this started because i wanted to build a trike the way i want it from the start. ive had the 350x for awhile and went through and got it into riding condition by adding a header and painting the exhaust. From there i got the brakes working from scratch, in the process learning alot of it the hard way (shot myself in the gut with a brake piston). i intend to do everything im doing on this build the right way and i wanted to make sure i had the best parts to work with.
this is my foundation
to start i picked up a frame from a guy on here that was advertised as a rust free frame which is exactly what i needed.
then i just kind of stashed it away and dreamed for the time it would be necessary to rebuild from scratch. so fast forward a few weeks and i go out to ride at one of the local ohv parks and i had a blast out there but everything came to an end when i started to here some squeeling. my first thought it something with the chain but everything looked fine. when i start riding back im thinking about what could go wrong and then it hit me....bearings!
before i even made it home i had a lonestar carrier and bearings on its way (theres an app for that!)
when i finally do decide to tear into it for inspection i came across this and all the bearings had fallen out. just the outer race left.
i figured that since im already into it this far i may as well spend the down season making it what i want. i picked up some NOS forks from ebay and there currently on there way to schmidty racing in california along with my rear shock to be anodized, sprung, and reweighted. for the rear shock i went with black anodized body and black spring as well as going to a 3 valve set up. so when this is together im hoping this thing rides like a Cadillac. ive never had the opportunity to ride a good suspension set up.
while im waiting for that i decided to gusset my new frame. using DC and a few other threads as reference i cut out some sub frame gussets at work and ground them into shape. the first set i cut was trash and i considered it practice since im generally scared of the plasma cutter.but, FREE materials thanks to metal scrap. i ended up cutting the gussets out of some 1/8 steel. this is what i came out with.
then i asked the welder at the shop if he could help me out since i suck at welding. the sub frame gussets came out good in my opinion but the foot peg area reinforcement we did wasnt nearly as graceful as some of the greats here on the forum but i dont build show bikeswe ended up using some schedule 40 pipe and half wrap the area on both sides. removed the motor mount and master cylinder brackets that are in the way then used the motor as a jig to weld them back on. i cleaned off some of the sharp edges on my foot peg gussets and believe it wont look to funky when powder coated black.
im planning on going with a black frame, darker gray swinger, and black carbon fiber plastics with a black tank. when im done with this bike literally everything on the chassis will be new or revamped. this will definitely be a learning experience for me in sandblasting,painting, polishing, and jetting because im going with a supertrapp exhaust and 400ex carb.
i cant wait to get this thing rolling but for now i think im moving along pretty fast.
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