Green Warrior

Viking Warrior 3D-effect Graphics, Big Kawasaki Power and Sharp Cornering Ability: the Warrior Is Coming to Get You…

- Mike Coutts

About three years ago, my son Ricky bought a Kawasaki ZX7R and decided to take it to pieces and do a respray. Never happened. The bike lay for a while until one day I saw a ’Busa which had been made into a ‘reverse’ trike in America. I decided there and then that it was time to give myself a new project.

I’d already built a trike 15 years ago, based on a Mini Metro engine, which is still running about today. This machine was going to be very different, though. At the time I was working for an oil company which had its own metal and fabrication facilities, so I was able to use some spare stainless steel pipe to make the front frame from. Then came the hard work: cutting and shaping all the pipework. Stainless is pretty hard stuff but when you get it free of charge, well, it makes the hard work feel a good bit better. I’m OK at MIG welding but TIG welding is definitely NOT one of my fortés so I called on JBS Engineering, who did a great job and got it certified.

The new frame is bolted on to the original frame so no cutting was required. The only thing needed was to weld a solid aluminium block to the front of the headstock to carry the two front riser tubes (which would also now carry the headlights).

I’ve always been mechanically minded but I’d never built anything with independent suspension before. For ideas, I bought a copy of ‘The Sports Car & Kit Car Suspension & Brakes High Performance Manual’ which I would recommend to anybody.