I got a call from my Brother-In-Law the other day regarding a little project he had in mind for his dad.
His dad is getting on in years a bit and due to some health and medical issues has recently lost a bit of mobility, he mentioned to his son that he was thinking of getting a trike to be able to ride to the shop to get a loaf of bread, the paper and a bottle of milk, unfortunately the ones he was looking at were pretty low quality and rather expensive for what you get...
Long story short, my Bro-In-Law said 'leave it with me' and then calls me about building a tadpole (two front wheels) cargo trike, with a set of guidelines, must be able to fit easily through a standard doorway, no fiddly brakes or cables, single speed and coaster brake preferred and as compact as possible to allow for storage when not in use.
Cool! I have been wanting to build one for a while!
One small problem...
My Brother-In-Law will be coming down from Darwin to visit at the start of February for a couple of days, and want's to help finish it off with his dad one day while he is here. That gives me just over a week to have it designed, built, rolling, riding, tested and ready for paint!
Did I also mention that I am part way through two builds in the current 'Off-Road-Build-Off'?
Did I also mention that I am nearing the end of a build for my wife?
Did I also mention that my current car runs out of rego in mid February, and I was going to use that as impetus to finally get my little Datsun on the road?
Anyway...
Designed it all up, it will be using 20" wheels all around for compactness, I already have a 20" wheel with a coaster that will suit perfectly, decided on a total width of 700mm, narrow enough to get through doorways but still wide enough to be stable, the main basket will not need to be that big as he only wants it for the bread, paper, milk runs, but I will make it big enough to carry a bit more if needed.
Here is the progress from day one, started with this:
Ended with this:
I may end up putting a longer seat tube and higher rear stays in to it, but want to check heights when it is on all three wheels first, if I make it too tall it would cause issues, so better to check first, that change can be done while they are here fairly quickly, so thinking I will wait till then to make that decision.
Next step will be to mount the wheels to the bottom of the basket frame and then attach that to the fork tube, hopefully I can get it that far tomorrow, then I can have it sit on its wheels for a proper look!
Luke.
His dad is getting on in years a bit and due to some health and medical issues has recently lost a bit of mobility, he mentioned to his son that he was thinking of getting a trike to be able to ride to the shop to get a loaf of bread, the paper and a bottle of milk, unfortunately the ones he was looking at were pretty low quality and rather expensive for what you get...
Long story short, my Bro-In-Law said 'leave it with me' and then calls me about building a tadpole (two front wheels) cargo trike, with a set of guidelines, must be able to fit easily through a standard doorway, no fiddly brakes or cables, single speed and coaster brake preferred and as compact as possible to allow for storage when not in use.
Cool! I have been wanting to build one for a while!
One small problem...
My Brother-In-Law will be coming down from Darwin to visit at the start of February for a couple of days, and want's to help finish it off with his dad one day while he is here. That gives me just over a week to have it designed, built, rolling, riding, tested and ready for paint!
Did I also mention that I am part way through two builds in the current 'Off-Road-Build-Off'?
Did I also mention that I am nearing the end of a build for my wife?
Did I also mention that my current car runs out of rego in mid February, and I was going to use that as impetus to finally get my little Datsun on the road?
Anyway...
Designed it all up, it will be using 20" wheels all around for compactness, I already have a 20" wheel with a coaster that will suit perfectly, decided on a total width of 700mm, narrow enough to get through doorways but still wide enough to be stable, the main basket will not need to be that big as he only wants it for the bread, paper, milk runs, but I will make it big enough to carry a bit more if needed.
Here is the progress from day one, started with this:
Ended with this:
I may end up putting a longer seat tube and higher rear stays in to it, but want to check heights when it is on all three wheels first, if I make it too tall it would cause issues, so better to check first, that change can be done while they are here fairly quickly, so thinking I will wait till then to make that decision.
Next step will be to mount the wheels to the bottom of the basket frame and then attach that to the fork tube, hopefully I can get it that far tomorrow, then I can have it sit on its wheels for a proper look!
Luke.
