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Ever since first seeing the HyperRocket, I've always had the idea of building my own as well as all the details involved in doing so.
I have a few questions about your project, and hopefully it will help you make some important decisions.
Why are you not opting for a 1+1 tandem seating arrangement? The added length will help in a number of ways, including high speed stability, aerodynamics, and it offers significant space for storage when not carrying an extra passenger.
If you decide to go with a Ninja 250 platform, why not try to use as much of the bike as possible? When I thought about doing a project like this, i thought about using a front end of a sport ATV (already has the suspension, steering, brakes, and wheels set up how you would need) and then use the handlebars and "back half" from a Ninja 250. For the parking brake, you can have a setup that locks the front brake lever pulled in. Furthermore, you could have the front and rear brakes tied together and use a proportioning valve to adjust front:rear brake bias.
Here's the way I planned to do this:
1. Front end of a sport ATV.
- This will take care of the front control arms (which will be decently wide, think stability), steering, suspension, brakes, wheel bearings and hub, and gives you skinny wheel mounting options. So basically the front end of a sport ATV up to the steering stem. Rolling chassis ATV's can be found for very very cheap.
2, Fabricate your own canopy/cockpit area.
- You would use steel piping and design the canopy as you would want. I would design it to have ample leg, shoulder, and head room, so that you aren't crammed and rather comfortable. The seat would be low profile but comfortable (basically you can use any seat, though.) I would design a 1+1 design to have the flexibility of transporting a passenger, but also have available room for storage. I would design two "pod" like frames and connect them, in order to provide structural safety for both passengers.
3. Back half of a motorcycle.
- I would use a Ninja 250, simply because the motor's are proven to last a really long time, and it would also take care of your rear suspension, brake, drive, and also electrical. Obviously the cables and wires would have to be extended to the front, but that's easy work.
Connect all 3.
Then, fabricate a fiberglass body in sections so that body panels can be removed for maintenance.
Then you have yourself a fully functional rTadpole trike.
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