Vulcan 900 Trike Build

[burkbuilds]

Saturday was spent mainly cleaning up my shop after the flash flood of Friday night. We officially had 1.5" of rain in 30 minutes. I was out to dinner with my wife when the storm hit and on our way home I saw several roads underwater that I've never seen underwater before. When we arrived home I immediately went back to my shop in our backyard and found water marks up to 8" high. My floor slopes towards the doorway and even at the back of the shop I had 4" of water. Well, thanks to shop vacs, floor fans and low humidity weekend, I have pretty much dried my shop out now. So I got to spend about 6 hours this weekend working on the Trike build and I got a lot done.
I was able to get the rear axle all lined up and welded in place. The rear brakes are connected and bled out and I put a lot of the covers and stuff back in place. I also figured out how the support stuff for the fiberglass body kit needs to be mounted, although I'm going to have to do some welding to make it work, at least I got it figured out.

I took lots of pictures today, but I'm worn out, so I will try to post them when I get home tomorrow.

[alantf]

Welding? I thought a "kit" meant that you just removed old parts, then fixed ready made new parts to the bike. :??:

[alantf]

Originally Posted by burkbuilds

I came home from dinner tonight to find that we had a flash flood in the area and my shop got about 8" of water in it

We could do with some of that. There's fires raging across the island, and with all the reservoirs dried up, the helicopters can't find anywhere to scoop up water with their buckets. Luckily we don't live in the tree line, but it's worrying. (put a thermometer on the table on the patio, & it's 110º, so no chance of rain)

[burkbuilds]

Alantf, sorry to hear about the fires in your area. Wish I could send some of our rain your way. I hope you are able to avoid any losses.

Okay, I promised more pictures.
Sunday I had to get the mono shock in place. It wasn't very difficult except that I just don't bend very well yet. Fortunately, the motorcycle lift made it possible to get everything in a place I could get to. Once I got that attached I felt like I was ready to start adjusting the belt and axle stuff. I got it all on but when I turned the belt I could hear a "roar", not good. My first thought was that I hadn't gotten something back together in the differential correctly, but I soon realized that the belt was rubbing on the top of the housing. Also not good because no matter how I pivoted it, there just wasn't enough clearance in the housing for the belt not to rub. So, I took it all apart.





Once I had it apart I started checking things out and I found that my old sprocket was 12" in diameter, the one in the kit is 12-1/2" in diameter. I think if it had been 12" it would not have a clearance problem. My first thought was to swap them, but the bolt pattern was different and the center hole in the kit was larger and the sprocket had about a dozen drilled and tapped holes where the carrier attached to it. So I decided to open up the housing. First I tried to file enough away, but that was slow going.


So I finally got serious and cut about a 1/4" off the housing and then filed it down smooth. No more interference.


Next I got it all back together and started getting it lined up with the front sprocket.


Once I felt confident about proper alignment I prepped the axle for some welding of the blocks that hold everything in alignment.



I stick welded both pieces and then cleaned the welds and spray painted with a high gloss enamel Rustoleum.



Now it was time to get those rear disk brakes set up. The kit came with several nice lines and adapters.






Unfortunately, the banjo's were to long to use, they would hit the inside of the wheel, so I made a trip to the local auto parts store and bought some short brake lines I could bend to fit.

It took a little work to get everything tied in and bleed the calipers but it wasn't really difficult.



Finally it is time to start putting stuff back in place. The radiator overflow bottle and then the side covers on that side came next.


Here is a shot of the bike sitting on the floor waiting for me to figure out the exhaust and the supports for the fiberglass body.



Finally, I set the seat in place to help me get an idea for the height I need when I attach this "universal" bracket to hold up the fiberglass kit.

[Water Warrior 2]

OMG, this is killing me. I can't wait to see the finished product.

[PimpS]

Wicked! Even though i don't like to drive trikes, they sure, i mean yours will really look nice, kind of chumpy and i like that. All the trikes i see on our roads are also mainly done at home of bikers and their engine is mainly took out of the good old volkswagen beatle, made with those long forks. Driving a 3 wheeler (1 front, 2 back) gives me the creeps when going into curve (but that's only my experience with the bikes i use to drive at my former work with kids with special needs). Well done BB, it really is a mechanic porn you're showing us!

[alantf]

Originally Posted by burkbuilds

Once I had it apart I started checking things out and I found that my old sprocket was 12" in diameter, the one in the kit is 12-1/2" in diameter. I think if it had been 12" it would not have a clearance problem. My first thought was to swap them, but the bolt pattern was different and the center hole in the kit was larger and the sprocket had about a dozen drilled and tapped holes where the carrier attached to it. So I decided to open up the housing. First I tried to file enough away, but that was slow going.

Have you been in touch with the manufacturers, to find out why they've made a mistake? They may not be aware of their error.

[Water Warrior 2]

Originally Posted by alantf

Have you been in touch with the manufacturers, to find out why they've made a mistake? They may not be aware of their error.

I doubt the larger sprocket is an error. It may have been a means of retaining the original factory gearing with the different wheels on the back. Or possibly to change the gearing a bit to compensate for the extra weight of the entire machine after assembly. The small opening for the belt is odd but BB cured that quickly enough.

[alantf]

It was the belt opening that I was referring to. It's odd that the clearance was wrong. I'd have thought that they'd have put one together before marketing it, and found their mistake.

[burkbuilds]

Lol WW, I'm going as fast as I can, which is pretty slow. I also have classes starting Wednesday night, so depending on how much work these last two classes throw my way it might get even slower. However, last night I was able to figure out how to make the bracket work to hold up the fiberglass. I had to cut away a lot of the stuff that came on it, and weld a couple of pieces of 1/4" x 2" flat stock in the right places to allow me to hopefully bolt it onto the bikes existing frame. I got it all painted and I'm heading out to the shop now to start putting it on the bike. More pics soon.

Oh, Alantf, I have not contacted them yet but I bet the rear end housing is pretty much a universal fit for a variety of bikes and although it was annoying to have to take the time to modify it, no big deal. WW has a point, they may also have increased the size of the rear sprocket to give me a little more torque to compensate for the added weight from the trike kit. Alan, like you, I did not expect to have to do this much welding. Fortunately, I have the tools and training to do it, but if I did not have those abilities and tools I would have been very frustrated.