While I haven"t seen these at Walmart, because I always try to avoid going there, I can tell it's basically the same bike we had last summer.
Theyre purpose-built as trikes, not a trike kit, and the drive axle is sort of unique. The rear hubs are not like bicycle hubs at all. Theyre tubes with a bearing pressed into each end. The frame is made of tubes of the same diameter. The axle shaft floats through the middle of everything. On the right side of the bike, there's a plate welded onto the axle shaft with 3 pins that lock into the side of the hub. Both wheels have holes for this, but only one side has the plate.
The drive gear on the axle is a freewheel, and I think it was welded to the axle in the center. Ours was pretty grimy and I didn't get into taking that apart, though we did have the wheels off it.
I could see attaching a brake disc to the rear axle somehow, or bolting one onto the non-drive wheel. But there's no intermediate hub as there is on normal tandems to add a brake or gears.
The front fork and hub setup is definitely cool. Very long stem, would make a great cycletruck part. They do seem to use an odd bearing setup there but I think it could be adapted to other more standard frames.
And yes, these guys are made right in Queens, NYC. Not every piece is USA, but the company tries to get everything they can here. For their brakes and coaster hubs, they've had to go to Shimano mostly. The accessories, baskets, bars, etc, are mostly Wald (made in Kentucky).
Good for them, it's nice to see something of substantially US manufacture in the mass marketplace.
--Rob
