Three wheels on my wagon

I've been watching the sidecar thread with a bit of interest given my recent
physical limitations and though I've done the sidecar thing before i'm
curious if anyone has any experience with trikes.

I was watching Billy Connolly on DVD recently and he was riding a very
interesting HD based trike with a motorcycle engine running through some
conventional IRS half shafts to the rear wheels. The other type of trike
I've seen around up this way is a VW powered design utilising what
essentially appears to be a Beetle style rear end grafted on to a cruiser
front half. Has anyone had any experience with either of these types of
designs and if so what do they ride like? I would imagine the steering to
be similar to a sidecar but more stable due to the layout.

Any info, opinions or experiences?

 

I've ridden a VW-powered trike a few years back. Owned by Bertrand
Cardeau (SP? - can't be fucked googling) who designed all the bikes
for the original Mad Max. He wanted to take my Busa for a run and I
hadn't ridden a trike before so we took off out Bicheno on Tassie's
east coast.

I found it better than my sidecar experiences, although using a gear
lever like a car a bit weird. Steering felt heavy, but I imagine it is
more like a quad bike where you have to power into a corner hard
otherwise the bike will understeer like mad. I only had 1/2 hour on it
to try and get used to it so didn't learn the finesse.

We got back and Bertrand (in a broad Belgian accent) says about the
Hayabusa "Thees haz tooo much horsepower". Bollocks to that. Bring on
the turbocharger

Anyway, I'll stick to my two wheels thanks.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 17:57:03 +1100

http://www.oztrikes.com.au/
http://www.trikesaustralia.com/
www.customtrikesaustralia.com/
www.eagletrikes.com.au/
http://www.rewaco.com.au/
www.bontrikes.com.au

Dunno about local unavailability.


Zebee

 

In aus.motorcycles on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 20:42:56 +1100

Doesn't need to be. And at least 2 of them sell rather more than VWs.

You might manage low volume manufacturer import - which you will
notice is nothing to do with what types of vehicles are available
here, but rather who makes them - but there's a lot of work and
engineer certification involved.

May as well spend $30k with a local place that does HD or other
bike conversions. Of which those are only some.

(And as for texas, take another look at bontrike)

Zebee

 

I have a friend in his mid 80s who started riding a Gilera Fuoco when he
thought he was getting too old for the 250cc Vespa that he rode to Broken
Hill a couple of times, and the 500cc Aprilia Scarabeo. He was a bit
concerned that his balance wasn't up to scratch, so opted for the
three-wheeled scoot. Said it was quite heavy, but great fun (and I thought
it looked like Darth Vader - certainly got people talking whenever it turned
up anywhere).

The advantage of the three-wheeled scoots over trikes (from what I've heard)
is that the two front wheels lean independently of each other, so you hug
the road better. Oh, and apparently, whereas the MP3 and the Fuoco handle
bike-ishly, the Can-Am Spyder is more like driving a car... (Just repeating
what I've heard from those who've ridden them).

betty

 

http://www.dingbobtrikes.com/

Damn, Bob isn't making any at the moment. He was quite ill a few years ago
and we nearly lost him. Bob (Buselato) is a long time member of Bikes
Unlimited and I've known him since he built his first trike, a Guzzi T3
based machine. That was some 25-30 years ago. He was also the driving force
behind the Toy Run in WA, the longest running Toy Run in Oz. For a customer
experience see

http://www.abloodyparaplegic.com/trike_1.htm

Be careful, it includes Bob with his Guzzi beanie. The Bandit referred to in
the story is another Bikes Unlimited member, so called because he has only
one arm, as in one-armed Bandit. Bob has made trikes with Guzzi, H-D, VW and
anything else you want in it engines.

Theo

 

The Spyder is a snowmobile with wheels.

 

I spoke to a proud owner on Saturday. I didn't know they have power
steering.

Theo

 

: On 8/12/2010 7:45 AM, Jordan wrote:
:
: > the Can-Am Spyder is more like driving a car... (Just repeating
: >> what I've heard from those who've ridden them).
: >>
: >> betty
: >>
: >
: >
: > You got more than 2 wheels - you got a car.
:
: The Spyder is a snowmobile with wheels.
:
: --
: Toosmoky
: Work to ride, Ride to Work...
: http://users.tpg.com.au/smokey61/cafe

You'd be wrapt with the tuk-tuk I have here as a car for the staff. You too
can pretend it's a motorbike.