4th generation of my trike

[trikeman]

[irondad01]

Thanks everyone for following along and all the encouragement and suggestions. It helped me keep at it and get done.

[FuzzyWuzHe]

You have built something special, one of a kind and a very eye catching .. that looks awesome. You should be proud, you had a vision, stuck to it and saw it through.

Not to be a "Debbie Downer", but, just throwing this out, does your state require clearance lights? After all this work, I'd hate to see you get a ticket the first ride.

My state requires them and is really a pain in the b$tt about them, especially on trailers, don't ask how I know.

[irondad01]

As far as I know we don't need clearance lights on motorcycles but I'll probably put some reflectors on the sides. I had some reflectors on the last build , it was more radical looking, and never had any trouble.

[Gorilla]

WOW it turned out super

[grandpanystrom61]

Trying to keep the house safe, wow, time flew by me, this is just to awesome ! Very nice work along the way and the end results are just "awesome".

I am sorry too, I liked keeping tabs on the progress of this build. It was all very educational.

Just nice...………..

[irondad01]

Hi, I'm back. I finally got some lettering done and on. I took it out of the basement for the first time and put some gas in it. Naturally the petcock thought it should leak when on reserve. I was able to take my wife for a ride around the yard but I'll have to tear the petcock apart and see what's going on.

A little history. First it started as a 1973 VW Beetle. Next around 1984 it became a trike.



I got a special construction title and plates and rode it for about a year then sold it to an old guy that never took it on the road. He put about 10 miles on it around his field then put it a barn for 20 years.

I bought it back as a rust ball and changed almost everything. I had learned some stuff in the 20 years.



I built pretty much everything, frame, front end, fiberglass body, fender, etc. It was in this form for 12 years and a lot of miles. Last September I blew out a tire sidewall and that was the start of the latest madness.









The letters 73VW4G are 1973 VW and 4th generation. The Kilroy Was Here is a nod to WWII. TP28 on the fenders for tire pressure. And the stars on the tank for the military.

Now hopefully it's on to enjoying it on the road.

Thanks everyone for following along.

[Jack Klarich]

Very nice restoration job

[rhino 2]

Carl.........That Kill-Roy put it over the top.........

Fantastic Build ...........

[DeathBySnuSnu]

Very excellent.

Now to enjoy it.

Sure was great watching you build.

Thanks for taking us along with you.

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Carl.........That Kill-Roy put it over the top.........

Fantastic Build ...........

Yep ... really makes it. Not that it would be ugly without it ... great job.

[Zammy]

Looks good Carl, hope it serves you well.

[loosenut]

Thank you for taking the time to share with us your trike build. That's one cool ride. I was wondering do you like the 28 degree front end better than the 40 degree you had? Thanks curtis

[LarryA]

asleep at the wheel over here...missed the end of your build, It turned out great! that military look sets it off from the rest....like it!

[irondad01]

Thanks Larry, We've put at least 500-600 miles on it so far and haven't needed to change anything. Lots of people say they've never seen anything like it. I'd like to do another project but I need to find a wealthy relative to leave me lots of money.

Curtis, The rake doesn't seem to make much difference in the handling. It might be a little more sensitive but I got used to it pretty quickly. It could be because it has a shorter wheelbase now. I made sure the trail stayed at 2 inches so the steering is light but still gives some road feed back. I changed the rake mostly for the look. 40* wouldn't have looked right on a Military bike.

[paws]

asleep at the wheel over here...missed the end of your build, It turned out great! that military look sets it off from the rest....like it!

The military look is cool beans!

[irondad01]

Hi everyone,

Curtis had asked me about the rake on my trike and I thought I would explain a little more on that. Basically rake controls the axle on a horizontal plane and trail controls the vertical plane. I know, kinda confusing. Maybe pictures would help.



Pics. 1&2 are the extremes on rake. The more rake you have the more the tire will lean up on the side wall as you turn. Pics. 3&4 show that. Pic.3 with 0* rake and 0 trail would be like standing a coin up on edge and turning it side to side. A trike front wheel like that would steer very easy but you would have to hold on to the bars all the time because there is nothing to make it self center and go straight down the road. That's where trail comes in. Pic. 4 with 90* rake and infinity trail would lean the wheel but not turn the trike. That's why a trike with radical rake and lots of trail takes forty acres to turn around. You can have radical looks and good turning radius if you keep the trail numbers down around two inches. Phoenix Trike Works did that with some wild looking trikes. I guess they're out of business now. Pic. 5 shows radical rake with a car tire. It will want to lean up on the edge of the tire because the tire has a flat profile. Even with a proper trail it will be stiff steering because the tire will want to remain on the flat. If you want to run a car tire you're better off with a steeper rake. Even with a small amount of rake it will still steer harder than a bike tire because it's trying to roll up on the edge.

Trail gets confusing but if you stay around 2 inches of positive trail on a trike or sidecar bike you should be good.

Hope this didn't mess anyone's brain up too much.

[BKtrike]

These are the latest basement photos.

Attachment 85117

Attachment 85118

Attachment 85119

I have a fitting ordered for the front brake and I have to get some lettering done. Everything else is complete. Once I get that done and we get some nicer weather I'll pull it outside and take some better pictures. I have a 1/4 mile mud pit for a driveway so hopefully that will dry up and these travel restrictions will go away. I think it would be hard to practice social distancing riding this because people would want to talk about it.

Thnx for sharing the build process. Nice job!Be Safe BK

[Gorilla]

it is very nice ride it proudly you deserve

[irondad01]

Hi everyone, a little update.

The trike is running great with no major problems. Between last summer and so far this spring we have a few thousand miles on. I did change a couple of things. I was getting oil seeping out where it wasn't supposed to, like behind the crank pulley. It had been doing this even before the rebuild. It finally dawned on me that the engine wasn't breathing enough air out of the crankcase. I had a single 1/2" hose running from the oil fill pipe to a breather on the firewall. Where it came out of the fill pipe it made a 90* turn adding more restriction.



I drilled and tapped the fill pipe for two new fittings that take 5/8" hose. Maybe overkill but I figured more is better. That cured the seeping. The engine probably runs easier too with less internal pressure.



The other thing I changed was the carb. I had an after market Bocar on for many years but it was getting tired. Leaking air in and gas out making it run kinda weird. I found VolkzBitz on the internet and ordered a rebuilt Solex from him. It looked like a new carb. when it arrived. The trike again runs like it should.



That's all for now, hope this helped someone.