Jay Leno Tries a Tilting Motor Works Trike and Is Impressed

We also brought you a story about Tilting Motor Works back in mid-January, explaining why we believe these machines represent the ultimate trike transformation kit. Now, with Jay Leno having the two guys who actually make the TMW trikes in his garage, it's time to find out more.

For starters, it was fun to learn that the first bike company owner Bob Mighell transformed was a Honda Rebel 250. Bob admits that he wasn't at all sure about the outcome and would not risk too much money on an iffy project. The Rebel 250 was a very cheap donor bike, and could be binned without too much remorse in case things went awry.

Luckily for Bob and the riding community, the project turned out to be a successful one, and a quarter of a million dollars later, Tilting Motor Works looks like they're on the right track for great success

The entire front end is engineered in-house and one of the coolest things about these trikes is that the mod is reversible. Bob explains how talking to a DOT official gave him the big idea. While trying to homologate a trike for use on the public roads, Bob learned that if no modifications were performed on the structure of the frame, simply adding a third wheel required no individual type homologation.

Obviously, he went back home and started to work on a bolt-on version of the trike kit, which is the very one he has in production right now. A trike model with a hydraulic balancing system for parking is also available, and Bob says that the initial 12-unit lot sold quite quickly, followed by pre-orders for the entire 25-unit run that followed.

Patents have been issued and several are also pending, with OEMs also being interested in Tilting Motor Works' invention, so maybe we'll get to see it mass-produced. Once more, the Tilting Motor Works bikes look like they are more fun than any other trikes on the market, and Jay Leno seems to agree that tilting bikes are awesome.