Several metric shaft drive cruisers have been built in the past, including the Honda Areo and Nomads as shown above. Beautifully done and elegantly designed, they amounted to "one off" projects inasmuch as they were very labor intensive and model specific -- not to mention cost 60% more than our chain/belt drive units! Yelvington engineering has now come up with another, less costly method of converting the shaft drives. Initially, the target donors are the Honda Shadows, Suzuki Boulevards and the Yamaha Star line of small to medium sized cruisers. However, the first prototype builds were a pair of vintage bikes.

The first of the new generation is a somewhat rare Suzuki GS450A automatic. It's a one owner ride with just over 3k on the odometer. Rather than chopping off the back end of the bike to be replaced with a lot of heavy steel or re-worked car parts, we have developed a technology unlike most other shaft drive conversions in the market place. It is more along the lines of the CVT super scooter conversions we have produced. And as is the case with all Trinity Trikes, it is integrated directly into the donor bike's suspension and original drive train. This results in low maintenance, much lighter weight and more affordability. Here are shots of the before and after of the GS450A:

Click on the thumbnail for a high resolution WMV video clip:

Next is my own personal ride, a 1982 Honda GL500 full dresser (the so called, "Baby Gold Wing)". The donor bike has low miles for the year (only 19k) and clearly has been well cared for and very likely garaged all of it's life. Here she is in her official "before" photo:

Persons potentially interested in eventually converting their light to medium shaft drive are encouraged to contact us by email and letting us know of that interest and which model you'd like us to consider for inclusion in our conversion gallery.

To contact us via EMail use: Online@YelvingtonTrikes.com.

Voice Phone: 727-233-3610; Fax: 727-572-8152

Yelvington Trikes, 12395 Belcher Rd. South, Unit 320, Largo, Florida 33773

All Yelvington Trikes descriptions, images and specifications are copyrighted and the mechanical designs are protected under one or more trade secret laws