The Cyklon factory in Rummelsburg (today part of western metropolitan Berlin) opened in 1901, producing French Werner motorcycles under license. These used a small single mounted directly over the front wheel, driving it via a belt. A year later, apparently thinking “two wheels good, three wheels better,” they introduced the Cyklonette, looking much like their motorcycle, with a wicker carriage body over steel tube frame grafted onto the back.
The three-wheeled Cyklon Cyklonette was made for 1902. It was a three-wheeler with a single wheel in the front to steer, and to provide propulsion from a 450 cc one-cylinder engine mounted directly above it. This made the Cyklonette one of the earliest front-wheel drive cars. Power was 3.5 bhp (2.6 kW) in the first models. Later models were equipped with a 1.3 L two-cylinder engine producing 6 bhp (4.5 kW), though some had a straight-four. The Cyklonette was available until 1923, well after three-wheelers had vanished from the mainstream.
Although the Cyklonette didn’t maintain a lasting presence in the automotive market, it helped establish the three-wheeler as a feasible concept and inspired future small vehicles, like the Morgan three-wheeler and other European cyclecars of the early 20th century. While not widely known today, the Cyklonette holds a unique place in automotive history as one of the pioneering microcars and an early example of economical urban transport.
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