Revo trike: Motorcycle of the air
Since the early days of aviation there has been a link between riding motorcycles and flying. Charles Lindbergh, for example, raced motorcycles before he took to the air. Today it is possible to combine the best of both worlds — the maneuverability of a motorcycle with a bird’s eye view of an aircraft — if you fly a Revo Trike.
The two-place design, made by Evolution Trikes, has a carbon fiber body over a chromoly frame. To the uninitiated, it looks likes a hang glider combined with a motorcycle. “A lot of people say that,” said Larry Mednick, owner of Evolution Trikes and one of the designers of the Revo. “Revo is short for Revolution. It’s a weight-shift control trike. It has big, three-quarter inch axles and the fastest wing in the world.”
The Revo was introduced as a static display at Sun ‘n Fun in 2009. By July it was flying, according to Mednick. It made its first public flight at Trike Fest, a gathering of trike pilots held the weekend before AirVenture at Cushing Field Airport (OC8), which is about 100 miles south of Oshkosh. The Cushing Field Trikers host the event, which Mednick describes as a three-day fun flying event. “We usually get about 100 trikers,” he said, noting, “it’s the largest trike gathering in the county. At the end of the event we all fly to Oshkosh.” This year Trike Fest takes place July 23 to 25th.
MADE IN THE USA
The Revo is built in Grand Rapids, Mich., which makes it an “all American-made trike,” Mednick said, adding, “which makes it different from a lot of the other LSAs on the market.”
During this year’s Sun ‘n Fun, Mednick said there was a lot of interest from people who are taken with the Revo because it doesn’t look like a typical trike. “When you ask people to picture a trike, they usually come up with something that looks like an ultralight attached to a lawn chair or a hang glider with a motor attached to it. The Revo doesn’t look like that,” he said. “It looks like a high-end touring motorbike with a wing attached.”
There are three wings to chose from. In the trike world the size of the wing affects the handling characteristic of the aircraft and it is not uncommon for trike owners to change wings as their skill level improves. The Revo is available with the Reflex 11, 13 or 15 meter wing, according to Mednick, who notes the standard wing is the 13 meter. The wings attach to the trike in about 15 minutes.
The Revo, with an empty weight of 530 pounds and gross weight of 1,040, looks beefy. The fork is motocross-inspired and the tires look like they can handle any terrain from soft grass to the rocky beach. The hardware is also beefy, Mednick said, holding up a bolt from the Revo and one from a competitor’s trike. The Revo bolt is considerably larger.
Customers have a choice of a 80-hp Rotax 912 UL or 100-hp 912ULS engine. Fuel capacity is 14.4 gallons. The engine is mounted on the rear of the machine. The Revo will cruise at 100 mph “hands off,” according to Mednick.
The cockpit panel looks more like something you’d find in a luxury sports car than an aircraft. The Revo can come with a color EFIS and GPS should the owner desire it. The Revo also comes with cabin heat and the option of heated seats. “The cockpit heater, because of the windscreen and the design of the cabin, works very well. The windscreen keeps the pilot and the back seat passenger breeze-free. If you wanted to, you could fly this with no eye protection or ear protection,” he said, adding that the Revo also has arm rests in the back seat. “No other trike has that.” You’ll also find a storage compartment under the seats so you’ll have a place to put your headset in between flights.
The frame is powder-coated and is available in all the colors of the rainbow, plus a few more. “We can do just about any color combination the customer wants,” said Mednick.
For pilots who have experience in other aircraft, there is a transition time, Mednick said, adding taking instruction from an experienced, qualified instructor is good idea. “Some people can do it in two or three hours, other people need 10 to get comfortable,” he said. “The challenge for fixed-wing pilots is that the control inputs on a trike are backward from an airplane. When you push left, the trike goes right, when you pull back, the trike dives.”
The price tag for the Revo, which is available as an S-LSA or E-LSA, starts at $46,000 and goes into the low $80,000s. “There are approximately $20,000 in options the customer can chose from,” said Mednick. “We ask for 50% down and then 50% two weeks before delivery, which is usually in about eight weeks. We also have fully loaded aircraft in stock, which means you could take delivery right away.”
While most trikes are not designed to be a cross-country aircraft, the Revo is the exception, said Mednick. “It truly is more like a motorcycle, like a Harley or a Goldwing,”
For more information: Evolutiontrikes.com.
