Reverse Trike Goldwing

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sledge

sledge

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several years ago , I built a Trike out of a 1980 1100 Goldwing . I never really liked it much , and after a couple of years I Sold it …. but as I get older , 68 now soon be 69 , I have been thinking a lot about building a reverse Trike out of my Goldwing . I have rode all the versions and sizes of the Can-am spider , and I Love the way they ride and Handle , but … I like the Eng. and the running gears of my Goldwing a lot more . So , I have measured a Spider , about 60" wide at the front wheels , about same as a VW Beetle of the 70's . anybody ever done this ??? if so , what axle did you use ? any ideas ????
 
This should be interesting,I'm watching intently.

Sent from my LM-X420 using Tapatalk
 
Why would you need an axle to do this? A reverse trike conversion is still driven by the rear wheels. You would need the front suspension, but AFAIK auto front suspensions are quite a bit heavier than necessary. Workable front ends would need to be purpose-built or from a kit.
 
I have been thinking about this a year or more , i'm not talking about a Rear Axle , I'm talking about a Front Axle . the reason for an Axle is something like a VW Beetle Axle is already built , and they are very light , factory adjustable Torsion Bars , that in itself is priceless . I have been planning the steering , and how much turn of the front Forks to turn the front wheels full tilt . I have no interest in a Kit , I already know this will be nothing compared to the 1100 Trike I built before , I had to find a Rear with the right gears , and had to build Driveshaft , and built the Reverse . which was quite a piece of work...LOL , I was just wondering if any of you guys had ever done anything like this , or maybe planning it .
 
If you go to Jay Leno's garage page, he did an interview and ride on a front trike from an outfit in Snohomish Washington called tilting fork or something similar. It will bolt in replacing the front forks on a harley or goldwing. It tilts so cornering is just like a regular bike. It also has an option that locks the tilt when stopped so you don't have to put a foot down. There is no modification required for installation and is reversable so you can put the bike back to original forks and save the tilt forks for the next bike.
 
That TMW kit looks pretty slick.

The 'tilting' is actually the result of some pretty simple geometry- the right and left sides are arms of an Independant Front Suspension, a double-wishbone parallelogram, such that a lean of the brackets at the center results in a commensurate lean at the knuckle face... elegantly simple. A similar setup was made for IFS REAR ends

And then there's the split-swingarm Kreisseig: https://www.autoevolution.com/news/krei ... 73702.html

Looks like it's only driven by one of the rear wheels...


In contrast, a non-leaning front trike kit is: https://www.motortrike.com/trikeHonda1800ProwlerRT.aspx
 
One thing I'd be concerned about is how the VW axle is supporting the vehicle. I'd imagine it would be engineered to be supporting the weight near each wheel, yet the reverse-trike conversion using it would most likely have it supporting the weight near the center.

I could be wrong. Just a thought.
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=216384#p216384:2167q3xp said:
saganaga » Sun Mar 29, 2020 6:23 pm[/url]":2167q3xp]
One thing I'd be concerned about is how the VW axle is supporting the vehicle. I'd imagine it would be engineered to be supporting the weight near each wheel, yet the reverse-trike conversion using it would most likely have it supporting the weight near the center.

I could be wrong. Just a thought.
Click to expand...
The front axle on a beetle is bolted the the floorpan with four bolts near the center.

Many years ago pm magazine sold plans for a goldwing powered reverse trike with an enclosed cockpit. It was called the tri-magnum. It used a vw front axle attached to the head tube of the motorcycle frame, No reverse...very cramped seating...high performance for 50hp. Bought the plans, never started the project, got over it.
 

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different strokes for different folks , I would never build anything from a kit , or plans , I have built a lot of Bikes , Cars , & Trucks , I'm a retired Mechanic/Musician . Things I have designed and built , wrote and recorded always just kinda come to me like the Air I breath . on the Goldwing 1100 Trike I built , the deepest part was building the Reverse to back it up with , but it all worked out … but.....this time I'm not gonna fool with the Reverse , i'll just be careful where I park . LOL
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=216386#p216386:2656zc4f said:
kerryb » Today, 5:10 pm[/url]":2656zc4f]
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=216384#p216384:2656zc4f said:
saganaga » Sun Mar 29, 2020 6:23 pm[/url]":2656zc4f]
One thing I'd be concerned about is how the VW axle is supporting the vehicle. I'd imagine it would be engineered to be supporting the weight near each wheel, yet the reverse-trike conversion using it would most likely have it supporting the weight near the center.

I could be wrong. Just a thought.
Click to expand...
The front axle on a beetle is bolted the the floorpan with four bolts near the center.

Many years ago pm magazine sold plans for a goldwing powered reverse trike with an enclosed cockpit. It was called the tri-magnum. It used a vw front axle attached to the head tube of the motorcycle frame, No reverse...very cramped seating...high performance for 50hp. Bought the plans, never started the project, got over it.
file.php
Click to expand...

I never knew that about the beetle. Now I have a lot of questions about how the front suspension worked.
 
[/quote]

I never knew that about the beetle. Now I have a lot of questions about how the front suspension worked.[/quote]

Like what? I know a little about them.
 
the early Beetle had torsion bars inside the tubes that was adjustable , so you can raise or lower the car , and change the ride from rough to soft . they also have shocks to keep the car from bouncing . the later Beetle's and Super Beetle had McPherson strut suspension . I am looking for one from about 1967 to about 1974 as long as its not a Super Beetle ,
 

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