Okay, let’s talk about this motorbike trike project I got myself into. Had this old bike sitting around, wasn’t doing much with it, and thought, why not try something different?
It started with a donor bike, a pretty standard cruiser model. Engine was decent, which is the main thing you worry about. The rest was looking a bit tired, but that didn’t matter much since I planned on changing a lot anyway.
Getting Started – The Teardown
First job was stripping the back end off. Took off the seat, rear fender, the wheel, the swingarm, shocks… basically everything behind the main frame. It felt kind of permanent, cutting off brackets and bits. No going back easily after that point.
Had piles of parts lying around the garage. You always think you’ll remember where everything goes. You usually don’t.
Building the Back End
Now for the hard part – making it a trike. I looked at conversion kits, but wow, they cost a lot. Decided to try and build my own setup. Maybe not the smartest move, but hey, I like a challenge.
- Found a solid rear axle online. Think it was meant for a go-kart or something, but looked tough enough.
- Sourced some simple wheel hubs and a couple of trailer wheels. Nothing fancy.
- The biggest headache was figuring out how to mount this axle rig to the bike frame.
This meant getting the welder out. My welding improved… eventually. Let’s just say the first attempts weren’t pretty. Lots of grinding, re-welding, checking alignment. Had to build a sort of subframe to hold the axle and attach securely to the bike’s frame where the swingarm used to pivot. Used plenty of square steel tubing for that.
Getting the chain drive lined up from the engine sprocket to the new axle sprocket took forever. Shims, spacers, adjusting, measuring again and again. If it’s not straight, that chain won’t last five minutes.
Making it Work
Once the main structure was solid, it was time for the other bits.
Brakes. Needed brakes on the rear wheels now. Rigged up a system using parts from a small car, connecting to the bike’s original rear brake pedal. Took some fiddling to get the pressure right.
Wiring. Had to extend the wiring for the tail lights, indicators, license plate light. Soldering and heat shrink became my best friends for a few evenings.
Made some simple fenders out of sheet metal. Didn’t want mud spraying everywhere. Again, more cutting, bending, and bolting things on.
The Result?
Well, it looks like a trike. A bit rough around the edges, definitely home-built. It runs, it stops. Handles completely differently than the bike, obviously. Takes some getting used to, especially corners.
Was it easy? Nope. Frustrating sometimes? Absolutely. Lots of moments where I just stared at it, wondering what I’d gotten myself into. Needed tools I didn’t have, had to borrow or buy them. Spent more time scratching my head than actually building, some days.
But, I did it. Started with a standard bike, ended up with this unique three-wheeler thing. Learned a lot, mostly through trial and error. It’s not perfect, probably never will be. Always something to tinker with. But driving it down the road, knowing I put it together myself… yeah, that feels pretty good.
