Vulcan 900 Trike Build

[burkbuilds]

I finally got the Trike back from the paint shop late yesterday afternoon (Friday November 10th). This morning I started putting things back in place like the passenger backrest, the chrome luggage rack, crash bars and such. It's supposed to hit the low 70's here today and tomorrow so I hope I get everything back together and ready to ride by this afternoon. Here are a few shots of the progress:












The last shot is just a close up of the fender paint. This guy is the best I've seen, this looks exactly like the factory paint job on the rest of the bike. I had to wait a long time for him to get it done, but it is a really great paint job. The colors match perfectly it has several clear coats on it and the pin stripes are arrow straight. I miscalculated the amount of pin stripe material it would take so I have to order one more stripe to do the trunk and then it will be completely done. :2tup:

[Water Warrior 2]

As I was logging on my thought was "Oh boy oh boy oh boy BB will have pics." And there you are!!!! Absolutely stunning final transformation. The bike is beautiful with the rest of the equipment installed. The paint is perfect.
Granted it has been a long hard build but something to be very proud of and do a little bragging about. Get out there and ride that sucker.

I'll bet a dollar Mom likes her new mobile Throne. :2tup: :2tup:

[alantf]

Beautiful trike, and a tribute to your skill. Don't mean to be picky but looking at the rear end, do you think that the turn signals might be better if you had a set to match your new tail lights, or even a set of red/orange tail lights/turn signals on the fenders? Something about the old ones seems to offend the aesthetic beauty of the trike.

[bpdchief]

Beautiful bike!! :2tup: You have done an amazing job.

[burkbuilds]

Thanks guys, and yes Alan I think there is always room for improvement on just about everything, well, maybe everything except my mom's chicken and dumplings.

Right now though I think I'm just going to ride for a while. I've been off the bike since I wrecked back on April 15th other than the 50 miles I've put on it driving back and forth to the paint shop and a couple of short trips to make sure things were working correctly mechanically.

I put the wheels back on this evening, went for a little ride around town and she's parked in the driveway now ready for me to get on when I leave for work in the morning.

I missed all my favorite riding weather. It's supposed to be in the 30's in the morning here and probably won't be back near 70 for a while now unless we get an unusually warm spell. Global warming where are you?

Don't get me started.

Ready to enjoy riding now.

[burkbuilds]

It's Friday evening and I've had a full week of riding on the trike now. I'm enjoying being back in the saddle again. Filled up the tank tonight after work and got 41 mpg around town which is about what I was expecting. No where near the mpg's I got on the GZ250 or even on the Vulcan 500, but a lot better than my 81 F100

I miss leaning into the curves and it's a bit more work steering the Trike than I expected, but all in all I'm glad to be back in the open air, smelling the fragrance of nature and feeling the air on my face :2tup:

I've already had offers to buy the trike and several people have asked for a ride, including a little old man I met at physical therapy

[Water Warrior 2]

Good to hear you are happy with the trike. For sure 3 wheels feel different than 2 wheels but you will enjoy it all the same. Must nice to not have to put your feet down at a stop.

[burkbuilds]

I've been riding the Trike for about a month now, pretty much every day to work and a few short rides on the weekends. I got my mom, my youngest daughter and even my wife to ride 2-up with me. There are certain advantages to the Trike. It is amazingly stable, I'm not really concerned with hitting gravel in the road way, or slick things like manhole covers in the rain, and you never need to put your feet down at a traffic light or in stop and go traffic. It actually has a very tight turning radius and I can take turns at relatively high speeds and it sticks to the road like it was on a rail. Having said that, I really miss leaning in the turns and being able to avoid most of the potholes and such that you just can't seem to miss on a Trike. I also don't like "hanging on" in the turns because of the lateral g-forces. If I had a hip replacement or some physical reason I could not hold a bike up at a stop or if I felt like I wouldn't be able to raise it if I dropped it then the Trike would be significantly better than riding in a cage (car). But, I have healed up enough from my accident last April that those things no longer apply to me. So, I think I'm going to convert it back to two wheels and just sell the rear axle kit and the fenders to someone that wants to give it a go converting their 900 to a trike.

Merry Christmas everyone.

[JWR]

Best of luck, doing it your way.

You really have some amazing skills.
:2tup:



Jerry

[blaine]

Glad to see you want back on two wheels.Best of luck in the new year.Merry Christmas to you & yours.
:2tup: