What do you like about your Roadsmith Trike?

[Roadsmith Trikes]

In September 2014 I ordered a new '15 Honda GL1800 40th Anniversary Goldwing and immediately set about choosing which conversion would replace my aging 2006 MotorTrike. My search was short to say the least. In a matter of days I began exchanging emails and phone calls with Taylor at Roadsmith. Together we developed the paint scheme to match the unique 40th Anniversary Honda design. By the time my new Goldwing had arrived the conversion kit was in production. A "LONG" three weeks after I brought home the bike, a very large crate was delivered to my front door. What a GREAT Christmas present that was!!

I spent the next 10 days converting my GL1800 into the Roadsmith HTS1800 I have ridden, enjoyed, and bragged about for the past three years! When I finished the conversion (and many times since) people said "This is the most beautiful trike I have ever seen!" But the beauty alone was not why I chose the Roadsmith HTS1800 conversion. I have ridden and wrenched bikes and trikes for over 50 years so what's underneath the beauty means as much or more. The fact that this chassis design has been in productions (with only minor tweaks) for so long is testament to its proven durability and function. How well they were able to design a body that so seamlessly matches the 2012 through 2017 Goldwings was important but how the company worked with me developing my dream trike was the icing on the cake.

I just completed my annual Winter Maintenance and was very please to NOT find a single surprise. I even totally removed and inspected the driveshaft for the first time. So, here we are nearly three years and 30,000 miles later... Still getting the same comments from people, still ridding as often as I can while enjoying ever minute, and yes, still bragging.

Great post GoldRush - we really appreciate the response!! We need to get you on our road-crew and hit some rallies .

Jim

[Roadsmith Trikes]

What I like best about my Roadsmith is the smooth ride. I had never owned or rode a trike until I purchased mine. I purchased it in Alabama and drove it home to Utah. I have a 2013 Goldwing which I love and a 2017 Roadsmith conversion. I love having the 3 wheels for many reasons.

WoWoWoW!! What a GREAT lookin trike!!

[Gold Rush]

Great post GoldRush - we really appreciate the response!! We need to get you on our road-crew and hit some rallies .

Jim

That is one heck of a complement Jim!! I really appreciate the vote of confidence.

[dheaton]

WoWoWoW!! What a GREAT lookin trike!!

Thank you. I appreciate that

[hogcowboy]

Crater lake Oregon

That's one I haven't been to. Been within about 400 miles but was pressed for time.

[117stroker]

I have a 2007 Screamin Eagle. Zippers 117 engine, Road Smith trike, plus a 2,014 Indian Chieftain , Road Smith trike, with Dirty Bird exhaust, tuner, air cleaner. Love them both, plus a 2,018 H-D Freewheeler. Why Be Normal??? Enjoy all 3 immensely. Knk

[jbaz]

I bought a 2002 orange trike 2 years ago with 16000 miles on it and it said it was an ultatrike conversion kit.I neaver heard of that kit but I bought it anyway because it was in such good shape along with a very good price!After getting it home and doing some research I was pleasantly surprised that it was a roadsmith kit before the company changed their name from ulta trike to roadsmith.I have neaver seen another kit that is designed like mine especially the luggage door.The door opens from right to left instead of opening top to bottom.The trike rides and handles great and my wife and I are blessed to be able to ride 12 months a year,7months in Ohio and the winter months in Florida

[The Breeze]

I bought a Honda Goldwing with a Roadsmith trike conversion about three weeks ago and wahoooo I believe this is the most fun you can have and keep your clothes on. The trip to get the trike was an adventure in itself I live outside of Wilmington NC and the trike was in northeast Kentucky about 10 miles from getting to the trike got into an accident and totaled the trailer I was going to haul the trike on. So after a couple of hours made it to the trike and it was love at first site only second time that has happened to me, first time was/is with my wife of 43 yrs.

No trailer, so the first time I sat on it rode it over 300 miles got up the next morning and went to Hendersonville NC to Schroeder Honda those people are AWESOME they put a new front tire and changed the oil, the trike is a 2003 model with 3024 miles on it when I picked it up, so i was pretty nervous about that front tire seeing how it was the original. went on a nice ride and went back to the cabin and came into Wilmington the next morning. The trike is absolutely beautifully the color is illusion blue. I discovered wing stuff, now I have a backrest my wife has armrests and Goldie (that's the trikes name) has a tastefully amount of bling.

The previous owner was 77 and just never rode her much but swore she had never slept outside,it is in amazing condition. when I got back to Wilmington I noticed that a coil spring had broken and the fuel transfer pump was not working so I reached out to Marvin at Roadsmith and he hooked me up so everything is good now. I knew that I wanted to buy Roadsmith from all the research that I done. I've put over 1200 miles on it so far couldn't ride it with the broken coil but will be adding to the mileage now.

My first bike was a super 90 Honda then a CB 350 then a 550 still have a 900 CB custom that is all but showroom clean. If there is anyone in the Wilmington area or Brevard NC area looking for people to ride with please reach out. That's it for now RIDE ON AND ON

[rhino 2]

Delynn......Welcome To Trike-Talk..............

[radismukes]

To the Trike Talk Family! FROM SOUTH

Howdy Delynn glad to have you in the group.

[Wind Therapy]

. . . but I'm lovin' life on 3 wheels! After accumulating over 500,000 safe miles on Gold Wing 2-wheelers, back in July of 2018, we purchased a 2007 GL1800 with a 2018 Roadsmith HTS1800 kit. My only previous experience with 3 wheels was a brief swap 'n ride on a friend's Hannigan Tri-Car a bunch of years ago. For those unfamiliar with a Tri-Car, it is a hybrid trike / sidecar unit.

Anyway, my real introduction to triking was the return trip from Alabama to Fredericksburg, VA, with my wife following me in our motor home. I had an awesome trip! Aside from a mild case of "Dunass" from the stock Honda seat; I was totally comfortable, despite being 2-weeks from getting a left knee replacement. I am amazed at the handling, and smooth ride, and the ease of steering with the 5 1/2* raked triple trees.

The best part, and I didn't fully realize this until we were home and I was recovering from my knee surgery, . . . I love to ride pillion and let Momma do the driving! She loves it too! It is really easy for me to just nod off and catch a few bugs while she is back in her glory, riding (driving?) again (it's been about 10 years since she had me sell her GL1500).

We couldn't be happier! We love it so much that we sold the motor home and bought a new toy hauler and a new Ram 2500 pickup w/Cummins diesel to tow it, so we don't have to ever leave home without her. The trike's name is "Wind Therapy v5.0" (my 5th Gold Wing), but I'm thinking about calling her American Express ("AMEX" for short) .

Thank you Kevin . . . thank you Trike Shop and Roadsmith. We feel truly blessed to finally have the right combo for what we want to do with our future! Travel and ride wherever / whenever!

Best regards,

Dave Calahan

Fredericksburg, VA

[BIG DENNY]

Thanks to everyone who posted in this thread (so far) and for your positive comments. We will continue to monitor and respond in this forum (as often as we can), while at the same time sharing new information as it becomes available. While we are very proud of our trike products and history, we are even more proud of our incredibly supportive customers!

It was a no brainer if you want the best you buy the best. Simple they no their Trikes because they build them all in house with people they no can do what they say, BIG DENNY VTX 1800 HARLY EATTER

[robinsondd]

1. Longer, wider wheelbase

2. Auxillary gas tank

3. Reverse that is not part of my bikes transmission

4. Style

[Trail boss]

My pride and joy is a 2003' GL1800 w/ 2011 Roadsmith kit. The adventure began in 2009 really as we had been riding 2 up since 1965 off & on. First we started our search like most others do reading Forums, Mfgr. info and whatever is out there back in 2009. After lots of research we had narrowed down our selections by August 2010 to our top two selections, Hannigan & Roadsmith so as we planned our Sturgis trip we included visits to both manufacturers displays while there. I tried calling the Hannigan folks (sales lady) and most were already gone so they said to just show up and I'd be taken care of. I then called Roadsmith and spoke to Doug Lindholm who was very helpful with info to were they would be located, he was leaving the next day so I said we'd see him there.

So the day prior to opening day we left and drove straight to 100 miles short of Sturgis. Next morning we drove into Sturgis electing to try Hannigan first, guess so did everyone else. They were packed and only had (4) working display units with two in their trailer for repairs which seemed strange. We tried to get a time to do a test ride, that wasn't going to happen / booked til the end of the week / tried to get some info from people returning from test rides (seemed to be limited to the area downtown) as not many good reviews from people of our on age range, not many complaints just so so reviews as folks couldn't go to the highway as they were told having only 4 units they needed them to return ASAP!!

We did look very closely at their body off GL1800 unit to see details along with taking a few pictures and we were off to Roadsmith. Once at Roadsmith which was also very busy but had plenty of people we were greeted by Doug Lindholm himself, he asked if we had a few minutes as he wanted to show us around and ask some questions. They had a HT1800 kit Body Off on display and immediately jumped out some differences / Heavier Drive Shaft, Heavier Sway Bar, Coil Over Adjustable Progressive Shocks, Adjustable Suspension using stock rear shock adjuster, and it looked like heavier Plates and mounting areas. Doug walked us through the kit asking also how we rode, how many miles, type of use the kit would get, etc.

Then he took us out to the front line of trikes all lined up out front showing us different options that were available and how and where they mounted. Loaded us up with lots of literature and walked us back to our car behind the trailer where parked next to the car was a GL1800 all loaded up and with a Full Tank... asked if we needed helmets / nope we brought them. Gave us a walk thru of how things worked on the Honda saying take it easy the first few miles / don't lean in corners / and take it for a ride as long as you need to.. WoW!! Wipe the smile off my face!! We rode the demo for nearly 100 miles to Spearfish coming back on the highway at 70 with the other bikers.



We did finally get to ride a Hannigan at a dealer in Central Texas the next week.. but it rode nothing like the Roadsmith... so we had our decision made and we asked for quotes from our top two dealers for both kits with the options we decided on.

Now what did we pick:

HT1800 w/Independent Rear Suspension

Heavy Duty True Track Stabilizer Performance Sway Bar w/ Stock Honda Adjustable Pre-Load

2:93-1 Ford Rear End w/ 2" Shaft Driven Differential

Large VW Disc Brakes & HD CV Axles & CV Joints

Chrome Alloy Wheel Upgrade All 3

Carpeted Trunk included

1 1/4" Reciever Hitch included

5 Gallon Auxiliary Fuel Tank

Roadsmith 5 deg Steering Rake

Roadsmith Wing Guard Floorboards

Chrome Nerf Bar Bumper

Roadsmith Custom Trike Cover

Then we added a set of Mud Flaps and (2) Courtesy Light one for trunk and the other for the tour box along with various Baker Wings.

Next on the list was rebuilding our stock bike seat for Trike Comfort by Tom Simmons in Fayetteville, Ark.

We did pull an Aspen Ambassador Camper for about 6 months but just didn't use it enough so we sold it, now we just pull our little cargo trailer.

If you have questions please PM me and I'll try to answer....

pepper

You did your homework. Thanks for your report.

[Burnerboy]

rmrc51, now that IS funny! Sorry you won't be able to join us up north, but hopefully we'll see you at a rally or event somewhere else soon!

I was very disappointed, that you were NOT AT AMERICADE last year.................I wanted to shake your hand(s) and thank each and every one of you

2010 Honda Goldwing/converted last season, too a Roadsmith...........Best move ever (cause at 70 yrs old) I can still ride....Thank you! Roadsmith!

Ronnie

[woodysjrny]

New to the trike side of motorcycles. Bought my 2007 GL1800 HPNA already triked from a dealer in Alabama on July 5th 2019.

I did a lot of research before taking that leap of faith. (of course it may have something to do with the boss)

A couple of the big selling points are as follows; Rider satisfaction from other Road Smith owners, readily available replacement parts from Automotive stores.

Fact is everyone I spoke to that have Road Smiths, had no major deal stoppers to bitch about! I got a parts list of everything that is in my trike kit in case of emergency repair or ordering through warranty.

Fact is I can work on it if it does break a component and not have to wait for specific mfg component to be shipped to me or the repair shop.

The first ride. Test drive outside of Altoona Al. was enlightening. Better half on back and the way we went. The roughest paved road in Alabama was just around the corner. Wife was in heaven as the trike took the washboards, cracks and dodging potholes in stride. Rest is history.

Got (Shela) back to the house in North East Pa. and started the long upgrade phase. Started with the blingy things, rotor covers, air intake covers, shark gills, knock off Airhawk seat covers, Dash Cam w/front and rear cameras along with loop recording and security recording. Oh forgot the tail and trunk lights upgrades to full LED. Have some RED LED Tunnel lights to put on her big butt.

I been caught in the rain and trike handling was outstanding. Two up no change detectable. Finishing up trailer wiring conversion and will test pull cargo trailer when the weather breaks.

So enough said. I'm a Happy Triker!

Woodysjrny

[cavie]

Purchased my used Roadsmith because of reputation and customers satisfaction. When I went looking for a use trike it had to be a Roadsmith kit. I traded in a used VTX competitors trike for this one. Roadsmith tells you exactly what parts are in the kit and where to buy them. The competitors sad everything they used was PORIOTERY. You had to order everything from them. I have had 3 phone conversations is as many weeks with Roadsmith and am very satisfied. 2003 Goldwing Triked in 2004. 88th one built that year according the the ID sticker on the kit frame.

[minnesotasnowman]

I bought the conversion and self installed. The conversion was perfect in every way, the documentation was near perfect. We thoroughly enjoyed the ride and handling of the independent suspension. Our first long trip was Key West, gotta make that ride again.

How long did your install take?

[tourman]

It took 4 days for Road smith to install mine. A week is a good average once it's at the installers

[Mac-O]

We have put 100.000 on 1995 Goldwing, then 108.000 on 2001 Harley ultra before buying 1998 Valkyrie Road smith trike. My co-rider says it's the best riding machine that we have owned.