Brant's Virago trike

[dobber]

got the same mudguards and just been looking at the same marker lights on ebay.  like the bracket from the center of the axle, mind if i copy, save me welding the clamps to stop it spinning.
 looks good all round. nice one

[zakboy]

very well done Brant sits very nice with some nice touches, think the virago makes a great trike, just go out and put some miles on it and enjoy  

Thanks Zak.

I agree on the Virago.  Very stable platform, seems to have acceptable fork trail angle so no shakes and good straight line steering (though a little heavy on the bends perhaps?), rock solid motor.

Don't know when, depends on this, that and the weather, but I shall be triking out to Burton-on-trent eventually and when I do I'll try to get out your way so's you can try it out.  Be pleased to have your opinion.

yes Brant when ever your down at your boat you are more than welcome to pop in, would love to see the trike in the flesh,all the best Zak

[Brant]

got the same mudguards and just been looking at the same marker lights on ebay.  like the bracket from the center of the axle, mind if i copy, save me welding the clamps to stop it spinning.
 looks good all round. nice one

Hi Dobber.   
Help yourself to the bracket scheme and anything else you see.  Reckon I saw it somewhere else anyway so can't claim it's my original.

Mudguards!  Gave me more more pain than enough.  Mudguard and bracketry both vibrated too much on first attempt (so much it loosened one of the fixing bolts).  Eventually, increased fibreglass thickness and stiffer brackets sorted it and now just tickety-boo.  On this project I so often ended up doing jobs twice and not sure whether it's down to lack of experience or just plain dim.

[nabsim]

Yes it looks very well Brant. Just amazed how quickly some of you can put a trike together. Time for some fun now

[Brant]

Yes it looks very well Brant. Just amazed how quickly some of you can put a trike together. Time for some fun now

Thanks nab.
Don't know if 5 months is quick for a bolt on (Ok I did take a month or so off for other things) but it's those guys who build 'em from the ground up who impress me.   Wish I had the equipment to have a go myself.

[nabsim]

I didn't realise it was 5 months, I thought you had done it over the last week or so the pics have been going up, thought Zac had competition

In 5 months I would most likely change my mind 3 times and still hardly have moved forward from where I started so its still pretty impressive to me

[steven brock]

Cont.

Wheels and gearing.

Checked out gearing and figured 195/65 x 15 tyres with the ‘B’ axle ratio would give original Virago gearing/ speeds +6% so run with that.  

Not happy to slap wheels with 100mm PCD on hubs with 4” PCD studs, tighten up nuts and blast off (concentricity and bending/ overstressed stud issues).  I know it works for most people but ........................  

Anyway, I machined a spigot on each axle hub and wheel adaptors were made with matching recess, the adaptors having O.D. to suit the wheel bore.  The adaptors are fixed to the hub with the half shaft nuts (replacing the nut plain washers).

I chose wheels for 12mm studs and tapered seats but retained 3/8” studs in the hubs (just longer to suit wheel extra thickness) then assembled using, in order, 12mm cone washers, 3/8” plain washers, Schnorre washers and finally 3/8” stud nuts fitted in reverse so the nut flat face abuts the Schnorre washer.  This arrangement gives sufficient clearance to allow the cone washers to be tightened without studs touching hole sides thus no stud bending and wheel concentricity is maintained

ok i got a pic to show you... that yes the pcd is technically wrong but as you can see the holes are bigger in the disc than the studs im using so it works hope that makes sense also the cente of the hub is turned to match the disc so it all centers ,..s

[Brant]

Hi Steve.

Agreed, your setup will run concentric (hub to disc and disc to wheel).

But, and this is the point, if the wheel nuts are tapered seat type (or close fitting sleeved type) and the wheel holes PCD is not same as the studs PCD then, as the nuts are tightened they must inevitably distort something in order to clamp up and that something will be under stress possibly beyond its’ designed limit and may fail.  Typically the studs are the weak link.

Morrag’s solution is to re-drill the wheels on 4” PCD to suit the Reliant axle.  I don’t have the facility to accurately re-drill wheels so took a more roundabout route.

Some guys just bolt up and never have a problem.  On the other hand, studs have been known to fail without warning.  How confident are you about the safety of your setup?  Your decision Steve.

[steven brock]

my wheels are 4 inch pcd and the hubs are too, so that only leaves the clearance on the disc... so by upping the size of the stud this holds it well. soooooooooo
are you trying to put different pcd wheels on the hubs?...ummmm i put so much time into this my trike gonna be worth sqwillions....lol

[Brant]

my wheels are 4 inch pcd and the hubs are too, so that only leaves the clearance on the disc... so by upping the size of the stud this holds it well. soooooooooo
are you trying to put different pcd wheels on the hubs?...ummmm i put so much time into this my trike gonna be worth sqwillions....lol

Hi Steve.
Your 4" PCD throughout is fine.  I fitted 100mm wheels on 4" studs hence the (my) problem.

Incidentally, nicely trianulated hardtail you're building over there.  Looking good.

[Brant]

Pete and I were pointing out that the bottom mounting on the shock itself will be having adverse stress put on it in the wrong direction. Bear in mind the bottom mounting on any shock absorber is only spot welded onto the base of the shock, which is fine if only stressed in a straight line through the shock (in compression). The way you have yours mounted is fine for an IRS set up but a bit risky on a solid axle fitting because the stresses through the bottom mounting will be at an angle to the shock absorber with the inherent risk of the spot weld breaking (side stress). I have seen this happen on an old XS650 and that was because of knackered swingarm bushes, with only a small amount of sideplay at the bottom mount. You may be right though just thought I`d let you know what we were getting at.

Hi Cabman (and Pete).
Promised to check out the stress in my shocker eye ends and post the results.
With my set-up I reckon 4" rear axle vertical travel gives 5 deg. max. axial deflection ("wrong direction") of the top and bottom bushes.

I removed a shocker and measured the amount of bush deflection it would accept under light hand pressure and it was 13 deg. so I'm happy to go with it (with bottom bush clamped up I was easily able to move the the top of the shocker 35mm each side the centre line of the top mounting).

Many thanks for prompting me to check it out.