THREE-WHEEL VEHICLE

• US 20090321169A1
• Filed: 09/04/2009
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Bombardier Recreational Products Incorporated (Bombardier Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Bombardier Recreational Products Incorporated (Bombardier Incorporated)
• Inventors: BEDARD, Bruno, DUVAL, Dany
• Application Number:
  US12/554,252
• Publication Number:
  US 20090321169A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 180/210
• CPC Class Codes: B62K 19/46 Luggage carriers forming part of frame luggage carriers per se B62J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: B62K 5/027 Motorcycles with three wheels specially adapted for disabled riders B62K5/023
• CPC Class Codes: B62K 5/05 characterised by a single rear wheel

Abstract

An three-wheel vehicle including a modular front structure having a storage compartment therein. The modular front structure is adapted to be mounted onto the chassis of the three-wheel vehicle and to support bodywork elements thereby providing ease of assembly of the vehicle and ease of disassembly for packaging the vehicle.

Claims

1. A three-wheel vehicle comprising:

a frame having a front portion and a rear portion, the front portion having a plurality of anchoring points;

an engine supported by the frame;

a front left wheel and a front right wheel connected to the front portion of the frame via a front suspension;

a single rear wheel connected to the rear portion of the frame via a rear suspension, at least one of the wheels being operatively connected to the engine;

a steering assembly supported by the frame and operatively connected to the front left wheel and the front right wheel; and

a straddle seat disposed on the frame; and

a modular front structure removably mounted to the front portion of the frame at the anchoring points via fasteners, sufficient ones of the fasteners being accessible to a user to permit removal of the modular front structure from the frame without disassembly of the modular front structure, the modular front structure defining a storage compartment and having an opening giving access to the storage compartment, and a plurality of front bodywork elements associated with the modular front structure.

2. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 1, wherein at least some of the plurality of front bodywork elements are attached to the modular front structure.

3. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 2, wherein the sufficient ones of the fasteners are further accessible to the user to permit removal of the modular front structure from the frame and those of the plurality of front bodywork elements that are attached thereto as a unit without detachment of at least some of those of the plurality of front bodywork elements from the modular front structure.

4. The three-wheeled vehicle of claim 3, wherein, when the unit is removed, a length of the vehicle is shorter.

5. The three-wheeled vehicle of claim 4, wherein, when the front left wheel and the front right wheel are removed from the vehicle, the length of the vehicle is even shorter.

6. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 3, wherein at least one of the plurality of bodywork elements is also attached to a bodywork element other than the bodywork elements associated with the modular front structure.

7. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 2, wherein the sufficient ones of the fasteners are further accessible to the user to permit removal of the modular front structure from the frame and those of the plurality of front bodywork elements that are attached thereto as a unit without detachment of those of the plurality of front bodywork elements from the front modular structure.

8. The three-wheeled vehicle of claim 7, wherein, when the unit is removed, a length of the vehicle is shorter.

9. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 7, wherein at least one of the plurality of bodywork elements is also attached to a bodywork element other than the bodywork elements associated with the modular front structure.

10. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 1, wherein the modular front structure is a molded component including reinforcement elements to increase a load bearing capacity of the modular front structure.

11. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 10, wherein the reinforcement elements include lattice structures.

12. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 1, wherein the modular front structure includes a top portion and a bottom portion, the bottom portion being permanently affixed to the top portion to form the modular front structure.

13. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 1, wherein one of the modular front structure and the front portion of the frame has at least one bracket disposed thereon at at least one of the plurality of anchoring points, the other of the modular front structure and the front portion of the frame has at least one recess formed therein at at least a corresponding one of the plurality of anchoring points, the at least one recess being aligned with the at least one bracket, and at least one of the fasteners fastening the bracket via the recess.

14. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 1, wherein the modular front structure includes a bottom portion and a pair of channels extending upwardly onto a front end of the bottom portion, the pair of channels mounted to a pair of brackets via fasteners for providing support to the modular front structure, the pair of brackets being mounted onto a bottom of the front portion of the frame.

15. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 1, wherein the front left wheel and the front right wheel each have a center, and a line passing through the centers of both front wheels defines a front wheel axis, the modular front structure being located forward of the front wheel axis between the front left wheel and the front right wheel.

16. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 1, wherein an access panel is movably connected to the modular front structure for covering the top portion of the modular front structure and closing the opening.

17. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 16, wherein the access panel is a hood of the vehicle.

18. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 1, wherein the modular front structure includes a top portion having the opening, a width of the storage compartment being wider than a width of the opening.

19. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 18, further comprising a hood movable between an open position and a closed position, the sufficient ones of the fasteners being accessible to the user when the hood is in the open position and being inaccessible to the user when the hood is in the closed position.

20. The three-wheel vehicle of claim 18, further comprising a hood removably attached to the modular front structure, the sufficient ones of the fasteners being accessible to the user when the hood is removed from the modular front structure and being inaccessible to the user the hood is attached to the modular front structure.