GSXR 750 w Trike
I decided to trike my adapted 1994 GSXR after finishing a little Reliant engined custom trike last year. The Reliant had shown me that riding a trike could be almost as much fun as biking. My disability worsening had led to the GSXR being locked in the shed for all but ten days in eighteen months so it just had to be triked. The only downside to the Reliant was the weedy little engine, there’s a lot more horsepower in a 750 GSXR engine than in a 750 Reliant engine. A whole lot more.
I sent the bike off to John Wheaver who built the wishbones, cradle, diff mounts, hubs and a very clever hand brake and hand brake caliper. The diff casing, diff mounts, hub carriers, hubs, hand brake and caliper are all aluminium.
Along with the bike I sent a ford Granada diff, two Spax adjustable dampers with springs and a set of wheels and tyres. I also supplied the rear calipers and rotors, two Tokkiko 4 pot calipers from a GSXR 750 and two rear rotors from a GSXR 1100wp. I sent a blank rear sprocket with 2 teeth less than standard and a new standard front sprocket.
After some waiting, the exchanging of ideas, parts and folding monies John gave me most of a trike back that just needed the brakes bleeding and a set of mudguards fitting along with a dollop of lighting and wiring. Mine is only the second bolt in kit from the Wheaver workshop, the turning and milling work on it is really good and the use of alloy hub carriers and bike brake parts has helped to keep the overall weight to a minimum. Its weight certificate reads 300 kg given the standard weight of the bike is 212 kg we have only added 88 kg in trike parts.
Once we got it home we stripped it all down and set about finishing the stuff John had not got round to doing. I had to have an idler sprocket and mount made up and fitted .We had to fabricate rear foot peg mounts as the standard ones interfere with the suspension. They are currently being looked at again to give the passenger a bit more room to move about. (For passenger in this instance read wife, ergo my renewed enthusiasm to resolve the issue.)
Mick and I wired the rear lights up and re-routed all the brake lines and handbrake cable. We wired in an immobiliser so it’ll be harder to nick.
We had to repair the diff after the end cap blew out under load, it was only glued in. I re-seated it and drilled and tapped the cover and bolts now secure it.
The wing mount was made at home, look closely and you can tell too, Welding isn’t one of my strong points. The wing only works over 50 mph, it pushes the rear down a bit but it is going to hold a seat pad for the pillions comfort and it’s a cool place for me to promote the NABD, www.nabd.org.uk Although it’s my toy it’s also a great tool to promote the work the NABD has done for the past 17 years to ensure bikers with a disability are able to enjoy the freedom and independence of riding their own machine.
When I first rode it the trike was set up as a street fighter with high bars and very little weight over the front tyre. The short wheelbase and rear weight bias tended to make it wave the front wheel about in the air. Not a happy occurrence given the wheel being waved was the one I use to steer the thing.
After a quick rethink Mick and I set about remounting the plastics at the front and it seems to have done the trick. All the added weight over the front has made the trike more positive to steer and the double bubble screen makes it a lot comfier as it has reduced the windblast considerably.
It’s incredibly fast for a 300 kg trike and handles well at all but a crawl; I think I need to experiment with tyre pressures on the front and hopefully that should cure the problem. The rear is a bit soft and over the next few weeks I’ll be trying different settings on the Spax, no point having fully adjustable bits if you don’t mess about with them on occasion.
It’s taken just over twelve months to get it all sorted out and the re- registration done, it’s been a build fraught with problems and tantrums but in the end it’s all paid off.
I now own a cracking little trike that won a trophy in the first show I entered it in. The judges deemed it to be the Best Adapted Trike in the 100% Bike and Trike show at ‘You’ve been NABBED 17’.
I’m still in shock and over the moon, I had thought there were some brilliantly adapted trikes entered in the show but someone obviously liked mine enough to give it a prize. It is as I described it on the entry form, a work in progress and if I get the time and money there are a few things I am going to change or improve. Funny old bits of kit are trikes, like most custom built vehicles they are never quiet done. This one is no different and ideas are constantly banging about in my head. I am already thinking of doing the wiring and rear lights again as I think it could be done a bit better. The pillion foot pegs need a re-think; more legroom would be better.
I’m really enjoyed riding this trike, it goes like a stabbed rat and looks and sounds awesome. If trikes were judged on smiles per mile, my old GSXR would be a prizewinner every time. I had to wear a lid when riding it , I looked a right nutter with this silly grin plastered all over my face every time I go near the thing.
Specification and clever stuff
1994 GSXR 750w sports Trike with Wheaver bolt in conversion
Wheaver bolt in rear end with one off alloy hub carriers and diff mounts.
Converted Granada high ratio diff mated to Rover 200 outputs and drive shafts.
4 pot Nissin front calipers with standard GSXR rotors
4 pot Tokkiko rear calipers with standard GSXR rotors on custom alloy hubs.
Custom made alloy hand brake lever and caliper
Stainless brake hoses all round with Brembo thumb brake to rears.
Spax fully adjustable coil over dampers with 375lb springs.
16-inch alloy ten spoke rear wheels with 215/55/16 tyres
One off custom mudguards.
Stainless custom mudguard mounts.
One off wing mounts and alloy wing.
One off under seat exhaust conversion with Blue Flame twin port end can.
Custom purple paint with airbrushed chequered flag panels by Matty Evans @ Mesiart.
300 kg wet weight
I decided to trike my adapted 1994 GSXR after finishing a little Reliant engined custom trike last year. The Reliant had shown me that riding a trike could be almost as much fun as biking. My disability worsening had led to the GSXR being locked in the shed for all but ten days in eighteen months so it just had to be triked. The only downside to the Reliant was the weedy little engine, there’s a lot more horsepower in a 750 GSXR engine than in a 750 Reliant engine. A whole lot more.
I sent the bike off to John Wheaver who built the wishbones, cradle, diff mounts, hubs and a very clever hand brake and hand brake caliper. The diff casing, diff mounts, hub carriers, hubs, hand brake and caliper are all aluminium.
Along with the bike I sent a ford Granada diff, two Spax adjustable dampers with springs and a set of wheels and tyres. I also supplied the rear calipers and rotors, two Tokkiko 4 pot calipers from a GSXR 750 and two rear rotors from a GSXR 1100wp. I sent a blank rear sprocket with 2 teeth less than standard and a new standard front sprocket.
After some waiting, the exchanging of ideas, parts and folding monies John gave me most of a trike back that just needed the brakes bleeding and a set of mudguards fitting along with a dollop of lighting and wiring. Mine is only the second bolt in kit from the Wheaver workshop, the turning and milling work on it is really good and the use of alloy hub carriers and bike brake parts has helped to keep the overall weight to a minimum. Its weight certificate reads 300 kg given the standard weight of the bike is 212 kg we have only added 88 kg in trike parts.
Once we got it home we stripped it all down and set about finishing the stuff John had not got round to doing. I had to have an idler sprocket and mount made up and fitted .We had to fabricate rear foot peg mounts as the standard ones interfere with the suspension. They are currently being looked at again to give the passenger a bit more room to move about. (For passenger in this instance read wife, ergo my renewed enthusiasm to resolve the issue.)
Mick and I wired the rear lights up and re-routed all the brake lines and handbrake cable. We wired in an immobiliser so it’ll be harder to nick.
We had to repair the diff after the end cap blew out under load, it was only glued in. I re-seated it and drilled and tapped the cover and bolts now secure it.
The wing mount was made at home, look closely and you can tell too, Welding isn’t one of my strong points. The wing only works over 50 mph, it pushes the rear down a bit but it is going to hold a seat pad for the pillions comfort and it’s a cool place for me to promote the NABD, www.nabd.org.uk Although it’s my toy it’s also a great tool to promote the work the NABD has done for the past 17 years to ensure bikers with a disability are able to enjoy the freedom and independence of riding their own machine.
When I first rode it the trike was set up as a street fighter with high bars and very little weight over the front tyre. The short wheelbase and rear weight bias tended to make it wave the front wheel about in the air. Not a happy occurrence given the wheel being waved was the one I use to steer the thing.
After a quick rethink Mick and I set about remounting the plastics at the front and it seems to have done the trick. All the added weight over the front has made the trike more positive to steer and the double bubble screen makes it a lot comfier as it has reduced the windblast considerably.
It’s incredibly fast for a 300 kg trike and handles well at all but a crawl; I think I need to experiment with tyre pressures on the front and hopefully that should cure the problem. The rear is a bit soft and over the next few weeks I’ll be trying different settings on the Spax, no point having fully adjustable bits if you don’t mess about with them on occasion.
It’s taken just over twelve months to get it all sorted out and the re- registration done, it’s been a build fraught with problems and tantrums but in the end it’s all paid off.
I now own a cracking little trike that won a trophy in the first show I entered it in. The judges deemed it to be the Best Adapted Trike in the 100% Bike and Trike show at ‘You’ve been NABBED 17’.
I’m still in shock and over the moon, I had thought there were some brilliantly adapted trikes entered in the show but someone obviously liked mine enough to give it a prize. It is as I described it on the entry form, a work in progress and if I get the time and money there are a few things I am going to change or improve. Funny old bits of kit are trikes, like most custom built vehicles they are never quiet done. This one is no different and ideas are constantly banging about in my head. I am already thinking of doing the wiring and rear lights again as I think it could be done a bit better. The pillion foot pegs need a re-think; more legroom would be better.
I’m really enjoyed riding this trike, it goes like a stabbed rat and looks and sounds awesome. If trikes were judged on smiles per mile, my old GSXR would be a prizewinner every time. I had to wear a lid when riding it , I looked a right nutter with this silly grin plastered all over my face every time I go near the thing.
Specification and clever stuff
1994 GSXR 750w sports Trike with Wheaver bolt in conversion
Wheaver bolt in rear end with one off alloy hub carriers and diff mounts.
Converted Granada high ratio diff mated to Rover 200 outputs and drive shafts.
4 pot Nissin front calipers with standard GSXR rotors
4 pot Tokkiko rear calipers with standard GSXR rotors on custom alloy hubs.
Custom made alloy hand brake lever and caliper
Stainless brake hoses all round with Brembo thumb brake to rears.
Spax fully adjustable coil over dampers with 375lb springs.
16-inch alloy ten spoke rear wheels with 215/55/16 tyres
One off custom mudguards.
Stainless custom mudguard mounts.
One off wing mounts and alloy wing.
One off under seat exhaust conversion with Blue Flame twin port end can.
Custom purple paint with airbrushed chequered flag panels by Matty Evans @ Mesiart.
300 kg wet weight
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