Planet Minis

z50 chopper

I have a friend with minor mobility issues and he wants a trike that is cheap on gas and insurance. We went to the local honda motorcycle dealer and looked at the ruckus and then researched about converting one into a trike but it seemed cost prohibitive as my friend is on a low income then I saw some z50s for sale locally and pointed them out to him he liked what he saw now we are going to go pick up a few of them.

My friend wants to convert one into a trike for him, so the question is, would a hardtail '69 Z50 or a softtail '72 Z50 be a better choice for a trike conversion? We will be trying to get it road legal too and we live in BC, Canada.

arlindsay1992

You could do a full custom one and then it wouldn't matter if you used a hard or softtail. I think there are a couple kits out of Japan for the softtails but I don't know what they cost or where to get them.

You could also just buy an ATC70 if you just want to go the easy route.

firepower354

In the late 70's a buddy's dad converted a couple of their bikes. A DS80 and a 250 Husky, I think. Fun stuff.

I wouldn't go very wide on the rear tires with a little motor, or it won't pull.

If you were to start with something road legal, then add the spare tire, it might go easier at the DMV?

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z50 chopper

I was thinking of useing a ATC70 rear axle setup, but I am not sure if it would fit on the back of a Z50 with out major modifications as I have limited welding experience. I know I'll need to have the outer hubs machined for the rims I plan on useing (early 70s civic). My friend and I like the rat bike style that seems to be popular in the chopper scene.

big pete

You might be interested in this..
MONKEY BIKE TRIKE KIT COMPLETE MONKEY BIKE DAX GORILLA on eBay (end time 27-Jul-09 1511 BST)

patman

I want that kit,but I have no idea what the conversion is (USD).

big pete

At today's exchange rate, $567.81 + shipping

patman

OUCH!I guess I'll just keep wanting it.

mexicanyella

I wonder about the feasability of welding the headstock (with VIN#) from some titled, street-legal small Honda (CT, SL, XL) onto an old ATC70 frame. Surely that would be an easy job for someone with a full weld shop and provisions for making clean, measurable cuts. If your state goes strictly by VIN#, and you found a way to run some sort of DOT-legal tires on the thing, you might be able to register it as whatever the headstock came off of, or just as a homebuilt, although as I understand it the latter route would require an inspection/approval from your state's highway patrol.

Certainly worth researching, though. Do the homework first, not after you've begun cutting things up.

One other idea; don't know if you're rural or not but I think some states have limited road-legality provisions for ATVs. Where I live, Missouri, there are provisions for ATVs to be driven on the road as farm vehicles, but they're supposed to be equipped with slow-moving-vehicle triangles like a tractor and they're supposed to be going tractor speeds. Bolting an orange triangle on a Raptor or Banshee and going 55 mph on the highway wouldn't cut it. The few ATVs I see on the road never have triangles on them, so I think the provision is pretty much ignored, but you might look into it...

z50 chopper

well the converted price doesn't seem too bad for that trike kit, the real ouch would be the shipping and handling fees.

@mexicanyella: it would be much easier to do a swingarm swap/modification than swapping the headstock.

dirtbkr188

z50chopper,

Click HERE and you'll see that the ATC70 doesn't have a conventional trike or quad-type swingarm.
To follow up on that trend of thought, the Xtreme Typhoon 125cc quad has a swingarm setup that, I believe, is bolted to the frame of the Xtreme CR3 dirtbike. You might want to look for one that has been thrashed on eBay or craigslist, take the whole rear swingarm assembly and look for a decent newer XR/CRF-style frame to do a custom build. With some fabbing skills and the right tools, putting it on a Z frame would be quite the challenge.

lowbike1

where in BC?

mexicanyella

"@mexicanyella: it would be much easier to do a swingarm swap/modification than swapping the headstock.[/quote]"

Yeah, from a fabrication point of view. From a road-legal titling point of view, I'm not so sure. IF you wanted to use some ATC70 in there. If you were converting an already road-legal bike to a trike, then sure, I see your point.

z50 chopper

I am over on Vancouver Island in Nanaimo

dsrt4

I wouldnt buy anything from them anyway. They screwed me over big time a few months back and I never recieved parts or the return of any money.

big pete

Did you pay via credit card?

Z

Have any of you ridden an ATC70 at speads greater then 35mph?

"Sketchy" would be putting it lightly. Mine is staying in the dirt to mob around on.

z50 chopper

That might be why they have been nicknamed widowmakers where I grew up.

arlindsay1992

Maybe that's why the US banned them in the 80's.

dsrt4

Paid with Paypal and Paypal Let me down. Fought it for a few weeks with them but it ended being about a $300 loss for me once it was all said and done.