Hi!

   My name is Bob.

   This is how my trike came to be:

    In the early Eighties I was rode a Yamaha Maxim 550  for a couple of years. (ya ya, couldn't afford a HD and didn't want to dump a hog while learning to ride $$$) Alas, life was changing, had a family on the way. I decided that if I wanted to continue to ride I had better get something that the whole family could ride. My options, a hack or a trike. No contest, trike!!!

    The first one I ever saw was a model a cousin had gotten for X-mas when I was about 10 years old. It was a VW with a German helmet for a body and what had to be a 36" over springer. It had iron crosses for tail lights. It sat three. Radical!!! It was my first true love.

   So how do you build a trike I am thinking. Your guess was as good as mine. I didn't know anyone with one. So I started with bike mags and got nowhere fast. It seems that if you don't ride a Rocket or a Hog you don't get a mag, a thought for the guys at BTW maybe. The only ones I saw in the mags where chopped servicars. ( again $$$, had a little one coming, this had to be cheap to happen)

    So, off to the shows I go. All right, v-dub's. All kinds. Lots of styles. This is the place. Heaven!!! After a couple dozen shows and talking to lots of guys, I have a pretty good idea of what I wanted. That was quick to change after I priced those glass Cal. kits. Besides most only carry two maybe three. I needed to seat four and had to have room to carry stuff.

   Sitting around buddy's farm one afternoon talking about the problem and another buddy rolls in with an old pickup that he had just put a fancy wooden flat bed on. Buddy and I look at each other and smile. Here was the answer. A wooden flat bed could be made to fit anything and if done right could look sharp too.

   The rest was pretty easy. I scooped a bug ( 1600 dual port) off this guy at work who had two hard tails (a Norton and a BSA). When I told him what I wanted it for he gave me a deal. Said he had always wanted to do one himself. Forks, bars, etc. I got from swap meets. I used Harley stuff to get a speedo. Fuel tank/bench back and fenders I built myself using the filler pipe from the bug and some tail lights I got in a basket at a garage sale. I didn't like the three inch pipe idea that most guys where using to connect the goose neck and transaxle, so I made mine out of 1/8" plate (heavy enough that I ain't watching clouds but light enough that it still moves out when I crack the wick).  I put a large running board on it wide enough that if I did come too close too something it would hit the board before it got my axle. I made a frame for the bed that bolts right to the castings where the bug body did. Four bolts and unplug the lighting harness and the whole rear section lifts off. The only problems I ever had was with the forks and rear brakes. The 15" over girder couldn't take the stress and tore the bushings out after a couple of years. I tried to use the VW master and could never get rear brakes that lasted more than a block. Last year I ran into a guy on the net that told me to use a '66 ford truck master, it has a single line. Haven't tried it yet myself, but he said it works well. Thanks guy, will try. (lost your e-mail and forgot your name) UPDATE: GUY SAYS THIS DOESN'T WORK... IDEAS?

   This winter is rebuilt time I hope. I have a new motor sitting in a factory crate that I picked up a couple of years ago. If any one knows how to trace block numbers please contact me. I don't know what this motor is other than it is single port. I have been down for about five years. One year due to the girder and having to change to a 10" over tube. One year on Yammy venture, got the foolish idea that I might like a big touring bike. Almost killed myself first ride. Forgot to lean the bike into the corner instead of steering it ,then, shook up forgot to put my feet down when I got to a stop sign. Dropped it, fool. Three years financially recovering from an address change that my kids didn't get to share with me.

   Still awake?
 

   Here are some links that you might find interesting. Suggestions on links or anything else welcome (especially Ontario bug parts stores)
 
 
 

The Brothers Of The third Wheel -BTW

Brads Bugs Home Page

Welcome to VW

Air-cooled Buy & Sell

HOT VWs MAGAZINE

The Trike Pages

Pics of different trikes
 
 
 
 
 

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