Trike Project

A while back I saw a picture of a really cool three wheeled vehicle on the internet.  As I looked at it I said to myself, "I could make one of those."  I was bored and needed a project to occupy myself so it began to happen.

I started by going out and buying a 1000cc Kawasaki motorcycle.  I found it online at a motorcycle shop across town.

I had never ridden one before so I had to get it delivered.

I didn't even have a motorcycle license yet but remedied that by taking a course.  A trike is classified as a motorcycle so I had to get that taken care of anyway.

I started by striping the front wheel from the cycle and built the chassis to connect to a Volkswgon Beetle Front end.

The best thing about this set up is the difficult part of the engineering is already done.  The front and back suspensions already exist. 

All I had to do was connect them together.

The next step was to build the body.

I chose tubular steel that I was able to bend myself.

I followed the design I saw in the picture on the internet but did it my own way.

When I do something I enjoy starting with a basic overall plan and then engineering on the fly.  It keeps my brain active.

 After the body frame was complete I covered the frame with a woven wire cloth to form the surfaces.

A few layers of fiberglass was then put on top of that and finished off with a Bondo skin that I could work smooth.

I almost designed the cockpit to fit one seat but decided it would be a great way to pick up women so I opted for two.

Headlinghts, Mirrors, turn signals and marker lights were easily found on the internet.

I used pre-formed trailer fenders and modified them to fit perfectly.

A nice coat of yellow paint finishes it off.

It took about three years of spare-time work to build this machine. 

I actually enjoyed building it more than driving it. 

It is totally street-legal.