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BiCycles, TriCycles and Quad Cycles?

Big rubbing of the fur the wrong way with me:

A Bicycle has two wheels - it is called a Bike. (Bi - two)

A Tricycle has three wheels - it is called a Trike. (Tri - three)

A Quadcycle has four wheels - it is called a Quad. (Quad - four)

So tell me, why do so many numpties call a four wheeled vehicle, (ie. A Quad) by the abreviation for a two wheeled vehicle? We don't have 'Trikebikes' do we? So why are so many illiterates calling Quads - 'Quadbikes'?

I asked my local motorcycle distributor and he said they are called 'Quads', not 'quadbikes'. So did the English teacher at the local school.

Open to the floor:

5 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favourite answer

    Perhaps it is just because 'Quadbike' is easier to say and sounds better than 'Quadcycle'. Also, people rarely say 'bicycle', they just call it a bike and this means that 'bike' has become a noun of it's own. Therefore with the invention of the Quad, the'quad' is being used as a prefix to add to what is commonly known as a bike.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Is it a coincidence that bike happens to have the letters 'bi' at the beginning?

    Using your reasoning though, a quadbike would have 8 wheels (4 times 2 or 4 lots of bikes joined together). However most people are not bothered with this.

    Incidently, I noticed how you substituted quad cycle for quadbike in your question. Was this deliberate or was this a mistake? A quad cycle doesn't have a motor. So you're asking about one thing but then talking about another thing. So your question is inconsistent. Perhaps you're not as literate as you thought you were. Perhaps you should take your question to your English teacher and ask them how you could word it better.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    In European road laws quads classifications are made depending on they're size, weight and power output. There are (very) small cars that are actually classed as quadracycles as they weigh so little and have very small (600cc) engines. They can also be driven on a motorbike licence.

    Generally a quad is a safer version of a trike which was based on a motorbike.

  • ?
    Lv 4
    4 years ago

    it truly is a MATH question no longer a bicycle question. Please repost in Math is what I stated at the starting up yet i comprehend the answer: it really is 11 2 wheel motorcycles and four 3 wheel motorcycles: 11 motorcycles) x 2 (wheels) = 22 wheels with relax of 12 wheels 12 (wheels) divided by three (wheels) = 4 motorcycles =34 (wheels) So the answer is 11 2 wheel motorcycles and four 3 wheel motorcycles for a finished of 15 motorcycles (and 34 wheels) on the marketplace.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Numpties?

    Not very nice are you?

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