I made and rode recumbent bikes and trikes for years. In all, I built 12 recumbents, three two wheelers, nine trikes. Recumbents are seriously fast, particularly the two wheelers. They were banned from competition back around 1930, the ban still applies.
The first two pictures are of a trike I built about 15 years ago, It was made from scavenged parts I found on the side of the road or in the bush, only the spokes, hubs and tyres were bought item, I had a lot of fun on this one, riding it daily for about 10 years. It had a joey cassette just behind the front crossmember giving another four gears to compensate for the 20" rear wheel. This resulted in a very high gear ratio making this trike seriously fast The co-pilot in the back seat loved it, If I tried to go without him he put on a turn. Eventually the chain and cassette started slipping, so I retired it, hung it from the shed roof and I built a two wheeler. eventually I pulled the white one down from the roof, cut it up and threw it away. I hated doing that as I'd had so much fun on it, but it was just collecting dust and taking up valuable space
I got the two wheeler to the test stage, but testing it in the confines of my tiny backyard I crashed it, falling off, splitting my head open on a concrete pot and badly gashing my right leg. At this point my wife convinced this doddery old fool he needed training wheels and convinced me to build another trike instead. The two wheeler was chucked behind my shed and so I made another trike, picture three. The ride was ok, just a bit hard over bumps, I'm old now and like a bit of comfort. so I decided to build one with rear suspension, pictures four and five.
I've learned a lot over the years building 12 recumbents, so I put everything I'd learned into this final build. You'll notice the difference in frame design between the white/grey trike and the last build. The new design saves a little weight. All important when your 70 years old. The new one has nine position adjustable suspension, hydraulic disk brakes, adjustable toe in, two degree caster and camber, an aluminium seat back with lumbar support. The frame is 32mm square tube, the swingarm is 40 x 20mm tube. Kingpin bearings and tank steering levers have plain Delrin bushings. Front wheels are 20" rims laced to aluminium disk hubs with stainless spokes (and no thread showing), rear is 700c. Cycle parts are Shimano Deore, nine speed cassette, three ring chainwheel. Chain is around 2.5 bicycle chains running through Delrin idlers riding on small ball bearings. Bottom bracket is 6" higher than seat base, seat angle is 42 degrees, weight is 19 kgs, same weight as the aluminium framed MTB from which I scavenged the Deore cycle parts.
My hips have had enough of this malarkey and so the trike was retired. It sits on the garage floor now, but I can't bring myself to cut it up and throw it away.
The first two pictures are of a trike I built about 15 years ago, It was made from scavenged parts I found on the side of the road or in the bush, only the spokes, hubs and tyres were bought item, I had a lot of fun on this one, riding it daily for about 10 years. It had a joey cassette just behind the front crossmember giving another four gears to compensate for the 20" rear wheel. This resulted in a very high gear ratio making this trike seriously fast The co-pilot in the back seat loved it, If I tried to go without him he put on a turn. Eventually the chain and cassette started slipping, so I retired it, hung it from the shed roof and I built a two wheeler. eventually I pulled the white one down from the roof, cut it up and threw it away. I hated doing that as I'd had so much fun on it, but it was just collecting dust and taking up valuable space
I got the two wheeler to the test stage, but testing it in the confines of my tiny backyard I crashed it, falling off, splitting my head open on a concrete pot and badly gashing my right leg. At this point my wife convinced this doddery old fool he needed training wheels and convinced me to build another trike instead. The two wheeler was chucked behind my shed and so I made another trike, picture three. The ride was ok, just a bit hard over bumps, I'm old now and like a bit of comfort. so I decided to build one with rear suspension, pictures four and five.
I've learned a lot over the years building 12 recumbents, so I put everything I'd learned into this final build. You'll notice the difference in frame design between the white/grey trike and the last build. The new design saves a little weight. All important when your 70 years old. The new one has nine position adjustable suspension, hydraulic disk brakes, adjustable toe in, two degree caster and camber, an aluminium seat back with lumbar support. The frame is 32mm square tube, the swingarm is 40 x 20mm tube. Kingpin bearings and tank steering levers have plain Delrin bushings. Front wheels are 20" rims laced to aluminium disk hubs with stainless spokes (and no thread showing), rear is 700c. Cycle parts are Shimano Deore, nine speed cassette, three ring chainwheel. Chain is around 2.5 bicycle chains running through Delrin idlers riding on small ball bearings. Bottom bracket is 6" higher than seat base, seat angle is 42 degrees, weight is 19 kgs, same weight as the aluminium framed MTB from which I scavenged the Deore cycle parts.
My hips have had enough of this malarkey and so the trike was retired. It sits on the garage floor now, but I can't bring myself to cut it up and throw it away.
