Dusko Popov, we need you now more than ever

May 1, 2006 12:25 AM

Please help me build/chop a (grown-man sized) tricycle.

I have had trouble learning to a ride a bike my whole life. Last year, I purchased a tricycle from Chicago's amazing Working Bikes Co-Op. It was amazing, I rode it everywhere. I didn't even mind that it was, at it's heavy one-speed best, considerably slower than a regular bike. Then it was stolen, and I need a new one.

I've found some people who would help me build (and pimp) my new trike, but don't want to search out the special parts on their own (the y-piece for the back wheels, the rear-wheel differential). My question here is, what parts do I need and where can I buy them online?

What parts does a tricycle have that a regular bike doesn't? What parts do they share? What are your ideas for things I can do to alter the bike so I look less like a retard?

...Or if you know any places in the Chicagoland area that I can get a new trike, I could do that too. Summer's coming quick!

posted by elr to sports, hobbies, & recreation (5 comments total)

From your question you're clearly interested in upright trikes, but this page details how to build a recumbent trike, which is, IMO, significantly sweeter/doper/sicker than an upright, since that's of concern to you. There's also some ideas on sourcing the parts.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 5:41 AM on May 1, 2006

I wonder if Working Bikes could help you track down some of the parts? Have you talked to anyone there recently?
posted by ruby.aftermath at 9:38 AM on May 1, 2006

An easy thing to do would be to procure a couple of cheap bikes at a good will or something and chop one up to make a side car for the other. It's really easy to figure out and weld the angles that you need, and it's also great for hauling groceries or a dog.
posted by snsranch at 4:27 PM on May 1, 2006

"Atomic Zombie's Bicycle Builder's Bonanza"
(ISBN: 0-07-142267-6)

More bike building fun than you can shake a stick at! Includes plans for about a dozen bikes, (including a couple of trikes), and it doesn't take much to alter the plans to something that suits you better. The biggest trick for the trikes is to put the two wheels in front, leaving the single back wheel in the back providing the power. This eliminates all the extra hardware you might otherwise need. The book *does* assume that you have some technical abilities (i.e. a willingness to learn how to weld, if you don't already know), and some space to monkey around in. If you are lacking in either of these things, I would try just asking at any of your local bike stores. If they can't help you, or get sticky about it, walk away. Yours is a perfectly reasonable request, and there is no lack of options of bike stores in this town...
posted by schwap23 at 5:16 PM on May 1, 2006

posted by schwap23 The biggest trick for the trikes is to put the two wheels in front, leaving the single back wheel in the back providing the power. This eliminates all the extra hardware you might otherwise need.

That's how I built mine. The engineering can be a bit tricky and you need to be willing to experiment, but the results are worth it.

Here are some of the links I found and saved during my engineering research for the front axle:

http://bicycleuniverse.info/eqp

http://www.haleytrikes.com

http://www.workcycles.com/workbike/index.html
posted by fandango_matt at 12:53 AM on May 2, 2006