Arizona Trikes Stallion/Scorpion/Spider Body Style Owners! A question.....

[classicfins]

I have an '86 Stallion built by Arizona Trikes. It has a springer front end on it. I am wondering does everyone else that owns one of these get beaten to death on rough roads?

I mean the passenger is rinding smooth as can be, but the poor soul hanging onto the handlebars is getting pounded unmercifully. The front end is so light that you can reach down with one hand and EASILY pick the front whell off of the ground, even with a person sitting in the driver's seat. It's so light that the springs on the springer front end aren't even compressing so instead of softening the ride it just bounces and beats you to death.

We ran 200 miles last Sunday on a main hwy that was smooth road about 95% of the time. The next day we had to make a 70 mile round trip on some backroads that were pretty rough for about 90% of the ride. By the time I finished the 70 mile run I was sore, legs cramping, aching all over, but after the 200 mile run I was just fine afterwards.

Does anyone else have this problem or is it just mine? And what can be done maybe to soften the ride? More weight on the front end?

Change out to a different fork setup?

Make my wife drive so I can sit in the "smooth riding" seat? lol... We love our trike but any long trips on rough roads is going to be out of the question if I can't figure out a way to soften it a bit. I can handle some roughness, but this thing is ridiculous. lol...

[rbourne3]

More weight on the front will help. You can experiment with different lower springs. You can make longer rockers and move the front wheel forward an inch or 2 to give it more leverage to compress the springs.

[chromedome1964]

What tire pressure are you running on the front? This can make all the difference in ride. I run my front at 13lbs for the best ride and handling.

[vwmaniac]

As Rob has said, you will need more weight on the frontend, even with the Passenger on it, the passenger is sitting to the rear of the torsion so there is no weight on the front end,

[Bobby Stubbs]

Cant seem to post a pix from photo bucket..but anyhow I have a 69 Stallion and it rides like a car ! The reason is the previous owner crashed the springer doing a wheel stand ! The springer was replaced with a Honda Goldwing front end If you go this route DO NOT use the front brake !Touching it in a corner will cause the bike to tractor strait and lock up the wheel ..I also run about 20 psi in all my tires..my bike has a 3/8 in plate floorboard which helps with the weight and really improves the ride

[stinger608]

Cant seem to post a pix from photo bucket..but anyhow I have a 69 Stallion and it rides like a car ! The reason is the previous owner crashed the springer doing a wheel stand ! The springer was replaced with a Honda Goldwing front end If you go this route DO NOT use the front brake !Touching it in a corner will cause the bike to tractor strait and lock up the wheel ..I also run about 20 psi in all my tires..my bike has a 3/8 in plate floorboard which helps with the weight and really improves the ride

I am sure the 3/8 plate helps a ton! Another thing, and I did this with my VW trike, is on the tube running up to the front end neck. Drill a good size hole in it and mix up some sand type concrete. Put some in there and ride it. Keep filling until you find the right comfort riding. Once you get it filled to the desired ride then have someone, or yourself, weld the hole closed.