Robert Q. Riley Enterprises was founded in 1986 by Robert. Q. Riley as a Design Consultancy who specialise in Product design and development. Along with a number of other innovations the company has also created a number of 3-wheelers that are sold as plans ready for the owner to build them selves completely from scratch.
The first of these was the Trimuter, this first appeared on the cover of Mechanix Illustrated magazine in February, 1980 and was also used as a back ground vehicle in the film Total Recall. The Trimuter is powered by either an electric engine or a 16-hp, two-cylinder industrial engine. (The electric version uses ten 6v batteries) The body is a fibreglass / urethane foam composite and houses a two seater cabin.
The Tri-Magnum which was designed as a high performance 3-wheeled sports car and was first featured in Mechanix Illustrated magazine, February 1983. The original Tri-Magnum was powered by a Kawasaki KZ900 motorcycle engine though this has now been changed to the Honda Gold Wing engine as this features an electric reverse facility. The chassis of the Tri-Magnum is a stripped motorcycle chassis minus the fork and front wheel. This is then attached a VW Beetle front suspension assembly using a simple framework. The body is a “sandwich” of urethane foam and fiberglass bonded together and houses a two seater cabin with seats side by side. In addition it also features a lift up canopy which has a steel framework embedded into it. Steering is via handlebars whilst gear change is by a “jet-fighter-style control stick” that emerges from the floor.
The Doran is powered by an electric engine or an 1800 cc Subaru petrol engine. The vehicle was designed by Rick G. Doran and it uses the entire drive train from a 1980-1989 Subaru Hatchback. The centre of gravity on the Doran is such that when cornering the overturn resistance is equal to that of the Honda Civic. In addition during skid pad tests, the Doran turned in 0.8-g cornering capability. Due to its power to weight ratio the Doran will out perform the original Subaru where the donor engine and drive train came from. As with other vehicles by Robert Q. Riley Enterprises the Doran also has a fibreglass / urethane foam composite body.
In 2008 the XR3 Personal Transit Vehicle (PTV) was unveiled as a “super-fuel-efficient two passenger plug in hybrid” that achieves 125 mpg on diesel alone and the equivalent of 225 mpg when diesel and electric power are used in series. Available as a set of plans the vehicle has a fibreglass / urethane foam composite body and using a VW type 1 transmission is powered by both a Kubota D902 tractor engine and an advanced DC 8 inch motor.
Plans for all vehicles are available from Robert Q. Riley
