Well, the girlfriend wanted me to build her a bike so she could ride with me, or I wanted to build another bike so I used her as an excuse, not really sure on that one. :lol: Anyway, she didn't like the riding position of my "industrial stretch straightbar" and lacks a little balance for slow cruising on something with "relaxed" geometry, so the obvious answer to that was a trike. heck, I really wanted to build one, so I wasn't complaining at all, I'll use my original two-wheel stretch I had designed for her on another project.
First off, if you have no plans of painting an EBay trike, don't buy it from lv-imports, I would need a gallon of touch-up paint to cover up all the chips and what looks like burns in the paint. Still waiting to hear what they plan to do to compensate me for that. :roll:
Well, on with the pictures. I finally got the bike Monday, so I've had two good nights to work on it. The first thing I did was install the 26" drop springer I ordered for it to bring it more down to earth:
Stock:
Dropped, along with pulling two of the four trike section bolts out to let the rear hinge down to level the bottom tube out:
Then it was time to address the frame:
An early rough mock-up:
Head tube and top tube modifications:
Making the head tube look good:
Another mock-up:
Gusset plans:
Again with the mock-up, this time to see the big picture, and to figure out brackets to attach the trike section:
If all goes well, I should have the frame done this weekend and I still have to figure out what color she wants it to be and figure out a pinstripe design or something. Need to get the 24x3 rear tires on order, and I'll be making a "trunk" for the rear as well.
First off, if you have no plans of painting an EBay trike, don't buy it from lv-imports, I would need a gallon of touch-up paint to cover up all the chips and what looks like burns in the paint. Still waiting to hear what they plan to do to compensate me for that. :roll:
Well, on with the pictures. I finally got the bike Monday, so I've had two good nights to work on it. The first thing I did was install the 26" drop springer I ordered for it to bring it more down to earth:
Stock:
![DSCN4826.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/52a/52a7527110ae72872cddfacf2b1b2499.jpg)
![DSCN4825.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/c06/c066cd93434cef115eff312ceee92011.jpg)
Dropped, along with pulling two of the four trike section bolts out to let the rear hinge down to level the bottom tube out:
![DSCN4830.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/520/5207d50d827f598ad43614d4004288cf.jpg)
![DSCN4831.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/b16/b16e36383ebe0637d401dcf7fa2be60e.jpg)
Then it was time to address the frame:
![DSCN4835.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/3fb/3fb055896ac5804224874295c1d4e1c5.jpg)
![DSCN4836.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/6f8/6f844963502c177a8f5db8f6f307129b.jpg)
An early rough mock-up:
![DSCN4841.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/aa1/aa1090e2c2a558f601c6d191cde5f345.jpg)
Head tube and top tube modifications:
![DSCN4845.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/c1e/c1ef0ff697475858bf8cd12fa4ef05a0.jpg)
![DSCN4850.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/62e/62e0e7255f9d0a0d44e4a3806cc97144.jpg)
![DSCN4852.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/ac2/ac2bcc470055f48489021c5a5b51b1c3.jpg)
Making the head tube look good:
![DSCN4855.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/e0a/e0a730e507cbe13d6a91d7782497912e.jpg)
![DSCN4858.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/d58/d58f0dc5ef5b536d0339763823b15719.jpg)
![DSCN4861.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/20e/20e0ed53b977ec981c75d68d3e563b9f.jpg)
Another mock-up:
![DSCN4862.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/9a7/9a71464169ce20a42c374f6af6a70a92.jpg)
Gusset plans:
![DSCN4864.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/85c/85c2da841fc8c2eb73550ad533692db5.jpg)
Again with the mock-up, this time to see the big picture, and to figure out brackets to attach the trike section:
![DSCN4868.jpg](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/6a8/6a8bc622f595feea89e8e01a7755f3d1.jpg)
If all goes well, I should have the frame done this weekend and I still have to figure out what color she wants it to be and figure out a pinstripe design or something. Need to get the 24x3 rear tires on order, and I'll be making a "trunk" for the rear as well.