champion road star kit quality?

[allanintexas]

hello folks, i just joined in hopes of receiving some experienced advice. i work at a small motorcycle shop here in san antonio where we repair mostly american v twins. we have built a few metric bobbers with great success, based on road stars and vulcans. we now have a customer, an active duty soldier from fort sam houston who has lost a leg and would like for us to do a trike conversion for him. this is very important to him and a part of his rehabilitation (the desire to ride again is a powerful means of recovery-i myself can attest to that). he has chosen the champion road star 1700 trike conversion kit and i am hoping to hear from you what your impressions are. is it a quality product? is the kit complete or missing bits? is there tech support? what labor costs have you incurred regarding assembly? (we have to submit an estimate to his insurance beforehand). has anyone done the 'ez steer' option? did it help? would you say its necessary? are the rear brakes sufficient? how has this kit held up? i'm sorry for the bombardment but the last thing he needs is a big struggle in realizing his ride. our shop intends to proceed with this project with as much information as we can get. thanks in advance for any and all responses, good AND bad. yours, allan kokinda, texas outlaw cycles. ride safe.

[Gorilla]

hello folks, i just joined in hopes of receiving some experienced advice. i work at a small motorcycle shop here in san antonio where we repair mostly american v twins. we have built a few metric bobbers with great success, based on road stars and vulcans. we now have a customer, an active duty soldier from fort sam houston who has lost a leg and would like for us to do a trike conversion for him. this is very important to him and a part of his rehabilitation (the desire to ride again is a powerful means of recovery-i myself can attest to that). he has chosen the champion road star 1700 trike conversion kit and i am hoping to hear from you what your impressions are. is it a quality product? is the kit complete or missing bits? is there tech support? what labor costs have you incurred regarding assembly? (we have to submit an estimate to his insurance beforehand). has anyone done the 'ez steer' option? did it help? would you say its necessary? are the rear brakes sufficient? how has this kit held up? i'm sorry for the bombardment but the last thing he needs is a big struggle in realizing his ride. our shop intends to proceed with this project with as much information as we can get. thanks in advance for any and all responses, good AND bad. yours, allan kokinda, texas outlaw cycles. ride safe.

Welcome aboard. I can say that the Champion conversion that I put on my Harley was great. Everything was there and went on smooth. I asked about the master cylinder on your other post. I heard good things on the support although I have NOT had to use them. I have almost 20k on the conversion in 24 months without any issues. The EZ-Steer is all most a must have. Really makes a difference. Most of us have them. I can not advise on the Road Star from experience but friends that have them love them. Good luck, please let me know on the master cylinder.

[tfdeputydawg]

Champion is a good conversion, good company support available. Of note to you is Champion is one of the few companies that will sell to a non-dealer or an individual for DIY installs.

[Nana]

Welcome to TrikeTalk, Allan. I have the Champion kit on my Fat Boy, and have zero regrets! I am not a mechanic, and did not install it myself, but made several calls to their factory with questions when I was deciding which direction to go. Without fail, their responses were prompt, clear, and helpful.

Regarding the EZ Steer -- in my opinion, it is the most important accessory/add-on you should recommend. Yes, the trike can be ridden without it, but the ease and smoothness of the steering is night and day better with the rake! I suggest you PM or phone Bazooka here for further information on that. He also discounts the rake kits to members, so that may well help you out with saving your friend money on the trike build.

Good luck to him, and please invite him to join our family here, even while he waits for the trike to be ready. We are a group who loves our servicemen and women, and he will be very quickly comfortable here. In addition, there are a lot of threads offering advice and encouragement to new trike riders that he will find helpful.

[kentroadjim]

Champion is a great company with a quality product. Every kit I have built has been very complete, and their directions are excellent. The trikes I have built have held up great, with almost no warranty issues. I haven't done a Road Star, but would probably go with the EZ steer. You could always build it first without, and then if needed add it. For the trike kit and EZ steer, you should be thinking in the $2000+ range for labor. If it's your first time, it will take you a while, so build in enough room for yourself to complete it and get everything else you normally do done.

[pin-hi]

If he is left side above or below knee amputee he may benefit from having either the kliktronic or pingle electronic shifter. I have both legs off below knee due to a railway work accident and have the kliktronic shifter on my Harley trike. Allows me to shift using my left thumb for up and down shifts instead of my left foot which ain't there! Good luck with the build. David.

[allanintexas]

thanks to all for the response! our customer has wrangled a good deal from champion with free freight and a military discount. he wants to include the ez steer. the kliktronic tip is a good idea, david-we've used the pingel setup on race bikes before and will talk about this with him. after just the few hours i've spent reading the forum here i will most definitely let him know about you folks. i'll be checking in as we move forward. allan