RWD reverse trike Design Stage

[puddleglum]

Originally Posted by HydroJim

Smurf- I'll have to look into the legality a little more, but I was under the impression that I could simply register the vehicle as the donor motorcycle and call it a day.

Doesn't Ohio require vehicles to be inspected? Even if they don't the insurance company might, and you must have insurance, right. The problem with not disclosing your modifications could come later, even if you lie to motor vehicles. If a cop pulled you over (you know they love to target young guys) and found something illegal, and that you tried to hide it, I'm sure you can imagine things could go very bad really fast. Smurf's comment regarding DOT approved parts was my big concern as well. I know that here, it is illegal to use any non DOT approved parts to build an on road vehicle. I know US regulations are much laxer than Canadian ones, but better safe than sorry.

Originally Posted by HydroJim

Don't think I'm spoiled. The whole budget for this build is provided by myself. I also bought my own car, pay the insurance, gas, and repairs. and I pay my portion of the cell phone bill each month. Not exactly tragic, but much more than can be said for most kids my age. There are kids I go to school with who drive BRAND new cars. many are upwards of $35,000.

I wouldn't call you spoiled, on the contrary. I'd say you are pretty fortunate and enterprising to have found a way to make a good income at such a young age.

[HydroJim]

Ohio requires custom vehicles to be inspected in order to register them. But this isn't an entirely custom vehicle and I planned on using the donor VIN in order to reduce registration costs. cars have an E-check inspection every other year, but this is completely emissions based, and motorcycles are exempt from the test anyway.

This: ODPS | BMV | Salvage & Self-Assembled Vehicle Inspections is the extent of the custom vehicle inspection process here in ohio. Considering the piles of crap I've seen on our roads, they're not very strict here.

Maybe I'll give them a call and see what information I can get. I'm really trying to avoid paying fees and crap because they don't need any more of my money. I'm guessing the person on the phone won't understand a word of what I'm saying. as soon as I get to the words "hub", "spindle", and "reverse trike", the person on the other end of the phone is going to look like or

[Christ]

Originally Posted by HydroJim

theycallmeebryan- I like your ideas and I will be using an ATV front end as you suggested. I'll be using my own steering set-up and making my own control arms though. Im keeping the trike to one person for weight and cost reasons. If I had access to better materials, i definitely would make it seat 2 people.

Check that... in PA, that won't pass a safety inspection. No ATV's are allowed on the road, and for a custom vehicle, you have to detail materials used to title it. May want to make sure it'll be legal in your state.

I know at least parts of Ohio don't require safety inspections, but still worth checking out.

ETA: Sorry, didn't realize the thread was longer than I saw...

[HydroJim]

unfortunately, I'm shelving this project for the time being. I don't think that I'm going to have enough money, and if I'm going to do it, I would like to do it right. Hopefully when I'm a little older and have more money, I can finally build my dream car.

Instead, I'm planning on building an electric motorcycle this summer
It'll take less time, cost less, and it'll be really practical because I live 1 mile from school and 1 mile from work. I'll start a thread about that when I start getting parts together.