Windcheetah/Speedy History...(probably a question for Mr Larrington)

[Hilldodger]

I've been asked to give a talk in the new year on HPVs and their history - nothing too in-depth.

I was wondering, were Mike's early trikes commercially available?

I know he made a small number in the early 80s but were these built to order?

[Wobbly John]

I think they were offered as castings to home machine and glue together too in the early 80’s.
I’d give Kevin at Dtek a call. He is pretty knowledgeable on Windcheetahs, and, I think has the original production drawings.

[Mr Larrington]

He did build a handful of complete machines, mostly for friends, but most of them were sold as kits which required a certain amount of mechanical ability to assemble.  My grate frend Mr Woolrich built one and designed and implemented a way of using a cassette instead of a screw-on block which impressed Mike enough to adopt it.

[Hilldodger]

So, would it be fair to say that Peter Ross was the first to market (in the UK) with an off-the-shelf recumbent trike?

[Mr Larrington]

I reckon so.

[Speedy611]

Wasn't there also a very small run of Rubicon trikes, also based out of Norfolk somewhere? Not sure on the chronology though in terms of public availability

(and despite my handle, Speedy #611 went to Kevin many years ago. I wonder where it is now....)

[Wobbly John]

I know Dtek had a trike that was going to be produced by some of the team that did the Windcheetah when Mike split from them in the mid 90s. Trying to remember what it was called, and I am not sure what it was called. The Remount Roller was another Norfolk produced trike (King’s Lynn) from a year or two later.

[Mr Larrington]

There was also the Slipstream Demon, which resembled a stainless steel Speedy and caused much sniffing on the part of Mr Burrows.

[Wobbly John]

There was also the Slipstream Demon, which resembled a stainless steel Speedy and caused much sniffing on the part of Mr Burrows.

That’s the name of the one I couldn’t remember when I typed my reply above. I am sure Kevin said some of the people involved with Windcheetah were involved with the Demon.

[Wobbly John]

Wasn’t the carbon fibre tub framed Gnat also a Norfolk built trike from the same era? I think Cycleman had one for a while, so he may know (someone may have to give him a nudge to reply…)

[Hilldodger]

The Remount Roller was another Norfolk produced trike (King’s Lynn) from a year or two later.

Rob, the guy in Kings Lynn I bought my Trice from, has the very first one produced.

[Mr Larrington]

There was also the Slipstream Demon, which resembled a stainless steel Speedy and caused much sniffing on the part of Mr Burrows.

That’s the name of the one I couldn’t remember when I typed my reply above. I am sure Kevin said some of the people involved with Windcheetah were involved with the Demon.

IIRC there was a Kelvin involved who II further RC was Mike's business partner.  The Gnat was the brainchild of Nick Andrews.  Whence he hailed I recall not and my old mags are five thousand miles away.

[Wobbly John]

The Remount Roller was another Norfolk produced trike (King’s Lynn) from a year or two later.

Rob, the guy in Kings Lynn I bought my Trice from, has the very first one produced.

When they started building the Redmount Roller, they came to the Mildenhall rally with one. I persuaded them to let me take it for a quick ride (nobody else had got a go), and as I headed towards the Dtek stand, Mike B was shouting “John, John” and beckoning me over, as he wanted to see how heavy they were. I think that was the first time he admitted he knew my name…