My customized "4 wheel" tilting PCX

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ThaiExpat
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My customized "4 wheel" tilting PCX

Post by ThaiExpat »

I am living in N. Thailand currently and am posting a first pic of my modified PCX that I just received - the pic not yet the bike - from the builder (in far southern Thailand). I've wanted this for about 4 years and finally moved here recently and got it ordered. It's been a process to say the least but I should be receiving my "new" scooter around new years day, give or take.
This is a tilting kit that is purported to aid in vehicle stability and can be called anything from an elderly 'add-on' or training wheels. But my fascination has always been for a reasonably priced tilting scooter that still feels like a motorcycle.
I am anxious to begin testing it here when it finally arrives and to determine what auxiliary add-ons I will need to devise. My expectation is that this system will need some "beefing up" to handle the load and tilt (Im 6'2" and 100kg) and I believe will require some torsion springs to add resistance when heavily tilted to prevent a fall over. Communication with the shop was a real challenge as you can imagine due to language barrier and I am really curious just what I've got myself into. I will do a longer story behind the choice and the process if anyone is interested (and probably even if no one is...... LOL).
BTW, this a a lightly used 2021 PCX 160 with ABS that I acquired specifically for this purpose. This is the heaviest and largest motorcycle the shop will add their tilting mechanism to, thus my choice of PCX. But what a great bike to ride. I just had it about a month before shipping it south for the build and loved it. I changed the color from candy rose red to pearlescent white and changed the "brown" center panels to black. Upgraded to YSS front Imagesport fork kit and changed to Cho-bi rear 320mm performance shocks (black).

I'm sure as usual on any forum there will be some "you shoulda" and I'd never" and whatever. You can save it. My bike, my choice. I did attempt to gather some info from the forum before I ordered this kit, but I got no feedback and the Forum was unresponsive. Now I know why.
But here it is. More pics and more background plus assessment after it gets to me.

https://www.hondapcx.org/download/file. ... 2d9e17828d
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Conelite
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Re: My customized "4 wheel" tilting PCX

Post by Conelite »

At first, I thought this was for someone with a disability.

So, is this simply for personal preference? Would love to see more angles of the kit. Where the articulating points are.
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ThaiExpat
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Re: My customized "4 wheel" tilting PCX

Post by ThaiExpat »

Hi and thanks for any input.
I have now had the bike for about three weeks. I always knew this rig would need to be altered and tweaked to meet my hopes and needs. That said, I have observed the following issues with the setup:

1) It drives nicely with little drop-off in acceleration good top end. I am hesitant to push it past 85-90 kph until I am more accustomed to the set-up. The tilt mechanism appears to work almost seamlessly even at speed. Quite clever engineering design as I always admired their other work as seen on Seree channel on YouTube.
2) It actually pegs out before the tilt stop triangle engages but thats happened only once when I turned a sharp corner and gassed it to clear oncoming traffic......the first drag point is under the forward bracket hanging down under the front floorboard area which holds the "U joint" they have employed there. I will likely add a DIY mini skidplate in the future.
3). angle support bar which attaches at front corner of floorboard and angles backward toward extra wheel on both sides is problematic. This bar is connected to a pivot point under the extra frame rail they added (that is the U joint I mentioned above). But the out-angled bar sits exactly where one would put a foot down on pavement when coming to a stop or when "walking" the bike into and out of a parking spot.
4) total rig width is a big 53" and represents a true danger to cutting corners, tracking curves with traffic, and requires a constant mindfulness that you are that wide and MUST remember such at all times. I am rigging up a horizontal flag pole to match the width of the rear that will be at about knee level and in constant site/view to me in my riding position. A screw-up in this area will result in a disaster wreck that will dislodge one from seat and fling you forward harshly.
5) This bike cannot be entirely dropped to pavement which is a good thing, but the stop system is a triangular welded piece very near and just below flip-down foot rest for your pillion rider. It has already chipped paint on the large angled bar mentioned in section 3 above. I added two yellow PVC snap on spacers to prevent metal to metal contact temporarily for now.
6) The following is true here in Thailand and most of Asia. You MUST hold your arc track thru curves.....someone routinely will cut inside you to pass and with this rig of mine, this statement is more true than ever. But no new learning curve here. I've known for a while that you simply do not flatten curves by your travel path here unless in rural areas and with NO additional traffic.
7). Run full time on lock - non-tilt? I figured this would be a decent alternative especially as I become accustomed to this rig but its the worst option of all. When one rotates the two adjustable pegs on back telescopic tilting bar from the heavy inner box frame, there is just enough play to allow some lean in curves.....but the result is your weight gets shifted outward as you begin the curve and it feels extremely unstable as if you will tip over to outside of curve. This would require major adjustment to become comfortable if ever. Now, one could simply add a thicker rubber pad to those two back pivot point adjustment brackets to allow zero lean-out in curves but not worth it to me as I plan to eliminate this as an option anyway.
8). The rear fenders from the builder are Honda Phantom plastic front fenders Ive been told and are jet black and poorly visible by oncomers or pedestrians. So I have also mounted yellow flags on vertical fiberglass poles on outside of rear fenders and likely will paint fenders pearl white or add yellow highlights soon.
9) By the way, the big external shock absorbers (gold) have nothing to do with adding resistance to tilting, they only support the trailing extra wheels in vertical shock absorption.
10). lean angle 28-30 degrees at max tilt which is perfectly adequate for my comfort level but not fully 28 degrees when I am aboard as I pegged out yesterday. My current plan is to redesign the angled rail that runs from center of auxillary wheels to U joint to get it out of my step area.

Ok a couple of additional notes:
The add-on weighs 110 lbs but doesn't feel that it hampers acceleration or high end to me. Ive only taken it up to 90kmh here in early testing, but it felt like it would easily exceed that speed.
There is a very competent welder here in Chiang Mai who could reconfigure the angled bar that interferes with my foot down position. i have checked the rig when fully tipped to R and l and it doesn,t appear to be a problem with ground and frame clearance if i angle the bar to the 45 degrees earlier than is currently configured and then run the remainder underneath or closer to the below floorboard "belly" panel and parallel to the bottom edge of floorpan. i will remove the offending bar and build a PVC model of what I want to allow testing of potential interference on full tip (obviously wont run bike with skeleton PVC frame!).

And this next issue could be my biggest hurdle: I want to add some kind of resistance to tip that is forgiving for the first, say ten or 15 degrees then gets progressively more resistant as it tips toward the 28 degree max. I don't know enough about suspension or spring systems, or dampers or coils to know which direction to go for this. i don't even know where to attach although I know inner box frame to roughly center of real auxillary wheels is likely spot.
if i can get the long angle frame arm out of my foot rest on ground, im pretty sure i could live with lack of tip resistance and can take my time to experiment with options. But to be perfectly honest, If I just wish to avoid dropping the bike to the pavement, I could simply add frame crash bars to front and leave the rear box frame as is. So the danger in running a much wider rig is the constant danger of clipping an obstacle as you pass and less adaptable to skinny parking spots in the city. Although I just pull it in parallel to curb so far with no issues. It gets plenty of attention and I've given out Seree's website to quite a few expats and local Thais.



Ill include some pics and video of this fascinating system that while far from perfect is really clever. I just need some guidance to make it safer and to fit my wishes.

I cannot figure out how to make hyperlink in this setting so here is the link which you will have to cut and paste to see the video of my actual bike set up when built last month and posted to YTube by Seree builders in Phattalung Thailand
https://line.me/ti/p/U24wBoDvq9
If this won't work simply type YouTube Seree 160 for the video posted in late December 2023.
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