introduction

Introduction

Do You Know What You Are Getting Into?

Do you really want the extra wheels and the handling characteristics of a trike?  Have you ever ridden a trike?   If not, are you expecting it to be as comfortable as riding a conventional motorcycle?

If you are an experienced trike rider, you know the answers to these questions so skip on ahead.  If not, listen up!

I use the term “trike” to mean either a conventional three wheeled conversion or a four wheel roll along add-on which should really be called a “quad” or a “Trike+Plus”.   I tend to use the terms interchangeably.  I also refer to the “quad” assembly (frame, suspension, wheels and fenders) as the “outrigger frame”.

In my opinion, the ride and handling of a trike can’t hold a candle to riding a motorcycle.  By adding the extra wheels, you radically change the riding and steering properties … and not for the best!  The trike is stiffer and suffers all of the indignities of centrifugal force when making a turn.  Even worse, the gyroscopic forces of the front wheel oppose your steering efforts.  With a motorcycle, you gently push on the right hand grip and the gyroscopic force of the spinning front wheel rolls you into a smooth right turn.  On the other hand, if you wish to turn your trike to the right, you pull hard on the right hand grip (pushing on the left grip at the same time) to literally force the bike to ignore its gyroscopic tendencies and steer to the right just as you would on a child’s tricycle.

Because of the negligible lean of a trike and the uncomfortable centrifugal forces, you lose all of that smooth rhythmic feeling of weaving down serpentine roads.  If the curve is designed for 45 mph, you now do 45 mph!  At intersections, you make slow deliberate turns at low speed.

So why do it?  Well, in my case, I am a cross country tent-camp-off-the-bike type rider.   Invariably I find the camp site I’m seeking is at the end of a really rotten gravel or rutted rock strewn dirt back road.   Riding under these conditions two up with camping gear on a 695 lb touring bike is not fun.  I am of an age that I cannot afford to go down again … I’m too brittle now.  So for me, it was either asphalt touring or converting to a Trike+Plus.  I must admit that the quad is an absolutely marvelous stable camping platform!

I personally cannot understand why  anyone would spend $15,000 to permanently convert a perfectly good motorcycle to a complicated trike for life when they could do it themselves and have the best of a trike and the best of a motorcycle (a Trike+Plus) for only $1,500 … one tenth the cost!  I just don’t get it.  The full conversion is heavy, complex and expensive and when you are done, all you have are extra wheels forever.  If you wished to jazz it up, you can buy expensive fiberglass fairings and custom molded luggage to run up the price even further.  If, on the other hand, you simply want stability, versatility and carrying capacity, a Trike+Plus makes emanate good sense.

Your Time & Effort:

Is it worth your time and effort to design and fabricate your own conversion?  Do you have the skills and patience to do the quality work necessary?  Some tasks, like heliarc welding, need to be farmed out to a qualified professional.  Remember, if this thing comes apart on the freeway, you’re in real trouble.  You want to end up with something that looks great, is safe and in which you have pride and confidence.

I designed my frame to fit my 1600cc Yamaha Road Star touring bike and to also work on my girlfriend’s 600cc Honda Shadow street bike.  When I was done, I had invested about 35% to 40% of what a prefabricated commercial kit would have cost me and it worked on more than just one bike.  That included all of the material, parts and purchased labor (mostly welding).  I did a lot of running around to metal suppliers and hardware stores on weekends.  Not being a metal working type of person, it took me several weeks of evening to fabricate the parts of the frame and assemble the hubs, wheels and suspension elements.  I did save a lot of money but I also put in a lot of hours.  Having had the experience of building the first unit, I could now build a second one in a fraction of the time.  I am confident that my narrative will likewise substantially shorten your time to completion as well.

I am happy with the end result and I had a great time doing the work.  I also learned a lot about metal working and welding and felt a great sense of satisfaction in having done it myself.  I take great pride when other riders gather around and bombard me with their questions.  Yet I must say that the $4000 to $6000 price tag of a commercially built kit (with accessories like lights and fenders) is not unreasonable when labor, materials, shipping and a reasonable profit are considered.

So, if you are still interested in doing the deed, let’s get on with it!

The following material is really in three parts.  The first deals with the process of designing an outrigger frame and the considerations involved.  The second part walks you through the actual process I went through in buying the components and fabricating the end product.  The third segments simply “cuts to the chase” and presents the photos, diagrams and drawings of the finished design.  Buyers beware! …. If you skip over the reasons why things were done as they were done, you may end up with a design that really does not meet your needs.  By understanding the goals and constraints associated with what I did, you may be able to come up with an even better design particularly suited to your bike and your own needs.

The enclosed drawings use the nominal dimensions that worked for the outrigger frame I built for my 1999 Yamaha Road Star and also easily adapted to my second (2002 Honda Shadow) motorcycle as well.  Some of the dimensions will obviously differ for bikes of a different configuration.  I spent a great deal of space explaining how I arrived at the dimensions I chose so that you too can go though the same process to deduce the correct dimensions for your application.  Keep the overall width as small as possible and maximize the ground clearance.

Drawings and Flow Chart files can be opened with “Microsoft Picture Manager”.  Right click on the file then select “Open With” from the drop down menu.  Microsoft Picture Manager will be one of your choices.

Insurance Premiums:

I checked with my motorcycle insurance carrier (Formost Insurance … AARP Program) and they were quite familiar with the Trike+Plus type of outrigger wheel units.  I carry only liability coverage hence there would be no additional premiium.  However, if I carried comprehensive and collision, I would see a rate increase due to the added value.

Contact:

Please feel to contact me at BuddyProducts@flash.net  or through www.Buddy-Products.com if you have any questions relating to the material I have provided or would simply like to give me some feedback on how I might improve on this narrative. 

I have set up a group forum page on Google entitled “Trike+Plus Motorcycle Conversions”.  The group home page address is: http://groups.google.com/group/trike_plus-motorcycle-conversions  Only those who have purchased the Trike+Plus CD may access the information on this site.  Recent corrections and material added in subsequent editions of this CD are displayed on the Google group site.  Also check this site for information from builders across the USA and in several foreign countries as well.  You will receive an email invitation to join the site at the time you purchase your Trike+Plus CD.  If you have not received such an invitation and would like to join for access, please contact me at BuddyProducts@flash.net. 

Have fun with it!