Street legal trike

[3leggedperro]

So I pm'd a member here who has impressed me with his builds at such a young age (r97 who I assume is 15) and he suggested I introduce myself and ask for the advice of all members.

I am planning on building a street legal trike.
I know most of you are probably thinking I'm but I'm not.

Some time tomorrow I hope to order the homemade vehicle application packet from the NY DMV(has to be done over the phone or through snail mail) to add to my research. I've looked at several builds and am essentially building 3 vehicles in one. A go kart frame with front suspension at a car sized scale with a legit motorcycle rear.

I've been studying the equipment laws on motorcycles since before I got my car license. Now I own one of each.

A 3-wheeler is technically classified as a motorcycle so I have to follow the regulations that apply to all motor-vehicles and those which apply to specifically motorcycles.

I will try to keep it simple until I get it approved and then add some items

Essentially what I want to do is build a scorpion at a larger scale (sort of like a can-am spyder with a car seat and steering wheel) and put a roll cage on it. I am however going to hold off on the roll cage until it is given a VIN number. The simpler you keep it the less things these people can hold on to inorder to reject you.

I know there's a lot of red tape but I'm one of those people who like to challenge the system.

If anyone can give me their opinions of spidercarts' plans and maybe if anyone has or knows someone who has built an xzilarator (http://www.xzilarator.com/) if the plans are worth $104(if I can't do it in NY at least I'll have a reason to visit my family in PA)

I'm willing to spend money on research in order to avoid wasting it on something that doesn't serve the purpose I want.

I know basic car and motorcycle mechanics and have a friend who is studying to become a mechanic at Lincoln tech so most of the modifications and adaptations that would need to be made we can figure out.

Also does anyone think that doing a saddle handlebar setup first and then converting to seat and steering wheel would be easier?

Opinions, Comments, Questions encouraged. Thanks for the help I know I'll get from you guys.

 

[CAPTAINCAVEMAN]

this looks just like your post yesterday please keep it to just one thread and just continue the conversation on this one

 

[B.M.800]

I think there is a member somewhere here who got a buggy of some sort registered in NY. Not sure who he is. I think he has a thread in OMB off topic section, and some pictures of it in OMB "More than 2 wheels" section under the Freakkarts thread.

Not sure if he may be able to give you some help, maybe worth a try!

Good luck with your project, hope it works out for ya!

 

[3leggedperro]

this looks just like your post yesterday please keep it to just one thread and just continue the conversation on this one

Sorry just wanted to make sure it gets seen

So I spoke to DMV technical services and ordered the packet which has all the necessary information for building a homemade motorcycle. He also had me download and look over a form that outlines the requirements for a motorcycle and it's equipment to be street legal. Oddly the answer to most of my questions were "It doesn't matter", "We don't care", or "it's all up to you" so it makes me feel like this won't be as difficult as I thought but at the same time I'm a bit skeptical. When I asked about a windscreen he told me it wasn't necessary if I wanted one on it'd have to be certified by a manufacturer of motorcycle windscreens, Seat type(saddle vs bucket), Steering(wheel vs bar), or even the use of miscellaneous car parts(lights, mirrors, doors,) he just replied "all up to you". I only need receipts for my original frame or the materials I used to build it and the engine/transmission which has to be appropriate for highway use i.e no lawnmower or generator motors. When I asked him if the soundness of my structure would be questioned his exact answer was "We're not engineers sir". So basically as long as I have the required equipment, SAE approved lights, and the proper receipts I SHOULD be golden

 

[3leggedperro]

I think there is a member somewhere here who got a buggy of some sort registered in NY. Not sure who he is. I think he has a thread in OMB off topic section, and some pictures of it in OMB "More than 2 wheels" section under the Freakkarts thread.

Not sure if he may be able to give you some help, maybe worth a try!

Good luck with your project, hope it works out for ya!

I will look into that thanks. Although buggies aren't street legal here unless I think if it's only on public roads while you drive from your house to a nearby area to use it

 

[TheWingnut]

I am actually currently building the tarantula from spidercarts. Ive already dropped of 1500 bucks, so im not sure if you want to do that depending on how much your willing to spend. But im not following the plans exactly, I gues you could say i like to "challenge the system" too, as i'm also adding a gearbox, a different seat, different wheel, an 8hp engine instead of a 6.5hp engine, along with modifications to the frame to fit all of the different stuff, unlike it sais in the plan.

So overall, youll probobly spend about 800-1000$ on this project when you follow the instructions exactly.

Im actually 14 btw and a lot of 12 and 13 yr olds do projects similar to this as well. As long as you understand how it works and how it all goes together, you will do fine and be able to fix whatever goes wrong if something does.

And also, im 14, no license or whatever, and im just planning on going out to the backroads behind my neighborhood, and maybe just drive it down to the gas station to grab a drink or something.
Quite honestly, noone really cares if your driving a go kart down the side of the road or in your neighboorhood so you dont need to worry as much as you are.

Also, when you go the welders or metal store or whatever, get a few feet extra of the metal you will use to make the kart, just in case you mess up on some of the measurements or want to add something to the kart.

Good luck with your project

 

[fowler]

If this thing is street legal then don't use spider kart plans
If u scale them up then your frame will be far too heavy and weak

U need more of a space frame
First of all what engine is going in the back as there is no similaritys between a scooter powered trike and a hyabusa powered trike

The frames u need to modify come under mini buggy or superlite

Put some reasearch into badlands buggies and edge buggies
www.edge.au.com

Depending the direction u go I can give u plans for double a arm suspension (u need double a arm on road)

 

[TheWingnut]

Oh and one other tip, you should get off-road wheels. Not the super off road ones like the shark wheels or whatever but some knobby tires do the trick nicely. You should get knobby because street tires are made for only street, and cant take any gravel, either so your screwed unless on smoothe pavement. But with knobby tires, you can go on gravel, grass, dirt, road, sand, pavement, or whatever else very nicely. There is so much wasted money going into road tires unless you are planning on drag racing or racing indoors.

 

[3leggedperro]

I think I should've given you guys more background
-I'm 19 and am building myself a toy to accompany my motorcycle and car as something I can drive to show off
-I have a good paying job(swim instructor) and my budget is about $5k
-I live in New York so everyone will care if I ride a go kart on the street.
-I'm not going to scale it exactly. I'm planning on simply adding a few inches here, a foot there and add bracing.
- I plan on using 1" round DOM with a .120 wall (this is what they use to make chopper frames) and an engine out of a hyabusa or ninja zx-14

I want to use spidercarts plans in order to get a feel for what it takes to build a vehicle from scratch along with a frame. A go kart is just for practice. The actual goal here is to build something like this http://www.prismz.com/xzilarator/ but I don't want to use their plans because they basically just bolt a cabin onto a goldwing.

Depending the direction u go I can give u plans for double a arm suspension (u need double a arm on road)

I would actually greatly appreciate that it's the one thing I really dont quite understand and my friend can't explain to me (he goes to Lincoln Technical Institute to learn automotive technology)

 

[fowler]

There is no point giving u the a arm plans as they are for a mini buggy and about as wide as the spider kart is long

The plans make a vehicle as wide as a Toyota landcruiser 4x4

I dout the scorpion will be able to be road legal as it is simply too small
But I don't know the local law so maybe

 

[3leggedperro]

Im basically trying to make a car sized 3 wheeler. Since this is a gokart site I used a go kart to describe what I wanted to do . It has to be atleast the size of say an older honda civic or a 70s fiat 500. A minibuggy and a landcruiser sound very different in sizes but my seat has to be atleast 20in off the ground. I want it at least 4ft wide and about 6-8ft long

 

[r97]

that this project is large scale and should not be based off of yard kart plans. The spidercarts plans were decent, but showed no thought towards a lot of details, suspension geometry, and steering geometry. I would say your best bet is to get the edge barracuda plans. Then throw out the independent rear suspension, and install the motorcycle's swing-arm. I would also suggest you do some reading on suspension because you will want to alter the front suspension in the plans a good bit so it is suitable for on-road use. The buggy may be very wide in the plans, but if you don't need all that travel you can remove a lot of that width very easily.

Thanks for the compliment! I'm 15 now, but I was 13 when I built the kart. Even though I'm still not satisfied with the end product (will I ever?), it was a good project and provided me with a lot of experience.

I'm looking forward to this, a few people have said they were going to make their vehicle street legal, but I'm yet to see one work. Your plans are the most promising I have seen so far and I want to see how it turns out! Good luck!

 

[TheWingnut]

That is a sweet-*** kart in the link you showed. I didnt ead carefully, id idnt realize you had liscences. And in that cse, im pretty sure tham making a street legal kart isjust a matter of taking it in to get a liscence plate, make sure it as setbelts, windshield wipers, rier-view-mirrors, etc. but then agin im 14 so i dont know a whole lot about that.

Check this out it might help.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080830130906AAobkBr

 

[fowler]

Probs the piranha will suit your situation best

The real differences between the barracuda and piranha is barra has alot of suspension upgrades for fast offroad raceing it is also quite long and very narrow in the cockpit
The design makes it quite hard to modify

The piranha is just a basic frame that is very easy to widen lengthen and shorten
Iv got the double a arm plans for the piranha
It may require narrowing
But it won't end up that wide for a performance vehicle (1.8m )
But too wide to be a commuter vehicle
I can back that up

 

[3leggedperro]

I would say your best bet is to get the edge barracuda plans.

Thanks for the compliment! I'm 15 now, but I was 13 when I built the kart. Even though I'm still not satisfied with the end product (will I ever?), it was a good project and provided me with a lot of experience.

I'm looking forward to this, a few people have said they were going to make their vehicle street legal, but I'm yet to see one work. Your plans are the most promising I have seen so far and I want to see how it turns out! Good luck!

I like the idea of using the edge buggy plans. The barracuda says it's suited for a 1400cc engine but the piranha is narrower. My obsession with it being narrow is that I have to park with the rear wheel against the curb

That is a sweet-*** kart in the link you showed. I didnt ead carefully, id idnt realize you had liscences. And in that cse, im pretty sure tham making a street legal kart isjust a matter of taking it in to get a liscence plate, make sure it as setbelts, windshield wipers, rier-view-mirrors, etc. but then agin im 14 so i dont know a whole lot about that.

Thanks for trying but actually the best way to find out is going to the DMV website for the state in which you plan on registering it and first finding out what kind of vehicle it will be (car, motorcycle, buggy) and following their requirements.
I called the number you're supposed to call when you want to order the paper work in order to plan your build and he told me where to find the proper information.

that is very easy to widen lengthen and shorten
Iv got the double a arm plans for the piranha
It may require narrowing
But it won't end up that wide for a performance vehicle (1.8m )
But too wide to be a commuter vehicle
I can back that up

I'd have to see the plans to determine just how narrow it can be made. I saw a 1972 Fiat 500 Abarth that was imported from Italy on the street the other day and the owner let me sit inside. I would need maybe another foot of leg room. It was as wide as my arm was long.

The main thing that makes it 'performance' is the handling. Your performance doesn't depend on it's width so much as its "stance" low to the ground, the wider the wheel base the lower your cg giving you less lean and more turn, (for 3-wheeler) rear wheel has to have a contact patch the same width as both front tires combined.

 

[fowler]

The fiat abarths are wicked
Actually most European cars are
Why can't aus and USA make everyday performance cars

Is it law that the rear wheel must be against the curb
To me if I saw a trike parked 45* in a park I'd say sh** driver

It is easy to get a 1400 into a piranha
They say the barra requires a 1400 because if u didn't fit a ZX14 or busa the thing would be under powered for the weight

Anyhow it would make the most sense for u to leave the bike engine in the bike frame and attach the two vehicles together front forks to rear of drivers seat (kinda)

The piranha is only narrower by a arms
The front of the frame on both designs is only 180mm wide
The stock piranha is only single a arm and the double a arm upgrade is designed off the barra and will finish up at a similar width to the barra
The piranha is however designed to have small shocks mounted to the nose where as the barra has long traval shocks mounted to the front roll hoop

The piranha is easy to modify because it is squares and right angles

Fairly random collection of facts
But something in there may be of use

 

[stratguy44]

scorpion kart

Hi there. I finished my Scorpion kart a few weeks ago and I used the plans I purchased from Spider Karts however the plans are very basic and state so. It was easy to add mods. that included frnt suspension and a torque converter. I also added to the frame itself. I installed an electric start 7hp Kohler so to have a charging system for lights. I used D.O.T. approved tires and hydraulic brake. The kart turned out just at 7' long and 4' wide across frnt tires. It wasn't too hard to build and thank goodness for Steve and crew at BMI karts for some great parts. Oh and about 20 years ago I had a old Triumph chopper that had a twilight and one mirror on left side of handle bar plus a horn and that was all it required to be street legal in Texas. I don't think they changed much here regarding what a motorcycle needs to be legal.

 

[3leggedperro]

The fiat abarths are wicked
Actually most European cars are
Why can't aus and USA make everyday performance cars

Is it law that the rear wheel must be against the curb
To me if I saw a trike parked 45* in a park I'd say sh** driver

Anyhow it would make the most sense for u to leave the bike engine in the bike frame and attach the two vehicles together front forks to rear of drivers seat (kinda)

Fairly random collection of facts
But something in there may be of use

Bc the USA sucks and are obsessed with "Bigger is better" nonsense.

It's the law for any vehicle with motorcycle plates to park 90* to the curb with the rear wheel touching the curb. I know someone who got a ticket because his rear wheel wasn't actually in contact with the curb(cop must've been having a bad day)

Attaching both vehicles to each other would make it about 3 feet longer than is reasonable
all facts are of use and help