Non Reliant axled trikes

[kapri]

I'm often exploring the wonderful world of trikes on the 'net but one thing I've noticed on the Brit scene is most seen to go for car based conversions be that Reliant axe , VW based or the back end of something with a set of forks stuck onto the front.

I remember back when I was in the Southern Roadsters we had a member ( Bill Burrows ) who had a old Brit engined trike which was chain driven to a modified A35 axle . I've seen some nice Yank trikes using chain drive to fabricated axles using old bike wires

Has much been done along those lines in this country , just I haven't spotted any pics yet ?

[Manky Monkey]

I've seen a few using converted Morris Minor axles, (got a photo somewhere of a lovely little Triumph twin single seater from many years ago). Usually done by simply cutting a slot in the diff casing & welding/bolting a bike sprocket to the end of the drive shaft. Trouble is that requires running the axle dry, or in heavy grease, or fabricating some sort of rubber shroud around the opening to contain the oil.
Chris Ireland, (Desperate Dan), popularised using the bevel drive from a Yamaha XS750, 850 or 1100 as an intermediate box to swap from chain drive to shaft drive -the bevel box bolts to the side of the Yam' engine as a self contained unit & turns the drive from the motor through 90 degrees. It has a drive shaft from the engine, that a sprocket can be attached to, on one end & a prop shaft flange on the other. Getting hard to find now though.
The gearing of Reliant axles makes them pretty good for most mid sized bike engines, but I think we have to take some of the blame for making them scarce too!

[Olds]

The early Reliant axle is, or rather was very popular with chain drive trikes due to its construction, making it easy to add a sprocket. There are so many cheap shaft drive bikes around these days, that it's easier to use one of these instead of modifying an axle.