Need a little help for my brother

[Barry1951]

OK, need a little experience picking, , , , ,My older brother, 72 and his wife, , 39 if she reads this, , , are wanting to get back into riding. They are looking at an '88 Goldwing with a Mike Harris trike kit. It is not a true trike, it is like a Voyager kit.

I have never rode one or known of anyone who has experience with one.

Can someone shed a little light on these things.

Good, , , ,Bad, , , , any, , , ,

Thanks,

Barry

barry.higginbotham@gmail.com

[steamer]

I've never heard of this kit, but i did have a voyager kit for one season, It was ok. It was a transitional thing. We wanted to see if triking would work for us. Now we have a real trike, a 99 RSV with a motortrike convertion. The voyager kit takes a lot of tweaking to get the ride just right. Once I got it dialed in it wasn't to bad. The voyager will eat back tires. If your brother is not going to ride 2 wheels anymore then I suggest he just go stright to a real trike. invest the money for the voyager into a RSV trike. they are very compfy. There are two trikes for sale right here in the classifieds. One is a 2001 RSV with a triwing convertion. i have seen this trike several times and test rode it once. It's pretty sound. The owner has owned it for several year and has ridden it all over the eastern states. I belive he is asking $10000.00. You might want to check out a tike forum that I belong to. Just go to triketalk.com, there is a lot of great info just like here.

[RSTDdog]

If the voyager kit is like the training wheel set up where the stock rear wheel is the drive unit I would stay away from that set up. There are companies making similar set ups for scooters. Here is the reason.

 

Those set ups steer like a trike when all wheels are on the pavement, i.e push right to go left and push left to go right, and all is fine and good when on the pavement and your used to that. This of course is opposite to typical two wheel motorcycle steering- push right go right and push left go left.

 

Enter now emergency maneuver or for any reason you drop the right rear wheel of the pavement edge. Your trike instinct will be to push right, however if that right rear wheel goes off a low shoulder and is not contacting anything, particularly with the front, driven wheel and left wheel are still on pavement, then push right will result in go right ,taking you further off the road and doing opposite of what you expect it to do. You will be completely off the road before the trike steering returns. On two lane roads with low narrow shoulder and drainage ditches, your not recovering from that.

 

Have him get a real trike if thats what he wants.

 

RSTDdog

[bongobobny]

Yah! That's my feelings too! The Voyager kit leaves a little to be desired especially in the turning department. Reminds me of the old trucker song "Gimme 40 acres and I'll turn this rig around!" There is a learning curve with trikes, do NOT lean, twist the handlebars back and forth to steer, and expect G forces when taking curves. Ride down the center of the lane, etc.

 

What I want to know is how did a 72 year old manage to find a 39 year old wife!! Is she hot???

[Aussie Annie]

Have had both........ and agree that if he has the funds, go to a trike. then he won't be learning two different ways of handling. And he won't have to adjust, or change later. his wife will be more confident too.

 

You don't ride, you drive a trike [push/pull on handlebars]

But they are lots of fun:clap2:

[Guest tx2sturgis]

 

What I want to know is how did a 72 year old manage to find a 39 year old wife!! ???

 

 

I was wondering the same thing... (he DID say 'if she reads this')

 

 

Hey the voyager kit (and kits like it) is for someone who already owns a bike, and then develops a need for a temporary transition to a 3track vehicle, and wants to keep that bike for use later on as 2 wheeler.

 

Such as: Injury, illness, wintertime riding, trailer pulling, whatever the reason.

 

Your brother doesnt fit in any of these categories, and he's buying the bike from scratch so to speak, so he should keep looking.

 

A nice used trike can be had for 10 grand, and a REALLY nice one can be had for 20 to 30. Depends on his budget, his commitment to riding, and of course, his preferences when it comes to apprearance, brand name, and local service and repairs.

 

My advise to the brother is to stay away from the voyager type kits, whatever the brand name on the kit.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 8, 2012 by tx2sturgis

[Barry1951]

Sister-in-law is not 39, , , , , but she's best in the world, , ,

Thanks for experienced answers, ,, , , that is what I was

leaning to, ,, just don't think the kits would be good idea.

If anyone knows of a good trike in the $10k range, let me know.

It would break my heart to fly in and ride it back for them, ,