Abstract: A three-wheeled leaning passenger vehicle comprises a frame rigidly mounting a passenger seat; a rear wheel rotatably mounted on the frame in a rearward region thereof; a frame-mounted rotary drive cooperatively coupled with the rear wheel for rotation of the rear wheel relative to the frame; and a frame-mounted coast/steer system including two front wheels freely rotatable relative to the frame in a forward region thereof, and a handlebar coupled with the two front wheels for turning the two front wheels in a plane defined by their rotational axes substantially parallel with one another to corner, the vehicle being configured to substantially freely lean left and right in a natural response to a driver thereof in the driver seat steering the vehicle and leaning respectively left and right, and, alternatively or additionally, to have controlled leaning in response to a hydraulically or otherwise provisioned front-wheel suspension subsystem.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
January 19, 2011
Date of Patent:
March 4, 2014
Assignee:
Green Lite Motors Corporation
Inventors:
Robert B. Hill, Fred Lux, Timothy Michael Miller, Edmund Jerome Stilwell