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Motor Trike®
Inc. is a manufacturer of trike conversions for touring and
cruising motorcycles. Our
corporate headquarters and manufacturing facilities are located in East
Texas outside the town of Troup.
Our manufacturing plants, office, and
warehouse facilities encompass 50,000 square feet on 70 acres. Our Texas location
gives us the unique ability to design and road test our trikes year
round. We encourage
you to stop in and take a tour of our facility if you are ever in the
East Texas area. We
are proud of the product we build and the people who build them. Come experience our
southern hospitality!
The Motor Trike® is a
patented retrofit for most popular touring motorcycles. An installed Motor Trike® kits adds less than 200
pounds to the original weight of the bike. Information on the size and weight variance on
your particular model can be obtained by looking at the different
specification sheets that are included in the information in the Motor
Trike® show room. The enhanced handling
and braking performance of our trike conversions in addition to the
stability and safety makes the step up to a trike a wise and prudent
decision.
We use a Ford differential housing on our
shaft driven trikes that are modified to meet our specifications. This process is done
entirely in our manufacturing plant. We use new axles, ring and pinions, pinion
flanges and brake assemblies.
The only component that is not new is the
actual rear end housing itself.
That housing is stripped and cut to a new
length. It is sand
blasted and then hydro blasted before it goes to the prep room. Next, the rear end is
beveled and prepped for the weld assembly area. All the suspension components
and tubes are welded in custom jigs designed and built at this facility. After the rear ends are
cool, they are removed from the jigs and taken to the rear end assembly
area. You will note
that we did not mention that the rear ends are grinded after they have
been welded. We are
proud of our welders and the quality of work they perform. Grinding away poor quality welds
will weaken the product because you are removing material. When you look at our trike, we
encourage you to climb underneath and look at the frame, rear end, and
suspension components. This
quality of work and engineering is why we try to have a trike on
display at different rally sites that does not have a body mounted so
that you can see this quality for yourself. There is a difference, and we
are proud to show it to you.
After the rear ends are welded, they are
transported into the rear end assembly area. Here the rear ends are scrubbed
inside and out prior to assembly.
With a choice of gear ratios from a 2:73 to
4:11, any performance or economy criteria can be met. The type of trike, the load
factor, and geographical location all play a role in the gear ratio you
select.
Our fiberglass bodies are designed and
manufactured at our plant in Troup, TX. Our fiberglass bodies are hand laid. This is a very labor
intensive manufacturing process.
Why do it this way? There are two reasons. The first reason is the
quality of the finish and the strength. The strength in a fiberglass body is in the mat. The mat is actually
weaved fiberglass material that is laminated into the mold. Other fiberglass
methods involve using a chopper gun which shoots out a mixture of
fiberglass resin and strands of fiberglass. With chopper gunned bodies, you
do not get consistent section size nor do you have the same strength. The second reason we
hand lay our fiberglass is weight.
Our bodies usually weigh 42-48 pounds versus a
chopper gunned body of the same size weighing approximately 120-148
pounds. This weight
is all above the centerline of your body which is exactly where you do
not want it. Superior
strength, light weight -- the closer you look, the more you will
experience the differences that our engineering, manufacturing, and
quality make in your trike.
That is why one of our slogans reads,
“Motor Trike® --
Experience the Difference.”
Motor Trike® kits
are currently available for Honda GL 1200, GL 1500, and the GL 1800
along with the Valkyrie and Valkyrie Interstate. A new addition to our Honda line
of trikes is the VTX Panther; it just might be the ultimate cruiser.
Motor Trike®
also has trikes for the Harley Davidson line of motorcycles. We call it “The
Trog.” We
have models available for the Electra Glide, Road King, Heritage
Softail, Fat Boy, and Deuce.
Our Trog® rear ends are fabricated
completely in-house and are maintenance free. We are very proud of the quality
and smoothness of the ride we have engineered with our Trog®
conversions. We
have eliminated the steering head shake. Please take a demo ride and see for yourself.
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