Tazet's Trike project :)

[Manky Monkey]

I don't like taking other people's rides for a spin -been offered plenty of times but always decline the offer cos I'm scared of stuffing them into a tree or something. Taz will have a go on anything though, (!), & in the year or so we've been together has jumped behind the wheel of all sorts of vehicles. I really hope she enjoys the trike, (lots of horse related injuries mean she gets joint pain from time to time), & I'm looking forward to being able to hit the open road together. No she probably won't let me ride it VB!
Meadowhall -that's the huge shopping centre near Sheffield isn't it? Been there a couple of times.
Anyone else within cuppa drinking distance of there?
If you're happy to share your building secrets with us Mick, you could send us the info on a disc & we'll post it in the Motors, 3 wheels, trike tech section of the main site. We could do with more techy stuff. No reason why you can't post it on the forum as well of course, as not everyone reads both bits of the site.

[tazet]

Of course Manky will get to ride it. He'll be taking it on it's first test run. I'm not doing it. It's better he does it as he knows trikes and I'll probably crash it on it's first outing.
I'll probably be the one driving the pop towing my trike while Manky rides his one.

[VALLEYSBOY]

Thanks folks , i could start a girder thread? and put up my sketches and tools used etc.
im in rotherham not far from meadowhall j34 M1

Personally Mick I for one am more than happy to pay for you to make them as from what ive seen you aint gonna get better value for money imo.

[flc]

Thanks vb ive had an hour in me shed, done spacing for wheel, these are looking proper chunky

Tazet's Trike project :)

Tazet's Trike project :)

also sat a mudgard on

Tazet's Trike project :)

Tazet's Trike project :)

[Manky Monkey]

Damn, them's big! Will a single shock handle the leverage on either side of it O.K Mick? Twin shocks would've looked good but, as you said, would be far too stiff, especially sat at 45 degrees. We get barely an inch of travel on our tele forks at that angle.
Looking very, very nice.  

[flc]

Yes they will be fine, the yokes are 5" wide and the rest of the distance is taken up using spacers outboard of the links(does that make sense), once the spacers are turned up that go next to the shock it wont look as weedy, i also tried a std Z1000 headlight for a look(no pics as i cant hold and take pic ) fills the area nicely ill try to get a pic on monday.

[BikerGran]

I think it would be great if you started a thread about girders - not just about how you make them but the whys and wherefores and the handling etc.

I think they're so sexy, I'm drooling here, I can see my new trike having to have another rebuild when I've got some cash from the sale of Gertie!

[madron]

only 20 mins from meadowhall and kettles always on

[tazet]

PM us your address Madron and your number for when we get lost 

Also FLC can you PM us your address too please.

[flc]

a bit more done just waiting on left side bearing to finish

Tazet's Trike project :)

Tazet's Trike project :)

Tazet's Trike project :)

[tazet]

  Cool. Looks great. Manky tells me that you have been using your wife's shocker off her bike. We will return it safe and sound, (probably hand delivered). 

[Manky Monkey]

I picked up a Metro handbrake lever for Taz's trike from the NSRA swapmeet last weekend. Gradually pulling together all the parts we need. Next job is to find discs & calipers for the back axle & another pair of the spacers I've fitted on my own trike, (to space the wheel away from the brakes for extra clearance). Then we can narrow the axle & we're ready to start mucking up, mocking up the frame.

[dracken1]

that last pic above is how you want the links orientated at 45 degrees .
you cannot compare teles to girders. yes at 45 degrees teles do very little. a girder can do a lot more depending on the spring rate.

i was getting a little concerned as i was scrolling down through the pics as there was no sign of a brace between the front a rear tube. and was poised to mention it. when wallah, it appeared

[tazet]

We had a very good 24 hour road trip this weekend and only just got back. We went up to Rotherham last night & stopped over in a Premier Inn, just to get that journey out the way so we had all today just to visit and travel back. First stop today was to see Mick, (aka FLC and a very nice chap he is too), to have a natter, a coffee and pick up my forks, (pictures to follow shortly). We also came to the conclusion that the small Bates headlight we already had was a bit pathetic between the girders, but FLC had a bigger one on the shelf and it looked much better. So we did a swap as he needed to replace the one on his chop and the small one was perfect for that. FLC, thank you very much -we are very, very pleased with the forks. Next stop was to drive a little further up to Doncaster to see Ron, (aka Madron) and his lovely wife, who kept me filled with coffee  . Well where do I start with Ron. He's a very nice chappy and oh my god what a lot of stuff he has. Every nook and cranny of the garden and sheds were filled with everything to do with bikes, cars, and trikes. I've never seen so many fiberglass mudguards before. Fantastic place to get lost in  . Anyway we ended up leaving his place with 2 fiberglass seat bases, (one for me and the other for Dave-postie), a small bike radiator fan for my trike and a fiberglass mudguard for Dave-postie.
It took forever to get back as the M1 was c**p and we took a slight detour to go to Dave and Janie's to drop Dave's bits off and have more coffee.
Thanks all very much and it was great meeting  FLC, Ron and his Mrs. Right a little catching up on here then I'm off to sleep.

[Manky Monkey]

Yup, a productive weekend.
Always good to put a face to a forum name. We've been very lucky so far that everyone we've met up with from the site's turned out to be a top chap & FLC & Madron were no exception. Mick, (FLC), & I have been chatting about Taz's girders on the phone for a couple of weeks, but it was nice to finally shake his hand. That's a great shed you've got there Mick -even with it's wonky wooden floor. I won't say what he charged us for the forks, but it was a lot less than we were expecting & definitely not enough to cover the amount or time & effort he put into them. As Taz said, we're very, very pleased with them. Ska Man & I made a trike frame for Critch a year or so ago, but decided the effort & stress involved just weren't worth it for the price we felt we could charge. Mick's the same. I'm sure he'd make more if the price was right, but he definitely won't be flooding the market with them. Which is good for us cos we'd hate to get Taz's on the road & find every other trike's running FLC forks!
We took a 5 1/2 Bates headlight shell with us to try in place against the forks. Far too small. It looked lost & out of proportion among the linkages of the girders. So we've swapped it with an old Suzuki one that Mick had in his spares stash. Eventually both the girders & the light shell will be powder-coated, probably both gloss grey. High or low light? I reckon low, centrally in the square formed by the girder legs & top & bottom yokes. The shock's an old SR125 unit, nicked from his wife's bike, (we've got to return it when we've bought a new replacement). No idea how that's going to perform but it's a starting point. I'm dreading taking the forks apart to powder-coat them & trying to reassemble them afterwards!