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| November 1999WA’s Wogs-wagen - the ultimate VW trike ?
After all, nothing serious comes out of WA, now does it ? Everything is based on the east coast and any notable Australian engineering achievements must come from Sydney or Melbourne. So much for stereotypes. In reality, ‘Ding’ Bob as he is affectionately known has been building custom and one-off motor vehicles for the best part of thirty years. One of the first in the country to make a chopper motorcycle legal for road use, Bob quickly moved onto trikes and produced Australia’s first road legal, non factory (i.e Harley servicar) trike. Something to talk about Bob has simply carried on regardless of them all, relying not on flashy advertising schemes but, incredibly, word of mouth. Because when people ride one of Bob’s trikes, they want to talk about it ! Although he’s not into volume production, Bob now supplies many of the country’s Harley tour operators with his weird and wonderful machines, while small numbers of kits are being sold overseas to places such as Germany and Japan. Motorcyclists and others who have lost limbs or become paraplegic turn to Bob also, and he’s something of an expert on putting vehicles for such people - with their highly individual controls - through the licensing system. The Volkswagen trike you’re looking at here, though, is a major turning point in Bob’s trike building business. "I’d basically gone as far as I could go with motorcycle trikes and the growth of the business necessitated that I start looking at car engines," explained the ever friendly Perth personality. "With a car-engined trike you automatically get a reverse gear too, and the engine isn’t as stressed in this application as a motorcycle engine." Engine choices – eenie, meenie…
"The Subaru engine is quieter and more powerful, but the rear torsion bar is just too heavy for a trike", explained Bob. "With the Volkswagen type 3 on the other hand, the complete rear end with independent suspension can simply be lifted out, and the whole package is much more suitable in terms of weight and strength for trike application." It can be seen that it isn’t quite just a matter of lifting the engine from its car application, but the major components of the car’s engine supporting structure also. Incidentally, one other benefit to the Volkswagen engine is that it doesn’t require a radiator and plumbing for water cooling. And as Bob so succinctly put it; "You could blow a hole in A VW engine with a shotgun and it’ll still run - they’re indestructible !" The need for independent rear suspension is not a point to be taken lightly either. In the old days, rigid rear ends gave trikes a none too glamorous image and Bob realised this very essential problem a long time ago. Needless to say, his motorcycle trikes have always had independent rear ends. The VW type 3 torsion bar is no use by itself of course, and mates to Bob’s own steel tube chassis. This is triangulated for strength and the front section is a twin down tube copy of a basic motorcycle chassis. Getting it right up front The tubes in the chassis have a wall thickness of 2.5mm and the design is such that it mates directly to the VW torsion arm. A beam across the gearbox adds strength and one of the design aims was to maintain access to the engine and box. This has been achieved in that the entire powertrain can be unbolted as one unit within 15 minutes, once the bodywork has been removed of course. A motorcyclist at heart, Bob has a head start over many other trike builders, as he understands the physics and geometry of motorcycle head angles and front suspension systems. There are no wildly stretched front forks on this trike, just a 32 degree head angle which is practical for everyday riding. In the 1980s, a variety of front suspension alternatives appeared on numerous prototype motorcycles and several of these have now made it into production (BMW’s telelever for example). A number have been tried by trike and sidecar builders the World over, especially centre hub steering. However, according to Bob; "Centre hub steering is very involved and you’ve only got to be 1mm out for things to go horribly wrong." And as for the good old motorcycle-type telescopic front forks; "Telescopic forks don’t handle the same on a trike as they do on a motorcycle and that can cause problems in itself." Not surprisingly, Bob has devised his own front suspension set up which he describes as cantilever, offering significant ride quality and superb handling in all conditions. Consequently, the front forks on this VW trike are not forks in the traditional sense, but solid steel tubes with the cantilever system attached at the bottom. The engine in this particular trike was lifted straight from a car and into its three wheeler role with no internal modifications. Bob doesn’t hide the fact that what your looking at here is a prototype and as such, ensuring that the motor was in generally good working order was all that mattered. For customers however, it’ll be a totally different matter. "A well known local Volkswagen specialist will blueprint and internally balance all our engines before they go to any customers", stated Bob. "Any VW trikes leaving my workshop will thus be covered by a one year warranty - and that will include the engine and gearbox." While the prototype’s engine is stock internally, a few ancilliaries have been moved around and/or replaced. Eagle eyed readers will notice the Holden brake booster now sitting on top of the engine, for example, while the standard mechanical fuel pump has been replaced by an electric unit. Which pumps the fuel from a custom 62 litre aluminium tank that sits between the lower frame rails near the front of the trike. Obviously the potential for worked engines to be used in these machines exists, although Bob isn’t offering the service himself. But when it is remembered that this trike weighs about half the weight of on original Volkswagen car, even with a stock engine there’s some performance increase. Customers can however specify things such as carburettors and ignition systems, although in this particular instance everything is stock standard right down to the twin Solex carbies. One thing that couldn’t remain standard was the exhaust. This is still a matter which Bob is refining somewhat, the piping at this stage consisting of stock size headers leading into a tuned length twin system with ‘Hot Dog’ mufflers. "It actually flows too good at the moment and needs a little more restriction to help stop popping," admitted Bob. Subtle as a brick between the eyes
The bodywork began as a copy of a fairing for a mate’s Honda Goldwing trike, yet Bob had clear intentions of what he was trying to create. "I wanted to destroy the old motorcycle myth that if you can’t handle the cold, wind and soaking rain, then you shouldn’t be riding," he said. "And I wanted to build something that you could jump on and ride from Perth to Sydney in complete comfort." This objective has certainly been achieved, with the bottom half of the bodywork wide and flared to deflect the wind and elements. There was one other ulterior motive in regards to the bodywork, because Bob actually designed it with the passenger in mind. "There’s no point in having the rider dry and comfortable if the passenger is copping all the wind and rain !", he said. Oh, and we should also mention that the glass work was performed by a mother who wants to remain anonymous. Bob has tried a number of Perth’s fibreglass experts over the years, but reckons they have nothing on this lady! As for the colour scheme, this can be individually ordered, but the blue and yellow hues on this prototype are the result of Bob and a few mates standing around in the workshop one evening enjoying a few cans! We reckon there must have been some stronger spirits at work that night, but Bob is more than happy with the end result. And it sure makes this one-off stand out on the road. When we followed Bob to the photo shoot location, cars screeched to a halt, pedestrians stared with their jaws on the pavement and there were a few close calls as drivers failed to concentrate on their driving ! The paintwork was laid down by the Gogan brothers in Rivervale, while Nick at O’Connor Trimmers finished the package off with some neat matching leather work. As a complete package, Bob’s first venture into the Volkswagen trike field is a sure fire winner and the potential for individual customer requirements is there for all to see. Parts-bin special? The headlight comes from a 1972 1100 Morris, the rear reflectors are from a 1957 Vauxhall Velox and the front wheel is an early ‘80s CB 900 Honda item. Then there’s the ex-police Harley fog lights, Yamaha Virago handlegrips on self made handlebars and GTS Suzuki rear vision mirrors. Quite frankly, we haven’t got space for the full list. Oh, and if you’ve been wondering all this time about how the controls on this thing work, the accelerator and rear brake is worked by the right foot, while the left foot operates the clutch pedal. The gearstick pokes up through the dummy tank, and the only hand control is the front brake on the right handlebar. Call Bob’s Volkswagen marvel a `parts bin special’ if you like, but the reality is that it all blends together beautifully, and combines perfectly with thirty years of highly specialised engineering knowledge. To contact Bob Bussallato, click here Wogs-wagen trike Nuts`n’Bolts ENGINE
CHASSIS & GEOMETRY Chassis: Volkswagon type 3 rear torsion arm mated to custom & triangulated tube wall chassis.
WHEELS, BRAKES & TYRES
MISCELLANEOUS Bodywork: Fully custom with Dunstall copy screen
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It’s probably because he’s from Western Australia that Bob
Bussallato hasn’t received the national publicity he deserves. 
Having
used modified Subaru diffs for a number of years with his motorcycle-engined machines, Bob
obviously had a bias towards the Japanese flat four motor, but it soon became apparent
that another flat four was even more suitable.
If
you can honestly say that you clicked on this page and weren’t initially stunned,
well, we reckon you must be brain dead !