Last post Mon, Jun 16 2008 6:55 PM by ArkanzanWheeler. 36 replies.
Perhaps this is a topic for the Gadgets & Tech section but does anyone have any stories about custom vehicles, beyond the normal adaptive control, sort of customizations?
Some of my buddies are into, or are getting into motorcycles now that spring is upon us and once again the yearning to be able to hit the open road in an open sort of vehicle is upon me! A scooter such as the Honda Silverwing is out of the question for although I have control of my legs there is restricted movement so that even if I were able to sit on the bike and ride it, problems would arise when it comes time to stop: Can’t spread my legs apart to support the scooter and, well, you know what happens if a bike goes unsupported. Ever heard of cow tipping? Yes? Well this would be called bike tipping.
What to do?
I started with this website which I found here on disaboom.com:
http://www.varnahandcycles.com/
After some thought I came up with a few normal layout tricycle designs (One wheel in front, two to the rear.) based on bicycle parts that were powered by a modified industrial engine. But that means a lot of custom work to create a powerplant/clutch/transmission and would be rather flimsy.
Then, I came across this fellow and his website: www.indycycle.net
He came up with a type of vehicle that is called a reverse trike: Two wheels in front, one wheel in the back powered by the engine and drive system of a sportbike.
There are other designs like it out there also and a few can be found on this site:
http://reversetrike.com/home.html
I am not ready to cut any metal yet but I am very close to deciding to buy a bike to tinker with to prepare for a reverse trike type vehicle.
Anyone have similar ideas or concepts?
Total
I like those sites you posted up. It gives me some good ideas...lol.
I want to still hold a passenger so I like the T-Rex, here is their website:
http://www.go-t-rex.com/
Great link! I had read about the T-rex but had not seen a picture until now. I like the two seater concept but for me it has a few drawbacks: It is heavier which means a larger engine which would then require the car type rear tire (=More $$$ for custom rim and fork) to transfer that much energy to the pavement. Also, I almost always drive alone. It has been a while since I had to give anyone a ride in my everyday car and I doubt that that will change. However, I did see a t-shirt print that said, “Guys who ride motorcycles are more attractive to the opposite sex, even is the opposite sex’s parents are not amused.” !
A Swedish fellow has a trike design similar to the t-rex at http://www.mride.se/Mride_t42home1.html
Although he does not talk much about the design development, if you look at the pictures you can see that he eventually went with the wider rear tire. The videos of the machine being tested are impressive but also show what happens when you try to send 300 hp to the pavement thru a tiny ~2” contact patch! He finally went with two wheels in the rear, which is not too surprising. The guy seems to be a real mechanical genius as his design and fabrication are great.
Another interesting design that I came across just yesterday:
http://spyder.brp.com/
The Spyder would not work for me but it is a fun looking design.
Do you have a ride currently or are you looking for something in the near future?
I have a 1994 Honda XR650L that I built up for a dirt bike and then I have a 1951 Harley chopper. The Harley started life as a FL but has changed a little. The engine and the gas take are about the only Harley left. I also am using a 195/75R15 car tire to get traction, motorcycle tires just kept spinning...lol. The problem is I am in wheelchair now from T10 SCI so they are both sitting in my garage collecting dust
That is why I was looking more to the T-Rex, I figure I could take the bag off the side and make a hook for a folding wheelchair. Plus I like how low and laid back it is. It uses a Hyabusa engine which they have plenty of turbo kits out for it to make it faster...lol.
Fantastic chopper and metalwork! That is not something that you see everyday. Very old school, something you will probably not see on OCC! The articulation on the front fork is very unique. One question on the car tire: Did you have to buy or have made a custom rim for it or were you able to find a motorcycle rim that fit to a car tire?
Did not know that the Hyabusa chassis was the basis of the T-rex. That is a lot of power! The latest prices on ebay had the T-rex going for $30-$50k Way out of my price range, but a nice looking ride. If you do pursue the idea further I would be interested to see pictures and hear news about it.
I did just buy a '96 Kawasaki Ex500 to begin my project. It set me back a whopping $250! The carburetors are sitting in a box on the floor of my living room and I will be taking them apart and cleaning them out soon.
Here is the link to the blog for the project: http://scooters-trike-project.blogspot.com/
My project philosophy is to build incrementally because I have a full time job and limited funds. Don't want to take out a loan either but I can set aside some money per month and buy what I need to get the project finished over time.
The chopper is a lot of different things put together. Metal wise it is a custom frame and forks from a swap meet, Sportster gas tank, and a trailer flat fender for the rear. The rear wheel is a 1968 Harley drum/hub with a 15" Honda rim laced to it. The air in the tire is my only suspension...lol.
Hyabussa is the engine, at least that is the last I heard. They have some from the Gixers also that are a little cheaper. The cheapest one I have seen was a used one for $24,000 but the good thing is that the people who have these usually take very good care of them.
LOL, those baby Ninjas are fun. I use to have one that I made into a naked bike (no fairing or anthing), it was my everyday run around bike for a while because it was so reliable and I did not really care what happened to it. Before I took all the fairing off, I took it mudding at a local 4wheeler tail, you should have seen all the crazy looks everyone was giving me!...lol It was covered in mud and I broke most of the plastic on it. I replaced the sides and that was it, I just looked at your pic on the blog...yep it looked like that but without the front fender and add the side panels, paint the panels and the tank dark red and put a couple dents in theside of the tank... Fun little bike. Keep posting progress pics. Good Luck
BTW, I just thought of this, I wonder about using a Goldwing (at least for the transmission since it has reverse). I wonder how fast that would be?
Here's what I'm lookin' at. I think they're building one for a disabled guy now. www.trikeenvy.com
TSH,
Great link with some sweet steel. If it sat a bit lower and could be made 5" thick where the rider stradled it, it would be a great concept for me.
About the T-Rex idea that Arkanzan had; putting a wheelchair where the hard case saddle bag would be: I found a guy on youtube that did a variation of the indycycle and built brackets into his design to carry 2 bicycles. He also made his vehicle a tandem two seater, which is very feasable given that he was using a 1000 cc motor! I think that I will have to keep mine a single seater to keep the weight down though. Two seats could make the ride rather doggy with only 500 cc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxjfvH8P7ZA&feature=user
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLl_AEBy7JY
The riding pictures really gave me a kick in the pants to get things rolling a little faster. I had the fever to ride again!
For those with limited use of lower limbs, having the T-rex motorcycle type controls modified for use would really make it an almost perfect solution!
For some really fun video, see this one, a review on the T-rex by the brit TV guys Fifth Gear:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEPyo_U6qvw
Kawa-waka-zowie!
BINGO!
I don't know the fellow but gmail reccomended a link to a guy who makes trike conversions for Silverwing and other high powered scooters.
http://www.dansontrikes.com/
Still not for me. I would not be able to straddle the middle hump,
I do not really like how long the inline seater designs are, to me if you have two seats then they should be side by side otherwise just do one seat. But I did see a shifter idea I liked:
http://www.wheelchairjunkie.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/010049.html
FANTASTIC! I had been day dreaming of a paddle shifting system to mount on the trike streering wheel that would include clutch and shifter in one unit and was trying to figure out how to design a solenoid just like the klicktronic unit! Many thanks for the link. Now I need to figure out a way of actuating the clutch electronically also. Maybe another solenid driving an off the shelf motorcycle type hydraulic clutch master cylinder?
Amen to critique of the inline two seaters. Can you imagine taking it around a tight corner on the street?! The T-rex layout has the advantage there. However the chassis would be much wider and keeping it from flexing too much might be a problem. I would need to see a T-rex without the farings to see how they solved the issue.
Thanks again!
Since you mentioned Danson Trikes...
Below is a Danson Trike that my sons assembled for me.
We had a BLAST on a 1500 mile trip within a couple weeks after building it – all rural, mountain pass, two lane roads thru 4 western states. (Puling a trailer with our gear and my wheelchair inside) Honestly, it was a damn fine ride.
Years ago I rode professionally (when I was a size 12 and walked of course) - so it was quite a slam to be 'reduced' to a Honda Silverwing instead of a Goldwing. But I sure wasn't bitchin'!!! I Never Ever thought I'd find myself on a motorcycle again - so this was absolutely heaven!!!
We modified the stock seat by inserting a chunk of honeycombed (Stimulite) cushion under the coccyx area, and overlaid that with thick memory foam, and refitted the vinyl. Looked great. But I hobbled off of it every night regardless - being entirely thankful for sturdy narcotics to keep me going. Well worth every minute!
The maiden voyage at 3am when it was built. (My sons can be heard in the background saying, "That's the purdiest wheelchair I've ever seen. - There she goes... we've lost her!") Here’s the assembly video.
I thought you were using that 500 ninja, that has a cable clutch, right? Then you could just do it like the pic below but Ninja stlye...lol.
If you want a hydrolic clutch then you could do the same design but instead of straight up at the top, put a right angle on it so it points out like the handle bar.
Ollivette,
Wow, I did not think that someone on disaboom would have experience with the Danson conversion. I only found out about it today randomly! I think the stock Silverwing is a nice looking ride but I think that with the conversion it looks almost like a scorpion. Do you still have the trike?
Arkanzan,
Ah yes! Ninja style! I could mount a nunchaku for a shift lever, add a spare brake lever for the clutch and..... ("Trike building skills , Computer hacking skills, nunchaku skills......")
After looking at the video of the T-rex running, I realized that a shift paddle or lever mounted off to the side requires the rider to release one hand from the wheel to change gears... While I realize that the conversion of the ex500 mechanical clutch system to electro/hydraulic might be more than I am willing to do now, there might be some benefit later for driving performance. If I had the clutch and gear change triggered by the same wheel mounted paddle it would make shifting super fast, if not fun! For now though I think I will do something like the trike above and what the indycycle guy did, which is not really any more complicated than the nunchaku joke above!
http://indycycle.net/media_files/images/carlisle_2003_pics/slides/shifter01.html
PS. I see now that there are some lurkers out there..... Welcome aboard and jump in!
So you are looking for a listing like this?
http://www.ama-cycle.org/roadride/DISBresourcelistings.asp
Another thing to look into is Air shifters:
