1904 Cyklon

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This intriguing Cyklonette trike was built by the Cyklon Maschinenfabrik GmbH in Berlin, who manufactured French motorcycles under license. Cyklon introduced the first of their three-wheelers at the Leipzig Motor Show in 1902. Their experience with motorcycles is evident in the unique layout of the Cyklonette – with the engine mounted over the front wheel, driving it with a chain and controlled with a tiller with hand controls. The body is constructed of distinctive perforated metal coachwork with inlaid wickerwork detailing. A certain amount of manual dexterity is required to operate the Cyklon, as throttle, mixture and ignition controls are all mounted to the tiller steering, but once on the go it is easily mastered. The gearing is by a simple Crypto gear on low speed and fixed drive on high speed. It can be driven from either the left or right seat, a rather handy feature as driving duties can be handed off without stopping! Suspension is by simple cart springs and provides a reasonably comfortable ride on pneumatic tires mounted to wire wheels. The quirky little Cyklon actually remained in production until 1922, which makes quite a statement to the integrity of the original concept.