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Okay you motorcycle guru's. I need some input here.
I was going to cut the neck and rake the bike a bit more, but I looked at what it has for trail before welding everything together and found it has a pretty excessive amount with the current setup. It looks to have a 7 5/8" trail.
I hear that for a trike, trail should be more like 3-4"? Is that correct?

The way it looks right now, I'll need to find some different forks that have the axle mounted on the leading edge. This should reduce trail a little bit. Then shortening the forks and removing some rake would help as well, right?
I have already shortened the internals on these forks 2" and also slid the tubes through the tripples about 1 1/4" as well. I really cant get much more out of these forks.

Any ideas?

It's hard to see here, but I have a string running in the center line of the neck, all the way to the floor.
photo-415.jpg



The level shows centering of the front axle.
photo-995.jpg


The vice grips are just holding the string right at the center line of the neck.
photo-2215.jpg


And here is the trail number.
photo-207.jpg



I decided to run the numbers through a rake and trail calculator and found my string wasn't in the exact right spot.
Here are the numbers:
Front tire-26.75"
Rake-43* (I know, that's a lot)
Tripple clamp offset-2 1/4"
Fork legnth-28.5"
Triple tree rake-0"

Total trail- 9.4"!!!!!! WOW!!!

Next, I punched in to see what I could get the trail to if I built a set of tripple trees with a larger Tripple clamp offset. I found that 6.5" got the trail to 3.58". Now THIS is a workable number.

I could also make raked tripple trees, but that would require absolute precision on a mill, which I have access to, but I'm not that skilled on it. It would be much easier to build a normal set of tripple trees with straight holes for the fork tubes, but with a larger offset from the neck stem to the fork clamps.
 
Last edited:
Leading link font end it is. I think I will track down the right size tube then toss it in the lathe to machine it down to the right size so I can still use my stock triple trees. This way, I can push the front axle out 6" to get the optimal 3-4" of trail I need.
It'll look something like this once done.
photo_zpsc4687eeb.jpg
 
YBeNormal said:
WOW! You sure nailed that comment on the head. LOL:D
Click to expand...

HA! :D
I told myself not to sit and stare at it, so I won't get any fancy ideas, and certainly DON'T lay in bed thinking about how to make it better. Just get the damn thing done. Now here I am scheduling time at my buddy's lathe and mill before I even know if it runs :)
Bought the carb rebuild kits, then lost them [S so figured I'll just get it rolling first and worry bout an engine later :)
 
Lol. Yeah running engine can wait because once the bikes built if the engine doesn't run it will be a have to find a bigger motor moment:D

I take it the adapters finally came in?
 
YBeNormal said:
Lol. Yeah running engine can wait because once the bikes built if the engine doesn't run it will be a have to find a bigger motor moment:D

I take it the adapters finally came in?
Click to expand...

Yeah the adapters are on. Wheels mounted. I'm not liking how thin the rear wheel mounting plate it on the axle side though. I might just end up building a plate to back it and install longer wheel studs.
Buddy is out of town or I would be rolling some 1 1/2" tube through his roller for the main backbone on the rear.
I did manage to cut out the old thin stamped neck bracing plate though. Came out pretty easily. I'm surprised that this frame is double walled tubing.
Cutting the bracing plate out will make it easier to rake the neck out, which BTW is set at 45* right now. I'm not a huge fan of those long heavy raked front ends, but it makes the proportions right on this one. Standard telescoping forks really don't like that much rake either. Too many things against me using them.
Once I get the neck where it needs to go ill rebuild stronger bracing plates to tie it all together.
Too bad it's a 350cc. This thing would be a blast to ride if it had a nice v twin in it or something. Even an 1100 would really wake this thing up :D
I'll net insurance is really cheap on a 350 though :) and you could teach the lady to ride without fear of it falling over :)

photo_zps9f4938c5.jpg


photo_zps009069b1.jpg


photo_zpsf5be2c56.jpg


photo_zps72171d91.jpg



And yes, I really did use a hack saw for some of it :) left the sawzal at a job so had to go old school on it. And it sucked. :D
 
YBeNormal said:
That third pic really puts in to perspective what your not changing [cl. Yet:D
Click to expand...

Ha ha ha! Aint that the truth! Not much left really :) even in that pic, I'll be cutting off the rest portions of the frame tube, and the kick start leg has to change a bit since its so low, you can't get a full throw out of it the way it is now. But really, all that's left is the engine cradle :)
Why change something that's perfectly good :)
 
looking good jml...[cl[cl.on the rake since it is a trike you can tuck it some,I would try to get as close to the 3" trail mark as I could.
 
oldskool said:
looking good jml...[cl[cl.on the rake since it is a trike you can tuck it some,I would try to get as close to the 3" trail mark as I could.
Click to expand...

Perfect. That's what I was thinking. Form what I can tell, with the factory tree's, I'd have to move the sale line out an additional 6" to achieve that. Going with a leading link/springer front end I can easily do this. Plus, it'll be easy to change that location if I needed to.
Thanks you for the input! :D
 
If you need carb hard parts(after you find your kits..:confused:) let me know(p.m me), I have drawers full of carbs. Those are not too bad to build. make sure you get the pilot jet cleaned(it's the jet with the smallest hole)[P
 
oldskool said:
If you need carb hard parts(after you find your kits..:confused:) let me know(p.m me), I have drawers full of carbs. Those are not too bad to build. make sure you get the pilot jet cleaned(it's the jet with the smallest hole)[P
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer! I got one apart and these look easier then the CV carbs I'm used to. All the metal parts inside look foot, now I just need to find the rebuild kits and get it back together with the rubbers.

How bad are these to sync? I'll do a bench sync first so it shouldn't be too bad. I'm sure it's much easier to sync then 4 cv's in a row :rolleyes:
 
they are easy to sync...got like the 4 carb set up but half the work! you got a manometer or a vacuum gauge your on your way.[P
 

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