Thinking about building a trike

Leon nailed it what I posted was just food for thought.
I forgot about that swing arm I do have a buddy that used that to build a harley based trike
and believe you can get as a kit. to use the servicar axle.
I'll see if he has some info on it.

Ok I changed my plan.
I just picked up this 79 KZ750 B Twin. It's gonna become a trike. The only parts that will be permanently modified will be the swing arm so the build will be reversable. This bike has less than 10K on it. I got it for $500.00.









Bill

Nice score, you'll probably have to change the pipes
Pete

pete greek1 wrote: Nice score, you'll probably have to change the pipes
Pete

Thanks Pete.
I may end up using the head pipes. The mufflers look better than they should. They are rusted through all along their bottoms.
Bill

I think that a twin will make for a cooler trike, much simpler and clean looking.

bluej58 wrote: I think that a twin will make for a cooler trike, much simpler and clean looking.

I'm sure it's not going to be fast, not with all the extra weight. I'd read somewhere that the 750 twins do well when mated to a sidecar because of the good low end torque.
So here I go.
Bill

PD's had Honda twin water cooled 500 three wheelers. One was for sale on CL and the owner said it wouldn't go past 50. Sounds like an interesting build.
Steve

The mounting blocks on my axle need 1" OD tubing. The manufacturer crated it using 1" tubing with .1" wall thickness. This was the tubing that the mounting blocks are clamped onto. Does any one with frame building experience have any suggestions about the grade or type of steel tubing I should look for?
TIA
Bill

either of the styles that i posted above could prolly get away with using .065 wall 1" chrome moly tubing.

i would be willing to bet most of the guys building the trike swingarms for harley's use 1" .120 wall dom for the safety factor.

considering the weight that your trike is going to be when finished i would have no problem or a second thought about using 1" tubing in .080 wall up to .120 wall thickness.

so if you have enough tubing in the crate i would by all means use it.

that's my .02 fwiw,

leon

I've been high centered trying to find a likely set of wheels and tires so that I can start mocking up my trike.

I need as narrow a rim as I can get with a 5 by 4.75 bolt pattern. I'm told that this is also a 5 by 120 metric pattern. I know it's a standard GM pattern. To get started I'm looking for a 15" rim diameter but could change that as long as I can change the aspect ratio to end up with a 27" or 28" over all diameter. I'm hoping to end up with a tire that has only 5 or 6" of tread on the ground.

It seems that every where I look they want to know which vehicle I'm wanting to fit to which goes nowhere fast. I did find an Ultra brand 15X7 050-5761K but it's a 7" wide rim. I can get these wheels for about $113.00 each.



Does a 7" rim mean that I'd end up with a 9" wide tread pattern? Can a narrower tire be fitted to a wider rim?

If any of you have any experience with custom wheels and tires, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks in advance
Bill

Most car tire's will list a rim size of +/- 1 inch of the tread with so yes a
6 inch tread would work on that rim it'd just look a little ballooned out at the bead.

Hell the Mexican's around here will put a 185/75/15 on at 8 inch wheel
on their the low rider car's.

I took some time to make sure the bike I'm thinking of converting had a good motor and found that it's in fine shape. Spent some time drilling and removing two case bolts to adjust the clutch, that worked out fine, as well.
I ended up cheaping out on the wheels and tires got some 15X5 wheels with a 4.75X5 pattern for $232.00 complete including free shipping.
I started the mock up today. I could make it a total bolt up project and avoid chopping up the swing arm but that will increase the wheel base by about 10" so I think I'll go ahead and sacrifice the swing arm. It'll be the only part I'll have to weld together.
Here's the bike with the axle and tires setting behind it.







Bill