Stealth build for Tempe Tour De Fat

[pvwacko]

Every year that I have done a new build for the Tour De Fat I have posted a tone of pictures and kept everyone up to speed on progress. This time I decided that it's going to be a secret until I roll up to the park the morning of. But to keep it fun I'm going to post teaser pictures that hint at what might be going on but won't give it away. After the tour I'll fill in all the detailed in progress pics.









That's all the hints for now... I'll post more down the line! I look forward to seeing everyone again at the tour.

 

[pvwacko]

here are some more clues!







more this weekend! any one guessing yet?!?

 

[GTR]

Trike :?:

 

[pvwacko]

Trike :?:

Believe me... The surprise still remains! More picture clues this weekend.

 

[pvwacko]

More clues... Keep your eyes peeled or this at the Tempe tour de fat.

 

[skulldady]

Need more

 

[pvwacko]

More photos that are all missing a few key elements that should make this bike a standout in the crowd October 5th.

 

[pvwacko]

I found that my forks are flexing due to the extreme rake and long length. Here's what I did to beef them up a little without adding a bunch of weight. Drilled holes through the fork every 6" from top to bottom.



Then I hammered a piece of flat stock into the fork that just barely fit. Once again lined up from top to bottom.



Then using the holes I drilled in the fork tubes I plug welded the flat stock to the tube making a sort of i-beam.



I'm off to have the frame painted this weekend so hopefully assembly will be under way mid next week!

 

[pvwacko]

Frame in the rotisserie at az chop shop getting ready of paint!



Silver base coat down and starting some blue candy!



Frame is now curing while I finish up some small parts to get ready for assembly.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Paul,
This is another SICK creation of Wacko's Garage!
This has been great to follow so far, can't wait for the next installment.

Cheers bro!
Dr. T

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Very cool build! Love your solution for fixing the flex in the front end!

Luke.

 

[pvwacko]

Reassembly has begun! I can't wait to roll this into Tempe Beach Park on October 5th!!

 

[pvwacko]

Here's a shot of the finished product... I'll post more photos from the tour and the build progress later.

Air ride swing axle trike with a differential and a hubless wheel!

 

[iven]

where did you get that top tree?
i have a Manitu fork that has same bottom tree but only that.

sweet build also 8)

 

[pvwacko]

where did you get that top tree?
i have a Manitu fork that has same bottom tree but only that.

I had two forks and modified the second tree to be the upper so they matched. I needed them for thi build because they have no rake built in.

 

[pvwacko]

Here are some better pics from the tour De fat in Tempe! I'll update the build process soon.

 

[Valocalrep]

Looks great man i was watching the whole time to see what was going to come out of it and it turned out fantastic

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

this thing is amazing. Thanks for sharing.

 

[pvwacko]

Swing Axle Trike

ok so here are some build pics. started out with the hubless wheel and told myself if I could get that to work I'd go nuts with the rest of the build. I ordered the 622x50c schwalbe fat frank tire because it was the only tire I could find that would be close to the diameter of the black floyds I wanted to use and still have a similar tread pattern.



I ordered the only reasonable fat rims I could find and stripped the anodizing with easy off oven cleaner and a wire brush. They were then polished to a chrome shine.





Next I started on frame work... got the hubless wheel and fork all lined up in the jig and got all my bends rolled and my miter patterns ready.

 

[pvwacko]

Next came designing and building the independent rear suspension, swingarms, air ride and the rest of what makes this trike drop. started by mocking up the wheel position I wanted.



made a dummy axle to figure out my travel requirements and the correct look.



once I knew what I wanted I had the axles machined and splines cut so I could use a golf card differential and drive both wheels. axles were machined with backing plates to use through axle disc brake hubs for the rear wheels.



outer axle plates had to be made to join the axle to the brake and the air cylinders. also had to have room to connect the trailing arms to keep everything straight.



sorry for the blurry photo but I actually moved the trailing arm mount to inside the chain path to get the back wheels to toe in when the frame is dropped to aid in getting the wheels to track back under themselves when raising the suspension.