Downtown Denton, Texas for August Bike Night at Dan’s Silverleaf. Just driving around to the back door, and then inside then club. The electric start brings the engine to life instantly. The handling on the street is much better with the new front and rear tire set. The seat by Mobtown Mike is beautiful as well as comfy.
The Tijuana Trike makes her Debut.
The Tijuana Trike saw some more changes in preparation for the August kick-off of Denton Bike Night. The amazing seat cover by Mobtown Mikey Kneavel out in Weatherford, Texas is the cherry on top.
At Denton Bike Night, hamming it up for the camera. Photo by RWD Designs.
A set of skateboard wheels was used to make a wheelie bar. With a rider on the rear, it is expected to wheelie easily. Whoever is on back needs to be small and agile. I am thinking like the “monkey” position in sidecar racing, where they use their weight strategically to keep things in balance.
Pretty self explanatory, the dash houses switches for the running lights, head lights, LED ground effects, engine start, ignition , a gear position indicator, and cigarette butt receptacle.
When I told Mobtown Mike the colors I wanted, and the pattern, he said okay, but later told me he initially had his doubts on the colors. When I took him the seat, the tank was not yet painted, and the vision was only floating in my head. Fortunately, the end result makes some sense of what I was trying to pull off. The purple on the seat ties in with the tank sides and front fender. The gold and red of the seat, and the green gold and red of the tank end up harmonizing with one another. The squares and rectangles are echoed throughout the build, showing up in numerous places.
The street tire is great on pavement, but the knobby that was on before it was better for off-road handling. The rear wheels, tires, and mounting hubs as well as the knobby front tire and wheel were kept together, and can be changed out easily.
While figuring out the angles on the wheelie bar, the front end was elevated so the skateboard wheels could be checked for the best contact and alignment.
Made from 1/2”’ 4130 moly steel tube, the wheelie bar is cross braced and should be rigid.
Setting sun rays gave it an odd glow at the Dan’s Bar reveal.
Red neon setting it on fire!
Mikey working relentlessly on projects, I was glad he could work this one in. The seat is so awesome, and transforms the trike.
At one point we were going to go with gold on the back of the sissy bar pads. Glad we went with purple!
There were a number of posts of the trike at Denton Bike Night online, this was a favorite.
Dentonmoto had a booth, and we were selling merch and giving away some too.
Just back from Denton bike night, Flaquita and the Tijuana trike looking pretty sharp.
Bobby at RWD Designs, also known as Mr Fotography, takes some great pictures in the studio, and on location, like Denton Bike night.
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.