10 Of The Highest-Horsepower 3-Wheel Motorcycles On The Market Today

When you picture a motorcycle, a two-wheeled vehicle is probably what springs to mind, and that’s completely fair. After all, the most iconic bikes from the most recognizable motorbike brands — think Kawasaki, Harley-Davidson, Honda, or Ducati — are two-wheelers. All of the coolest bikes we reviewed in 2024, for example, fit that design convention.

Advertisement

The thing is, though, there’s way more to biking than your average H-D or Kawasaki motorcycle, and some manufacturers have opted to tap into the market for three-wheeled motorcycles (also known as trikes). And while they may not have quite the same public cachet as traditional motorcycles, these trikes are a popular and growing market — and have been for a while. As far back as 2012, outlets have focused on the popularity of three-wheelers amongst aged, less-agile riders, and things haven’t changed much, with a 2024 report estimating that the trike market would grow by $13.4 billion between 2023 and 2028.

Many riders opt for three-wheelers (which very much still qualify as motorcycles)  for increased comfort and stability, opening up the wind-in-your-hair experience to those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to hop on something more typical. And none of that’s to say these can’t be fun: Models from Rewaco, Polaris, and Campagna feature some pretty capable engines that make healthy amounts of power. Let’s run through these trikes, and more.

Advertisement

This three-wheeler doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, and will look familiar to anyone who’s seen a Harley made in the past few decades. The Harley-Davidson Freewheeler is essentially a modern Harley cruiser, just with two rear wheels instead of one.

Advertisement

Powering the Freewheeler is Harley-Davidson’s 1,868cc Milwaukee-Eight 114 engine, the smaller brother to the 105-hp Milwaukee Eight 118 engine that powers bikes like the modern Road Glide and Street Glide. As you may expect, the reduced displacement means that the Freewheeler doesn’t reach those heady heights in terms of power: the 114 makes 90 hp and 119 lb-ft of torque in the Freewheeler (and the Road Glide 3, another trike in Harley-Davidson’s lineup), all while returning a respectable 43 mpg combined. It won’t knock your socks off with speed, but that’s not the point.

Other notable features of the Freewheeler include reasonable trunk space, courtesy of the dual rear wheel setup. You get 2 cubic feet of luggage space, without the hassle of adding panniers or auxiliary bags to the frame — it’s all built in. Harley even spec’d an adjustable preload for the rear suspension, for those days when you’re riding two-up with a full trunk. Other amenities, such as a host of rider aids and even a reverse gear, come as standard.

Advertisement

Somewhat appropriately, Harley-Davidson has three trikes in its lineup. The 90-hp Freewheeler is the cheapest, the also-90-hp Road Glide 3 sits in the middle, and the Tri-Glide Ultra sits at the top of this pyramid of bikes. And not only is it the priciest and most tricked-out, it’s also the most powerful — by 3 hp. Yep, this is definitely splitting hairs.

Advertisement

The Tri-Glide Ultra has the same 1,696cc Milwaukee-Eight 114, but Harley says that the Tri-Glide Ultra’s engine makes 93 hp and 120 lb-ft of torque — you probably won’t feel a difference, though. Given the bike makes this 93 hp at 5,020 rpm, compared to the 4,750 rpm at which the Freewheeler and Road Glide 3 generate their 90 hp, it’s hard not to see this as a marketing ploy to ensure the priciest trike has the best specs on paper.

Tech-wise, the Tri-Glide Ultra is a notable upgrade over the Freewheeler, however. Riders get a 6.5-inch touchscreen, four 25W speakers, Bluetooth and USB connectivity, plus all the rider aids you’d expect from a modern Harley-Davidson (including electric reverse). The mid-range Road Glide 3 has all that stuff too, but the Tri-Glide Ultra sets itself apart by being a fully dressed bike with all the fairings and extra luggage compartments you’d expect. This makes for a healthy 6 cubic feet of luggage space, and a 1,237-pound wet weight — almost exactly 100 pounds more than the Freewheeler. Maybe that’s what the extra horsepower was for!

Advertisement

Now we go from two rear wheels to two front ones, but this isn’t just any dual front-wheel setup, oh no. Yamaha’s Niken GT, which debuted in 2019, isn’t going for a laid-back, relaxed ride like the Harleys we’ve been discussing.

Advertisement

The Niken uses its two front wheels to allow riders to devour corners with ease, a fact ably demonstrated by how reviewers of the time managed to lean so hard in corners that the footpegs came in contact with the road, all without upsetting the bike or losing control. The credit has to go to Yamaha’s Leaning Multi-Wheel system (LMW), which uses two forks for each wheel, connected via a parallelogram-shaped link system. It’s one of the many features that make the Niken GT such a special bike.

Fancy front wheel setup aside, the Niken GT also has the power to allow riders to have quite a bit of fun: the 890cc, three-cylinder engine makes 113 hp and 66.9 lb-ft of torque, putting it comfortably ahead of Harley’s trike options. Unlike the H-D three-wheelers, though, there’s one big elephant in the room: availability. Yamaha discontinued the Niken in the U.S. sometime in the early 2020s, while Japanese sales apparently ceased in April 2024. As of the time of writing, only Yamaha U.K. still lists the Niken GT as part of its offerings.

Advertisement

Can-Am’s Spyder F3 is one of the most powerful “true” motorcycles on this list — and by that, we mean it’s a vehicle you sit on, legs akimbo, instead of sitting in it, with your butt in a bucket seat (we’ll get on to those sorts of three-wheelers soon enough). 

Advertisement

The Spyder F3 is one of several Can-Am three-wheelers to use the Rotax 1330 Ace engine. This liquid-cooled three-cylinder powerplant is capable of a reasonably impressive 115 hp and 96 lb-ft of torque, the former coming at 7,250 rpm — quite a departure from the relatively lazy parallel twin engine featured in the two Harleys that kicked off this list. Can-Am also uses this Rotax engine in its off-road-focused Canyon and touring Spyder RT, and it’s not hard to see why: While it’s not a match for some of the most powerful motorcycle engines currently in production, 115 hp is more than enough for a three-wheeler that’s designed with comfort as a priority.

Can-Am’s three-wheeler is also the most technologically advanced offering we’ve looked at thus far, with an Apple CarPlay-compatible 10.25-inch touchscreen, integrated handlebar controls, electronic power steering, and an optional reverse camera. It also has the usual modern-day rider aids most will expect, including stability and traction control (the former designed in conjunction with Bosch) and ABS.

Advertisement

When is a motorcycle just a car? While that may seem like an odd question, it’s particularly relevant to this three-wheeled vehicle — and most of the others on the list. The Morgan Super 3 may not seem particularly motorcycle-like, what with its bucket seat and car-like design, but according to the letter of the law — more specifically, U.S. Code 49 CFR 571.3(b) — the Morgan is a motorcycle because it has fewer than four wheels. So it’s a motorcycle to us, too.

Advertisement

Now that we’ve annoyed a bunch of bike purists, let’s look at what the Super 3 has to offer. The Super 3 is one of only two models the Morgan Motor Company sells in the U.S., the other being the Plus Four. It’s the latest in a long line of three-wheelers that stretches back to the company’s founding, and sports a 1,432cc Ford Dragon engine under the hood that’s good for 118 hp at the rear wheel, with a healthy 111 lb-ft of torque coming in at 4,500 rpm.

This power doesn’t come with as huge a weight penalty as you’d expect. Sure, the Super 3’s 1,400-pound dry weight makes it heavier than the Harley trikes, but it’s a feather compared to other vehicles rocking the Ford Dragon engine, such as the late-2020s Ford Focus. And it’s got a manual transmission, too, making for great fun… even if, as we found out during our review of a 2023 Morgan Super 3, that enjoyment comes with many downsides as well.

Advertisement

Morgan’s Super 3 may have been more akin to a car than the handful of trikes that kicked off this list, but its power output was arguably more bike-like than car-like. Now we’re creeping into four-wheeler territory in terms of power, and first up is the Rewaco RF1 ST-3.

Advertisement

The RF1 ST-3 is one of a handful of three-wheelers Rewaco offers in the United States, but is its sole three-seater offering. Regardless of the seating arrangement or aesthetic flourishes, though, all of the German brand’s trikes come with the same turbocharged 1,499cc Mitsubishi engine good for 140 hp and a healthy 154.9 lb-ft of torque. These trikes deliver that power to the rear wheels via a seven-speed transmission from Punch Powertrain.

Unlike the Morgan Super 3, which still has the vaguely lithe dimensions of a motorcycle (although, admittedly, a three-wheeled one), the Rewaco is all about size. Despite coming in at a similar dry weight to the Morgan, the company’s trikes are just over 6 feet wide and 12 feet long, offering them the sort of road presence that none of the three-wheeled motorcycles we’ve discussed thus far can offer. Whether that appeals to you is a whole other question, of course — but we can’t deny that Rewaco makes some of the coolest-looking trikes ever made.

Advertisement

Now it’s time to get stuck into the really high-powered three-wheelers. The following trikes have horsepower numbers that’d be impressive on a mainstream car, let alone anything classified as a motorcycle. First up is the Vanderhall Venice GTS, a three-wheeler from the same company that builds the Brawley EV off-roader.

Advertisement

The Venice GTS is one of three trike models available in the Vanderhall lineup, alongside the Santarosa and Carmel. Suitably, it’s also one of three versions of the Venice that the company offers — the others being the basic Venice and the mid-tier Venice GT. As the affix might suggest, the GTS is the fanciest of the three, although all have the same turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four engine making 194 hp and 203 lb-ft of torque. Vanderhall pairs that capable powerplant with a six-speed automatic, which has adaptive shift features like automatic grade braking — handy for keeping speed under control when going down hills.

However, the GTS differs from its more affordable siblings in the details. The GTS has 19-inch wheels, fancy diamond-stitched leather, and Brembo brakes fitted as standard. The first two are exclusive to the GTS, while the latter is an optional extra on the more affordable tiers. Vanderhall also offers five colors for GTS buyers (matched to either Tan or Cranberry Red leather), compared to the two colors available on the standard Venice and Venice GT.

Advertisement

Chances are, if you’ve read about or seen a three-wheeler in the past few years, it’s probably the Polaris Slingshot. The Slingshot has flown the flag for three-wheeled fun for most of the last 10 years — just ask our own Dave McQuilling, who reviewed a Slingshot R back in 2022.

Advertisement

McQuilling claimed that the Slingshot R was “more fun than a bike,” likening it to a combination of a Formula One car and a go-kart. And while that is high praise indeed, it’s not hard to see why: the Slingshot R’s fire-breathing 204-hp, 149.8 lb-ft, 1,997cc engine allows for a power-to-weight ratio of 8.1 lb/hp and a 0-60 mph time of 4.9 seconds. It’s not the fastest-accelerating vehicle on the market, of course, but that’s still very rapid, especially when you don’t have a roof over your head. Those who want something a bit less extreme can opt for the slightly less powerful Polaris S, which has 180 hp instead.

But you don’t want a trike with styling like this just to saunter around leisurely, and Polaris knows that. To that end, the Slingshot R comes with some serious kit to go along with the engine. It gets large 339-mm vented front brake rotors with Brembo calipers, Kenda tires (including beefy 305/30R20 rears), and double wishbone suspension. Most of these are shared with the base Slingshot S, admittedly, but those front rotors and thicker rear tire are R-specific upgrades, undoubtedly to handle that extra power.

Advertisement

Edging ahead ever so slightly of the Polaris Slingshot R is a trike from Quebec-based company Campagna Motors called, somewhat grandiosely, the T-Rex RR. The T-Rex is cut from the same mold as the Polaris three-wheeler, with its racy, angled lines and performance aspirations front and center — although the T-Rex takes it a step further, with an even more unabashed focus on high-speed hijinks than Polaris’ offering.

Advertisement

Powering the Campagna is a naturally aspirated 1,441cc four-cylinder Kawasaki engine that makes 208 hp and 116.5 lb-ft of torque. Campagna doubles down on the racing angle by mating this beefy four-banger to a sequential six-speed transmission, complete with an in-house reverse gearbox. The result is a claimed 0 to 60 mph time of 3.9 seconds, which is genuinely quite impressive. No, it’s not quite on par with some of the fastest-accelerating motorbikes out there, but it’s still a whole second quicker than the Polaris despite similar power numbers and much less torque.

That quicker pace comes down to the weight, which Campagna claims comes in at just 1,098 pounds total (which we assume is the curb weight). That’s nearly 600 pounds less than the Polaris R and a touch lighter than even the Harley-Davidson Freewheeler. But the T-Rex isn’t just about straight-line speed: the T-Rex has fully-adjustable coilovers with custom Campagna shock absorbers, ABS, and traction control, so it should do a neat job around the turns too.

Advertisement

The Campagna we just discussed is probably a bit ridiculous, by most estimations, but even the mighty T-Rex has to bow down to a dragon. Say hello to the Boss Hoss Dragon, probably one of the most ludicrous and unreasonable trikes money can buy in the modern day.

Advertisement

Boss Hoss was founded in Dyersburg, Tennessee in 1990 by former aviation technician Monte Warne. The company’s made a name for itself by building big bikes powered by even bigger engines — more specifically, by V8 engines you’d normally see in an American muscle car. That horsepower figure isn’t a typo: It’s legit, and it’s all because of the Dragon’s 454 small block V8, which Boss Hoss claims makes 563 hp and 545 lb-ft of torque. The Dragon delivers its power through a four-speed automatic that drives the two P295/50R15 rear tires — which, it has to be said, are even wider than those on a 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat.

This frankly silly engine isn’t the only V8 that Dragon owners can choose to have in their trike, though. Boss Hoss also offers a tamer 383 stroker V8 with 430 hp and 450 lb-ft of torque and a new-for-2025 Dragon LS3, which, as the name suggests, has a modern fuel-injected LS3 V8 that produces 485 hp and 430 lb-ft of torque. Even at its least powerful, this Boss Hoss trike is still miles ahead of any other trike.

Advertisement