CRX HF reverse trike project

[groundflyer]

Tri-Magnums use a VW front end and you bolt any type of motorcycle frame to it. Had a 1500 Honda Goldwing at first, then a 650 Yamaha Turbo Seca 650. Valkyrie's are best because they have reverse. These things will out-corner a Corvette. That's not an opinion. It's been verified by Popular Mechanics magazine back in the 1980s. They are an absolute hoot to drive as contrasted with conventional trikes with one wheel in front which IMHO are suicide machines. RTs are super-stable, even more stable than cars. Don't turn over. Don't flip. Really. Why? All cars lift or go light on the inside rear wheel during hard cornering. Not so with an RT, which is glued like an MFer. No, they don't swap ends when they break free. The coefficient of friction is way up there. Anyone can learn to drive one well. I couldn't stop hootin' and hollerin' my first day in one.

This CRV set-up will kick ass. The problem with he smaller motorcycle engines is inadequate clutch area. No problem with the CRV. Length to width, you need 1.5 to 1.75 your wheelbase. That looks good. You can go a little longer - it's not critical. Weight distribution should be about the same on each wheel. The fuel tank should be towards the back of the seats where its influence is evenly distributed, not way back, because the weight changes. If you need to put more weight back there, use the battery and/or radiator. But you are sitting back pretty good in the CRV as is so it is probably close.

You're right to save aero for last. Weight reduction is the big thing. Put larger diameter, thin LRR tires on the front for better MPG numbers now that you're not pulling so much weight. Contis are real good. Same on the rear because you're not powering it. Use a hydraulic brake mixer sorta like the NASCAR guys use. You can hook up to your mechanical brake in back with a clutch slave cylinder. You'll just have to test it. An inline restricter will work for cheap but you can't adjust it on the fly for rain or dirt. You'll want something like 70-percent front, 30-percent rear applied force. This is real important. The rear brake keeps you straight. If you don't get it right, you'll flat-spot the rear tire or lose control during hard braking. Just take it out in the dirt first and stomp on the brakes, check your tracks, and set the adjustment to where nothing locks up. And you'll have to get used to checking the brake adjustment in back frequently.

I'm in California and we've always gotten away with registering our crazy stuff as motorcycles by welding that cylinder the forks attach to, with the VIN stamp, onto the rear frame and registering the vehicle as the motorcycle the frame belongs to. If there's any VIN numbers on the front part, like cars have, you have to take them off to show it's no longer a car and that stuff's just parts. Sometimes I had to try several DMVs to find someone with a sense of humor. But these days, sometimes you can run into trouble and try to get a special construction designation. You may need to find somebody who's drunk or on drugs. Good luck.[/QUOTE]

I remember the Tri-Magnums design way back when. And you can still get the plans to build one.

If you were not in California I would say your spy has been sneaking in my garage and telling you how I was building it lol look back at some pics and I have mention the battery location is at the butt of the seat of the M/C.

The rear brake been looking at a hydraulic set up. And thanks for the break setup you described

No new pics yet. But I will place the battery and twist the rear panels some more and weld up.

[groundflyer]

I do have a questtion on body panel material What to use to build the lower back coroplast alum??? and how are you guys putting it on tape glue?

[JohnAh]

I can't wait to read more about this project! For many years I have thought of making av reverse trike from a small front-drive car. I have a tiny 1959 Heinkel Kabine 3-wheeler https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...5X0wvtQbWwZSDQ so I consider myself a bit experienced from driving reverse trikes. The Heinkel i extremely small and light-weight with short wheelbase. Comparing it to an ordinary passenger car is a bit unfair, but I definitely think that four wheels are better than three in almost every sense.

Weight distribution is probably more critical whith three wheels but I do belive that a well designed reverse trike will handle better than a poorly designed four-wheeler. I have been driving my Heinkel quite hard and despite it´s a quite unstable vehicle it have never lifted the inner wheel. -But I´m absolutely sure I have had small margins a couple of times. If they do flip over I suppose that will happen very suddenly...

The Heinkel has rear drive (200cc/10hp). Tourque/power is very low but in the winter it´s a total disaster to drive! The single rear wheel gives poor traction and the 10 hp´s are enough to make it skid like crazy in a way a rear-drive four wheeler never will do. With a front-drive 3-wheeler I guess the difference is marginal so converting a car to a RT will most likely be much better than the little Heinkel and it´s relatives.

I also belive a RT is much better than having the single wheel in front, like the Brittish Reliant, italian Piaggio Ape and many small 3-wheelers in asia.
-Try hitting the brakes hard when turning in such a vehicle and see what happens!

Some suggestions for how to improve the handling of a RT-converted passenger car:

Increase track width in front by installing spacers between the hubs and the wheels. Remember that too much offset will make the steering sensitive to uneven ground and if hitting rocks or bumps the steering wheel may break your thumbs! -This is similar to the problems that can appear when putting on too fat tyres.

Stiffening the front springs may also bee good to stability.

A single rear wheel will most likely take less brake force before it locks. The little Heinkel Kabine have no rear brake at all (parking brake only), still it stops very good.

Using a very fat rear wheel can improve stability but putting two thinner wheels close to eachother also improves safety A LOT if you suddenly get a flat tyre! Discovering a flat tyre on an ordinary car while driving fast in a sharp turn is realy scary but loosing a single rear wheel may be the last thing you du in life! Having two wheels on a common hub may count as one, at least in Europe. I don´t know about the laws in the US but I think it should not be different than a single fat tyre. -The wheels on a big truck still counts in total as four (or six) when they are doubled in the rear.

One of the most annoying things about trikes is that it´s almost impossible to avoid those potholes. With four tracks instead of three it may look even worse but one wheel can carry most of the load while the other hits the pothole. -Providing offcourse the wheels are mounted on a common swingarm.

[JohnAh]

I have old Saab 96 V4´s as both family car and hobby project. The idea about converting a car to a reverse trike has been in my head for a long time and offcourse I have thought of doing this trick to a Saab. If I do this I will cut out more than Groundflyer did with the Honda CRX. -I want a sharp tail only one foot wide or so. I would also start cutting the wedge just behind the windscreen to make the body taper more slowly. This is offcourse a lot more work. https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/i...joFx594DElifow

[JohnAh]

Another serious limitation to trikes is their behaviour in snow and ice. When living in Sweden as I do, it may be suicide to drive a trike in the winters when the ice and snow gets packed to a string in the middle of the road for the middle wheel to ride... I have driven my Heinkel Kabine (RT) in the winter once and it was.... eh, adventurous, to say the least. Adding an extra wheel in the rear to a narrow pair will probably do nothing to improve stability. I guess a trike with the single wheel in front may be just as disasterous.

However, a front-drive RT is most likely much better than a rear-drive. I just have to try this out one day!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by JohnAh

Another serious limitation to trikes is their behaviour in snow and ice.

In England, the Reliant Regal was often quoted to be easier to start-up and drive-away at a snowstorm than a Mini

[boffin5]

I had this exact idea a few years ago, when my job location had me driving in heavy traffic, while watching motorcycles fly by in the HOV lanes. A three wheeled vehicle is considered to be a motorcycle, so I was going to build something like your project. But now I work in a different place, and the traffic is okay, so I mentally archived the plan.

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by groundflyer

They're just plain radical looking, and many people (myself included) like the weird looking stuff. I live in a geodesic dome lol

How big is your dome? When the time comes you can get a picture of your trike parked in front of it; like Bucky with his Dymaxion parked in front of the Fly-eye dome.


That's Sir Norman Foster on the right. I lived for seven years in a geodesic dome with a heated ceramic tile floor. It was the cleanest, warmest, quietest place I've ever lived.

I do have a questtion on body panel material What to use to build the lower back coroplast alum??? and how are you guys putting it on tape glue?

A step up from Coroplast would be Polymetal. The local vendor here is Multi-craft plastics. Signage shops will want to sell it with something painted/printed on it. It is used by open-wheel modified dirt-track racers to build those big wings they run.

One nice thing is it comes in 4x8, 4x10 and 5x10 sheets, depending on your needs.

[groundflyer]

Originally Posted by freebeard

How big is your dome? When the time comes you can get a picture of your trike parked in front of it; like Bucky with his Dymaxion parked in front of the Fly-eye dome.


That's Sir Norman Foster on the right. I lived for seven years in a geodesic dome with a heated ceramic tile floor. It was the cleanest, warmest, quietest place I've ever lived.



A step up from Coroplast would be Polymetal. The local vendor here is Multi-craft plastics. Signage shops will want to sell it with something painted/printed on it. It is used by open-wheel modified dirt-track racers to build those big wings they run.

One nice thing is it comes in 4x8, 4x10 and 5x10 sheets, depending on your needs.

Dome is 36' 25' tall 3 story well one day I may just do the picture thing Build it myself Has a 3 level floor Heat is a propane ventless heater Like a giant dearborn heater in the center of the home
As for the trike Making some seat brackets for ajustment and a few other things no pictures sorry here is the only pic I have of the dome now

I will look into the Polymetal Racers all around here and tracks

[freebeard]

one day I may just do the picture thing

Be sure you're standing on the right side with your hand on the door handle.

It looks like a 3/8 icosa on a 7' riser wall. Here's the dome my parents built in 1980; the picture is a few years old. 39' on a 4' riser wall. I helped.


I've got a 1 foot square scrap of Polymetal and I'm looking for someone with a bead roller to see how it would take to that.