Zombie Trike Build!

[FunkyStickman]

Well, I finally got the tubing together to start welding up the frame of my Atomic Zombie trike. My dad brought his welding machine over, and is showing me how to set it up and work it. I'm helping him lay out the angles and make the miter cuts, and I will be building the wheels and assembling all the bike-ish parts. I'm still not sure what color scheme I'm going with, and I will probably not be able to use a wide rear tire (I will probably fix that on the next one). Here's what I got so far:

36-hole BMX wheels I'd been saving for just this occasion!

Unlaced: these are going to get Sturmey 70mm trike-specific drum hubs.

Dad and I miter cutting the tubing

Dad's new welder, ooooh, shiny!

Here we are welding the back fork together. Took a couple of tries to get it straight.

And here's most of the frame! Just need to build the front crossmember, and cap all the tubes. Oh yeah, and the rear dropouts.

 

[KOTA]

Going to be a LOT of work! But well worth it. I want to build a "Marauder"... BUT, I'm afraid I won't be able to get up from it! :lol:

 

[josh_from_ga]

this is one build I'll certainly be following. A trike is on my list of future builds.(as in, after i can save up for a welder)

 

[FunkyStickman]

Going to be a LOT of work! But well worth it.

Building the steering setup and knuckles will be a LOT of work, but the next one I build will be significantly simpler... I've got some tricks up my sleeves! Let's just say Mechanical Engineering was my second choice in college... I still wonder if I shouldn't have. Meh, I'm glad I'm a musician now, no regrets, right?

this is one build I'll certainly be following. A trike is on my list of future builds.(as in, after i can save up for a welder)

I think the one my dad got wasn't that much, maybe less than $400? We got the CO2 bottle on contract, was $120 to lease for a year. It's a lot of money, but if I can build and sell one trike, I could make that back in one shot. You see how much these things go for?? :shock: That's why I decided to build one!

 

[FunkyStickman]

Got the front hubs! Got not one, not two, but count 'em, three drum hubs!

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

SWEET!! 8)

 

[KOTA]

Got the front hubs! Got not one, not two, but count 'em, three drum hubs!

Better wear a seat belt, don't want to see you get catapulted out!...Good to see, if you're gonna do it...Do it right. NICE!

 

[AKB]

Got the front hubs! Got not one, not two, but count 'em, three drum hubs!

You know.. I had a crazy idea once to cut two of those Sturmey front drum hubs in half, and weld the two drum sections together. That way I could have two 90mm drum brakes on the front wheel. The only thing I'm not sure about is the axle. If it's a straight piece then it would be no problem. But if it's different on one end then it would be a lot more difficult. Anyone care to comment on whether or not that would work? :roll:

 

[snydur]

Got the front hubs! Got not one, not two, but count 'em, three drum hubs!

You know.. I had a crazy idea once to cut two of those Sturmey front drum hubs in half, and weld the two drum sections together. That way I could have two 90mm drum brakes on the front wheel. The only thing I'm not sure about is the axle. If it's a straight piece then it would be no problem. But if it's different on one end then it would be a lot more difficult. Anyone care to comment on whether or not that would work? :roll:

because someone might come from behind you and kill you as soon as you get a saw blade close to one of those hubs :lol: but seriously, it seems like one would be backward so it may not work. not positive though

 

[AKB]

LOL. It would be cool though. And yeah I know.. These hubs are pretty expensive. I could always weld the other two pieces together and make another hub (bare without any brakes.)

 

[josh_from_ga]

You know.. I had a crazy idea once to cut two of those Sturmey front drum hubs in half, and weld the two drum sections together. That way I could have two 90mm drum brakes on the front wheel. The only thing I'm not sure about is the axle. If it's a straight piece then it would be no problem. But if it's different on one end then it would be a lot more difficult. Anyone care to comment on whether or not that would work? :roll:

Hmm, i took apart an old atom rear drum hub earlier this year. the axle was the same on both ends and most of the way through. i think the only change was that it wasn't threaded all the way to the center. whether these ire the same i don't know. thats an awful lot of stopping power, though.

 

[rico]

Got the front hubs! Got not one, not two, but count 'em, three drum hubs!

Wow :shock: Great Hub Choice !

Can't Wait To See It In Progress :wink:

 

[AKB]

You know.. I had a crazy idea once to cut two of those Sturmey front drum hubs in half, and weld the two drum sections together. That way I could have two 90mm drum brakes on the front wheel. The only thing I'm not sure about is the axle. If it's a straight piece then it would be no problem. But if it's different on one end then it would be a lot more difficult. Anyone care to comment on whether or not that would work? :roll:

Hmm, i took apart an old atom rear drum hub earlier this year. the axle was the same on both ends and most of the way through. i think the only change was that it wasn't threaded all the way to the center. whether these ire the same i don't know. thats an awful lot of stopping power, though.

Interesting. Maybe it's worth buying one and taking it apart. And as far as stopping power, I might need it.. My build will be rather heavy, and should be capable of 50+ mph. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

 

[FunkyStickman]

You know.. I had a crazy idea once to cut two of those Sturmey front drum hubs in half, and weld the two drum sections together.

You could do it... the regular front hubs use a standard 9mm straight threaded axle. The shells aren't directional, it's the backing plates and shoes that are... and the only difference is which direction the cable comes off it.

because someone might come from behind you and kill you as soon as you get a saw blade close to one of those hubs :lol: but seriously, it seems like one would be backward so it may not work. not positive though

Yeah, it would work. But at that point, after cutting up $200 worth of hubs, you'd think there would be a better way.

For those thinking about attempting something like this, I've done a LOT of research on front hubs, and if you're looking for economical choices, there's not much out there.
[*]The Sturmey drum hubs are $100 a pop IF you can find 'em. They use 12mm axles, so I'm guessing they're strong enough.
[*]You can use 14mm BMX hubs and if it has an axle that's threaded the whole length, you can move the axle all the way to one side. No brake this way, though... not a good option. Would be great for trailers, though.
[*]You can get 15mm through-axle disk hubs, but there's a few issues. First, nobody sells 15mm machine bolts, you'd have to use 14mm axles and maybe some 0.5mm shim stock. Doable.
[*]You can use 20mm through-axle hubs. A 20mm bolt would weigh a ton, and cost close to $10 each. The cost isn't that bad, but weight might be a problem if the bike is already going to weigh close to 50 pounds. You could use 20mm to 12mm axle adapters. These, surprisingly enough, were made for kiteboarding! But they're $20 for one wheel. You could also use replacement bearings to use 12mm axles, but it's still expensive.

Meh, a 20mm axle still would probably be lighter than the drums... it would rock if you could find hollow 20mm bolts for that.

So overall, if you're going to build a tadpole trike with front brakes, you're going to end up spending $100 a wheel no matter which way you go, once you include the price of disk brakes. The disk hubs are available in 32h or 36h drillings, the Sturmey hubs are 36h only.

 

[AKB]

You know.. I had a crazy idea once to cut two of those Sturmey front drum hubs in half, and weld the two drum sections together.

You could do it... the regular front hubs use a standard 9mm straight threaded axle. The shells aren't directional, it's the backing plates and shoes that are... and the only difference is which direction the cable comes off it.

because someone might come from behind you and kill you as soon as you get a saw blade close to one of those hubs :lol: but seriously, it seems like one would be backward so it may not work. not positive though

Yeah, it would work. But at that point, after cutting up $200 worth of hubs, you'd think there would be a better way.

For those thinking about attempting something like this, I've done a LOT of research on front hubs, and if you're looking for economical choices, there's not much out there.
[*]The Sturmey drum hubs are $100 a pop IF you can find 'em. They use 12mm axles, so I'm guessing they're strong enough.
[*]You can use 14mm BMX hubs and if it has an axle that's threaded the whole length, you can move the axle all the way to one side. No brake this way, though... not a good option. Would be great for trailers, though.
[*]You can get 15mm through-axle disk hubs, but there's a few issues. First, nobody sells 15mm machine bolts, you'd have to use 14mm axles and maybe some 0.5mm shim stock. Doable.
[*]You can use 20mm through-axle hubs. A 20mm bolt would weigh a ton, and cost close to $10 each. The cost isn't that bad, but weight might be a problem if the bike is already going to weigh close to 50 pounds. You could use 20mm to 12mm axle adapters. These, surprisingly enough, were made for kiteboarding! But they're $20 for one wheel. You could also use replacement bearings to use 12mm axles, but it's still expensive.

Meh, a 20mm axle still would probably be lighter than the drums... it would rock if you could find hollow 20mm bolts for that.

So overall, if you're going to build a tadpole trike with front brakes, you're going to end up spending $100 a wheel no matter which way you go, once you include the price of disk brakes. The disk hubs are available in 32h or 36h drillings, the Sturmey hubs are 36h only.

I think it would be worth the extra stopping power. My bike is going to be d@mn heavy. And my wheel and tire setup is going to cost me over $1k, so spending an extra $100 (or hopefully less) on another Sturmey hub wouldn't be too bad. Of course I could always go with one for now, and see if the bike stops well enough.

 

[FunkyStickman]

I think it would be worth the extra stopping power. My bike is going to be d@mn heavy. And my wheel and tire setup is going to cost me over $1k, so spending an extra $100 (or hopefully less) on another Sturmey hub wouldn't be too bad. Of course I could always go with one for now, and see if the bike stops well enough.

You could consider a dual-disk front wheel, ChoppersUS has hubs for them, and you can modify a springer fork to use two calipers.
http://www.choppersus.com/store/product ... isc-Black/

For the trike, I've gotten a bit more work done on the steering knuckles, but not much to see yet... I'll post up pics when I get the chance.

 

[FunkyStickman]

Okay, I got in the spokes yesterday, and started building the wheels:

 

[SCHWINNRAY69]

SWEET :shock:

 

[FunkyStickman]

Laced up the rest of the wheels, plus a new rear wheel for the OCC chopper. The spokes for the front 20" wheels are not even enough, some are too long, so I'm going to have to re-measure them and possibly trim them a bit. Ugh. But the rear wheel will be finished shortly.

 

[FunkyStickman]

All right. I've been a slacker on this, so I guess I should post a status update. Haven't touched it since September.

Good news is, I've got pretty much everything I need. I pulled the front wheels apart to re-do the spokes this past weekend, I will need to measure and re-cut and thread some of them (they all need to be 177.5mm) so I can build the wheels, and finish welding the front suspension. The weather's turning nice, so I'm going to try to get some time to make it happen.

I'm debating on whether I want to use my Sturmey 8-speed for the back of this bike, since it's already going to be very heavy. I could put a cheap MTB rear wheel and derailers on it pretty easily, and tadpole trikes don't really need rear brakes. I guess I'll get the front end done and see how it rides (and how much it weighs) before I decide. If I keep the 8-speed, it'll go on my cargo bike when I get around to building it.

I'll post up some pics this weekend, hopefuly.