the master and apprentice

My wife's Facebook photo and caption of this evening's efforts.

Finally, an update on the "Tank Trike" AKA the "Lowrider"

This has turned into a much bigger project than I ever imaged!   I replaced the whole rear end with a kids suspension bike frame with a 6 speed cluster and a proper brake setup.  Then I decided the whole thing now rode way too close to the ground.  I replaced the spindles to be able to install the 20" custom wheels off the old trike.  This gave us a lot more ground clearance and hopefully easier rolling.  I need to install the new tie-rods, and provide a shifter and brake lever. Hopefully, we will have our first test ride this weekend!

I have found out that the tank trike began life as a "WRFF" trike (see picture)not the front end of a go-cart as the seller indicated with a smaller rear wheel and no suspension. This doesn't impact my immediate plans but showed me that it originally had a running board or floor board mounted on the front of the main tube. That's something worth considering closer to completion of my changes.

Evel er.. Ian's 1st test ride

Evel ... Ian took the first real test ride today. He loved it! The handlebars are much more comfortable and the coaster brake worked great. Some tweaks are in order but it works well so far.

Phase 1 completed on Tank Trike!

The first shot is the tank with the upper bars cut down to below 4 feet off the floor! Important but I found the bar ends didn't fit, I cut the handlebars from the steerer tube

and inserted an aluminum boom stem from an old recumbent bike project and topped it off with a Scott AT-1 handlebar and the bar ends! Saved a lot of weight, made it so you can ride with your arms at a comfortable level and gained a bottle cage mount and cable mounts. The boom bolts need to be shorter but if it's dry tomorrow a test drive will be attempted. See previous post for more pictures of the tank.

New project picked up, assembled and test ridden!!

This is the newest eBay find. Couldn't pass it up. I wanted to give us a choice of wheels that could go off-road, we have a rails to trails trip coming up. :) The first priority is changing/lowering the Handlebars. The wooden measure in the picture is 4 feet. They are pictured at the lowest possible position and are still about 2 feet above the seat. That means it's not too comfortable, has more slop in the steering than ideal. However, I rode around for awhile and as is, and it floated over gravel, curbs and such with ease. It could afford to drop a couple of pounds. I will keep posting this time I promise. Maybe I'll make an instructable: how not to document a project!

Spring has sprung!

Finally, got the wife and kids out to the park with me today! Rode my Bike-E, the wife's cannondale Mtn bike has been revived and My older son rode his custom trike with the seat in back for his brother! Next time we bring the camera.