My budget build

[skiprat]

ok so this is a bit late in the day, but thought someone might like to see it, or you probably seen it on other sites?

this is my build, Im not a pro, not even an expert, just enthusiastic, got about 5-6 bike trikes, and 8 or 9 custom bikes to my name and had my first trike on the road on my 18th birthday, they are just in my blood

all work by me, built in a garage under someone elses house, where Im not even supposed to have electric LOL, luckily the guy that lives above it thinks my angle grinder is cordless

Im a bit of a loner, sadly this area has no custom scene, hardly even a bike scene (power ranger plastic fantastics meet to compare knob sizes and how much they have filed off their sliders but thats it), I dont have any mates that build bikes or trikes, so at time I do majorly get fed up and just leave projects festering due to lack of enthusiasm.

this one is so far 10 months work, but thats just the odd couple of hours here and there, and it was untouched for a couple of months due to personal problems.

my builds are always on a budget, they have to be, as I have bugger all money to my name and have to rely on money from a previous project etc, so I very rarely get to keep anything for very long as I need to sell it to raise cash

so having built a full hardtail GSXR engined chop for the sum of £460, I sold it for £1100 and started on this build

I tend to buy what I can afford or find local, then make it work.

total spend thus far, and its almost ready for MOT is about £1200, however theres another £41 I just spent on 2 tyres that might go on here, if I can find the £300 for the two wheels, so it could end up at more like £1500, but I am confident I will get my money back when its sold

so, it all started with a dirt cheap engine from ebay

GTR1000 with pile of extra bits, carbs, rear end etc etc £31

this sat in the garage under a blanket until one day I saw a sierra back end for about £60, and hey presto the seed was sown.

how I have done things isnt always the right way, but its the only way I could think of, or was the only way I could do it with my tools etc

I knew from the start that due to a bolloxed back, the frame had to be stressed member, so I can lift the frame about, in the end this weighed nearly the same as the friggin motor LOL

so I started laying things out, chocking the engine and diff at different heights and distances etc.

I tried to use a bit of common sense with some things, I bent up the 2 top tubes, they were welded side by side and then I sat it in place and worked out headstock angle etc, this in turn told me the angle of cut I needed across the end of the tubes to fishmouth over the headstock

so I made the headstock a nice size to mate up to the ends of the 2 tubes, put the top tubes of the frame in a mill, and using a milling cutter the same dia as the headstock (lol you shuold have seen that coming), I cut the notch, obviously making sure the tube was vertical and mill bed flat etc etc

I then knew that the headstock was a good fit into the slot, it was straight in relation to the backbone and off I went on my merry way making smoke and sparks

a lot of this build was dictated by what I had, I decided to copy the wishbones and carriers from the haynes kit car, this is a proven design, and look good, but to get the rear track width I was after, I built the frame and rear suspension pickups, to suit the length of the arms etc

this is the tacked in place top tube and top engine mount

My budget build

the very first time it rolled out into daylight

My budget build

then got onto the seat rails and removable front frame section

My budget build

later decided that I really hated the way the seat frame ended, cut it all off and started again, this time a rounded back end

My budget build

My budget build

things like the exhaust, I used the front section from the bike, its stainless, follows the engine tightly and seemed stupid not to
I then designed a system, bought mandrel formed bends from OJZ engineering, welded it together for the link pipes
I found a cbr600 underseat exhaust on ebay, local to me, seller wouldnt post, 99p start no reserve, got it for 99p, cut it up and thats the rear silencer sorted

My budget build

this is the latest pics I have, but the oil cooler is now in place and looks great, front end is fully wired and the big 7" headlight all buttoned up.

My budget build

My budget build

My budget build

[Manky Monkey]

That looks great Skip. 10 months is a very impressive build time. Some nice tubework there. I love the goosenecked frame/headstock.
So whereabouts in the country are you?

[skiprat]

north Devon, right on the coast, can hear the waves while I sit typing

lovely place, but bugger all going on, no bike breakers, no custom shops

no pubs with loads of bikes outside etc

might see 2-3 chops a year round here, thats only when a couple of guys that live about 25 mile away are off on a club run

[Cabman77]

very good work geezer, wish I had your get up and go, mine got up and went a long time ago, but not before kicking me in the back and prostate. Keep it up and you might get a visit someday, Manky`s tend to wander sometimes

[spanners]

MANKY,S WANDER,,,  its some sort of illness  i know cozz i,ve got it 

[ByzMax]

Nice to see you are making progress with it.


North Devon sounds like Slough but with a good view  


Keep us posted  

[skiprat]

Cheers guys. Moved from southend and as much as i love devon i do seriously wish i could just up and move somewhere that i could get some mates and theres a bike scene.

Today i bit the bullet. I always envisaged the finished trike with fat rear tyres.

I sold some stuff and ordered a pair of custom made 15" rimd
has tipped the budget to about 1600 quid. But they will be worth it.

Hoping that when i sell it i will get something like £2500+

[hornet6]

Looks amazing mate considering your on a budget.

[Cabman77]

you moved from southend!!!!! when? did you have any connection with the Sevens over there???

[skiprat]

Yeah knew a few 7's my 18th birthday present was a trike built by tom touhy.
My regular watering hole was the liberty belle.
Mostly hung about with trikers. Used to go to the fortune of war. Tony ryder. Toni jopson are the only names that spring to mind.

[Cabman77]

I`m Secretary of the Sevens. Tom 2E is still around riding that bloody great monster of his, Toni must be Spanish Toni and we don`t have much to do with her. Clubs still going strong too.

[skiprat]

Hi toni was with the shoshoni's shes one of them been everywhere done everything people. Was into all that spiritual s**t. She was running a fild do rally in hullbridhe each year.
Animal was i believe a 7 he was living down here recently working as mot tester.

[Cabman77]

yep, that`s Toni lol

[RODeo]

who /what/is the 'shoshoni' ??

[skiprat]

shoshoni was an all female trike club, with links to the shoshoni indians.

I grew up surrounded by the "essex trikes" long car engined, tractor seats( as Toni could get them out of the tractor plant at daganem LOL) long linkages from the forks back to a set of handlebars

however as I was more bike orientated I preferred the bike based builds, was a bit frowned upon by some of them because of this, I didnt care, they were all old gits as far as I was concerned at the time LOL

many good times were had on the seafront of southend, and surrounding areas, will get up there on the trike some time soon, be nice to have a roll around the old stomping grounds again, but on a trike.