Ultraboy’s ’05 Custom Harley Trike

Note: This feature is reprinted courtesy of the J&P Cycles Parts Blog.

Also, we’re continuing our rewards system of giving all of our Readers’ Rides winners a year’s membership in the J&P Gold Club.And that’s quite an exclusive organization. Members get all kinds ofsavings and coupons, can win points good for J&P products, and get afree tire pressure gauge for joining. For details, visithttp://www.jpcycles.com/goldclubinfo.

October’s designated Readers’ Ride is a 2005 Harley-DavidsonFLSTNI Trike built by Dave “Ultraboy” Bickford of Wanatah, Ind.Apparently Dave built this beauty for his wife Reenie. This Deluxe waspurchased new and ridden on two wheels until the summer of 2010. That’swhen this couple decided it’d be a good idea to convert it to a trike.Everything was fine on a two-wheeler until Reenie began suffering neckand elbow pain after a pair of surgeries. A cushy trike build soundedlike the perfect solution. But let’s let “Ultraboy” tell us the story:

My wife wanted some wide tires tucked up into the fender for apro-street look, so we selected some 265/50/15 tires and 12-inch-widefiberglass fenders from US Trikes. Upon install it became clear that thetires were not going to be removable without pulling the body off, sowe made the whole rear section easily removable. It takes about fiveminutes to pull the body and fenders off as a unit by removing the seat,disconnecting one connector for the taillights and removing fourscrews.

Flat tires on a trike are rare, but it does happen. Most trikeswith bodies are all one-piece, so we’re pretty happy with the fact thatthe fenders are bolted to the body and can be replaced if you get a bittoo close to the gas pump or other immovable objects.

We also made the electrics easy to work on and troubleshoot bytaking the existing H-D rear harness and running it up through the seathump to the trunk, the wires were installed onto a terminal strip. Thenthe taillights, turn signals, license plate light and trunk light wereall run using H-D color-coded wiring.

A trike needs to be steered, so raked trees are like adding powersteering. I won’t start a rake and trail discussion, but you need tocut the trail roughly in half to make the trike steer easily. A set of4.5 degree raked trees were bolted on, along with two-inch forkextensions to level the trike out. A steering damper was also added toimprove feel. This trike steers easily and goes straight, even attriple-digit speeds.

Backing up even a slight hill is an effort, so we added amechanical reverse gear from AIM. The unit adds a gear to the mainshaftand countershaft with a shiftable third gear to engage the other two.When the transmission is in neutral, engaging the lever for the thirdgear (clutch pulled in) puts you in reverse. Give it some gas, featherthe clutch, and you’re heading backward.

The exhaust system mounting was another fabrication effort. Weused a set of Samson true dual Softail pipes. These pipes end a fewinches in front of the rear end, so the local muffler shop bent us some“S” pipes out of 1-3/4-inch stainless tube, which drop the exhaust belowthe axle. From there, we selected the shortest fishtail muffler thatSamson makes, and adjusted the length of our ”S” pipes to have themufflers protrude out the back just the right amount.

Softail mufflers have the hangers on the inside of the muffler,so we fabricated a length of stiff “U” channel, bolting the front of itto the existing frame holes, and the Samson muffler hangers to the otherend of the “U” channel. From there, the mufflers bolt up to thehangers. For further strength, we tied the two mufflers together at therear mount holes using a fabricated steel strap.

For the basic trike setup, we used a DNA swingarm and rear axle,which comes with a 70-tooth pulley, limited slip, 11-inch disk brakerotors and high-quality PM calipers. The bolt pattern is GM 5 on 4-3/4,making finding wheels easy. We selected a pair of Sport-Comp 15 X 8wheels with a 4.5-inch backspace. A splitter for the rear brakes wasfabricated with a chunk of 1-1/2-inch by 1-1/2-inch steel, which wasdrilled and tapped on top to accept the stock rear banjo with across-drilled passage tapped to 1/8-inch pipe to accept pipe to AN-3fittings from Goodridge. A pair of stainless coated AN-3 brake lines andbanjos finishes it off. The stock rear master cylinder has the volumeto handle the two four-piston rear calipers so the trike stops on adime.

Rounding out the rear, we made a cardboard pattern to carpet thetrunk, adding Velcro to the area around the electrics. A push-buttoncontrolled light was added to the trunk for nighttime illumination. Thelicense plate frame is from Kuryakyn,and has two high-intensity bulbs. One is wired to the running lightsand the other to the brake lights. A body shop friend shot the blackpaint, and another friend laid on the old school pin striping. This was agreat build that my wife really enjoys riding — even after being on twowheels for more than 20 years. She loves her trike! It was a blastbuilding this one and since it was finished, I am now building threemore for friends. Don’t knock the trike till you try one! For anyonethat is interested in building a trike, I’ll be glad to give anyassistance I can through the J&P Forums.

-Ultraboy

SPECIFICATIONS – Dave “Ultraboy” Bickford’s Winning Entry

Editor’s Note: If you’ve built yourself a great bike that you’d loveto see highlighted in Readers’ Rides, get your digital camera or fancysmartphone out and nab some pix. Then send them to us with a descriptionof your bike. We’d also like to hear from readers who have snagged somegreat video footage of their rides in action. Just post your video toYouTube, then email the link to us at blogmemberservices [at] jpcycles [dot] com.

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