live axle on the street?

[mario medeiros]

looking to use a honda 250r trike rear end grafted to a motorcycle frame to be used on the street any ideas or advice on how this rear end will corner? say at low or even highway speeds.I will be making up new wheel flanges to run say 15inch car rims and i was thinking of making the rear end as wide as i can thinking this will help with cornering.Thanks

[tanks350x]

I don't know what the laws are in your area but It has been done. Here are a couple of pics from 2 different wheelers that are street legal in my state

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll124/tankispmaximus/IMG000531.jpg
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll124/tankispmaximus/c71a5d41.jpg
:naughty:

[mario medeiros]

As far as laws i will be using the motorcycle title what i am asking is if anyone has any thoughts on how a live axle will be like on the street.Thanks

[birddogg]

It will steer about as well (or poorly) as you think it would. The 15in car rims may be a bad idea as you're going to want to keep this thing slung low to aid in the corners.

[Blown 331]

I honestly think you are on the wrong site. An off-road 3-wheeler and a street trike (converted Harley, Goldwings etc) are hardly the same other than number of wheels.

[mario medeiros]

Reson for looking for coments on this idea i have is i saw a triumph 650 that had a honda 250 r rearend on it and the thing looks fantastic so i what to build the same but i have never riden a trike on dirt or street and wanted to see if anyone here has any idea on how a live axle will corner on pavment this trike will be as low as i can get it to sit and with wide car tires on the back to make it more stable?.Thanks

[mario medeiros]

anyone know of a limited slip trike rear end that is chain drive?

[Tri-Z Pilot]

anyone know of a limited slip trike rear end that is chain drive?

Yeah, your better off asking those questions on a site thats about converting Harleys and cruisers to trikes for street use. They would have they answers about the differential setup. The only way I ever known of a diff. being driven is by a shaft, although lawn tractors mostly use a belt driven diff. The Harley trike conversions are probably what you should base yours on, as the Honda Goldwings and most other cruisers are shaft driven that I know of, while the Harley should be chain or belt based.

[mario medeiros]

so the answer to (are there any atv's that have a limited slip rearend )is no? the reson i want to use a trike rearend is they are cheap and very clean looking.

[Jason Hall]

The live rear axle will make the front end want to go straight. I would build a hub on one side (probly the left) that has a bearing so the axle Is not live. This would make It turn Great, but would turn you sidways If you accelerate hard.

[Tri-Z Pilot]

yes there are atv's with diff's but they are all shaft driven (to my knowledge). even with an atv diff though, it will probably be a locked setup as most atv's dont run a limited slip setup (newer models might).

jason had a good idea. you just take your regular locked axle setup, (like te 250R one), and you machine the hub somehow to just float on the axle with a bearing setup so it just freewheels. this will allow that wheel to turn faster or slower giving you a better turning radius. as jason stated though, if you jack the thottle the bike is gonna take off in the direction of which ever side your [float] wheel is on. that is due to the fact your locked wheel has the traction and torque, and the float wheel will slow down immensely (or even reverse rotate), and the bike will pivot on the axis that is created in that condition.

[The Goat]

seems like it would handle really well when wet if you were daring

[Yamada]

I don't think a live axle would be a problem on the street. Even in supermoto race the quad use live axle with no problem. You have to admit on a trike the wheel inside the turn will lift at high speed. Do a video of yourself riding your trike and you will see that you are on 2 wheels more than you think.

[mario medeiros]

would skinny motorcycle tires be better than wide car tires for going around corners i can not see a problem going straight or stopping just have a consern going around a corner?Buy the way i do like the idea of having 1 rim on its own bearing.

[Blown 331]

But say you have the left wheel mounted on a bearing when you turn to the right, the right tires is going to get light and do an insane burn out since there is no power to the wheel getting the traction.

[cr480r]

it swould be sweet to have a selectable hub so you could lock the rear when the pavement was wet or when offroad... small tires with a lot of air pressure will turn much better than tall automotive tires ..

[Tri-Z Pilot]

it swould be sweet to have a selectable hub so you could lock the rear when the pavement was wet or when offroad... small tires with a lot of air pressure will turn much better than tall automotive tires ..

Yeah, kind of like a 4x4 lockout hub, great idea!

[cajun66]

I've owned a car street car with a spool and ridden a Lehman Harley Trike.

The car was fine unless I was on wet roads, in-town driving, or if one tire was low on air.

The Lehman trike just sucked all around. No counter steer, poor mileage compared to my 2 wheeler, and handled like a fat pig in all sorts of driving.

Sorry. I don't have any useful information.

I'll leave the street for my motorcycle and the dirt for my trike.

[cr480r]

The car was fine unless I was on wet roads, in-town driving, or if one tire was low on air .

The car i had with a spool was the opposite.. on dry pavement the inside tire would "hop" when turning corners, and on wet pavement it was much smoother and less noticable... but applying any amount of power in the rain sent her completely sideways... lol

[cajun66]

I had a 62 Falcon with a mini-spool that was pure madness driving to work in the rain. My street tires were pretty hard so I didn't have a hop. I like to drive my cars and I don't drag anymore so I only go with limited slip. Now THAT would be cool on my 3wheelers.

[oscarmayer]

thew bikes i've seen convered are usually drag bikes so theyc an get more tire and better traction. the bike in the photo is a sand dragster. pretty common actually on the costal areas and deserts.

[Tri-Z Pilot]

Just converting to two wheels doesnt necessarily mean more traction, just look at top fuel dragster bikes, they have no problem hooking up.

I didnt see any pic of a sand dragger, the 350x lookin conversion is just a show piece more than anything, and the xr650 is just a poorly done road conversion.