd
Brings back memories of our local parades with overweight Shriners with clip on ear rings doing figure 8’s, etc as the desert patrol.
In the early 70s, my scoutmaster had one of these, or something nearly identical. We were having a winter camping trip in upstate NY and he brought along to play. He set up a track in the snow and we all took several turns with it. It was a blast.
Scotty, you have a knack for doing the editorial version of “Hey, hold my beer and watch THIS!!!”
And that’s a heckuva feat considering the coolness of the BF finds; when it gets to the level where really different and unusual stuff i.e., a 1950 COE sludge truck, 4 of 200 Polaris enclosed cab snowmobiles (and who could forget the Naked Hellcat discussion?.) are practically expected? You and your team have a way of relieving many of us of the mundane by taking us back to our own personal bike/boat /car/plane/train and truck roots..and getting the BF readers to pitch in their own experiences makes this forum that much more entertaining.
BF Ed team and readers, you all ROCK like AC/DC did in ‘88 when they opened with Cinderella-And yes I was there (CalExpo)..
$890 now, they have another one in blue.
I remember back in 73-74. A friend of mine bought a Tiger—looked alot like this. It had a centrifigal clutch . One day we all decided to go back in the camping area. I rode it up. We had fun with it. Taking it in the river and having fun. Coming back he decided he wanted to ride it back. We were following him. DOWNHILL and their was a stop sign and across the road was a drive-inn. Bill never got stopped-across the road in front on coming traffic–both ways. He got stopped at the drive-inn–after running into it. He never got hurt or the machine. We all got a good laugh. These were fun and would run pretty good.
He mentioned cheap easy fixes. Why don,t he go ahead and fix them? You don,t just heat the forks and straighten them out. The forks are bent–what else at closer inspection. Better check it out really good. Before you risk a bad accident.
I had a DuneCycle, 5hp Briggs dual brakes, aTriSport with twin cylinder 440cc two cycle, a friend had a TriSport also, that one had a McCulloch two cycle motor. Both the TriSports were scary fast, the Dunecycle has good for about 35moh or so. These were very dangerous as if your foot came off the pegs it would go under the tire and you would get yanked right off it, or worse it would break your leg and grind to a stop. I still have the Dune ycle up in the barn lift, still in 85% condition. TriSport also sold a road going version with the 459 engine. It had light, turn signals, horn etc. A friend of my dad’s had one in Charleston WVa and he road it to work in the spring/summer for many years. This is probably a good deal, as if you go to BaT and see the $25,000.00 60’s go karts, maybe these will be next into the stratosphere .
Hey Gary, Charleston WV resident here….would loved to have seen one of these tooling around back in the “good ole days”
Hey Douglas, my brother, aunt/uncle and dad/stepmom live in Pocatalico. I’m stuck in Ohio. It was quite a machine back then, I was about 9 and remember it really scooted when he got on it.
yea, i know that feeling, I grew up 2 miles up Garrison Ave, and when i was barely 13 the neighbors were young adults and had all the motos and other toys always running around the neighborhood. I remember a Honda 250 Odyssey that my same age neighbor, myself and my younger brother drooled over
We had two of its little brothers, tricubs. Looked similar but yellow and had 5 horse motors on them, we had a blast with them on the farm. Flipped them end over end a couple of times and never got hurt or hurt them.
Some piece of sh-t stole them from my mother’s place where she used to run all the grandkids on them. We even found out who it was and the cops would do NOTHING because we didn’t have the paperwork on them. My father had bought them brand new and still nothing.
Anyway I digress. My brother had one of these and it FLEW! Damn that thing was fast. Id love to own one.
My brother screwed his leg up pretty bad and a buddy with another dune cycle broke his leg when his foot came off the peg and yanked him out of the seat.
Didn’t JCPENNEY sell something similar to these in the mid 70s at their Auto centers ?
Auction update: this Alsport sold for $1,080.24!
My older brother bought one way back then. Said it was the second biggest engine size available. He put a smaller sprocket on the axle and achieved nearly 100 mph. His model had a small front tire (6-8″?) and the rears were similar to ‘balloon’ tires (wide knobbies about 12″) keeping it low enough to trail his fingertips on the ground at full throttle. Almost impossible to flip, independent suspension, he spent a lot of time at the sand pits and got air at the top of a 300′ sand hill. Even geared up it was sinfully fast off the line.