Fancy nuts

[Clarifixer]

Always wanted a custom vehicle that I could machine and/or fabricate bits and pieces for, and found with my skewed taste, a tadpole-style recumbent trike was fertile ground. When I reversed the quick release mechanism on the front wheels for looks (and maybe a tiny bit of aerodynamic flow), I didn't like how the stock long nuts stuck out, so I fabricated some out of C.R. steel that are 10mm shorter. After turning and knurling them, I pressed on serrated rings from some odds and sods to keep them locked in. Stepped washers took care of potential bearing binding. Now, a couple of little aluminum hubcaps with anodized red cap screws for bling will finish them off--tonight's project....

 

[BigAl62]

WAY COOL! And I like the odds and sods reference too!

 

[rickairmedic]

Those look great . So wheres the rest of the Trike . Heres mine well Ok my grandsons but I am building it for him .

Rick

 

[PT Doc]

Nice work.

 

[Clarifixer]

Those look great . So wheres the rest of the Trike . Heres mine well Ok my grandsons but I am building it for him .


Rick

Well, O.K. (*sigh*), now that you've twisted my arm , here's the beast, with the outboard Q.R. levers. It's an I.C.E. (Inspired Cycle Engineering) Q-26 with lots of mods. After decades of seriously riding a diamond frame bicycle, my back, neck and shoulders are much happier, not to mention the panoramic view of the world afforded by a trike. On the hills it's a bit slow, but my "motor" is still pretty good, so I can rock 'n roll on the flats, and kick serious **** on the descents.

 

[rickairmedic]

Nice ride . With your machines and abilities you might want to check out Atomic Zombie . I plan to build myself a Tadpole trike when I get done with the grandsons .

Rick

 

[AussieDan]

Very cool! Looking forward to seeing pics of the finished product.

I got about 3/4 of the way through building a fully-suspended leaning recumbent trike in high school, but it was shelved when I went away for college and then I moved to the US...

One of these days I'll find an excuse to build another, and finish it this time!

 

[Clarifixer]

Very cool! Looking forward to seeing pics of the finished product.

I got about 3/4 of the way through building a fully-suspended leaning recumbent trike in high school, but it was shelved when I went away for college and then I moved to the US...

One of these days I'll find an excuse to build another, and finish it this time!

I.C.E. has a new fully suspended trike out this year utilizing elastomers that are interchangeable for individual riders' weight. They are one of the premier builders, base in the U.K., with very elegant ideas and first rate build quality. The front suspension is also a retro-fit, and I'm eyeballing it although it does add a bit of weight and raises the center of gravity. It is just sooooo cool!

 

[Clarifixer]

Nice ride . With your machines and abilities you might want to check out Atomic Zombie . I plan to build myself a Tadpole trike when I get done with the grandsons .

Rick

Man, who'd a thought there would be a site like that? Very interesting. A lot of that stuff takes me back to my first job in the early 60's as a mechanic in a bike shop when things were fairly simple. Today's high end $$$$tuff is off the charts with materials and aerodynamic enhancements. You still have to have legs, though, no matter what you're riding.

 

[ibedayank]

Nice ride . With your machines and abilities you might want to check out Atomic Zombie . I plan to build myself a Tadpole trike when I get done with the grandsons .

Rick

IF you ever finish it Rick... how many years has it been since ya started...

 

[rickairmedic]

IF you ever finish it Rick... how many years has it been since ya started...

LOL Ok I will admit I started it for my older grandson who moved back to Fla with his mom before it was finished soooooooooo . I put it up for a while but now I have a new grandson so it is back out of the mothballs and will get finished this winter .

To many projects not enough hours in a day .

Rick

 

[rickairmedic]

Man, who'd a thought there would be a site like that? Very interesting. A lot of that stuff takes me back to my first job in the early 60's as a mechanic in a bike shop when things were fairly simple. Today's high end $$$$tuff is off the charts with materials and aerodynamic enhancements. You still have to have legs, though, no matter what you're riding.

LOL who would have thought there would be a web site that would make you gut your garage and start all over . TWICE .


Rick

 

[AussieDan]

I.C.E. has a new fully suspended trike out this year utilizing elastomers that are interchangeable for individual riders' weight. They are one of the premier builders, base in the U.K., with very elegant ideas and first rate build quality. The front suspension is also a retro-fit, and I'm eyeballing it although it does add a bit of weight and raises the center of gravity. It is just sooooo cool!

Yes indeed, there are some pretty cool ideas floating around out there! Their solution looks like it should be nice and solid, but I'm guessing it's geared more towards smoothing out minor surface irregularities than dealing with big bumps.

 

[Clarifixer]

Finally got around to making some "hubcaps" for the front hubs. I've already done a lot of turned aluminum with red anodized hardware elsewhere on the trike, so I followed that theme. First shot is the knurled nuts in place--with shortening the axles, I actually lost about 10 grams. The second is the finished product.

 

[bad_idea]

wow. this is one of the oddest projects i have seen on here. never ceases to amaze me what hobbies people have. please don't take this as an insult, just an interesting observation. is it rude of me to ask around about what you have invested in the trike? again, pretty cool/ interesting project there.

p.s. your nuts may be fancier than mine, but mine are huge.... (7/8-9)

 

[Clarifixer]

wow. this is one of the oddest projects i have seen on here. never ceases to amaze me what hobbies people have. please don't take this as an insult, just an interesting observation. is it rude of me to ask around about what you have invested in the trike? again, pretty cool/ interesting project there.

p.s. your nuts may be fancier than mine, but mine are huge.... (7/8-9)

You should see the kids laugh, wave and shout out "Cool bike!" when I whiz by. I try not to keep too close a watch on the expenses, and don't give my wife too many details about it, but the trike cost about $3100 new in 2009, and I've got about half again that much in it with performance upgrades and bling. I ain't done yet--thinking up new ideas and spending a few hours at the lathe are therapeutic, and it seems like even new purchases beg to be modified.

In addition to the comfortable fun this weird contraption offers, I have dropped about 10 pounds and lowered the blood sugar and cholesterol levels considerably. And that alone is worth the bucks to me.

Hey, big nuts can be a good thing....

 

[NASTYZEN]

Nice trike.
One look at it and I thought hybrid electric. You know.... to help out a little with those hills....
Cool design.

 

[ibedayank]

Nastyzen the electric bikes have a very limited range and are pretty coslty for batteries
now a 50cc or smaller will go till it runs out of gas and the whole kits cost less then a lithium battery pack

 

[bad_idea]

You should see the kids laugh, wave and shout out "Cool bike!" when I whiz by. I try not to keep too close a watch on the expenses, and don't give my wife too many details about it, but the trike cost about $3100 new in 2009, and I've got about half again that much in it with performance upgrades and bling. I ain't done yet--thinking up new ideas and spending a few hours at the lathe are therapeutic, and it seems like even new purchases beg to be modified.

In addition to the comfortable fun this weird contraption offers, I have dropped about 10 pounds and lowered the blood sugar and cholesterol levels considerably. And that alone is worth the bucks to me.

Hey, big nuts can be a good thing....

thats a few duckets! then again, my camaro cost me 11k to buy and it goes on from there. one day i would like to have the space to have a lathe. again, some nice work there.

 

[Kevin54]

Nice machining work on the nuts. The only downside is that they are C.R. Steel. They will rust in no time unless you have some type of coating on them. Where did you get the serrated rings from?

 

[danski0224]

Trice

They don't make 'em like this anymore...

 

[Clarifixer]

Nice machining work on the nuts. The only downside is that they are C.R. Steel. They will rust in no time unless you have some type of coating on them. Where did you get the serrated rings from?

I have a light coating of Universal RIG on them (used to prevent rust in black powder shooting gear), and an pretty **** about keeping things bright. The rings were pirated off of the original nuts--I looked around the 'Net for something similar, but couldn't find anything.

 

[Clarifixer]

Re: Trice

They don't make 'em like this anymore...

The lug work is beautiful. That was one thing I was a bit disappointed with on the new models, and though the TIG work is strong and well done on mine, it sure doesn't have the panache of that hand work.