Gonna Take the Plunge with a Champion Trike Kit

[KWSchin]

So, my wife and I decided we're gonna trike the Voyager. Wife, Selena, says do it "Turn Key." She wants it to be as easy and quick as can be, to get it together. Hey! We got a Big Bend trip scheduled for April.

Been talking with Bazooka. Yeah, we're gonna make it happen. I am STOKED. :-D

Shin

[bcop31]

So, my wife and I decided we're gonna trike the Voyager. Wife, Selena, says do it "Turn Key." She wants it to be as easy and quick as can be, to get it together. Hey! We got a Big Bend trip scheduled for April.

Been talking with Bazooka. Yeah, we're gonna make it happen. I am STOKED. :-D

Shin

Great! I am waiting for my Champion Trike kit to arrive at Freedom Rides out in Lincoln, Ca. so they can trike my 2007 Goldwing. I swear I am like a kid waiting for Xmas to arrive. I am sure you will be happy with the Champion Trike kit. Take care and have fun.

[wiredgeorge]

Great decision!

[Fabricater]

I got my kit through Bazooka.He is good to work with.Are you doing your own assembly ? it's a good project,and can go fast if you order your kit completely done.Keep us updated on how it's going.

[KWSchin]

Yep, I'm that way too. Can't seem to get things moving fast enough. I'm ready to do this!

Great! I am waiting for my Champion Trike kit to arrive at Freedom Rides out in Lincoln, Ca. so they can trike my 2007 Goldwing. I swear I am like a kid waiting for Xmas to arrive. I am sure you will be happy with the Champion Trike kit. Take care and have fun.

[blackiesmith]

I put a Champion kit on my Honda VTX 1800 and really like it. I bought it from a dealer and did the install myself.
All the hardware was provided except for accessories I wanted to install.

The instructions were OK but took some interpretation. I ordered mine with black gel coat and assembled it unpainted.
My color is illusion blue and very expensive so I opted to do it myself. Winter is the time for painting and summer/fall is the time for riding. I have put around 3000 miles on it since the conversion and could not be more pleased. The fall weather here in Southern IL. has been super and I will not park it for paint until I can not stand to ride because of cold weather.

Blackiesmith

[KWSchin]

We're planning on getting our kit through Bazooka. Have heard great things about him. I"m going to do the work myself, except for the paint. I can do it, but my wife wants a "Bolt Together" kit. So, Mama says spend more to make it go faster, I'm gonna spend more, and make it go faster.

I've got the instructions downloaded and have been pouring through them. Very well done. Other than finding room in the shops, this should be easy.

I got my kit through Bazooka.He is good to work with.Are you doing your own assembly ? it's a good project,and can go fast if you order your kit completely done.Keep us updated on how it's going.

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After reading your post, and others, I think so too.

Great decision!

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Good to hear on your success! I know what you mean about down time. We have some great riding weather during the winter months, here in South Central Texas, I'm going to want to get this thing together as quickly as possible. I'm gonna have the paint done, so it should be a bolt together deal. I am excited, for shore!

I put a Champion kit on my Honda VTX 1800 and really like it. I bought it from a dealer and did the install myself.
All the hardware was provided except for accessories I wanted to install.
The instructions were OK but took some interpretation. I ordered mine with black gel coat and assembled it unpainted.
My color is illusion blue and very expensive so I opted to do it myself. Winter is the time for painting and summer/fall is the time for riding. I have put around 3000 miles on it since the conversion and could not be more pleased. The fall weather here in Southern IL. has been super and I will not park it for paint until I can not stand to ride because of cold weather.

Blackiesmith

[wiredgeorge]

Yep, I'm that way too. Can't seem to get things moving fast enough. I'm ready to do this!

You had best start a thread when you get started. Post a before pic of the Kaw. Are you going to do the paint or have it painted?

Oh yeah, when you meet Randy, don't be put off.... he ain't as mean as he looks bwhahaha

[1800 06 Champion Trike]

Great kit !!
I bought my new 06 Goldwing with a Champion kit and we just love it.
I'm about 100 miles short of 50,000 miles on it and not one problem with it.
My dealer does a spring checkup on it every year and have had to do very little to it.

[Papa Zook]

Oh yeah, when you meet Randy, don't be put off.... he ain't as mean as he looks bwhahaha

Ok...well thanks George. My friends and family will tell you this about me. Treat me right and I'm a Teddy Bear and a friend for life. Treat me bad and I'm a Grizzly.

[pcombe]

Great choice all of you!
The champion kit is one of the most simple, straight forward kits to install yourself.

I built my tike and was forced due to an accident to rebuild it!

I would like to offer some unsolicited advice if I may. depending on what brand your bike is and what may be applicable?

the difference between a good trike and a bad one depends entirely on the integrity of it's builder!

Before you start, have the proper motor manual for your bike in your hands for reference, don't start without it!

If your bike has 50,000 miles or such consider rebuilding your front end while you have it off putting the raked triple tree on it, A front end should be rebuilt at about 50,000 miles according to some manufactures.

Consider installing some heavier progressive springs, they don't cost all that much more ok? It really makes a difference in the ride especially if you plan to run a rear tire in backward rotation. (what a difference it made to mine this time around)

here is a tip to save you frustration installing your raked triple tree, Zook can provide you with a great tree at a fraction of the cost of other brands.

The Hawg halter tree I just replaced has improved over the Hawg halter tree I just took off, it's installation even simpler.


put a couple of small tack welds on the bottom bearing race, let it cool a bit and tap it with a punch and it will fall out easily.

The old fall away value in your motor manual no longer applies. there is plenty of info on how to tighten your stem nuts etc. on this forum.


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I got a really great price on my Champion kit from Randy (Bazooka).
some manufacturers wont sell you a kit unless they install it!

Zooks a dealer so he could drop ship it to my door.

I had some misgiving's about spending that much money over the internet with someone I only met online so I sent 1/2 through a bank draft when I ordered and 1/2 when it shipped.

In all the dealings I have had with Randy since I haven't bothered with that step because I found I could trust him.

I have done big amounts through bank card ever since.


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Replace the swing arm bushings before you start due to the fact that more torque is required on a trike to start from standing stops etc. besides your bike probably has put some wear on them already.

Replace your drive sprockets and pulleys as well as your drive belt and don't be fooled into buying an aftermarket belt, spend the money upfront to do it right.

Replace the bolts that the hold your drive line to the housing etc. with the proper grade hardness bolt, do things to prevent future problems ok?

In fact replace any bolt you take off that has to go back on or at least any nylock nuts.

Proper torque on ALL the bolts are a must! I have seen bad problems come out of trikes simply because people ignored torque values. your installation instructions will give you torque values.

consider wire locking the upper engine mounting bolts to keep them from backing out and causing your engine to twist in the frame and cause you major problems.

If you want to see what I did when I first built mine to see what you may be up against Google pcombe photobucket/library

if you click on a picture it will enlarge and will give you comments and tips at the bottom of the picture, who knows it may save you some installation frustration?

I hope this helps you?

[Rmitchell55]

KWSchin

A couple of hints from someone who has built a Kawi/Champion kit. The install instructions from Champion are pretty good. Don't know if you have ABS or not, but if you do get rid of it, it is a real pain in the backside to bleed the rear brakes with the rear hose. All the hardware from Champion are grade 8 and most are nylock nuts and all required to be torqued. All torque values should include "running torque" for the nylock nuts. On my kit I had to grind the powder coat off of the front lower frame mount where it mounts to the swingarm mounts. You will also have to purchase or make a holder to hold the output pulley on the transmission. I made my own using a 2" pipe nipple 3" long and some 1/2" round bar welded to the outside and a 3' piece of 2 ' flat bar welded to the top. The stock Kawi belt is too short and will be replaced. If you put raked trees on using tapered roller bearing torque the bearing retainer to about 42-44 ft/lbs. The manual calls for 22 ft/lbs torque on the ball bearings in the steering head now. The older Kawi's with roller bearing were torqued to 44 ft/lbs.

One other thing that you may want to check before you assemble the body to frame, if you have long arms, try to ream out the front body mounts. The body is held on with six (6) rubber mount two above each wheel one front one rear and two in the floor of the trunk. I have 34 inch arms and I could barely reach the front mounts using 12 in ratchet and socket so there was no way I was going to remove the mount and the start the nut back on the mount. The body on my trike is about 1/8-3/32" off to the left side.

I did not take any pictures of my build. Dumb, Dumb

[pcombe]

thanks there's some good advice in there. I think this the first I have heard of the champion Kawasaki conversion.
Every bike is kittle different and your right about the instructions being good also about it being a long reach to the front body mounting bolt.

I took pictures of mine as I did it just for my own recollection but soon found them useful for others.

[wiredgeorge]

Ok...well thanks George. My friends and family will tell you this about me. Treat me right and I'm a Teddy Bear and a friend for life. Treat me bad and I'm a Grizzly.

Ahhh. When last I met you, you seemed docile enough when well fed! I hope you get your business ramped up soon as Texas is DESPERATE for good trike guys! I am super pleased with my Champion conversion and I think and the lack of negative issues discussed on this board should be a hint to potential owners! And thanks for the forum; without it I would be trolling other sources of info that well are not very helpful places... this is the ONLY stop for trikes on the Internet!

[wiredgeorge]

KWSchin

A couple of hints from someone who has built a Kawi/Champion kit. The install instructions from Champion are pretty good. Don't know if you have ABS or not, but if you do get rid of it, it is a real pain in the backside to bleed the rear brakes with the rear hose. All the hardware from Champion are grade 8 and most are nylock nuts and all required to be torqued. All torque values should include "running torque" for the nylock nuts. On my kit I had to grind the powder coat off of the front lower frame mount where it mounts to the swingarm mounts. You will also have to purchase or make a holder to hold the output pulley on the transmission. I made my own using a 2" pipe nipple 3" long and some 1/2" round bar welded to the outside and a 3' piece of 2 ' flat bar welded to the top. The stock Kawi belt is too short and will be replaced. If you put raked trees on using tapered roller bearing torque the bearing retainer to about 42-44 ft/lbs. The manual calls for 22 ft/lbs torque on the ball bearings in the steering head now. The older Kawi's with roller bearing were torqued to 44 ft/lbs.

One other thing that you may want to check before you assemble the body to frame, if you have long arms, try to ream out the front body mounts. The body is held on with six (6) rubber mount two above each wheel one front one rear and two in the floor of the trunk. I have 34 inch arms and I could barely reach the front mounts using 12 in ratchet and socket so there was no way I was going to remove the mount and the start the nut back on the mount. The body on my trike is about 1/8-3/32" off to the left side.

I did not take any pictures of my build. Dumb, Dumb

Ray, it would be helpful to post a pic of the output pully holder you made. I know exactly what you are talking about as I have two different Kaw drive shaft spline holders for removing the internals of the bevel gear case. In this case, my tools look like long paddles with a round end with splines in the middle... I am thinking the tool you describe is similar. All Kaw drive shaft bikes use bevel gear cases, drive shafts and such... part numbers are the same since the 1979 KZ1000E to the latest as far as I know.

[Big Juice]

Good luck with that trike build, Shin! Randy will be a great help along the way. Please post pictures when you have some and let us know how things are going along the way!

[Rmitchell55]

I will dig it out on Monday and take a picture of it. It is stashed behind my air compressor. One thing that I forgot, you need a hole in the handle large enough so you can fit a 1/2 inch extension through it.. The instructions says to use a new locking device when you put the tranny output pulley on but you can use the old one if you need to. Just flatten it back out.

[Rmitchell55]

Here are a couple of pics of the holder for removing and installation of the output pulley for the Vulcan. As you can see I don't claim to be a welder but it held enough for me to torque the retaining nut to 130 ft/lbs. The fingers are supposed to be 120 degs apart but one slipped but it fits. The hole in the handle is 3/4", big enough for a 1/2 extension to fit through. 2" pipe nipple 3 inches long, Fingers 1/2" round bar 4" long.