RonB

I've ridden a two wheel recumbent for a few years but as active as I like to be with my bike I just did not find it safe on wet or muddy days so I looked for a trike I could build myself. The Tribolt is the answer for me as my welding skills are not so good (okay, I'm terrible).

I also do week long rides across Nebraska and Iowa, BRAN and RAGBRAI, and needed to build a special bike that was suited for long days in all kinds of conditions. Although my bike is a bit of a mutant Tribolt, it is still mostly aluminum, but utilizes a donor bike from the seat backwards.

The donor bike for the variant trike I plan to build

An experiment on the wooden prototype which did not work.  Back to the original blueprints!


Cold winter days, so doing the build inside.  This is just a mock up after cutting frame of donor bike.



Rod end bearings I bought.  Wow, these are bigger than I thought! 

A break from the cold, I went out and made pulleys from wheels off of my kids old scooters. What a mess that made, pink dust everywhere.  If making your own, I do suggest you plan on wasting the first one getting the hang of it.  .

Here are the two I created.  Not sure if I will use them or not yet, but  have them if needed.  Found the best method was to use a small chisel to slowly grind away the groove.  Very important, start with the width you want first, then grind it down.  If you later try to widen the groove it is nearly impossible. 

This is what is left of the Schwinn aluminum mountain bike, which is the part I am using for the rear half of my trike.  Having deviated from the Tribolt plans I can tell anyone who is thinking of trying this that the advice on this site about building a prototype first (wood is great) really is true.  It is much better to make the mistakes on wood first, than expensive aluminum. 


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