here's_Mike.R
31-10-2004, 11:50 AM
I've been regularly reading the trike tech. articles in the magazine, and have decided a couple of months back that I need to build myself a trike. I have enough knowledge of building vehicles, having built a car from plans a few years back, and recently completed a ground-up streetfighter project - Rickman CR with a GPz900R engine, upside down front end, single sided rear end etc.
Hopefully, this will turn out to be a diary of a trike build, with lots of question, answers and suggestions from all the clever people that hover round these pages.
It will also demonstrate where and how to get hold of parts at the right prices.
THE MISSION
I want to build a long, low bike trike that will pull a crowd of admirers at a bike show..........as cheaply as possible. (don't we all)
The donor bike is a Kawasaki GTR1000 shaft drive,1988. I bought it about 2 years ago for £250 from a courier in London on the GPz website.
I want the front of the trike to be long and low - Ive seen only 3 or 4 trikes in my life that have lit my fire and they all looked this way. I also like upside down forks, so I went for a surf round Ebay and located some upside down motocross forks with yokes for about £40. There will be 2 problems here. Firstly, I think they will have too much travel, secondly, I don't know what bike they come from, ref spare parts like seals etc. thirdly, I will probably have to alter something to make the yokes fit the headstock, fourthly, I have no wheel spindle with theses forks (I think most wheel spindles are diferent to each other) fifthly (or filthy?) I want to be having a disc brake on the front and there is no built in bracket on the fork leg, as the forks must have come from a bike with drum brake.
I saw a funky looking front wheel on Ebay. Never seen anything like it before. It has 3 pairs of spokes that look like fan blades. It turned out to be off a Honda Bros. I'd never seen one of these before, but they look like an interested little V twin for not much money. (keep an eye out for one for future project) Anyway, the wheel cost about £15, but came with no disc (it only has 1) and no spindle.
Stay tuned for more.....
Hopefully, this will turn out to be a diary of a trike build, with lots of question, answers and suggestions from all the clever people that hover round these pages.
It will also demonstrate where and how to get hold of parts at the right prices.
THE MISSION
I want to build a long, low bike trike that will pull a crowd of admirers at a bike show..........as cheaply as possible. (don't we all)
The donor bike is a Kawasaki GTR1000 shaft drive,1988. I bought it about 2 years ago for £250 from a courier in London on the GPz website.
I want the front of the trike to be long and low - Ive seen only 3 or 4 trikes in my life that have lit my fire and they all looked this way. I also like upside down forks, so I went for a surf round Ebay and located some upside down motocross forks with yokes for about £40. There will be 2 problems here. Firstly, I think they will have too much travel, secondly, I don't know what bike they come from, ref spare parts like seals etc. thirdly, I will probably have to alter something to make the yokes fit the headstock, fourthly, I have no wheel spindle with theses forks (I think most wheel spindles are diferent to each other) fifthly (or filthy?) I want to be having a disc brake on the front and there is no built in bracket on the fork leg, as the forks must have come from a bike with drum brake.
I saw a funky looking front wheel on Ebay. Never seen anything like it before. It has 3 pairs of spokes that look like fan blades. It turned out to be off a Honda Bros. I'd never seen one of these before, but they look like an interested little V twin for not much money. (keep an eye out for one for future project) Anyway, the wheel cost about £15, but came with no disc (it only has 1) and no spindle.
Stay tuned for more.....