First_N_Last

Any more sidewall cracking? Have they fixed that yet? I still love the treadlife & handling also.

Thanks Joe - knowledge is the goal.

Dick; You are & always have been an honorable man since I've known you. Emotions run hard - I stayed away from that thread because of that. Thanks for being GOOD at heart. JohnB

Thanks for making me laugh & fall out of my chair. On the TrikeTalk forum, I'm getting beat up by legal jargon & unsubstantiated claims of forks loosing up by Veritas44. He acts like he is associated with a Trike Conversion Company & has driven off claims of improper installations before. Normally I'd just laugh & drop it, but I fear he is convincing less experienced riders there, that their forks could slip on them at any time. Jees! I'm kind of done there now. I think I put down enough thought & words to help those members make their own decisions. Thanks to everyone here for sharing your experience & confirming mine.

If you do that on a 2nd Gen, you have to throw away your light-bar, unless you want an imprint of it on your front fender. Thanks for the 1st Gen viewpoint.

Thanks everyone for you participation & input. Your experiences with fork slippage has been exactly as mine for just under 50 years. Forks don't slip unless there is an assembly error (improper tightening). My reason for this? When I decided to buy a Trike, I thought that researching For Sale Trikes on a Trike site would be a safe way to find a good one. I bought an older RSV with a Conversion done directly by the Trike manufacturer in December of 2008. The rest is known from my other posts. What was really surprising was having the manufacturer tell me about it being common for forks to loosen & slip. Then as I discussed it on a Trike site. I had another person with very similar writing style, exclaim how he had known many people with slipped forks. My conclusion here is that VentureRiders Rocks!!!! Filled with trust worthy knowledgeable people. I feel that the person commenting about slipped forks was closely associated with my Trike Conversion & was spreading misinformation, which others will assume to be truthful. That is too bad. Spreading misinformation is not honorable. VentureRiders - thanks for being who you are - Honorable.

This is open to gather experience about all bikes - any manufacturer - any model. I've been told by someone on another board that it is common for front forks to loosen then slip & ride up in the Trees. This is new information to me. In all my years of experience & all the fellow riders I've met & known, I have not heard of any factory motorcycle forks slipping in their mounts. So please... I'd really like to hear from people that have had factory installed forks slip. Then I will have learned something & have grown. Anyone? Slipped fork or forks? Please share your experience(s) & details. Help me change my mind on this slippage. Please - I'd be happy to change my mind. In fact, I'd be relieved to change my mind. JohnB

More news… One of my board friends checked out the add photos of my Trike when it was being sold. It seems that the Fork tube looseness problem existed way back in June of this year! I magnified the picture & cropped it. Then I circled the top of the left fork tube. Here is the photo for reference – fate is amazing...

eBay is GREAT!

ANALYSIS IS COMPLETE This analysis is based on discoveries from front end dis-assembly... communications with previous owner... communications with Hannigan... Here are results of my analysis along with my conclusion(s) for every symptom noted: SYMPTOM – front end vibration over 77 mph & front brake vibration when hard stopping CONCLUSION – not related to front fork clearance issue – may have contributed to slipping of left fork up This will be check latter by wheel balance & rotor inspection for warping SYMPTOM – bike set low in front CONCLUSION – I can’t say for certain that the bike was low when I picked it up. I am certain that it was low when I stopped at a local bike shop on the way home to pick up an inspection tag plate. SYMPTOM – single dent in front fender noticed three years ago CONCLUSION – dent was caused by insufficient clearance – that was caused by a lower light-bar standoff block, 6 degree rack transmitting impacts more directly up the forks & weak standard fork suspension of RSV. All raked RSV front forks should have oil changed from 5 to 15 weight, fork springs upgraded to “Progressive” springs & the fork tubes should be adjusted so that the top of the forks are flush with the top of the Triple Tree. SYMPTOM – On the way home, the Trike felt like it was loose & wanted to jump off the road to the left whenever it hit road roughness or small bumps on a curve to the right. CONCLUSION – This had to be after the left fork had slid up in the trees on the way home. SYMPTOM – added denting to the front fender CONCLUSION – This had to be after the left fork had slid up in the trees on the way home & normal high speed highway bumps. SYMPTOM – missing nut & looseness of many critical fork mount tightening bolts. CONCLUSION – This problem was caused by improper torque-ing of the bolts & nut. The question is, “Who is responsible for the looseness?” PREVIOUS OWNER says he didn’t touch those bolts/nut & that no work was done regarding them either. HANNIGAN says that it could never be something they missed during installation & conversion. They further state that “Traumatic Events” were the probable cause of the mounting bolts looseness. I will concede that a bump caused it to eventually slide up. NO WAY do “Traumatic Events” cause properly torqued bolts to loosen. SOMEONE had worked on those bolts & did not TORQUE them properly. I just won’t ever know who. SYMPTOM – right fork spring check of length is slightly below spec CONCLUSION – don’t care at this point because I’m replacing them with Progressive Springs. All raked RSVs should have Progressive Springs installed & all four fork mount bolts torqued properly SYMPTOM – even with the fork tube sliding up, the ride of the RSV-Hannigan Trike was GREAT CONCLUSION – a RSV-Hannigan Trike is a great buy. Just be sure to change fork springs for Progressive Springs at installation time. SUMMARY Either the previous owner, a repair effort or the Trike installer left the fork mount bolts loose. The previous owner has no obligation to help with the cost of repair parts. He hast not helped. The Trike conversion business has no obligation to help with the cost of repair parts (2 years out of warranty), The business was certain to state their warranty terms & that they could NEVER have improperly torqued the bolts. They firmly would not help with repair parts. So there you have it. Obviously my Guardian Bell is defective! A Guardian Bell is suppose to rid a Royal star Venture of Gremlins. It failed & those damn Gremlins loosened those bolts causing the problem. ARGH! Damn Gremlins! I hope everyone learned by my endured suffering & laughed with me laughing at myself. Of course I will affect repairs shortly. I hold no malice towards the previous owner nor Hannigan. Hannigan makes the best Trike conversion for the RSV. I just had hoped that they would treat me as they themselves hope to be treated by others. JohnB By the way – I have owned & ridden bikes since 1965. Personally, I have owned over two dozen bikes. My experience with other riders of bikes is in the hundreds. In all of that – NEVER NEVER NEVER have I heard of fork tubes being loose & riding up in the mounts (that were properly serviced/installed). I’ve bent a few from “traumatic events”, but NEVER had them loosen. !!!!Damn Gremlins!!!!

Hi - no worries. I'm certain the script for the banner at top is calling to googleapis.com. (no danger) Doubleclick.net also is present in scripts - I have that disabled in my browser. For knowledgeable people, I recommend browsing with Firefox & the "NoScripts" addon installed. You will then have control of what scripts are run when you go to a web page. This is not for the timid. You will have to enable needed safe scripts yourself for every site you use. Once done, it will remember. It will give you ultimate protection & safety with a little setup effort. Remember - NOT FOR NOVICE. JohnB

Humm; If you want... you can can call me on my cell & I'll share my knowledge with you. Even though I have not had mine for long, I have been all over it & have lots to share. If you don't have my cell still, just PM me. BTW - even with my Hannigan issues, I definitely recommend the Hannigan conversion, EZ Steer & the IRS it has. Carbon_One's Aux gas tank is a must also. JohnB

The biggest handling weirdness I noticed on the ride home was on a high speed (75mph) curve to the right. The Trike felt like it was loose & wanted to jump off the road to the left whenever it hit road roughness or small bumps. I didn't notice that issue on a curve to the left. One again, this conversion (S/N hantrk09057) & Steer Lite (md-463-rls) installation was done in 12/18/2008 in Murray, KY - Invoice number 2636 - S.O. number 2506. Regarding the zerks - If this was not raked, I'd do that, but because it is raked, I think it would be better to disassemble, inspect & grease. With the rake, extra stem/bearing torquing and angled weight distribution, I personally will feel better inspecting also than just greasing. Just my opinion - others can do what they want. Thanks for your thoughts Jay

Well it is a bright sunny morning... I spent 15 minutes & did the last front fork checks & here are the notes: both left & right top Triple tree fork tube locking bolts were not socket wrench tight. They could easily be loosened with one hand & a normal allen wrench. left bottom fork tube locking bolt was snug, but easily turned with an allen wrench & two fingers right bottom fork tube locking bolt was socket wrench tight like it should be - I have to go buy the socket/allen bits just to loosen it. I pulled the right fork spring & measured it. it should be 22 1/2" long. it was a little compressed to a little under spec. I'm replacing them with progressive springs, for safety. The internals of the fork seem to be ok (lucky). My opinion is that both bolts for the left fork & the top bolt for the right were hand tightened & never torqued to spec. The nut holding the fairing bracket to the top left bolt was also left hand tight & forgotten which is why it fell off. The only properly tightened bolt was the right lower bolt. Latter today I'll have the steering bearings re-greased & trees re-assembled. Then the final front-end parts list for final repair will be completed. By the way, my Hannigan Trees have no etching on them, but I still have the receipt/invoice & they are obviously raked. Damn, this is way too much work. I'm beginning to dream about this front suspension. JohnB

Naked Santa... I've been good. Will you please bring me the parts to fix my Trike front end? ummm - never mind! Help the people devastated by the storm in NJ instead.

Hi; multiimeters are cheap so I recommend getting these basic features: digital display auto ranging capable resettable fuse/breaker auto off shock protectors on corners (you will drop it) I always shop Amazon first for just about everything. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41PWEG63TzL._SL500_AA300_.jpg [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Mastech-MS8268-Digital-Manual-Multimeter/dp/B0050LVFS0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355400597&sr=8-1&keywords=digital+multimeter]Mastech MS8268 Digital AC/DC Auto/Manual Range Digital Multimeter Meter - Amazon.com@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41PWEG63TzL.@@AMEPARAM@@41PWEG63TzL[/ame] $28.51 including shipping - good basic overall household meter for everything. I'm a technologist since 1969 till present. I have a Harbor Freight crap meter (broken of course after two weeks) - old 40 year old fluke (part of display is clouded gray) - two ancient Tektronix 465 Oscilloscopes Even with all that crap, if I didn't have the extra cost of fixing my Trike's front end, I'd buy that meter today. As it is, Ill add it to my "Save for latter" Amazon list. JohnB

Thanks for the comments Jonas... As soon as I get this money pit back together & figure out a nice fast route to ride to Iceland, I'll ride over & see you. Just keep checking your driveway for a black RSV Hannigan Trike with seaweed on it!

Buck_Roy If you want to get the Harley Rear Brake Light Frame assembly, just setup a search/alert on eBay. JohnB here is a picture of led light strip & Harley Brake Light Assembly

Thanks for the info

Too cold to continue work efforts today.

-------------------------------------- Before I start - on each side of this, there are good & bad... -------------------------------------- In 1977, I had been a member of CWA (Communication Workers of America) for 5 years & out on strike for 10 weeks when the Union leaders started sending out groups of striking members to specifically "harass in any way" members who could not afford to be out on strike any more & had gone back to work. Yes - we were sent out to be thugs to hunt & harass/beat "scabs" if we found them. Big bad gangs to beat-up people who put their family first. The next day it was escalated. Now we were to hunt down the wives & children of the "scabs". Being a Solitary Exception, I told them where to stick that order. I wrote up my resignation, hopped on my BSA 441 & hand delivered it to the Union Bosses. Then I drove directly to work a went right the through the gang of cowards. Back then I was a force to recon with & they were cowards. Cowards that were too afraid to do the right thing. ---------------------------------------------- No that was a BAD UNION. I'm sure there are needed good ones out there. It is common now days for all employees to be treated like Dairy Cows on a Dairy Farm. As soon as you don't look like the others or don't give enough milk, its off to the Butchers with you. Poof - you are hamburg! ---------------------------------------------- Our wages continue to erode. That I do know. Other than that - I don't see any easy fix.

Jay, The only symptoms I noticed are... bike was set low in the front - I thought it was from the rake front end vibration over 77 mph front brake vibration when hard stopping - I thought related to 77+ vibration & wheel balance Initially I thought a wheel balance would fix all until the added denting. Prior to this, my only Trike experience was a Voyager sort-of-trike. John

Thanks to all comments, suggestions, warnings & exclamations from all the web site members. Pro or con - they help. It helps a lot as you get in deeper than you want into a problem. It makes you feel like there are people right there with you helping. Thank you!

Here is a more similar angle... do they look similar now?

I hear what you are saying, but... I am way in to this tear down at this point just do do a limited repair by locking down & reassembly the previous owner noticed the first dent in the fender over 3 years ago - so it is reasonable to assume that fork had been completely loose & pushed up since then if one fork was completely loose & the other was in place, the firm fork spring had been subjected to all the front end weight & added weight because the front was 2 inches lower causing more weight to the front & that one spring to check springs for spec wear you have to open the fork caps & pull the springs out & measure them if I have to pull the springs out to check, I might as well replace them with an upgrade no way would I reassemble at this tear down point without checking a three year abused spring Doesn't that make sense?