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<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'>Las Vegas Trikes is well
known for their custom V8 powered trikes. What is a trike? Well at Las Vegas
Trikes we make a three wheeled vehicle that is powered by a Chevrolet engine,
like you would find in a car. So think of it as a tricked out kids tricycle.
Well trikes have been around forever I believe the first motored trike was done
sometime in the early 1900’s. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'>There are many type of
trikes which we will discuss now. First type we will go with is called a
conversion trike, this is like motor trike or Lehman trikes. What these
companies do is take an existing motorcycle like a Harley Davidson or a Honda
Goldwing and they “ Trike it” this is done in a professional manner most of the
time. Watch out for garage built trikes of this nature because your not quite
sure where they got the parts and how the parts were designed. But in simple
terms they take a motorcycle and add another wheel. My personal experience is
that it takes away from the “motorcycle experience” and adds a lot of push and
pull in the steering. Still a lot of people do this and love their trike kits.
A well-known company that makes a v8 conversion is called Boss Hoss
Motorcycles. This is a V8 powered motorcycle, which means it has a car motor on
two wheels and is converted to a three-wheel trike. Now besides Boss Hoss,
because they have a motorcycle frame designed for a V8 power plant, you have
companies like Motor Trike and Lehman who will take your Honda Goldwing or your
Harley Davidson Road King and make it a trike. I have seen all sort of
motorcycles that have become trikes in this manner even custom chopper trikes.
They have great packages for the VTX or the Goldwing and even seen some old
Silverwings out there with three wheels. Some of the Harleys look great some
look kind of funny, for example I saw a Harley Davidson 883 Sportster with a
trike kit. But even the sport bikes, or crotch rockets as they are called,
having trike kits, such as a GSXR or a CBR.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'>The next type of trike
kit I want to talk about is the “from 2 to 4” kit. They consider this a trike
but it has four wheels. Not sure what the professional term for this is and for
the companies out there, please correct me if I am wrong. But the term putting
training wheels comes to mind. This I saw in Daytona Beach a few years back and
again my personal experience from watching them is they are unsafe and there
are some crazy people out there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'>VW trikes have been
around forever. I would say these trikes have the biggest following because
they are so inexpensive to build. By far I have seen more home made VW trikes
then any other. A VW trike is basically the front end is a motorcycle and the
rear end is a Volkswagen. Now this has been done by cutting a car in half and
welding the front end of a motorcycle on it which to some people is the coolest
looking thing. There are a few companies that make VW powered trikes such as
Rewaco here in Las Vegas and Boom Trikes. Now on some VW trikes the front end
has been known to come up. This can be a problem if the front end was not
designed for the weight and impact when that front end comes back down. You
will notice on some older trikes that there are cracks in the neck from
excessive wheelies. Now I would also like to point out after doing a show this
weekend in California <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a lot of VW
trike builders are what we call garage builders. They tell you they have built
ten or more trikes and that VW is the only way to go and they wouldn’t mess
with a V8 if you paid them. Well truth of the matter is they have probably
built that many trikes as VW components are rather inexpensive. But are they
safe? Not sure the few I saw this weekend had no front brakes because they
could not figure out the engineering aspects of it. If you are going to go the
VW route then I suggest you buy from a builder who has been doing it for awhile
and are an established business. Like Rewaco or the Trike Shop or Boom Trikes
these are all great VW powered trike companies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'>The next class of trikes
I would say would be oddities. Because there are not a lot of them but they are
fun to look at for example the Jet Trike (Helicopter Jet Engine) or the Merlin
(not sure if it has 3 or 4 wheels) the T-rex and a few others. I know nothing
of these trikes other then I don’t fit to comfortably in a T-rex. For those
that don’t know what a T-Rex trike is, I’ll explain. It has three wheels but
two wheels are in the front and one is in the back and is powered by a
motorcycle engine. Not that popular, not sure why they look neat. <span
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Now I would also like to put a little
note about another subclass of oddities which I would like to call Freak Shows.
These are the wonderful people who make your day at a show because they are so outrageous
that they draw attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I saw a
Honda Goldwing once that had several dozen animal horns and about 10 electric
horns and even a bathroom seat on the rear of the trike. This trike was also
covered from top to bottom in what I would think was animal fur. Not just one
type of animal either. The man that drove this thing could have stepped out of
a time machine. He looked like a caveman crossed with Grizzly Adams with a
Davey Crocket coonskin hat on. The man was great he had a dog that was dressed
up as well. Now why does he do this, not a clue. But he sure put a smile on my
face, and the faces of many children. Not to mention their moms whom he was being
extra sweet too. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So I guess the
lesson I guess we learn on this is to buy something that fits your personality.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'>Last but not least are
the Car Engine trikes, these trikes are built from the ground up to be a three
wheeled vehicle not converted. Yup that is what Las Vegas Trikes build and we
believe we do a great job at it too just come by the shop. Ok enough on the shameless
plug. V8 Powered trikes are built with a 8 cylinder car motor. A V6 Powered
trike would be a 6-cylinder car motor and a V12 would be a twelve cylinder car
motor. There is also a difference between small blocks and big blocks. The main
difference in all this is the horsepower. For example we have a model called a
Thunder ES, the small block motor that comes with this trike is built from the
ground up and produces around 300-horsepower. Where we have a big block that
produces 880 horsepower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>There are
many companies that produce car engine trikes. One of the oldest is Ecstasy
Trikes, also cheetah trikes. Kopavi and Apex Trikes are two other companies.
Who could write this without mentioning Las Vegas Trikes who purchased a
company called Iron Horse Trike Works of New Mexico.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Now most of these trikes are different but similar in other
ways. Most difference is done in the finished product. Las Vegas Trikes is the
only company that CAD Engineers its trikes, but that is because we have a lot
more resources to help us build our trikes. Our parent company is an ISO 9000
medical manufactures the produces analytical medical supplies. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'>Hopefully you have
gained some knowledge about this without too much of my rambling. But a word to
the wise, Ask many questions, and test drive more then one type of trike. Let
me explain to you a few things you might notice, where most of the companies I
have mentioned are good companies and build a solid piece of machinery. Some
companies out there lie, and mislead. It could be something simple such as
horsepower. Will you feel the difference in 5 – 10 horsepower probably not? But
I have seen some companies saying they can produce 600-700 hp out of a blown
Chevy 350 motor. Now that’s and awful lot of horsepower coming out of that
motor I would be really interested in seeing a Dyno sheet on that one. Not
saying its impossible just improbable will you as a consumer notice a
difference between a 700hp trike and 500hp trike. YES but only if you have two
models to compare with. But ask another person several engine builders around
you could ask an impartial person. Thus lets say you drove a Extreme Machine
with a 500hp engine then drove a Las Vegas Trike Cyclone which is also 500hp.
There should not be much difference in the power, depending on the gearing of
the rear end. But lets say you took their 700hp. Model and tested it against
our 500hp model their should be a lot of difference.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'>Also another thing to
look for when shopping, ask to see pictures of different models or other trikes
they have made. For example there is a trike company called The Extreme Machine
that has a 2003 model, which is black. The 2004 model is the same black trike
now with graphics on its fenders and yellow seats. The 2005 model is ” all new “
with the same black trike with graphics and a nosepiece with graphics added and
the black seatbelts are red. This is false advertising this is the same trike,
which you have changed slightly to the eye and are calling it a new model. I
can show you several different trikes and different colors even pictures with
several trikes in it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoBodyText><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:windowtext;background:black;mso-highlight:black'>Buyer beware make sure
your going to deal with a company that can produce the vehicle you want. Look
at there shop. Is it a shed in their backyard? How many have they built? Do you
feel comfortable on it? Did you feel pressured when you were talking to them? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
background:black;mso-highlight:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
background:black;mso-highlight:black'>Why would someone do this? But there are
many reasons for people to get one. Some of those reasons are, do not feel
stable on a motorcycle, disability, never been on a motorcycle, looking cool.
Many people have the idea that they have to be old to enjoy a trike. That is
not true just like teenagers and people in their early twenty’s believe you
have to be older to own a Harley Davidson. Now lets put this myth to rest. Our
trike is not built to replace your motorcycle. This trike has a different feel
and a whole lot of fun. It doesn’t pretend to be a motorcycle its just
classified as one. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
background:black;mso-highlight:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
background:black;mso-highlight:black'>Here at Las Vegas Trikes we want you to
purchase something that is right for you. Sometimes that means someone else’s
product. We want you to be happy and be safe. Most importantly get out on that
road and have a wonderful time. Because I know that for the past few years I
have been with Las Vegas Trikes I have had the chance to ride these trikes in
some of the most incredible states. I have been in the down the beaches of
Daytona Beach during Bike Week. I have been thru the Black Hills of South
Dakota riding feet away from wild buffalo herds and to Mount Rushmore and even
thru needles highway on a Las Vegas Trike. Nothing compares to riding down the
Las Vegas Strip. I rode in the mountains of New Mexico and even in rush hour in
LA. I have been to Neiman Marcus in Dallas to Katie Couric in New York City for
the Today show.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
background:black;mso-highlight:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
background:black;mso-highlight:black'>One more thing I think I will touch base
on. This is for the homebuilders and the closet engineers out there. I do a lot
of shows a year and meet a lot of people at them. Like Sturgis with hundred of
thousands of people to Exotic Gentleman’s show here in Vegas. To swap meets in
California and Arizona to maybe even the fair in New Mexico this year. But
there is a type of person out there whom all the custom builders dislike. This
is the negative know it all, whom walks up and tells you how to make your
trike, your motorcycle, your bicycle better then you built it. This is usually
a person whom is not very wealthy and cannot afford the product. Some ideas are
worth listening to, but on the most part you are just talking to here yourself
talk. It is rude to walk up and call someone’s baby ugly, do not walk up and
say “ Ughhh who would buy that”. Well hate to tell you this but people do and I
know you may be able to make it better but its easier to show me that you can
instead of telling me. But no people have bad manners and want to walk right up
and talk smack about something they know very little about.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
background:black;mso-highlight:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
background:black;mso-highlight:black'>Now the other kind of Garage builder is
someone who can not afford a trike that is made by a company and they have the
basic skills to attempt at building one. So first thing you want to do is buy
parts. Ok fair enough so you call companies and get a hodge podge of parts and
want to make them work together, well that makes for a fun time. It can take
several years at that rate to put it together. Reminds me of that song “ I got
it one piece at a time “. You want to use your frame with our front end and
want it to work well. Being that this is the time that everyone sues everyone
our lawyers have advised us not to sell parts to home builders. Why? Well it is
pretty simple that if you have a frame our front end is not designed to work on
your frame it is designed to work on ours. In fact Las Vegas Trikes ran their
whole frame and front end thru a C.A.D. program to come up with and equally
weighted machine at all points. Also in doing this the handlebars are self
centering like power steering. Now do you think this front end will work the
same on your frame. No probably not infact if you do not know what you are
doing you may kill yourself at which time your family will try sue because of
your stupidity. That is how a women made over a million dollars suing McDonalds
over spilling coffee on herself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>People buy frames and front ends all the time, I mean really what is a
trike other then a frame a front end<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>a transmission and an engine. Oh yeah throw on a few tires and its time
to go. A lot of people think they are saving money by building it yourself, you
might but what is your time worth. If you took two years building something
that cost you ten to twenty thousand dollars have you saved anything? Are you
happy? Is it safe? Will you ever ride it? I knew a guy who built an airplane in
his garage. The amazing thing is he did a great job then even flew it around.
Nothing bad happened and for some of you nothing bad will happen, so long as
you were careful. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
background:black;mso-highlight:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
background:black;mso-highlight:black'>Well I guess there is only one more thing
to say.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
background:black;mso-highlight:black'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
background:black;mso-highlight:black'>Las Vegas Trikes wishes you and your
families a happy holiday season and a wonderful new year. It has been said that
the year would be better if you bought a brand new Las Vegas Trike for
Christmas.</span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;
color:white'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p></p>
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