Custom Trikes Australia History
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Back in the mid 1960's I developed a fascination for motor bikes; as high school students, we used to pick up old bikes and strip them for the dirt ( this was typical all around Australia I think).
My first attempt building a custom bike was in 1967. I built a custom frame and used a 600cc Panther motor; the wheels and the gearbox was Triumph and the tank was from a Bantam BSA motor bike.
One day we decided to build a trike. We used a 500cc AJS and a rear end out of a car, we replaced the crown wheel with a home-made sprocket. When it was going, we had a lot of fun - that was 1968.
Between 1968 and now, we have built many bikes, frames, tanks, pipes and many other parts.
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In 1978 Fiora Machinery was started; building custom bikes, parts and machinery.
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1986 was the year we designed and built a 850 Moto Guzzi trike for a customer. We designed and built the frame, the suspension was made out of Subaru parts, with the fibreglass and painting contracted out. Since this trike was built, we have made many improvements in design and in the manufacturing process. We decided that after designing and building Ding Bob's trike, the trike conversion was not the way to go - as conversions don't handle well, and loose value very fast. But we must congratulate Bob & John for producing the best backyard web site in the world - "good on you guys, great effort, we salute you and we are pleased to see Bob still has the trike - as we say "quality lasts".
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F.a.q. Q. Who designed the Moto Guzzy trike ? A. Mick Fiora designed and developed the full frame and suspension from scratch; we did not make the body or paint it, we only did some of the metal parts for the plug. Q. Who did the drawings for the trike ? A. There were no drawings supplied or engineers involved in the building of the trike, it was all done by Mick in our factory because Bob was working as a storeman, and did not want to spend any money, so we built it between jobs. Q. Was it hard to licence for the road ? A. We have no idea because Bob got it done as he has a mate in transport (nudge nudge wink wink ). Q. What made you develop and build trikes as well as designing, importing, exporting and selling machinery ? (visit www.fioramachinery.com.au) A. We realised the need for a fully engineered trike and a service centre as all the trike assemblers were backyarders and still are. We are still the only manufacturers in Western Australia with a factory, showroom and shop with stock that carry a product liability insurance on our engineered products.
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We all get ideas from other builders and this gives us inspiration for what we build; eg the leading link front end. This was in “Iron Horse “ magazine in June 1979.
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Over time, we manufactured parts for most of the trike builders in WA. We decided in 2002 to develop our own trike kit and to set up the first trike shop. We decided to go wholesale & retail because in WA we found a need for a true backup service, and the need for engineered parts (see kits and accessories) |
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Custom Trikes Australia
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