This is an original Alsport Tri-Sport MTS-30 from 1974, it’s one of the most coolest ATV/three-wheeler designs of the era but it remains largely forgotten today, with the exception of a tight-knit community of enthusiasts who keep them running.
The Tri-Sport offered a unique combination of the chopper-style motorcycle and the fat-tired ATV, and in the 1970s they enjoyed a significant period of popularity – long before quad bikes became the de facto standard in the late 1980s.
The Tri-Sport offered a unique combination of chopper-style motorcycles and fat-tired ATVs, and in the 1970s they enjoyed a significant period of popularity – long before quad bikes became the de facto standard in the late 1980s. Image courtesy of Alsport.
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 US90from 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.
The three-wheeler you see here is an Alsport Tri-Sport MTS-30 from 1974, it’s been given a more modern 208cc Powerhorse OHV single-cylinder engine, an air-cooled unit that offers more power (and better reliability) than the now 50+ year old original.
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.
Power is sent to the rear wheels via a continuously variable transmission, so there’s no gear shifting for new riders to have to worry about, or clutches, and it has dual rear band brakes. These early ATVs were very simple, so there’s no front or rear suspension, just soft tire sidewalls to soak up the bumps.
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 Alsport Tri-Sport MTS-30 Shown Here
The three-wheeler you see here is an Alsport Tri-Sport MTS-30 from 1974, it’s been given a more modern 208cc Powerhorse OHV single-cylinder engine, an air-cooled unit that offers more power (and better reliability) than the now 50+ year old original.
This is an original Alsport Tri-Sport MTS-30 from 1974, it’s one of the most unusual ATV/three-wheeler designs of the era but it remains largely forgotten today.
Power is sent to the rear wheels via a continuously variable transmission, so there’s no gear shifting for new riders to have to worry about, or clutches, and it has dual rear band brakes. These early ATVs were very simple, so there’s no front or rear suspension, just soft tire sidewalls to soak up the bumps.
This MTS-30 is now being offered for sale at no reserve out of North Carolina on Bring a Trailer, for off-road use only with a bill of sale. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
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.