MARTIN MOORE’S CUSTOM TRIKE The Motor Bone’s Connected To The Gear Bones...

MARTIN MOORE’S TRIKE THE ENGINE BONE is CONNECTED TO THE GEAR BONES ...

A while ago, off road V.W. dune buggy’s were a blast & easy to build by simply removing the body and shortening the floor pan. After several builds, the concept of a three-wheel V.W. street motorcycle surfaced & led to building several of them.

In 1997 I envisioned a V-8 street trike with the engine being a small block Chevy with hooker headers, a chopper girder front end, a shortened 12 bolt rear, G-60 tires & a black velvet lined cab. The steps were to create preliminary design drawings, establishing preliminary engineering & then begin acquisitions of parts & pieces.

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With much help from “Berkshire Automotive Engineering” in Ancram, N.Y, the V-8 trike began to come to life. The first hurdle in structural design was how to build a frame strong enough to support a small block Chevy engine that was still attractive. Enter Bill Coward, proprietor of B.A.E. Bill, a builder of top fuel dragsters & ace mechanic said; “We don’t need a frame, the engine will be the frame.” my reply was, “Bill how will you do that?”

Over simplified, the structural items would all be attached one to another. Starting with the chrome chopper girder front end would be connected to a welded chrome molly tubing “yoke.” The yoke then bolted to the front of the engine, then the engine to the Lakewood steel bell housing, the housing to the [3] speed manual transmission, the transmission universal to universal with no drive shaft and lastly, a chrome molly tubing truss from bell housing to the 12 bolt rear & shortened axels. It was synonymous with the song; “The hip bone connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bone connected to the leg bone, the leg bone connected to the foot bone & so on!”

The first safety procedure was to un-hook the secondary’s of the Holly four-barrel carburetor. There was no need to smoke up the G-60 X 14 tires when the [4] barrels kicked in. Starting out in 2nd gear & shifting to 3rd without dangerously taking ones hands off the high -rise handlebars would be a smart move. Bill Coward had the solution once again by the use of a small air pressure tank, solenoid valves & handle bar mounted manual switches, the problem was solved! There were a multitude of creative design challenges in this build that were met & solved successfully. The end result is a very unique and ride-able V-8 street trike that will impress & be admired by those folks that lay their eyes on this one of a kind bike. This trike is for experienced riders only & is most certainly not a “drink & drive machine!”

It is for sale as of now and the individual who will buy this bike has the opportunity to bring it to show trike quality. Replacing parts with chrome is all it will take, for example the headers. Just imagine it with chrome or polished stainless steel headers. Maybe you would add a custom paint job? OFFERED AT A SALE PRICE OF: $ 9,995.

Martin E. Moore Ph 207-633-2600 or email @ cmoore@gwi.net