Need Trike Conversion Tips

[HDUSA1]

Just got my Roadsmith trike conversion kit for our 2020 Ultra Limited and really excited about installing it.

Unfortunately it will have to wait a month as our son is getting married at the end of August and I’m doing a major remodeling project on our old farmhouse trying to get it ready for them to live in.

In the meantime, I’ve been poring over the directions and ordering parts to have everything ready to go.

Looking for tips when I start to do the conversion, primarily with a lift table to work on it as Id like to get it up off the ground.

I don’t have access to a trike lift and not really wanting to buy one right now. I have an old Harbor Freight bike lift that I mounted a Condor Pit Stop wheel chock on. It’s all it wants to pick up the bike and there’s no way it could pick up the extra weight of the trike if I modified it.

Trying to figure out some way to make the table work though. I have a large forklift I thought about straddling the forks on either side of the table under the rear tires. Or I have a zero turn mower lift that has adjustable width wheel saddles that I might put under the rear tires. Or I could cut some variable length 2x12 wood blocks with a 45 degree bevel on the ends to build a platform under the rear wheels.

Any of you installed a trike conversion kit without a trike lift?

 

[Papa Zook]

If you don't have a proper lift, you can convert your bike right on your garage floor. It's not ideal, but I think it may be a bit safer than what you're describing and it's very doable. I think I have some old pictures of building one on the floor I can send you. It was from the time we had just moved from Alabama to Texas and didn't have all of our lifts and shop equipment moved yet and had a trike to build. I'll look for the pics shortly and let you know.

 

[HDUSA1]

If you don't have a proper lift, you can convert your bike right on your garage floor. It's not ideal, but it's safer than what you're describing and it's very doable. I think I have some old pictures of building one on the floor I can send you. It was from the time we had just moved from Alabama to Texas and didn't have our shop equipment moved and had a trike to build. I'll look for the pics shortly and let you know.

Thank you Papa Zook!

If it can be done on the floor, that’s the way it will be built. I’m assuming I’ll stand it up with the Condor and jack it up under the swing arm pivot?

While I’ve got the Primary apart, I ordered a complete Baker Compensator kit to replace the failure prone HD part. Any other parts you would recommend replacing while I’m in there?

 

[trike lady]

It's going to be a nice looking trike when finished, love the color combo.

 

[HDUSA1]

It's going to be a nice looking trike when finished, love the color combo.

Thank you. I’m very colorblind, but with the black contrast, the scorched orange is a color that I can actually see. We bought the bike used a couple years ago and had been looking at several, but couldn’t get very excited as they all looked the same to me. This one stood out immediately and we jumped in the truck with the trailer and drove 5 hours to Suburban Motors in Wisconsin to go get it.

It looks stock, but last winter I put a Woods cam & lifters in, Fuelmoto 2-1-2 catless header pipe/Jackpot mufflers/open air cleaner (behind gutted factory cover), Dynojet tuner, SE aluminum intake, Rekluse clutch pull, 2+2 narrow handlebars, etc. It has plenty of power now, runs cooler, and has a REALLY nice choppy idle while not being annoyingly loud.

With the conversion, putting in a Baker compensator and have an Avon front trike tire coming next week that’s been on order from Summit Racing for 3 months now. Also will be ordering a BB-01 Bullet Brake for the Emergency brake when parked.

 

[Notgrownup]

You will like the Baker, I finally put one in my 07 Flhtc when I swapped my engine. The Baker Comp is solid.

 

[Gorilla]

You should have no problems building it on the floor. My first trike was a Champion conversion that I but on my "07" Police Road King. I didn't use a lift. Just take your time and follow the instructions. If you run into a issue post it we will try and help. Enjoy the build you will appreciate it when you are done and can say I did that.

 

[ROAD DOG]

Going to be a Great looking trike. I have done dozens of them on the floor. get a good motorcycle lift under the frame no problem . Get a good torque wrench & lock tight.

 

[Papa Zook]

This build was on an older model bike, it was built in 2016, but it is a Harley Ultra and a Roadsmith conversion, pretty much unchanged untill now, so the design of each is very similar and it's a floor build, so maybe this will give you an idea of the process and how it goes together.

 

[Papa Zook]

 

[Burnerboy]

Going to be a Great looking trike. I have done dozens of them on the floor. get a good motorcycle lift under the frame no problem . Get a good torque wrench & lock tight.

R/Dog, I would love to see one of your builds I live in Springfield Mass.

Ronnie
7/29/24

 

[ROAD DOG]

I don't have them, they were all customer builds.

 

[ROAD DOG]

Over the last few weeks I made my Roadmaster gas tank from a 5.5-gallon tank to a 7 gallon, now I can get 250 + miles. It was a big job I bought two damage tanks on Ebay cut them in 3 welded them together on the paint rack it looked huge on the trike most people would never know, I will post pictures.

 

[HDUSA1]

Thanks for posting the pics Papa Zook, they are very helpful!!! Have several other things going on right now, but I’m really excited to get started on it here in a few weeks.

 

[Papa Zook]

There are a few pics that I want to add, that show the Roadsmith rear subframe assembly in place if I can find them. I have thousands of pictures, stored to various devices and cloud drives.

 

[Papa Zook]

Over the last few weeks I made my Roadmaster gas tank from a 5.5-gallon tank to a 7 gallon, now I can get 250 + miles. It was a big job I bought two damage tanks on Ebay cut them in 3 welded them together on the paint rack it looked huge on the trike most people would never know, I will post pictures.

That's an ambitious job Dan. Got any pictures of that?

 

[ROAD DOG]

That's an ambitious job. Got any pictures of that?

I cant, old & stupid, I will have the kid do it next time he's around.

 

[cycle7447]

This is going to be a beautiful trike.

My hats off to you - not something that I would try to tackle.

 

[Gorilla]

https://triketalk.com/media/albums/my-creation.25/

Here's a link to my build pics, I have it on the rake but didn't need to use it. Built in 2009 2007 Police Road King with a Champion kit added.