Two front wheels

[Buck Masterson]

I have been throwing around an idea and am wondering if anyone here has tried it. I was thinking about putting a solid axle attached to the forks with a wheel on each end. The end result would be like a reverse trike. I used a piece of threaded rod with some nuts and some old lawn mower wheels to kind of mock it up but it was real bendy so I didnt go any further with it. So has anyone tried it?

 

[MonsterMetal]

I have not tried it but I think it would work if you used BMX hubs that had a oversized axle. I know that that"s what they do on the Atomic Zombie recumbent racer thing. I think if you welded a brace real low between the fork arms (just above where the wheel mounts) that would make it stiff enough to support the two outboard wheels by just the inboard side axle nut. You could build something that bolted in there if you didn't want to permanently alter the fork. Or like you said, have a solid axle but I think it would have to be in the 5/8-3/4 range to be stout enough. Grizzly tools sells a 20" wheel that has a 3/4 hollow axle with cheap bearings for less than $20.. its what I have on the back of my monster trike and what I plan on using for the wheel on my sidecar bike. They are not great but for $15.95 for a complete wheel and tire how much could you expect? I think if you replaced the cheap bearings they would be a bunch better.

Here is a link...
http://grizzly.com/products/20-Spoked-Wheel/H3042

One thing to keep in mind is if you have a very steep headset angle.. Like anything past 80 deg... when you make a turn the inside wheel with take 100% of the load.. Its very likely that the outside wheel would come completely off the ground. Its also likely that it would have very jerkie handling... It would love to go straight and would do ok in a "lean" turn but if you actualy turned the bars it would go NOW because the wheel that is outside the center line of the bike would have a shorter turning radius than the rest of the bike. I think. Thats the way it looks in my head anyway :wink:

 

[StephenH]

I've got a Worksman reverse trike, which of course has the front wheels maybe 30" apart. On it, the front swivel is in fact vertical, so you don't get any lean when you steer.

I'm not sure what it would be like steering with two front wheels close together. It might worik okay like a bike, or might really throw you by having a "flat spot" in the middle of the tilt range.

 

[Mr. Farrell]

i thought about doin the same thing. i drew up a little sketch but hadn't thought about the logistics at all. let me know if works out.

 

[CCR]

whaddabout a suspension fork, tho i havent seen many that compress independently. maybe use somethin like whats on kingplinkers buildoff bike ?

my lbs does have some bendix kart hubs that would handle the mounting a little better imo

 

[Buck Masterson]

Awsome ideas! If I come up with something I'll let everyone know. Right now my projects are on hold due to me coaching football going to school and working full time as well, but hopefully soon I will be able to rock something out!

 

[bigredddaddy]

I built this one for winter commuting, it's from Atomic Zombie too.

It is top heavy so turns are done slow or leaned into, but you arn't going real fast in snow anyway

 

[sensor]

I built this one for winter commuting, it's from Atomic Zombie too.

It is top heavy so turns are done slow or leaned into, but you arn't going real fast in snow anyway

thank you!!! i couldnt remember who did that one or what it was called