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| This Super Robin certainly has presence |
I've seen some remarkable three wheelers in long distance trials and two of them have been built by George Osborn. George campaigned his Reliant Rialtopless (Vintage Thing No, 120) in MCC events for many years with a policy of continuous improvement.
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| Mudguards were secondhand items off an Ifor Williams trailer |
At the Powderham Show this summer I managed to have a proper look at his Reliant Super Robin. It's probably a Hyper Robin now, his latest investigation into how much fun he can have with some Reliant components.
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| George's passenger, Celia Walton, usually gets out his side, rather than clamber over the zorst. |
The chassis is a standard Robin chassis so, as far as the DVLA is concerned, this vehicle retain its Reliant Super Robin identity. The wheelbase is the unaltered although it looks longer due to the two-seat cockpit being further back in the chassis.
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| The 850cc engine is relatively standard, relativity depending on the observer and the specialness of the whole. |
George has used the 850cc engine from a Reliant Rialto, together with a Rialto gearbox and steering.
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| Loads of ground clearance here! |
At the back he used a Bedford Rascal rear axle driven by a Reliant TW9 Ant propshaft. These commercial three wheelers intrigued me many years ago (Vintage Thing No.30) and are incredibly rare now. George also used a pedal box from a TW9.
He had some initial issues with the arc of movement of the trailing links on the axle but this was a fairly easy fix.
The rear suspension layout follows the overall layout of a Bond Bug.
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| So far, George hasn't managed to bend the front arm |
Front suspension is modified Reliant Regal. George once bent a standard arm on the Rialtopless so knew where this likely to fail.
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| It even has a bird-like demeanour |
The Reliant Rialtopless was occasionally hampered by its 12-inch wheels so George used 13-inch wheels on the Super Robin.
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Every modern convenience and no infotainment centre to go wrong
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Living accommodation is provided by a steel frame clad in aluminium to keep the weight down. The combination of added lightness and the gearing provided by Reliant/ Bedford drivetrain proved so effective George got a Gold award on the 2022 Land's End.
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Access to the engine is certainly better than a standard Reliant Robin
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He says its decent ground clearance contributes to its trials section performance and on the road manners are "interesting but manageable."
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| It does exactly what it says on the aluminium |
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