Tr1ke build in Suffolk by complete newbie

[r1ckbuilder]

Hi all,

It's about time I started a build thread.  Mainly because I'm sure on this journey I will need your collective help.  Well, actually I know I will as I have already progressed a bit and had a fair share of head scratching moments.  This forum has been an inspiration and was a huge influence on my decision to purchase a Tr1ke kit.  Necessity is truly the mother of invention and if I can achieve a small amount of what some of you have, I will be a happy man.

The journey so far - I bought the Lotus look Tr1ke from RTR that had been used at a couple of shows.  I like the gold and black, which is probably connected to a misspent youth and too may JPS or BandH if you know what I mean.  Anyway bought it back in May and then about three weeks later got put on notice of redundancy at work.  This put quite a few things on hold for about three months but we're through that now so enough said.  When the ground beneath my feet felt a bit secure again I decided to buy a bike.  I need a 04-06 model for the frame so took the plunge with a R1 registered in July 2004.  Beautiful bike, got it for a song, one owner, 14k on the clock etc etc.  Too good to be true I thought...  and I was right.  It was actually a 2003 model and not the 5VY model I needed.  Luckily, with the help of RTR I found this out before I took the spanners to it.  Sold that to a dealer and made a couple of hundred quid so apart from the delay and a bit of embarrassment, no harm done.  I became a R1 expert fairly quickly and my next purchase was definitely a 5VY (hope the picture works).  This is stripped now and the engine in the back of the Tr1ke.  You wouldn't believe the relief felt as I tightened the bolts that fitted perfectly through the engine and into the frame.

[edwinwl]

Great!
I am looking forward to your build.
Edwin

[wonderbadger]

Where abouts in Suffolk are you? I'm to the north west of Norwich and just starting on the R1 strip down although no kit yet. Would be good to have another builder relatively locally.

Andy

[r1ckbuilder]

Hi Andy,

I'm in IP17 about 7 miles from Aldeburgh and my job means I come up to Dereham and Fakenham on occasion.  Would be good to hook up.

I found stripping down the R1 a great experience as being a newbie to engines and bikes and stuff, I got to know how it was put together and I'm hoping that will help later on.  They're a proper bit of engineering, the old owner saw the Tr1ke frame when the bike was delivered but didn't really want to know what was going to happen!  No surprise there and it was a bit of a shame taking it apart, but it's for the greater good.

All stripped, electrics, pipes labelled and in it's new home.  Sweet,

[r1ckbuilder]

Morning all,

I need a bit of advice about a decision I need to make as I don't want it to be just a costly regret -

' To fit a Kliktronic or manual gear shifter? '

If I went the Kliktronic route I would fit the ignition interrupt module as well and was very interested in your thoughts about both methods of gear shifting and their respective pros and cons.

Thanks,

[paulh]

I have the kliktronic with paddle shift and ignition interupt on mine and I think it was about the best investment I made. However, if you fit one its easy to lose track of what gear you are in, so you need to factor in a gear indicator aswell.Standard paddle shift setup fixes to the back of the steering wheel so took a bit of work to modify it to fix to steering column as I didn`t want wires wrapping around the column when turning. Other than that, I cant fault the setup.

[edwinwl]

From a breakers yard I got Ford Focus gear handle + push-pull cables. This one I modified to fit the tR1ke, re-using parts of the bike gear system.

My arguments: financials and I want a simple & clean look for my tR1ke.

At the time i was not convinced by the wobby flipper system of the demo tR1ke.
I am charmed by a flatshifter. But such a system is around 500 euro's.....

[erik]

If I do this again I'd go for klicktronic, but I might opt for switches in the steering wheel or electronic switches on a gear shifter or stalk for simplicity.

[r1ckbuilder]

Cheers guys, really appreciate your advice. As it's probably going to be the only performance motor I will get the chance to drive with flappy paddles.  Kliktronic it is.

Paul, I would really like to know your solution to the wiring as this had not occurred to me and any other tips you may have on the installation. 

[paulh]

I stripped all the Ford ignition switch and column cowl away, then cut some plywood rings to fit round the outer column which are fixed in place with gripfill. The top ring was set so the flappy paddle fixes to it and also a new column cover made from a piece of 2.5 inch rainwater pipe split in two. After several attempts at making an aftermarket indicater stalk fit I gave up and went for the bike controls mounted on sections of moped handlebars which I cut and welded to the ford column. This all took quite a bit of fiddling around to get a good position for paddles and switch controls but I thik it saved on some of the wiring by using bike controls including the ignition switch which is mounted in the dash.All wiring just about fits thriugh the handlebars and new column surround. I think there are some pictures in my build thread, the quickest way to find them is through the dropbox link in "show us tour tr1kes" thread.If you need any more details or pictures give me a shout and I will take some more detailed shots

[paulh]

this is a link to a close up showing the plywood rings and handlebars all fixed in place. Had to cut a section out of the bottom plywood ring to fit it round the column but its only there to hold the new pvc pipe surround in place.
www.dropbox.com/s/00ochtilfpztleh/P1015043.JPG

[erik]

www.nlpower.nl/sparco-p104-limite-sportstuur.html

I think this is a lot cheaper and worth reconsidering.

br,
Erik

[r1ckbuilder]

Thanks guys, really helpful.

Love the idea of the shift buttons in the steering wheel but that may present an issue with electrical signals through the wheel boss.  There are some already on the Ford steering wheel that came with the kit for the airbag but I don't know if they can be used or if it's best to try and track down an aftermarket boss with rotational electrical connections.  The flappy paddles look the part as well.  probably one of those things I'll mull over and then the decision will be made by the budget.

[r1ckbuilder]

Hi,

So, as I said I bought RTR's display model that meant I had the kit before the donor bike. This was fine as it gave me some time to make plans, put the floor on and tinker with the front end.  Had some issues with the top hat bushings that seemed to have varying inner diameters.  This allowed the ball joint threads to come through too far and fowl the steering arms.  These were changed by RTR and the picture below shows that possibly there is not enough thread now for the locknuts to bite into but I'm sure a bit of locktite will do the trick. 

Also had an issue with one of the stub axels not accepting the wheel hub bearing fully.  Nothing that a makeshift lathe with an electric drill and a file couldn't sort out though.  This was only evident when I came to line up the brake calipers with the disks.  The front mudguard supports sit slightly differently with the RD uprights and the extra front wheel width with the Minilite wheels and don't have the same 'wrap around' look as the originals.

Sikaflex is indeed the future!  May not be the neatest thing in the world but it ain't budging.

The Minilites in gold look sweet.

Making the nosecone fit in the right places was fun.  Cut out and painted the grill gold also.

The back wheel, swinging arm and fuel tanks are all off for painting.  Next, the electrics.

[slugshot]

I do like the look of the wheels especially in gold, do you know what the offset is as they do look a long way off the wing stays.