This is a rare Alsport Tri-Sport. It’s an American-made three-wheeled ATV that pre-dates the Japanese three-wheelers that would come to dominate the US market in the 1970s and beyond.
This Tri-Sport is a TS-125 model powered by a 246cc Tecumseh four-stroke, single-cylinder engine which is paired with a continuously variable transmission. Early ATVs like this provide a fascinating look back to the very earliest days of the genre, a time when the designs were arguably a lot cooler than what gets made now.
It’s difficult to explain it now, but back in the 1970s, this ad was just about the coolest thing in the world – fashion choices and everything. Image courtesy of Alsport, Inc.
History Speedrun: The Alsport Tri-Sport
The late 1960s and 1970s was a time when custom chopper motorcycles and three-wheeled ATVs were enjoying wild surge in popularity from coast to coast in the United States (and around the world). It seems that it occurred to someone to combine the two into a single vehicle, and capitalize on the craze. As crazy as that might sound on the face of it, they actually pulled it off.
Alsport, Inc was founded in Norwalk, Ohio in 1967 by a small team with a singular mission – to create a raked back three-wheeler that incorporated all the styling cues of the road-going choppers of the day, with the off-road ability of an ATV trike.
The first ATV three-wheeler is often cited as being the Honda US90 from Japan, but this isn’t actually true. The first was the Sperry‑Rand Tricart, originally designed as a graduate project by John Plessinger studying at the Cranbrook Academy of Arts not far from Detroit.
The Tricart had a sit-in rather than a sit-on design, with one wheel at the front, two at the back, balloon tires in place of suspension, and simple fiberglass body work over a steel frame, with a rear-mounted engine.
It seems possible that the Sperry‑Rand Tricart inspired the slew of similar designs that followed, and one of those designs took the concept to a whole new level.
On the top left of this vintage ad you can see the original Sperry‑Rand Tricart, the three-wheeler that started it all. Image courtesy of Sperry‑Rand.
The Alsport Tri-Sport Arrives
Whereas the Sperry‑Rand Tricart was more compact and had a semi-upright riding position, the Alsport Tri-Sport would have very different ergonomics – its the rider sitting leant back, with their feet out in front, and a pair of chopper-style handle bars in front.
The Tri-Sport was a chopper trike in every sense of the term, just scaled down and fitted with ballon tires front and back. The first production versions seem to have gone on sale in 1970, though the exact history is rather hazy, and there is plenty of conflicting information about the company online.
We do know from period brochures that Alsport offered a range of models by the mid-1970s, from small trikes for kids to much larger models for adults, and even one model that was fully-equipped for road use – and could be made road legal in many states.
A number of accessories were available also, including a rear luggage rack, bolt-on roll bars, and even Alsport-branded apparel. The most interesting of these accessories was the front ski, which could be bolted into place instead of the wheel, and allow you to use the Tri-Sport in the snow, with the large rear tires keeping you up on top of the snow and providing power.
As you can see here, there were organized off-road races for the Alsport Tri-Sport, and the riders didn’t hold back. Image courtesy of Alsport, Inc.
Around 1975 or 1976 Alsport was bought by Promark Products Corporation, also based in Norwalk, Ohio, and production continued for a time using “Baja” branding – though production numbers seem to have been much lower than what Alsport had been managing.
Promark would build Baja three-wheelers for a handful of years, and although we can’t know for certain, it seems like the company was killed off by the seemingly unending onslaught of cheap, reliable three-wheelers pouring into the United States from Japan.
Most ATVs from the 1960s and 1970s were used and abused, and relatively few have survived to the current day. This phenomenon means that there are very limited numbers of original Alsport Tri-Sport left, and even fewer Sperry‑Rand Tricarts.
The 1970s Alsport Tri-Sport Shown Here
The unusual three-wheeler you see here is a Alsport Tri-Sport from the 1970s, the exact year isn’t known though they’re estimating 1972, though we do know it must be between 1970 and 1975/1976.
This is the Tri-Sport TS-125 model, powered by a 246cc Tecumseh four-stroke single-cylinder engine that sends power to the rear wheels through a continuously variable transmission (CVT).
It also has 8″ steel wheels, leading-link front suspension, dual rear band brakes, a roll hoop, a steel frame, and a solo seat upholstered in black vinyl over a red plastic body.
This is the Tri-Sport TS-125 model, powered by a 246cc Tecumseh four-stroke single-cylinder engine that sends power to the rear wheels through a continuously variable transmission (CVT).
This Tri-Sport was discovered in long-term storage in 2020 and bought by the selling dealer. The work undertaken to recommission it has included replacing the ignition switch, starter motor, starter solenoid, carburetor, battery, and spark plug.
It’s now being offered for sale out of Clarence, New York for off-road use only with parts invoices and a bill of sale. If you’d like to read more about it or place a bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer, Alsport, Inc., and Sperry‑Rand.
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.