What are people thoughts of the practicality and suitability of doing a long RTW on a trike, 2 up.
I'm thinking good for extra luggage, durability, stability.. But would be intrestied in peoples genial views.

Why not?

For all the reasons you've already given. I've opted for a Sidecar for very similar reasons, now that we will be travelling with a dog in tow...

You'd only need to think about the usual: roads you'd be using (ie how important is ground clearance), tyres you plan to have (can you get spares easily) and what parts may expire along the way and what plans you have to replace them.

Other than that its no harder than planning and doing on any other vehicle, plus its a bit more original!!

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Adventure: it's an experience, not a style!
(so ride what you like, but ride it somewhere new!)

Yea, go for it, and look forward to hearng of your adventure, only concern is on any rough roads you will be plowing your own track, love to hear of people using/considering alternative forms of transport.
Good luck.

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'He who laughs last, was too slow to get the joke'
Never confuse the map with the journey.

it sounds fine, do it
when you have the right roads or a heavy duty offroad kit, very good. and when there is no off road equippment available, drive only good roads. i have seen harleys and porsches in tamanrasse, so why not a trike.

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my quad/ atv - travelling on
www.quadridesafrica.de

thanks guys, does anyone know off any websites where people have done it on a trike.
I was going to see about getting an off road type conversion with some semi off road ability. I'm not sure if its possible but with the right shocks and suspension I don't see why not. Also if I weld the diff or get a diff lock (AKA from 4 wheel drive guys) it should in effect be 2 wheel drive.

What are peoples thoughts on it?

That ploughing my track was a concern, I will have to live with it ! I like the idea as Im not that confident on the bike, least not with the wife and luggage on the back. So a trike give me more comfort, stability,confidence and load carrying. Also keeps the wife happy !

I've seen trike's made from all sorts of donor vehicles. I had a go on a Volkswagen trike complete with fat rear tyres, the handling was different, and I didn't like the fat bit at the rear, it was a pain to judge it's width. If I was to got down the trike route, it would be the other way round, two wheels up front and a single wheel at the rear You could make one from any front wheel drive car, (you could have a diesel) no drive chains to worry about, a lot more choice of tyres. All you need is a donor car, a good welder and some imagination



Trophymick

If you want to do it, go for it. Sidecar long distrance trips are few, Trikes less so, so you'll have some stories to tell for sure.

A few negatives though, but don't let me put you off:

1. Off road most "half a VW, half a Harley" trikes are useless. With a sidecar you can hop the chair over obstructions where the track is wrong, on a trike you've got three tracks and that's it. Tyre choice isn't going to be great.

2. Luggage and fuel capacity are poor. With an outfit you can just pile stuff in the chair body, with a trike it's all frame so you'll have to make racks and tanks.

3. Legally the world varies. In the UK a trike can be either a bike or a car (for the drivers license) and can be home made, converted from a bike or a car with a kit or made as a new vehicle for construction and use. Legally the license required, type approvals etc, are a minefield. Are you going to be happy explaining to a Nigerian border guard why the tank says Harley, the engine says VW and the paperwork says "Trike maker special kit #14"? An outfit is just a trailer, no one really cares.

4. You are going to stand out. Are you going to be happy as the only Triker in 10,000 miles and take all the attention in good spirits?

5. No one is going to be able to help you with big chunks of the mechanicals. The trike convertors no doubt do a good job, but aren't designing for RTW use. Break some special bit and you'll have a long wait. To me, you'd need the convertor/kit supplier on board and willing to ship bits at a far quicker rate than 99% of their other customers will expect.

Good luck and enjoy whatever you go for.

Andy

Hi

Good idea and when I was involved in making Trikes we were discussing the possibility of triking an R1200GS and had good response from BMW at the Bike Show, but who knows maybe he was trying to get me off the stand! We were thinking more of the Dakar Rally and saw on the net that a Harley Outfit was going to race, which when seeing the pics thought it looked more like a Trike:

Oh here it is:


We were looking at similar size tyres and imagined that they would be great over sand, a bit like a giant Honda ATV that got banned for tipping over reasons. .

The trikes we built were IRS, Independent Rear Suspension and were quite simply the rear end of a Ford Sierra/Granada and I'm sure there wouldn't be many problems finding parts around the World, as the front is the bike of your choice and the rear a common car. The frame was joined through the swingam and Andy is right about the one of parts that may need making on your journey.

Another thing we found out in testing is that they don't like a Limited Slip Diff , as on a short test run, Dave the builder was getting worried as everytime he braked the trike would shoot across the road.

PM me if you want to learn more about it.

Off to bed now!

Cheers


Chris

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[/SIZE] "Live dangerously for as long as you can!"

As threewheelbonnie pointed out,with a trike you have three seperate wheel tracks. With a sidecar you only have two.Two is quite enough to worry about. In areas with poor roads drivers weave all over the roads to avoid potholes.
In Costa Rica on a motorcycle a few years back I had a couple of tight moments on mountain roads. While dodging the potholes on my side of a two lane road ,the on coming traffic was using my lane as well to seek a smooth ride. on some roads the ratio of pavement to hole was 70-30.Keeps you busy.

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ride,smile,repeat as nessasary

Please keep me updated on your thoughts/progress. I ride a Lehman Monarch II (GL1800) trike and am also considering it's suitability for adventure riding. If you do find an off road kit I would also be very interested in hearing about it.

Winginit