Has anyone ever thought of making a aftermarket company that specialized in ATC's?

[3Wheelers4Life]

just as the title says: has anyone ever thought of making a aftermarket company that specialized in 3 wheeler parts. i know that basically none of us on the boards could do it because $$$ is the problem. But wouldn't it be cool if there were one that only made 3 wheeler parts? share you thoughts/dreams here.

[rally4x4racer]

too many trikers are broke - and not enough demand to warrant supply.

It would be a bad investment. In fact - as much as I love trikes and other vintage rides, most of them are bad investments. (less than 10% capital gain per year)

[RedRider_AK]

Yeah I agree with rally. There's just not enough money out there to warrant setting up all the jigs, machinery and stuff that you would use to produce your products. If you build pipes, you'll build, what, maybe 500 a year? Very probably half that amount or less?

[3Wheelers4Life]

Yeah I agree with rally. There's just not enough money out there to warrant setting up all the jigs, machinery and stuff that you would use to produce your products. If you build pipes, you'll build, what, maybe 500 a year? Very probably half that amount or less?
yea, i know that, i just thought it would be cool if there was a company
. thats also something im afraid of, when trikes start to get very rare aftermarket companies may stop making needed parts such as gaskets, pistons, bearings, and then were screwed.:( but there always ways to get around it.

[RedRider_AK]

I suppose if you wanted to, you could put some money into buying gasket kits, pipes, etc and then figuring out ways to replicate them at home. Then you could offer your homebuilt gasket kits at a cheaper price, and I think people on 3ww would be more likely to buy them if they were equal quality, and the money stayed inside the triking community. You can home-make sectional pipes, people are always wanting to make more power on their trikes. Keep some good quality DG or stock pipes laying around for reference and build off of that.

Personally, I think CONVERSION parts are where it's at right now and in the future. If you can make kits that make it possible to, oh I don't know, use a Banshee axle on your Tri-Z, or a set of TTR-250 forks, or SOMETHING, that's probably well worth the time and effort it will take to research and make the small changes. You can buy Banshee stuff dirt cheap, as with most quad parts. Machine out the stuff that's in the way until it fits in a Tri-Z carrier and walaa you've got an almost endless source for axles. And so on and so forth!

[BigReds Forever]

Heck yes Ive thought about it. Money is one issue. Viability is the other. You'd probably have to make some other quad parts or do some custom work or something to make it worthwhile.

[3Wheelers4Life]

I suppose if you wanted to, you could put some money into buying gasket kits, pipes, etc and then figuring out ways to replicate them at home. Then you could offer your homebuilt gasket kits at a cheaper price, and I think people on 3ww would be more likely to buy them if they were equal quality, and the money stayed inside the triking community. You can home-make sectional pipes, people are always wanting to make more power on their trikes. Keep some good quality DG or stock pipes laying around for reference and build off of that.

Personally, I think CONVERSION parts are where it's at right now and in the future. If you can make kits that make it possible to, oh I don't know, use a Banshee axle on your Tri-Z, or a set of TTR-250 forks, or SOMETHING, that's probably well worth the time and effort it will take to research and make the small changes. You can buy Banshee stuff dirt cheap, as with most quad parts. Machine out the stuff that's in the way until it fits in a Tri-Z carrier and walaa you've got an almost endless source for axles. And so on and so forth!

yea i hear ya, conversion parts would be the way to go. if someone could do it that would be cool. but time and money would be the problems.

[RedRider_AK]

John, that is one hella sick KXT60! I remember having that as my computer background at school 3 or so years ago, I totally forgot about it!

Imagine getting the old blueprints from Tricky Dick, with all the instruction on how to build the conversion kit! :eek:

[Aka_am]

conversion parts are where it's at! Why use 20 year old tech when you can get something newer that works?

We need to find out more things swap onto our trikes, to keep them up to date, I.E. 450r swingarm on 250r's that a great swap, and easy to do.

What we really need is a DIY section, or how-to section..so when someone is looking for something like that, they can go there..I'd write a few

[SWIGIN]

hreatv.com

[NINJA]

I've been tossing around the idea of making removable aluminum subframes for the liquid Rs for about 2 months now. It would be an easy jig to build and I have access to the proper aluminum for them. I know I couldn't make much money off of them, but I'd be providing the trike community with a nice service.

[oldskool83]

it would be a waist of time to try and make parts and everything.

as swigin said hreatv.com he is getting more and more trike orders for parts...heck just look at me.

someone said about gasket kits...ebay is littered with them already, i see no reason to have a company that make only trike parts when now days you can retro fit anything you want with a little bit of money. all in all i think its worth while to build a trike with new parts rather then waist money on 25 year old parts.