Newbie from Germany

[lincolnolli]

Hi everyone!
After endless hours of reading here silently,i logged in today.
My names Ollie,i am from northwest Germany.
Working as a car mechanic for almost 30years now(99% american ones).

I have 2 threewheelers.
A 85 Big Red 250 that is stock,except 12" rims with 25 front and 27 bear claws in the back.
A early 200X where the engine was shot.I put a CL250S bike engine in.The 4 valve type with 6 gears (SL+5).
24x7-11 front and OEM Big Red Wheels+noppies in the back.Lifted abt 4 inches.
At the moment back only,which is not ideal but i'm working on spacers for that 33m forks.Any tips where to get them,maybe?

The earea here is all moor,much of it covered with a feet of water.If one might ask why i built the machines that way,lol
I enjoy a 4-5 mile ride with my great dane each and every day here,no matter what weather and its just so much fun on a 3wheeler :-)

Thanks for reading and keep up the good work,
Ollie

[DohcBikes]

Welcome, lets see em.

[lincolnolli]

Hi DOHC.
Oh yeah,next days will be a lot of work here.But i promise pics before weekend :-)

[F3joel]

Welcome to the site, get the dog in the pics...

[tripledog]

Welcome to the site, get the dog in the pics...

Yes welcome, Ollie, and your dog is welcome too! I was stationed in Wiesbaden in '83 and '84 while I was in the Army. Kind of miss the Autobahn...

[Dirtweed]

Welcome Ollie! I am interested to see this area you ride in....was wondering why all the big wheels on your trikes. It makes sense for where you ride.

I've been to a number of cities in Germany, but never to the Northwest side of the country.


Darrin

[lincolnolli]

http://abload.de/img/p9090127vjujj.jpg

[lincolnolli]

Hello Tripledog,joel+dirtweed!
Ah Wiesbaden,in the south.I had a girl there many moons ago.I remember that almost the whole city is from mid evil times,wonderful.
Except that climbing all the time,even if you just went for a pack of cigarrettes,lol Thank god i just fixed my hand/emergeny brake a week before.
That 67 rustbucket might have rolled all the way down there..
Over here,in the north,its as flat as can be.Theres a saying that when you hop on your car roof on a wednesday it'll be easy to see who comes for the weekend..
The famous Autobahn still is what it is,but say only 30% "freeblast" areas left.The other side is,if theres crashes theres often 30 or more cars involved with many dead people..Guess it has to be that way in the country of all those car makers,i dont know.
The US Army,hey that was good times way back when.We grew up watching AFN TV and listening to that radio station.Had a lot of friends and ended up working "civil" for the army as a mechanic.You know,the old 6.2 Diesel Blazers,K30 and so on.I really hated every minute working on that engine.The W200 Dodge was way better :-)
Theres a large scene for american cars.Its my work to repair those.
When it comes to 3 wheelers very little,maybe 100 in the whole country.And around 20-30 beeing roadlegal.You cant get them through tech inspection and get a title for them anymore.Sad,but i catched one of the last ones.The Big Red had a title,so i fixed brakes and lights went through tech and have it fully road legal now.
Ok,the papers say "max 58km/H" (40mls),but you dont see that from the outside,aka the cops.Its logic they did that because everything over 60km/H is allowed to dirve on the Autobahn.Good Lord!They gonna kill you there,hahaha
Cops faces are priceless when they hear your tires from almost a mile away.Little mud tractor..
I'm trying to upload some great dane pics as we speak,lets see how that works out.
Glad to meet you guys,
Ollie

[lincolnolli]

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[lincolnolli]

His names Odin and hes 6 years old now.120pounds,so not one of the heavyweight,bodybuilder type danes.I guess thats a good thing,since he's fit as can be.
I remember that monsters back in the day just got around 6 years..
Or maybe its just his beloved 3 wheeler and the trips we do everyday,lol
This is a 100% threewheeler dog.I swear he can hear a honda single cyl engine for miles :-)

[lincolnolli]

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[lincolnolli]

Ups,some wrong pics in there,but who cares...lol

I converted the 200x to a CL250 4valve engine.It has 5+super low,so 6gears now.Electric start only.
Parted a XL600 and used the spring for back lift.Front Brakemaster too(much better).Use XL600 Tach too,as you can see.
Homemade handelbar risers with longer,stronger bolts.XL500 throttle,shortthrow throttle next.
Front forks i added springs from a CX500.
Gearing on the X is 13 front and something like 56 back.No problem with that long legged overdrive 5th.
Goes over 100km/H if you have the nerve..lol
I just went back to the 22s out back.That OEM big red tires where awesome in the mud,but i need to go some miles on the street from trail to trail.
And that was the complet horror with the noppies...haha
Oh yeah,the back dives in abt 2" when i sit on the machine,it just looks that hight without my 180pounds.

Thanks a lot and hope you enjoy the pics.
Ollie

[sledcrazyinCT]

Welcome to 3WW!!

[yaegerb]

:welcome: and enjoy your stay

[Keepah Rolln]

Welcome to the site

[ps2fixer]

That big red looks pretty nice. I see the tail/blinkers, but no switch for the blinkers. Do you use hand signals instead? I'm not sure what the requirements are over there for brake lights etc.

A while back I wanted to get my 350x legal for the road and drive it the 1 hour trip to work on every sunny day, but I never went though with it. Back roads are 55mph and everyone wants to do 65-70mph, 350x could do it but I'd be looking to get fair mileage too (~45mph probably). Too many aggressive drivers over here for my taste.

Hopefully there is some sort of slide or bearing for the slack side of the chain where it goes by the swing arm mounting area of the frame. Can't really see what it is riding on, but it is redirecting the chain quite a lot, probably from the rear lift. Besides that, looks like the 200x is a stock setup with that 250 engine =).

[lincolnolli]

Hi ps2fixer!
Sorry about the very late repy,but i had a lot of work to do here.
I converted the kill switch for the blinkers.You just find the 3 wires and then you have common,left and right.
The requirements are pretty much like on a car.Trikes register as "3 track cars" in europe.
That made them espacially popular to those that dont have a motorcycle drivers licence.
Mine had an old title from 1986,so i dont need hazard blink,or parking light.Newer registarations will need all that.
I did the brake light via a simple motorcycle switch.Only works on footbrake,but was Ok for the inspector.
Will converted the handbrake lever to a XL one with brake switch later on.
We need tech inspection every 2 years.

You just named it about the speeds people drive today.Makes me think if my registration is worth it all,considering tax+insurance.
I bought a 350x these days and it is plated too..
But honesty:Even the 350 screems so much at that speed it just plain hurts.

So far no problems with the chain on the 200x,but i will take a deeper look and watch that closely..

Olli

[ps2fixer]

Thanks for the reply. When I mentioned about the 350x doing 45mph for higher mpg, it would be after a re-gear for street, probably +25% or so higher gearing similar to a motorcycle.

The USA is interesting, the law views it the opposite way, 3 wheels + saddle style riding (atv, motorcycle etc) = it's a motorcycle, not sure if 4 wheeled atvs are classified the same, but the 3 wheeled ones are. Only lights required are blinkers (unless you use hand signals, but that is probably not too widely accepted any more), of course a headlight, mirrors, and brake lights. Parking brake is required, DOT approved tires, and I think that is about everything. Hazards on a 3/4 wheeler would seem funny/odd, I don't think I've ever seen anything with them besides cars/trucks and such.

BTW, unless I'm mistaken, there are no cars in the USA that are 3 wheeled except maybe the rare imported Reliant Robbin. Golf carts could fall in that category I guess, but then again a side-by-side I think is classified the same as a 4 wheeler which is basically an off-road golf cart.

Crazy how different areas of the world view things differently.