what would happen

[Gypsy]

doro asks

what would happen if a bike trike was fitted with 'normal sized' bike wheels on the back instead of thicker car ones?


by doro :D

[xjtriker666]

eeerrrrr it would look a bit daft realy...thats if ya can get them to fit...think it would take some doin me thinks............

[Creature]

not sure they would be strong enough

[Sir Ewok]

Gearing would be well out if it was possible due to the larger diameter wheels/diff ratio.

[Blackjack]

If you take the ubiquitous Ford Escort axle it comes with diff ratios ranging from 4.11 (1100 Vans) to 2.5 (RS2000) so gearing isn't the problem, you should work that out any way.

If you use a 15" Virago wheel (for instance) how's that any different from a 15" car wheel? As for being "difficult" to do well no it's not. You just need to use something like a BMW K100 or a Honda RC30 rear wheel, both of which have a 4 bolt car type fixing. Anybody recall a chop called Halftail that used a single sided Honda hub and a Mondeo wheel? It's no harder to fit the Honda wheel to a Ford (or any other make) axle.

So it ain't especially hard, and the gearing thing is no more or less of an issue than using car wheels.

What is an issue however is the tyres. Bike tryes don't have a very large contact patch. Specifically they are quite narrow as they are designed to be leant over, and bikes won't generate the sort of lateral forces a car is capable of generating in a corner. Trikes don't lean in bends (at least they shouldn't!) and the roll angles are huch more akin to a car, so car tyres tend to work better as they are designed to cope with those kind of loads.

The bottom line is that if you did build a trike with bike tyres on the back I would expect it to oversteer like mad, as the rear tyres would tend to let go rather easily.

Flip side of the coin is that if you want to run 17" or even 18" rear wheels, buy a copy of something like "Fast Car" magazine and take a look at some of the wheel and tyre deals that are available. £400 will buy you a set of FOUR 17" car wheels with "budget" 35 series tyres, which is only a little dearer than 2 bike tyres in the 190/17 range.

So at the end of the day it ain't hard to do if you choose your bits carefully, but you have to ask why go to all that hassle and expense when you could just buy a set of 17" car wheels with something like 235/35 17 tyres and have much the same look to the profile for less money and aggravation while ending up with a better handling trike?

Incidentally, not only are the car tyres cheaper, they are going to stay legal a LOT longer too.

[Gypsy]

doro says



thank-you Mr Blackjack

it's not that I was prepared to do it


just wondered why it wasn't done :D

[bow here]

if you were after the spoke look of a bike wheel you could always try some older JAG or MGB wires , probably be around the same adapter fittings as they are for the original fittment, only an idea mind

[Doro]

ooo yeah tis a very good idea mister


might have to try that........

[Blackjack]

The adapters run about £50 a pair, and the wheels are quite reasonable.

Want to hazard a guess how I know this????????

[Tom-madbiker]

got a trike with a 2cv suspension and wheels set up and it does let go easily and its great fun on roundabouts scares the crap out of car drivers :D