Working out details on the Tijuana Trike.

The geometric styling on the tank top echos the fender wells and soon to be made seat cover. The fish scales are my first attempt on a tank. The Koi fish is my symbol, and one usually gets worked in these builds. This tank is a near identical match to the one currently on the bike. While that one is doing fine, The inside was severely rusted and the walls are thinner than usual. The epoxy coating inside adds some rigidity, but I have seen too many tank lining failures to believe it will last forever. This one was found online and is in nice shape inside.

Somewhere there is a purple fish…and he is jealous.

Bought a set of used factory wheels. After a lot of wrestling and cleaning, they are getting a good coat of primer and safety yellow.

Some 1/4” aluminum plate was milled and shaped to make some treads for the rear seat foot wells. Rectangles again.

The seat backs have been made and are off to Mobtown Mike for some upholstery along with the seat. These will be Zodiac style vinyls again.

Doing some testing and practicing on the scales. Different shapes, sizes, and masks were experimented with till an acceptable result was found. While not perfect, it is consistent with the rest of the bikes imperfection.

Wellnuts, vinyl edging, .090 aluminum, dense and soft foam layers, and then shaped with sanders. A simple seat back has a lot of steps going into it before you even consider the cover.

The 1985 Honda ATC70 Tijuana Trike is a runner.

Here she is, after over ten years of sitting around the shop, finally running, and complete, save a few mostly cosmetic details.

With the knobby front tire, she tracks well in dirt, gravel ,or grass, but needs some serious counter-weighting to turn sharply on pavement.

There are styling cues from 1959 Cadillacs to dune buggies, rockets, and midget racers, to name a few. Frames from two Honda ATC70’s, front fork tubes from a honda MR50, triple tree clamps from a CT70, Harley bitch bar, Bates sissybar, headlight and turn signals from a CB750, Kawasaki KLX110 muffler and KZ400 turn signals, Mustang King/Queen seat, CL350 tank, CT90 skidplate, SL70 front wheel, custom wheels made from Z50 and ATC70 wheel halves, shifter made from a mangled Z50 brake pedal. Yeah, there are parts from a bunch of different bikes in there.

The aluminum rear panel with my old logo. The logo was used on the CT117 custom bike in 2010, and not since. The panel conceals a lunch-box size fold-out bin. The actual panel came from the sides of an old ultrasound machine I used to push around a hospital in my other career. As a kid, I saw bumpers on dune buggies, midget racers, and vans like this one. Always wanted to do one on my 1963 Econoline van, but sixteen year old me didn’t have the skills yet. This one is made from tube steel, with the cross pieces brass brazed in for a cleaner look.

The rear bin is spring loaded, and will retract tightly.

Because the bike is for holiday parades like Christmas, a little candy cane is not totally out of place. I was thinking more “The Cat In The Hat” or 1980’s Memphis styling when I did it. At the bottom right, the recesses for the foot rest and the footpeg cross-bar can be seen. They are either for the “Queen seat” rider, or the driver can also stand on them.

A vintage Cal-Custom barefoot accelerator cover is used for the rear brake. There is also a hand lever for the rear brake on the left handlebar. The fender lights were a Pate Swap Meet find a few years back. I was told they came off the cab of an old Packard or Studebaker truck. They have glass lenses and LED bulbs.

1959 Cadillac tail lights have always been evocative of rocket or jet flames. These repops look right at home under the seat. The metal under the seat is from a left over section of a Harley rear fender for the 1993 FXR custom build. Since the rear part of the seat is arched to fit on a fender, it seemed appropriate. A Takegawa brake nut secures the seat.

Ready for take-off! The red, white and blue with gold accents was done quickly with rattle cans, as was the rest of the bike. There is a look I love, of hard driven race cars, painted just well enough to cover last weeks damage, and look good from twenty feet. The cars I am thinking of are beater circle-burners and midget racers, driven by week-end warriors and semi-pros on the local town track. The kind of tracks that have mostly disappeared, but were plentiful in the sixties and seventies, when I was a kid. The multi layer paint, front skid plate, and rear bumper were all a nod to that style.

A digital gear indicator is a great thin to have when there is a reverse gear. There are also covered switches for the electric start button and still to be installed ground effects.

The front forks were lengthened a little over two inches, and Z50 rear shock springs were used for the external springs. There are inner springs only in the original CT70 forks, but the additional weight meant a little more spring is needed.

The bike can be shifted by foot or the suicide shifter. A mini Cal-Custom style barefoot pedal is on the front end, with the foot tread removed from the Z50 brake pedal used for the shifter. No waste around here!

The underneath structure of the fenders can be seen here. Originally, I had planned to use some beaded aluminum fenders laid on top of this structure, but I only had some .030 thickness, which is too thin to support much weight. With the probability these fenders would be stepped on, a new plan that did not involve buying thicker metal was figured out. It would have been much easier to buy the metal, but I have found improvisation makes a chance for some growth, and forces you to go outside your box. The rear aluminum panel was made from two layers of .125 aluminum plate( harvested from an old medical ultrasound machine,) and a layer of .090 on the bottom layer. The rectangles were made to go with the fender indentations.

The left fender is partially pounded, and the right one has Clequos holding it together. First curved on a Jet tools slip roller, and then an assortment of wood, plastic, and steel hammers and dollies were used to form the fender indents.

After the first round of pounding, additional rounds were performed to smooth and equal out each sides. The thinness is the aluminum makes it easy to bust through, so it has to be moved gently.

The first two plates of the rear panel.

The Helen Bike Z50, The CRFU-M CRF50 custom, and the Tijuana Trike ATC70 build

The Helen Bike got some new details worked out. Even though this bike was basically finished in 2013, details like the tank badges and front fender edge were left undone. Since the badges for the Flaquita bike were being cut by Master Engraver Wade Oliver Wilson, of Mansfield, Texas, the Helen badges finally got addressed. The epoxy in the tank appears to have cracked as well, so it was stripped and re-lined, and of course, the rear edge of the fender was done.

These badges were blank for almost a decade. Not sorry I waited.

The aluminum was given a polish while the bike was out.

The work on the rear edge of the front fender entailed adding the rolled edge and blending into the rest of the edge. All this time, it was a raw cut edge, and did not look quite right. Very happy with the result.

Still one of my favorite bikes, simply because it is so comfortable to ride.

The rear wheel uses two deep wheel halves to get the wider wheel. You have to buy two wheels to make one, but it was a way to keep the original appearance and still get a fat rear tire.

Helen out in the violets.

My buddy Brian brought his CRFU50-M in for some maintenance and repair. He rides this bike hard, riding wheelies, taking small jumps, and generally zipping around with THE WOLRD FAMOUS WHEELIE-ING ELVI. It was in sad shape due to a couple of broken teeth on the primary gear.

After the engine was fixed, the front light was given a new custom bracket to replace the original stress-cracked one.

A new rear wheel was put on the bike, and some touch-up on the paint where some dings and scratches were worked out.

The left-hand brake was also repaired, and she is now ready for action.

This build has been on the back burner for too long. Started as a commission, the client was not digging the Rat rod direction the bike was headed, so it stalled out and has been sitting in the shop, generally in the way. I just decided this is the time to finish it, so a number of jobs are getting done to get this bike finished. A combination skid guard/ foot rest/ foot control assembly is just tacked together here. It still has a ways to go, but the basic structure can be seen.

A removable Bates brand sissy bar in front, and an integral rear Harley bitch bar along with the King-Queen seat are right in that early seventies, late sixties vibe. A Cal-Custom barefoot accelerator pedal is repurposed to make the foot brake. As soon as some Heim joints arrive, the brake rod will be built, and it should be functional. A nerf bar bumper is planned. The rear of the seat is supported by a scrap piece of fender (from the FXR project,) with some metal sides added. It makes for a minimal but sturdy support, and supports the seat as it was originally designed to do.

Plenty of space for your feet. The shifter can be foot or suicide shifted.

Still think a taller front would look better, but the steering on these bikes is minimal to begin with, and more rake makes it worse.

Still thinking of my Cox engine power miniature trike. It had big slicks on the back, and a huge Bosozoku- style rear seat. Not exactly what was done here, but it evokes the memory.