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A cyclecar was a type of small, lightweight and inexpensive car manufactured mainly between 1910 and the late 1920s. Cyclecars were characterised by their use of basic materials and sometimes fragile engineering and were largely contrived to fill a gap in the market between the motorcycle and the car. Their demise was largely the result of production economies in the manufacture of more substantial economy cars such as the Austin 7 and the consequent affordability of such vehicles. Vehicles with similar qualities produced after World WarII, are generally categorized as microcars. ==General description== Cyclecars were propelled by single-cylinder, V-twin or more rarely four-cylinder engines, often air-cooled. Sometimes these had been originally used in motorcycles and other components from this source such as gearboxes were also employed. Cyclecars were halfway between motorcycles and cars and were fitted with lightweight bodies, sometimes in a tandem two-seater configuration and could be primitive with minimal comfort and weather protection. They used various layouts and means of transmitting the engine power to the wheels, such as belt drive or chain drive often to one rear wheel only to avoid having to provide a differential. The rise of cyclecars was a direct result of reduced taxation both for registration and annual licences of lightweight small-engined cars. In France, for example, a car was classed for reduced rates if it weighed less than . On 14 December 1912, at a meeting of the Federation Internationale des Clubs Moto Cycliste, it was formally decided that there should be an international classification of cyclecars to be accepted by the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Austria and Germany. It was also decided to establish two classes of cyclecars, as follows; *(i) Large class * *Max. weight: * *Max. engine capacity: * *Min. tyre section: *(ii) Small class * *Min. weight: * *Max. weight: * *Max. engine capacity: * *Min. tyre section: All cyclecars were to have clutches and change-speed gears. This requirement could be fulfilled by even the simplest devices such as provision for slipping the belt on the pulley to act as a clutch, and varying of the pulley diameter to change the gear ratio. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「cyclecar」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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