A neighbour gave me a 50cc 2-stroke motor. The next day I spotted a drift trike. After searching YouTube, I noticed everyone was motorizing the back wheels. But that just didn’t add up. You’re putting power through wheels designed to slip, courtesy of the PVC pipe.
I decided to motorize the front wheel. After working out a decent gear ratio that gives the trike some good low end torque and not too much top end, the trike works like a dream.
Unlike rear-wheel drive trikes, you want to get up to top speed and then throw the trike into a slide… even completely sideways (90 degrees) if you have the nerve. To get the most extreme drifts, you actually let off the gas for a sec, and then feather it back on to control the slide.
It’s a ton ‘o fun.
FYI, the motor is off a handheld auger. (I get this question a lot.)