E-trike!

Following the current developments in electric motors and batteries, my plans have changed.  Once I get back onto the project, I will modify the design to an electric motor and batteries, so a full electric trike.

The Kawasaki will be put back together again into a fully functioning bike !

Temporary stop

Unfortunately I have neither the time nor space to be working on the trike while we are living in West Africa. Therefore all the parts are now in storage and as soon as we are in a place where I do have the opportunity to continue, I will do so. So keep an eye on this space if you are interested :)

First Frame Section Finished

Done, I have done it !!!!!! The first frame section is finished, the section that will hold the seats, fuel tank, steering and front suspension. Now it is back to the drawing board and ordering components.

I need to work on the final design of the front suspension, the steering, the engine and rear suspension. The basic designs are ready and now this frame section is finished it is a lot easier to do the final bits.

Small steps

I'm slowly making progress on the frame. It's amazing how much work goes into prepping the tubes and endplates that close the square tubing ends. Especially the tubes with double angles ends are a bitch. I screwed up the first one (few mm too short) but luckily it could be used as a brace :)

There is still a lot of work that needs to be done just to get this part of the frame done. At the moment I'm searching for a proper steel rim, nice and wide and adaptable for my self made rear axle, that I still have to design ;)

So plenty of work to do and this was just a little quick update

First section finished

Yes !!! The first section of the frame is finished !!! This section (see photo in previous blog) will hold the front wheels, steering housing and pedals. I closed the open ends of the square tubes by welding 3 mm plate in them. This will create strong corner sections that will allow for the best match of strenght and flexibility.

The welding is also improving more and more as I go. The machine is doing better now I have the settings right and everything checked and sorted. Next week I hope to have some more copper tips and another 2 rolls of wire.

The coming week I hope to start cutting the mid section tubing (bottom part) and fit it to the front. This will increase the frame quite dramatically and I need to start preparing my storage location (the ceiling or wall). It would help if I could sell the Yamaha Streetfighter so I gain some space.

Disassembly complete and sparks flying

I have completed the disassembly of the Kawasaki and the parts are up for sale. Interest is high but no actual sales yet. So I am now the proud owner of the worlds most powerful moving trolley ;) Over 200hp, so watch out Holland !!

Upon completion of the disassembly work it is finally time to start working on the frame. I have all the steel as well so it is time to start putting it together.

First step was to get the welding parameters right. I cut some short bits of tube (Square Hollow Section 25 by 1.5 mm) with which I am going to build the frame and did some welding on it. Both butt and fillet welds until the settings were right. By being able to look inside, I could see that the penetration was sufficient.

Then I started cutting the sections to length for the front section, where the front wheels will be attached. It will also hold the pedal box and the steering housing. Unfortunately I had some issues with the welding machine that screwed up the welds and I ended up cutting up the frame (only a small part).

The new frame however is progressing well now I have sorted out the welding machine. There is however quite a bit of work going into the preparation, grinding and welding. So progress is not as fast as I would like but still it is going the right way.

Once this front section is ready, the mid section is next, followed by the aft section where the engine will be installed (see above ;)

The frame is then finished and the suspension will be next. The front unequal triangles will be made from tubing, the rear swingarm as well. The rear swingarm will have a single spring/shock unit that ties into the frame and the hinges will be in line with the sprocket (eliminates chain length changes while the wheel moves up and down).

Anyway, lets first finish the frame before we start with the rest !!!

The First Step of a Long Journey

G'day, this is my first post on my Trike Project Blog. For years I have been looking at fun cars, bikes and other speed monsters and one day I decided that I can build one of those as well. I decided that it was going to be a trike, similar to the T-rex.

Now before you start screaming amateur, you're partly right. I am a mechanical engineer (BSc), I worked on cars and bikes for years (as a hobby) and I have been designing or been part of designing equipment. So part of my experience and education will come in handy and for the rest I have friends, the internet and common sense.

Normally I work in the offshore industry and part of my work is designing or specifying new equipment. For years I worked in a R&D department developing underwater equipment.

The closest real experience I have is my self built Yamaha FZR 1000 Exup based streetfighter (www.eusje.smugmug.com). So not entirely green but a lot to learn !!

Every project starts with the first step. Although the design work has been going on for years, steel has been ordered, welding parameters have been set, this is the first step as far as I am concerned. I worked on the Kawa for 2 days and it progressed really well.


I started with a fully functioning bike and now I have an engine and rolling frame left. Everything came off no problem at all, it is soo nice working on a new bike. I am planning to sell all the parts I don't need (and that is most of the expensive bits ;) to recover part of my cost.









So keep your eyes on this blog and you will see my progress, set backs, trip-ups, F*CK-ups etc. I hope you enjoy it, I know I will !!