newbie from Hartland Maine

[mjbrown65]

hi all,<br />
my name is mike and i am from hartland , me. i have spent the better part of the past few weeks researching the net on trikes. i have been in love with these bikes from a young age growing up in the 70's.<br />
<br />
what i want is the vw version. have looked at alot and saved many pics. the wife is enthused as well. we are currently gathering parts as we can afford them. some have been donated.my dad was into the dune buggy scene for a long time, so, he donated a transporter bus for the build, i just need to wait for the snow to go away so i can get at it.<br />
<br />
a friend from work has donated a fuel tank to use up front, and possibly a set of forks, and front wheel.alot of things i can make as i work in a fab shop, and have been a shipbuilder, and welder for the past 25 yrs.<br />
<br />
i love building things , and built the street legal buggy frame my dad runs.that being said, i llok forward to this build(when it ever gets started) and i hope you dont mind if i come in and pick some brains, to make sure i am heading in the right direction with things.<br />
<br />
attached is a pic of one that i found on the net, that i would like to style my build after( with some design changes , of course).<br />
<br />
thanx, mike brown

[katfish16]

Hello Mike, welcome to the board. And yes everyone is welcome here to read ask questions and post pictures>>>>> By all means ask all the questions u want to, there are some who have delt with the VW's and know quiet a bit about them. Good luck, if U were closer I could give U some things to help U out.
Have a great time enjoying the forum, we have some very nice people on here.

[Nana]

Hi Mike --- a BIG welcome to TrikeTalk <img src="images/smilies/grin.gif" border="0" alt="" title="big grin" class="inlineimg" />.<br />
What fun! Just reading about your dreams and plans for this build got me all excited about seeing the progress in pictures as you move ahead. Sounds like you've got great skills and resources for doing the work! You'll find a number of superb brains to "pick" on this forum. Our membership includes some professionals, many handy and experienced amateurs, and some who just love to ride but have to trust their trikes' mechanical care to someone else. We love questions! The answers you get will benefit all of us, so ask away.

[John Luciano]

Wow just looked you are way up by Bangor. farthest I have been is Portland. I have always wanted to build a motor vehicle looked at building a Dune buggy and then a KIT car. never had the space or time. Good for you. I have a friend that has one . got it in FLA and drove it home to Conn. Another guy here in Conn that comes to our cruise night has one too. You should see if you can start a VW or alternate trike thread on here . check BTW ( Brothers of the Third Wheel) or TRI ( Trikes Riders International ) <a href="http://www.trikes.org" target="_blank">TRIKE RIDERS INTERNATIONAL</a> post picturs for sure

[FBTRIKE]

Welcome Mike, love those style trikes, takes me back to my younger years. Good friend of mine, who is no longer with us, had one. Lots of great memories and lots of wheelies!!!!!! Have you found a body yet. I saw a couple of old school type bodies still available from a dune buggy place called Berrienbuggy. Hope you post lots of pics during the build.<br />
And as far as what direction to go? Only thing I know is if the long skinny end with one front wheel is in the front.........you're goin in the right direction. <img src="images/smilies/grin.gif" border="0" alt="" title="big grin" class="inlineimg" />

[Trikerjim]

Welcome to the family Mike. Glad you found us. With any luck, maybe we can get you some help with your project. If you haven't already, go to the forums and check out Other Trikes. There were a few people on here that were into the VW trikes. Hopefully you can get some help/advice from them. Good luck with it and jump right in with questions, opinions or advice....

[mjbrown65]

hi john,<br />
thanx for the reply.the pic i posted was actuallly from BTW...i spent about 3 days reviewing their site. the forum type is hard to navigate , but i went over and over the pics and put ALOT of them in my pics for later referance.<br />
<br />
hi FB,<br />
<br />
and thank you for your reply.the look i want or i should say body , is all steel, similar to the trike in my previous post. i do like the glass bodies but this ALL STEEL caught my eye in a big way. 10-4 on the long skinny end in front(made me laugh like heck...actually a friend of mine bought one of the new can-am trikes. i give him crap all the time. i say"leave it to a frenchman to buy a backwards bike, how you gonna know which way your going" ? he laughs and tells me what to go do with myself.<br />
<br />
tj,<br />
thanx for your reply as well. i will definately be going to this part of the forum, as i have some questions i would like to ask b4 i get started.<br />
<br />
to be honest, i have had dirtbikes and a street bike when i was younger,took a dump on the street job once(road rash sucks), but i have always been in love with the look of a stretched out trike. <br />
i am the type of guy who is of the rounder proportions, so i just tell everyone i am built for comfort not speed, so i need a bike of the same qualities.<br />
<br />
thanx for all the replies,<br />
<br />
mike

[Juju]

Welcome aboard from the Florida panhandle, Mike!

Wow, you ARE way up there. Growing up in the northeast, my family used to summer near Oakland, ME, but that's practically the sunny south compared to where you live.

Keep us posted on your trike project--sounds great!

[mjbrown65]

hi juju,<br />
yes, i am about 25 minutes , maybe 30 north of oakland. no one up this way has anything like this that i have seen, so this has spurred me on all the more.i am so anxious to start. i know it wont be an overnite build, and i dont want a hack job...just wish i had the bus here now so could start stripping out what i need.<br />
<br />
thanx for the reply, mike

[saybel]

Welcome mjbrown
Sounds like you have a lot of work ahead of you, and the expertise to handle it. Good luck on your project and am looking forward to pictures of the build.

[Gorilla]

mjbrown65, Welcome aboard. Sounds like a great project. Have fun with it. Ted

[rmrc51]

Welcome Mike! As a relatively new member myself, I'm sure you'll find this site informative and enjoyable!!!

[Ozarkryder]

Welcome aboard mjbrown65. We had a VW based Trike Shop Runabout for 11 years. Loved that trike, but gave up the hot rod for comfort and traded for a Goldwing Motor Trike.

What bus engine? Do you get the automatic tranny with it? My only advance advice is weight up front. Oh, If you can't find a Dell'Orto DRLA, go for the Webers!

[mjbrown65]

ozark,

i belive the bus has the "pancake" engine,vant remember for surebeen a long time since i have seen it. as for the trenny, i am pretty sure it was the stick, but i would like to change it to the full auto(i want to keep my hands where they belong,on the bars).


thank you all for your replies,i have not been getting any hits on my thread in the other section, but i have been doing alot of research on the BTW forum and writing down lots of info.


thanx again, mike brown