Motor Trike Conversion Problems

[BigBen]

A few months ago I had my 2020 Harley Road Glide converted using a Motor Trike kit. The trike looks, rides, and handles great. When I picked it up, however, it had 2 near fatal flaws. There was a constant red light on the dash, and every time I backed up a host of trouble codes were generated. I contacted the manufacture and the installer about these problems, but to be honest they gave every impression that they didn't know how to fix them and didn't care. Here is what I found out.

The red light on the dash (indication a safety problem) was caused because the tpms sensor on the rear wheel was removed (indication a flat tire). To solve this problem, I bought a 48 inch zip tie and a 4 inch zip tie. The 48 inch zip tie went abound the inside of the hub on one of the rear wheels; and the 4 inch tie was used to attach the tpms sensor to the 48 inch tie. This allowed the bike to see that the back tire wasn't flat, and the red light disappeared. I do get a low tire pressure light, but at least the red light is gone. The rear wheels on the trike have a larger hole for the valve stem and the proprietary Harley tpms sensor would not fit.

For the electric reverse gear I first thought I could install a slow start module to the reverse electric motor and mitigate the initial current surge which was pulling the battery voltage down and causing all of the trouble codes to be generated. To do this I had to know the current draw of the reverse motor. Upon measuring the current I found that it pegged out my meter at 400 amps! This made the size of the slow start module prohibitively large. The standard Harley battery is 400 Cold Cranking Amps, so there was no way a stock Harley battery could drive the reverse electric motor without dropping the voltage. I purchased a 600 Cold Cranking Amp battery and this solved the problem.

I am amazed the Motor Trike could sell a kit with these problems. However, now that they are fixed, I am very satisficed with my purchase.

 

[cycle7447]

A few months ago I had my 2020 Harley Road Glide converted using a Motor Trike kit. The trike looks, rides, and handles great. When I picked it up, however, it had 2 near fatal flaws. There was a constant red light on the dash, and every time I backed up a host of trouble codes were generated. I contacted the manufacture and the installer about these problems, but to be honest they gave every impression that they didn't know how to fix them and didn't care. Here is what I found out.

The red light on the dash (indication a safety problem) was caused because the tpms sensor on the rear wheel was removed (indication a flat tire). To solve this problem, I bought a 48 inch zip tie and a 4 inch zip tie. The 48 inch zip tie went abound the inside of the hub on one of the rear wheels; and the 4 inch tie was used to attach the tpms sensor to the 48 inch tie. This allowed the bike to see that the back tire wasn't flat, and the red light disappeared. I do get a low tire pressure light, but at least the red light is gone. The rear wheels on the trike have a larger hole for the valve stem and the proprietary Harley tpms sensor would not fit.

For the electric reverse gear I first thought I could install a slow start module to the reverse electric motor and mitigate the initial current surge which was pulling the battery voltage down and causing all of the trouble codes to be generated. To do this I had to know the current draw of the reverse motor. Upon measuring the current I fount that it pegged out my meter at 400 amps. This made the size of the slow start module prohibitively large. The standard Harley battery is 400 Cold Cranking Amps, so there was no way a stock Harley battery could drive the reverse electric motor without dropping the voltage. I purchased a 600 Cold Cranking Amp battery and this solved the problem.

I am amazed the Motor Trike could sell a kit with these problems. However, now that they are fixed, I am very satisficed with my purchase.

Welcome sir. Trust me, I have been down that road and all of that is posted on this site.

None of the conversion companies (to my knowledge) had an answer to the TPMS problem. So, one day, I was in my garage and the old back time was not too far from the bike.

When I cranked it, the light was out because the tire was near. So, I talked to my dealer and shared an idea - he liked it and said, let's bring the trike in just before you put it away for the winter - this way I have some time to work on it.

Long story short, he installed two Harley TMPS sensors inside the rim. He took the valve stem portion off because he said that was not needed - since we would use the current stems to put air in.

Next, he told my bike that it now had three wheels - and the system read all three. So, while my bike was originally a two-wheeler, it now shows three wheels. As a result, no red light and the tire pressure should as correct.

I have heard that someone is making a plug that will convert the Harley TPMS sensor size to the size of the hole in the rim. If you can finds that, it would be ideal.

If you get back to me, I can probably find that thread. Another guy here got me started on this and his is working too. Do a search here - cycle7447 and keyword - TPMS