January 05, 2021

Trikes and Hot Rods by UNB Customs in 2020.

January 05, 2021/ Phil Cohrs

We’ve had a pretty special year here at UNB Customs despite all that has happened during 2020. We wrapped up a few long term projects as well as introduced a lot of new people into our trike family. Between building custom trike conversions on motorcycles, selling used trikes, and installing kits on new bikes, it’s been a busy year in the trike shop. For those of you on the newsletter and those following us on Facebook, you’ve seen some of these trikes. But we put together a little video to show you the newest members of our trike family.

We are very thankful to have met everyone and we take immense pride in the part we’ve taken to keeping people riding! The Goldwing, Harley, Triumph, Kawasaki, Victory, Yamaha trike conversions or sidecar addition as well as all the custom installations have been a pleasure to work on.

We also were able to complete a few hot rod restorations this year, the first being Tracy’s Ford Falcon. Uwe Wittkamp met Tracy working together at Evernham Racing. Over the years, a friendship grew. Tracy even helped out at some Trike Shows while they both worked in the NASCAR field. When Tracy saw what could be done by Uwe to restore vehicles, he presented his Dad's 1967 Falcon. Since his Dad was the original owner, Tracy and his brother had driven it on their family farm in Georgia. It was delivered to UNB Customs filled with red clay and showing the use of being driven on their farm. Rebuilt to be a daily driver and restored to the original color with emblems, resealed and detailed the engine, rebuilt the transmission and we used the original seats and door panels. This vehicle was delivered back home to the farm in Georgia complete with Tracy's dad's original self-fabricated trailer hitch. The only thing left to do was for Tracy to take his mom out for a ride in it! You can view the entire gallery here.

Another major hot rod project was a 1930 Model A custom build. Gary had always had a dream to own a 1930 Ford Model A Hot Rod since his teenage years. 2020 UNB delivered. Starting out by finding an original car with the rumble seat. Stripped down and rebuilt under the original steel body with wood framing leaving the original glass. Changing:

Ford 351 Windsor
New Frame
Edelbrock Dual Quad
Air Conditioning
Electrical Systems: wipers, fuel pump, LED Lights
Ford Automatic Transmission
Currie Rear End with Posi
Rack & Pinion Steering
Wilwood Power Brakes
New Seats
Chrome Extras

It is now at home with Gary! You can view the rest of the gallery here.

Joe brought a 1979 VW Convertible Bug to UNB to get this unit back on the road for a daily driver. Another vehicle that had been in the family and someone had started the restoration on it before arriving at our shop. The motor was not working and so were many of the items needed to make the car function. Being a German, Uwe's knowledge of how the VW was engineered helped put this car back on the road. This vehicle needed everything but paint.

A new style of Goldwing trike conversion we started offering this year was the Goldwing convertible trike. We offer it for the 2018 and newer Goldwings. You can see an in-depth look at how we did it here.

And finally, if you haven’t had a chance to check it out, or if you know someone who has been researching their first trike, we wrote a Trike Buying Guide. Feel free to share it with them or anyone who may be interested, we hope it helps!

We look forward to what 2021 will bring. We already have a few projects underway that we can’t wait to share with you all!

August 13, 2020

The Automatic Goldwing Convertible Trike. A New Style of Goldwing Trikes.

August 13, 2020/ Phil Cohrs

Update 5/5/2021: Due to a change of the Honda Goldwing Top trunk on the new 2021 models and Hannigan’s trike body production, this Convertible option is currently unavailable.

We met Mike earlier this year when he came in with his friend James. They brought us a very cool project idea. Taking a brand new automatic Goldwing 1800 DCT and converting it to a trike, but making it so the top trunk would be removable so they would have the sporty F6B look - all while keeping the standard features of a GL1800.

This custom trike conversion project would consist of:

Finding a new automatic Goldwing 1800.
Ordering a Hannigan Gen III trike kit to install.
180 front end - fit, paint, and installation.
Making the top trunk removable and finding a way to fill the ‘hole’ that would be left there.
Custom rear wheel research and installation.
LED lights to easily stand out at night.
Upgrading the stock front speakers and custom installing speakers into the rear of the trike body for when the top trunk is removed.

He ordered a black 2019 Goldwing DCT. The Hannigan Gen III trike kit and accessories were ordered and once everything started arriving UNB got to work.

We began by removing the rear body components and rear suspension and installing the new Gen III independent suspension. Check out our other blog posts for more on the trike kit installation process. After the trike kit is on we work on body alignment and fitment and the 180 front end package.

The body goes on to be aligned with and without the top trunk. It also gets fit to align with the side panels, auxiliary gas tank filler, and the new top panel to fill the hole left by the top trunk. The upgraded speakers were installed in the front along with a new powerful amp. The new custom rear speakers were then fit, wired, and set up for installation in the body after painting. Once everything is fit, the body goes off for paint and the work on the front end begins.

The front end work started by a little extra customization to the DuoLever front fork by Hannigan Motorsports. It was painted black to match the bike for a better look.

After the fork was installed, the 180 wide front end package fitment begins.

The 180 package comes with a wider front wheel, tire, and fender. As well as brake line modifications. The front fork allows for easier steering, the wider tire provides better handling. The wider tire also lasts much longer than the standard Goldwing front tire. Mike also added some chrome to the front end for some extra pop. Another extra detail accessory from UNB, was a custom-fabricated longer rear half of the front fender to cover more of the tire to protect the cowl.

The trike body, spoiler whale tail, and foot fairings were painted and more chrome and LED accessories were installed during the final stretch.

Mike’s trike looks amazing at night! The Goldstrike LED Shock and Awe package can be operated from Mike’s phone.

The rear speakers stay in the body at all times, but the ‘filler panel’ is removable, making it a convertible when the top trunk is removed. Mike also replaced his stock seat with a Saddleman seat.

Congrats on your new ride Mike!

May 16, 2020

Goldwing 1800 DCT Trike Kit Installation Video - Building A Brand New Automatic Trike!

May 16, 2020/ Phil Cohrs

Louis and Pyong walked into our showroom looking to have a brand new trike built. They had their new automatic Goldwing delivered from Sport Cycles in Rockingham, NC, and UNB installed a Roadsmith HTX trike kit. Here is a video of the trike kit installation.

Many happy miles of comfortable travel awaits them. Welcome to the UNB Customs trike family!

May 09, 2020

2008 Goldwing Trike Kit Conversion

May 09, 2020/ Phil Cohrs

Ric and Linda are ready to ride their new Goldwing trike this spring!

They ordered a Roadsmith HTS1800 Goldwing trike kit. Customized with a triple tree steering kit, running boards, chrome wheels, a parking brake, and paint protection on the fenders.

Roadsmith trike kit installed on a Goldwing 1800.

A look under the body of a trike kit installed on a Goldwing.

The Roadsmith trike kit provides a true rear independent suspension. The trailing arm for each wheel allows for a longer wheelbase while absorbing each bump in the road smoothly and independently of the other wheel. The rear sway bar adds to the smoothness of the ride. The automotive differential, driveshaft cv joints, and disc brakes offer an extremely durable solution to the moving, wearable parts on the trike kit. These parts are all engineered to go on cars, so the lighter duty application of a trike makes them last much longer. They are a big reason behind Roadsmith’s impressive 3 year - 1,000,000 mile warranty. The Goldwing retains the original exhaust with extensions to move them out to be even with the body. You can see the 1 1/4” trailer hitch that comes standard on the Roadsmith trike kits is built right into the frame.

After we paint the trike body to match the Goldwing, we sand and buff the body for a final prep before installation.

Trike body installation on the Goldwing.

The taillights, trunk carpeting, hinges, and trim all go on the body during the installation. Then the top trunk gets put back on and we install the running boards.

Trike body and running boards installed on the Goldwing.

We brought the trike over to TNT Auto Glass for paint protection. They did a phenomenal job of installing the paint protection on the trike fenders and running boards. The paint protection is clear so it doesn’t take away from the looks of the Goldwing trike, while also being very strong to protect against road debris.

Paint protection on the Goldwing trike body.

Ric and Linda’s completed Goldwing trike

February 07, 2020

Honda F6B Trike Conversion with a Custom Reverse

February 07, 2020/ Phil Cohrs

The F6B Is a beautiful machine. We were lucky enough to get to bring one back to life after a little dust up and it came back better than ever!

Charles brought us his F6B wanting it to be a slick-looking trike that rode as comfortable as possible. So we pulled out all the stops.

We went with the Hannigan independent suspension trike kit for a super smooth ride.
The wider 180 front end rake kit for better trike handling and easier steering.
Running board ground effects for keeping the weather off him and ties the look together.
Added LED Lights for style & safety.
Reused F6B saddlebag lights on the trike body as signal / running lights.
Lighted Spoiler (brake light) on the back of the trike body for more visibility.
Chrome wheels
Trailer package - Tow hitch and receiver and tie-downs on the trike frame for easy transportation.
Battery tender plug and a power accessory block for ease of adding more accessories later.
Auxiliary fuel tank.
A reverse that is not available on the F6B from Honda or with any trike conversion on the market.

The simple fact is trikes are large, heavy machines. Most riders park smart 99.9% of the time but there will always be that one time that you will need to back it up. Without a reverse to help, you will be pushing it! That is why UNB Customs works so hard to try to offer a custom reverse to trikes whenever possible.

UNB was able to custom fit a reverse motor in the Hannigan trike suspension. It was then set up to operate with a simple switch mounted inside the switch housing on the handlebar making it look factory!

Another detail we wanted to improve for Charles was the location of the trunk lock and how the trunk light activated. We moved the lock to the fins side cover instead of below the spoiler for easier key access. We also wired the trunk light to only turn on when the trunk door is open so it won’t cause any unnecessary draw on the battery.