I picked up my trike Friday night and I'm pretty excited. The nice folks at Lancaster (PA) Harley-Davidson did a great job adding a DFT conversion to my 2007 Street Glide. They were able to do the conversion in just weeks after the kit came in.I'm especially grateful to Ray "Tex" Texter, who managedthe project, and Brandon, who did the mechanical work.

My friend Lydia and I logged a couple of hundred miles on it this weekend, and we had a great time. I'll write more later to give my first impressions of the trike, but I did want to get this up tonight before I went to bed. There are more photos in my photo gallery.

 

Very sweet. I've got about 200 miles on my new RG. I bought it knowing that there will be a trike in my future. Ya gotta love those big easter eggs from HD.

 

Ron,

I am speechless. I looked at the other photos in the gallery and what a sweet job. It looks like a vette from the back. Nice bling rims. Are those 21". Good for you. Congrats and much fun.

 

Those are18-inchAmerican Racing "Haze" rims, with 225/40 R 18 Cooper Zeon 2XS tires. Relatively inexpensive bling -- the wheel & tire package was less than $800. I am having a 21-inch front wheel custom-made to match those wheels. That will offset any money I saved on the rear wheels.

 

looks awesome, ron! how does she ride?

grimm

 

Nice job on the conversion. Did you put reverse on it? And isn't there a H-D wheel that is pretty close to that wheel. The reason I ask is there is a lot of stress on the front wheel when turning an 18 inch wheel is a little narrower and might want to slide in a tight turn. Where as the 16 inch tire is wider.I know I'm replacing my front tire every year and most of the wear is on the outer part of the tire. Just my thoughts.

 

Nice.

I would have one like that but the macaroni and cheese would clog up my system.

 

Looks really nice........love that blue

 

Guys, thanks for the kind words.

Now that I have a little more time, I’ll elaborate some more on my adventure into Trikedom. I started seriously considering a trike a few months ago. I was in Daytona Beach in January, and I stopped by The Trike Shop and was impressed by their conversions. I then started visiting various trike kit manufacturers’ web sites – Lehman, California Side Car, Champion, Trike Shop, and Motor Trike. After recovering from sticker shock, I resigned myself to spending somewhere between $14,000 and $18,000 on a kit and labor. I was leery of making that kind of investment with a small independent shop, some of which were asking for a $10,000 deposit. I checked out the Champion conversions at Shenandoah Harley in Staunton, Virginia. They looked real good, but I decided I wanted an independent rear suspension. That led me to DFT, and I really liked the pictures of their Smoothie conversion – definitely different from the others. I ended up visiting Lancaster (PA) Harley-Davidson, where I met Ray “Tex” Texter. Ray, who founded that dealership back in the 1950’s, is a remarkable gentleman and trike veteran. He showed me his 2007 Road Glide trike and a 2008 Anniversary Edition Road Glide trike they were building for him. So I was able to see one “under construction” and meet Brandon, the young mechanic who would do the work. They completed that trike in time for Ray and his wife to ride it down to Daytona Bike Week and back. After seeing the DFT kit in person, I decided that was the way I wanted to go.

The DFT has an independent rear suspension, with 4 adjustable coilover springs and adjustable swaybar. The muscular body offers 9.7 cubic feet of storage space – considerably more than most of the others. I opted for their exhaust kit, which is essentially Rush 1.75 slip-ons. For reverse, Ray recommended the Champion reverse kit, and I followed his recommendation. The standard wheel choice is a 16x7 American Racing Casino (5-spoke) wheel; I chose their 7-spoke Haze wheel in 18x7.5, with Cooper Zeon 2XS tires.

It took exactly four weeks for the kit to come in, and only 12 days for Lancaster H-D to do the work, including painting. Needless to say, this was a very well managed and efficiently coordinated project. The quality of work was excellent, and I would recommend Lancaster Harley-Davidson to anyone looking for a trike. If you’re thinking of doing a DFT conversion yourself, Brandon took 26 hours for the labor, which included the exhaust, reverse kit, and trike conversion.

Friday night we drove up to Lancaster, picked up the trike and trailered it back home. Never having driven a trike – even in a test ride – I knew it would take me some time to get used to, and I wanted to do that at my pace (slowly) in a controlled environment. I had hoped to spend some time practicing in their parking lot, but the timing and weather did not cooperate. Saturday the forecast in northern Virginia was calling for temperatures in the upper 40’s and rain, so we headed south with our trailered trike about 200 miles to fairer skies and warmer temperatures.

Backing the bike out of the trailer and the Condor wheel chock, I immediately appreciated the Champion reverse. Getting that front wheel up and out of the chock was always a difficult task before, since I’m short and not too strong. With the reverse it was no sweat. The steering felt completely out of whack as I pulled forward for the first time. It took several loops around the motel parking lot before it felt like I wasn’t fighting the steering. Lydia climbed on the back, and we did a few more loops before venturing out onto a public road. As my speed increased, there were more adjustments for me to learn.

 

It has a Champion reverse kit. It seems like everyone -- regardless of trike kit -- uses the Champion reverse. Right now the plan is to go with a 21-inch 120/70 wheel and tire combo. If I'm not happy with that, I'll look at other options. I calculate that tire being about 1/2 inch narrower than the stock FLHX front tire.