Cleaning Rusty Gas Tank?

[HarleyCreation]

Originally posted by exeric The last three wheelers used for parking patrol in Orlando were Kawasaki trikes. For what ever reason this method of traffic control ceased and the trike vanished from the scene. [/B]

Kawasaki trikes? I never knew such a thing existed. Were these motorcycle based trikes like the Servi-Car was? That's interesting.

[HarleyCreation]

Originally posted by petri
I was born in 1944 and grew up in Chicago in the 50's and 60's. I remember that the Chicago Police used a lot of "Three Wheelers" as we called them, all blue and white. All this talk about trikes has led me to wonder why the Chicago Police used these so much? Not that they didn't have ordinary two wheelers also. I'm at my mother's this evening and she remembers them too and claims they used to patrol the parks a lot on motorcycles. Maybe they were convenient for hopping off of and ticketing someone. They were probably as fast as one needed to go on the crowded city streets. But you'd think that they would want these machines because of the extra load carrying capacity in the rear and I can't think of anything they would need to carry back there in such a large box. Can anyone provide some insight for me on this vexing Christmas Eve question?

Joyeux Noel
Frohe Weihnachten
Merry Christmas to all

Howard Petri

As others have said, Servi-Cars were used in many other places besides Chicago and used for other purposes too. In fact, cop use came a little later although that would be Servi-Car's most enduring role.

As to Chicago, that city was a very good Servi-Car customer for Harley-Davidson it seems. Just why that was I'm not sure but I do know that the original Chicago H-D dealer (C.H. Lang) was a live-wire agent who built up a very large business early one and that probably included the police department motorcycle contract.

Servi-Cars did have definite advantages for cop duty. It was almost like having a beat cop because he was out in all weather conditions and not sitting in a car cut off from the outside world. I also imagine Harley-Davidson promoted the Servi-Car as being economical to operate and easy to learn to ride. Then too, with winter windshield and leg guards the three-wheeler Servi-Car was a year-round vehicle unlike a solo bike where you had to hook on a sidecar in snowy northern cities like Chicago.

Also figure cost: a Servi-Car was more expensive than a solo motorcycle, but cheaper if you figure in the added cost of a sidecar to make the solo-bike into a year-round vehicle.

[exeric]

I'm afraid I can't tell you much about the Kawasaki trikes. I can only assume Kawasaki saw an opportunity to fill a void left by the departure of the Servi-Car, but obviously it wasn't a lucrative market. I do remember a lot of righteous indignation among the Harley faithful at the sight of Orlando's finest on a Japanese product and apparently it bothered the non-biking public because the Kawasaki trike didn't last long as it was replaced by Cushman (I believe) trikes. The Cushman had something of a cab which is really a necessity in Florida with the summer rains and relentless burning sun. Now that I think about it, perhaps that was the reason Orlando and a lot of other cities gave the open trike a permanent parking place.

[VPH-D]

I believe the most common use of the Servi-Car was by Police Depts. for tire marking duty. Parades and traffic control were among other duties. The left hand throttle with right shift was, I think, offered mainly for tire marking. The chalk for the marking stick even had a H-D part number!
VPH-D