"Himsl Praying Mantis" Shovelhead Trike

[Richard D]

I joined the forum some time ago and asked a bunch of questions. Now I finally have some progress to show. A little introduction:

I have an old Shovelhead with a butchered weld-on hardtail, I figured it would be the perfect candidate for a trike. If any of you old-timers remember the trikes Art Himsl built over 50 years ago, you may find my project interesting. Here's a couple old pictures from '69-'70:



I found someone, Chip Quinn, in Arizona who found the original molds and he sent me a body. Here's my pile of parts:



These bodies were designed to fit a Servi-Car with a flathead engine. I will need to change things up a bit to make it work. Servi-Car rear axles are getting scarce, expensive, and take a lot of effort to work behind a Shovelhead, and aren't really strong enough anyway.

The DNA axle is available, but it's two grand and the exposed disk brakes would ruin the period look. Then there is the Franken Trike axles, they are awesome but this is a budget build and $5K is not in the budget. So I am making my own chain drive differential using the diff from an MX5.

If it's strong enough for a 2,000 lb car with 100 H.P., should be fine on a 1,000 lb trike with 50 H.P. Using dual inboard disks and calipers from a Polaris RZR. Custom sprocket from Rebel Gears. I drew up all the pieces I need to make this work in CAD. I cut them out of plywood for mock-up; they will be laser cut in 3/8" steel plate once I finalize the design. I will need to make "outrigger" framerails to hold the bearings at the wheels.

[rhino 2]

I joined the forum some time ago and asked a bunch of questions. Now I finally have some progress to show. A little introduction:

I have an old Shovelhead with a butchered weld-on hardtail, I figured it would be the perfect candidate for a trike. If any of you old-timers remember the trikes Art Himsl built over 50 years ago, you may find my project interesting. Here's a couple old pictures from '69-'70:



I found someone, Chip Quinn, in Arizona who found the original molds and he sent me a body. Here's my pile of parts:



These bodies were designed to fit a Servi-Car with a flathead engine. I will need to change things up a bit to make it work. Servi-Car rear axles are getting scarce, expensive, and take a lot of effort to work behind a Shovelhead, and aren't really strong enough anyway. The DNA axle is available, but it's two grand and the exposed disk brakes would ruin the period look. Then there is the Franken Trike axles, they are awesome but this is a budget build and $5K is not in the budget. So I am making my own chain drive differential using the diff from an MX5. If it's strong enough for a 2,000 lb car with 100 H.P., should be fine on a 1,000 lb trike with 50 H.P. Using dual inboard disks and calipers from a Polaris RZR. Custom sprocket from Rebel Gears. I drew up all the pieces I need to make this work in CAD. I cut them out of plywood for mock-up; they will be laser cut in 3/8" steel plate once I finalize the design. I will need to make "outrigger" framerails to hold the bearings at the wheels.

—-….

[Richard D]

She's gonna have a LOT of rake...

[Zammy]

Quite the project you've got planned Richard, I will be following along.

[Jack Klarich]

Looking good, is that a 74 inch Troublehead?

[Gorilla]

Nice work its going to be great trike

[ol' school]

Looks like a fun project!

[wlivin2]

Looks good so far and a lot of fun keep us posted

[Richard D]

Not sure about the details on the engine I haven’t tried to run it yet.

[Jack Klarich]

Not sure about the details on the engine I haven’t tried to run it yet.

You can look here to decipher your engine code

https://www.tabperformance.com/harle...uide-s/224.htm

[stacebg]

She's gonna have a LOT of rake...

assuming you are going to rake the frame some... i would strongly suggest you get a set of raked trees as well to reduce the trail so the steering wont be as hard

[Richard D]

Frame will be raked a lot. We'll see how she rides, If I can't handle it I'll do some raked trees.

Not sure of the engine, it has STD cases, who knows what's inside. I got it from a buddy, who got it from a guy who worked for him that was in a car/bike club(not a 1% type club). Another guy I know from the same club pieced it together from scraps before that but never ran it. Has good compression, hopefully it will run, if not I have other options.

[Tophog]

Cool find. When I saw 'Himsl' in a thread, I knew it would be interesting.

When I had my shop, we built a Shovel trike for a paraplegic customer, similar to the pic with the level frame in post #3, but without the Himsl 'body'. It had a 45" Servicar rear end, and with the existing gear ratios, would cruise easily at over 150 mph. Plus he weighed maybe 120 lbs. max.

It was all hand controls . . . including the shifting.

Thankfully our customer wasn't into going fast.

I wish you the best in your project. You don't see many real 'customs' any more! Himsl is a legend!

[ItBeMe]

That thing is super cool keep posting updates.

[Juztahobby]

I just noticed that you’re building a Himsl Trike. If you haven’t gotten to the suspension yet, I have a suggestion that might help. If you’re interested, please let me know. I will be glad to help.

FYI, I’m the guy who bought the Himsil molds from Chip Quinn , so if you know anyone that’s looking for a body have them contact me.