I bought my Yamaha Virago from a dubious looking guy, (describes most of us doesn't it!), for the outrageous price of £1,700. It was a bit rough looking but had 23,000 miles on the clock and sounded quite good with it's straight through pipes, (just on the right side of legal -almost).
I took it to Ginge Woolsey at G.L.F.Engineering in Spalding, Lincolnshire, (nice guy), and for a price he said he would trike it for me. Half way through I decided that because of my disability l'd need a reverse gearbox. Some more money passed hands and worked carried on.
All in all the trike took about a year from original concept to what you see now. Even though the frame was powder coated, I still painted it gloss black, (of course, what other colour is there?). The idea for the paint job came to me after going through all the books on custom painting I could find in the local library. All I kept seeing was American flags and flames -great if you own a Harley but not a Japanese bike.
it may not be too obvious in the photos but the number in yellow on the offside rear mudguard is the number of the first plane to bomb Pearl Harbour in World War Two. The mural on the back shows the plane and also depicts a prayer flag carried into battle by Zero fighter pilots who knew they were on a one way trip. The murals are all painted by hand and the majority of the work is done using spray cans.....honest.
There isn't much to tell on the technical side. The back end is a Ford Sierra independant suspension unit, with the drive shafts cut and welded by Ginger at G.L.F. He was told that the trike should be no wider than 5 foot. It ended up at 5 foot 2 inches, which is close enough! It's 8 foot 6 front to back with a ground clearance of 5 inches. The rear end runs on Titan alloy rims and 215/45zr13 tyres. THe very expensive reverse gearbox is made by Quaife. I find it runs better if you select first rather than the recommended second gear when reversing. The engine is a standard 750cc Yamaha XV Virago

-Graham