Hi guys,

After a proper inspection of my new trike, everything seems to be as I thought (not great, but worth the money) except one thing...

He's a hardtail (not a problem, I'm used to hardtail bikes), but a bit harder than I expected. He's driven by a single rear drive shaft, a solid drive shaft, as in no diff.

Just to see if I know what I'm talking about, the reason for the diff is so that one wheel can move at a different speed to the other, making turning easier, and without one the vehicle will want to go straight, no matter where the steering is pointed, correct? (Probably an over simplification, but sufficient for this post)

So, for those in the know, given his width (for pics, see my other thread), can he get by on a solid shaft without too many handling problems or should I just rip that little bugger out and put a diff in?


I'm happy to replace or alter the shaft, but making a belt drive diff could be a pain in the butt and I'd prefer to not swap the engine as yet.


I want to avoid swaping loads of parts and after a while finding I've built a trike from scratch and most of the original parts are in a pile in the corner (not that it would be a great hardship, the main reason for buying him was as a headstart, and if getting where I want to go means replacing a good portion of the original parts, so be it, it'll still have been worth the money).

I think we need Bikergran here - her's is shaft driven and short rear axle so may be a similar set up, lovely looking trike and drives nicely and also has a reversing set up I believe.

Sorry I can't really assist Jenni, not learned enough technical stuff yet

That'd be nice to know, I honestly don't know if the short width means I can get by without a diff.

As to the reverse thing, I'd like to know how to fit one of those.

I'm not majorly disabled, (just a bit of a gammy knee, nothing compared to some) but I'd like to set the trike up with a good selection of the "mod cons" as I go so that:-

1) If and when I sell him on he'll have a wider audience to sell to.

2) I'm a lazy cow and reverse and push button gear change sound cool!

Gonna hopefully start stripping him down next week(ish) ready to sandblast the frame for powder coating. (purple of course )

Zombie's the expert on Klictronic gear changers. (See, we don't ignore ya mate!).

As far as I know, if the axle's fairly wide, the trike will probably eat back tyres if there's no diff...

Not sure if I'm going Kilctronic (been looking at options, but it does seem the best way), so I'll pick our illustrious undeads brain on that one.



He's not actually that wide compared to most trikes (maybe 2 1/2 bikes side by side, I've not measured so I can't be exact), so it might be negligible, but somehow I doubt it.

End of the day, it'll be hit the scrappy for the lightest diff & axle I can get that can be altered easily (need the diff to line up with the belt drive, as well as altering it to take the belt of course).

Hey, I almost sound like I know what I'm talking about don't I?

i would try it 1st-if it rides ok then leave it-its a lot of work & easier said than done to get a diff to run on a belt drive set up.
in theory you should need a diff-but if its not that wide you may get away with it.

Ho hum,

That's pretty much what I thought, but I wanted to hear someone else say it (so to speak).

I really don't like doing things half a***d, so I think I'll look into the possibility of putting a diff on. I'll build a brand new one without messing with the old one so I can revert if need be.

All is well!

After finally getting him off the back wheels for a detailed inspection of the drive shaft, the original designer seems to have made a natty little diff that's inside drum break and belt drive assembly.

It's so small that I thought it was a solid shaft.

So respect to the original designer and we're back on track!

Do you intend to use it daily? if so the lack of a differential may cause excessive tyre wear. Also even if it feels ok, it would probably feel a lot better with a diff ... ill ask my mechanic tonight he just finished building his trike ....