# Interested in Building a Reverse Trike?



## toddshotrods (Feb 10, 2009)

(Moderators - I hope this post is okay, if not I understand...)

One of the reasons it took me so long to get the Inhaler to the rolling chassis stage is I was also developing plans for a production chassis, based on it's design. The chassis will come in three main configurations: 4-wheel sport-oriented, 4-wheel hot rod-oriented, and reverse trike. I am doing the sport-oriented with the Inhaler, and have another project coming down the pike for the hot rod chassis, but that will put me over my limit (especially since I also have my personal e-bike project).

I'm looking for someone to build a reverse trike, preferrably here in this thread. I will provide the base frame at my cost + shipping, and be here to walk you through the entire project. All I really want out of it is the experience (with pictures), and feedback from the community to help develop something that is useful to the average EV'er. Worse case scenario, only one is ever built, and you get a frame for the cost of materials and partial labor.

If there should be more than one person interested, post your plans and goals here, and I'll pick a couple/few that offer the best chance of developing a universal chassis.

As for the personal qualifications: You will be starting with a pretty bare frame, so you need to have some fabrication skills. You don't have to be a master, just competent with basic tools. The ability to weld would be a huge plus. I can't run a credit/background check, so I hope that you have the finances and time to see the project through to completion.

As for the chassis itself: The frame will be configured to accept 84-87 Pontiac Fiero front suspension components (control arms, spindes, steering rack). Those parts will simply bolt on. There are aftermarket tubular arms and drop spindles available for the Fiero. For the rear, I haven't made a final decision but am leaning towards Honda Goldwing. They are commonly available on Ebay, or maybe Craigslist, because of the trike conversions.

Any interest?


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## todayican (Jul 31, 2008)

Hi Todd, Ive built a few reverse trikes and would be interested in speaking with you about the project.
Tom
tshtrikes.com


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## toddshotrods (Feb 10, 2009)

todayican said:


> Hi Todd, Ive built a few reverse trikes and would be interested in speaking with you about the project.
> Tom
> tshtrikes.com


Absolutely. You have interest in building another one, comments, suggestions, a combination of all the above? You obviously have the skills and experience to tackle such a project. I'm all ears.


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## toddshotrods (Feb 10, 2009)

For reference, this a shot of the first rough-in of the four-wheel, sport-oriented, verison of the chassis. The reverse trike chassis would have this basic front suspension setup, with a motorcycle swingarm in back.


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## todayican (Jul 31, 2008)

Todd, im curious, how wide is the inside of the fame rails up at the rack, and how wide is it at the 50" mark aft of the rack? do you think you could get it to 46" inside measurement at the aft mark?
Tom


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## toddshotrods (Feb 10, 2009)

todayican said:


> Todd, im curious, how wide is the inside of the fame rails up at the rack, and how wide is it at the 50" mark aft of the rack? do you think you could get it to 46" inside measurement at the aft mark?
> Tom


I'll get you a measurement later, or early tomorrow. I am in between machine sessions right now. I should be able to accommodate you, but there would be additional labor for custom frame rails. I'll post again here later with some questions about it, so I can develop a quote.

Back to the CNC!


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## toddshotrods (Feb 10, 2009)

Sorry, I went out and measured the frame at 10:30 this morning, but just realized that I didn't post the measurments.

It's 22" at the front crossmember, 26.5" at the 50" mark (back from the front crossmember - down the longitudinal center line), and 34" just in front of the rear lower control arm pick-up points.

As I mentioned though, I can do custom rails in a variety of configurations and methods, as long as it works with the suspension pick-up points.


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## aredxwrestler (Oct 10, 2011)

I am looking to purchase a reverse trike frame with roll cage. How did this work out?


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## toddshotrods (Feb 10, 2009)

aredxwrestler said:


> I am looking to purchase a reverse trike frame with roll cage. How did this work out?


I pressed pause... The new chassis we're developing are much better for this application, but it'll be a little while before we clear what's already on our plates to pursue the reverse trike platform as a regular production item. Custom versions of our production kit chassis are a part of the plan, so we can do a custom reverse trike chassis, now.

Check out the links in my sig. Schism is based on the production kit chassis. We can build and ship one of those chassis, with a cage, in a matter of days. You can see the caged version early in that thread, before I lost my mind and decided to go off the deep end, again.  Cages can be either a simple roll bar up to a full cage.


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## fly_champ (Mar 10, 2012)

I am designing an XR3 based reverse trike with a friend who wants a super efficient pure EV. It's a decent modular design that uses off the shelf components, so you don't have to start from scratch.

http://www.rqriley.com/xr3.htm (Of course ours will look better...) 

At the very least, I would recommend considering the basic XR3 design elements in any reverse trike design as a lot of the hard stuff has already been done for you.

We have all the skills and connections to build all of the car from a stainless frame to inexpensive molds for carbon bodies. I hadn't really considered it until now, but we could probably work with other people on it.

Jon


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