Exemplary work, mate. That's a beautiful machine. I'm old and disabled, so have been looking at recumbent/semi recumbent trikes, and, as you say here, the even half decent ones are prohibitively expensive, so building our own is a real plan. Beautiful countryside there (wherever "there" is), great cycling terrain. Greeting from the Wirral peninsula, UK 👍🏻
Thanks! That's a nice thing to say. We're in northern Germany and it's flat and lends itself well to cycling. I hope you can get some ideas from the videos for your build. Please give me a shout if you want to talk through any bits which aren't clear. I am getting the next video ready ready(front handlebars and axle) which once these are done, the rest of the body of the trike should be fairly straightforward!
@Saol_Now_Rolling Lovely, thank you very much for sharing your expertise. I shall now begin reclaiming my tools from my Sons and Grandsons in preparation 🤞🏻
Love to see a video where you just go over your build before going into details about how they were designed and built. Also having a hard time understanding and finding what components to use. I'm looking to build a e-assisted quattrovelo with carrying capacity for a large dog and/or my surf gear. I'd like to use pre-made stuff as much as possibly as I have no welding skills and limited space to build it on. The back I'm thinking of buying a tricycle conversion kit but I'm yet to solve the front with steering knuckles and wheels with one-sided axle mounts. Any links to where you got yours would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the sub and I'm happy to tell you that that is exactly the video I'm currently working on. It's a little bit different to my normal type of video and I want to make sure I'm not talking rubbish so it is taking a bit longer. The steering knuckles are bespoke parts, but I can hopefully give you some tips on how to build your own and how best to use wheel chair wheels. I agree, I have tried to use premade components when possible(no need to reinvent the wheel!) but somethings just don't exist. I would also suggest taking a look at @driewiel with regards to steering. He has gone a different way and while I personally don't think it looks as solid, it might be easier to build as there is no bending metal involved. I will be taking a look at his design after finishing mine!
My Tribolt trike can be build for 300 Euro using not that powerful rim brakes or maybe V-brakes. The front hubs/wheels indeed is where the money goes if you want better Sturmey Archer SD drum brakes or disc brakes. You always start with the front wheels! And it probably means you have to learn how to spoke a wheel. It's not that difficult and a fun job. After that you try to achieve a brake-steer geometry much as possible even if you link the front brakes eventually. What I don't understand is why you have your front wheels cambered. It makes alignment that much harder. Just give it a wider track. I am not saying my DIY trike is perfect! It isn't. But I have done fully loaded bumpy 2000 km trips to the Alps and nothing major broke. With e-assist. I think that is key. If you want any speed e-assist is a must have. For which you will have money if you keep the trike it self cheap. Of course you want it to ride nice and smooth first on your own power. There are so many e-bikes today that are total crap to pedal if you run out of battery.
I will subscribe and see how it goes. I'm sure there are lots you do better than I did. I can't hammer a nail straight in a wall so don't think I'm some kine of a NASA engineer.
Thanks for the feedback and the subscription! I miserably failed to spoke a wheel, I tried cutting the spokes down but then I needed a special spoke threading tool and I gave up and tried another way. The axle holders are currently on sliding profile nuts and found the path of least resistance, which was the camber. I guess they will need adjusting at some point, but currently I the trike doesn't feel too bad to ride. The trike doesn't seem to brake steer very much. Probably all that camber... Your Tribolt has been around for a while and I'm guessing you have tweaked and improved the design and I still have some catching up to do. You have given me a number regarding cost, thanks for that, it will be interesting to see how much my design exactly costs to make. My aim is still to make the design so that even people who aren't that good at getting holes in the right place can still make it.
The fact that your trike goes straight, corners, brakes, and can handle 2000km trips shows that you have talent getting holes to line up and parts to fit. This is quite apart from the design. No one is born with fabrication skills , it takes time and practice to get that right. Therefore I feel "stupid" is the wrong word here!
@@Saol_Now_Rolling Couple hundred people made a copy of my trike. Most did a better job quite honestly. What I find difficult in my design is to get the front wheels perfectly vertical. I think people should first make a tool to get them nice and straight. Or have a level work table/floor. But last time I did come up with an easy way to set the toe-in. I just hold a flat bar against the front of the L-shape profile steering knuckles. You could do the same. As long you know those are 90 degrees you put them at the outside of your wheel axles. Then hold a straight bar or tube against them. A measuring tape will not work. Much too inaccurate. You little roll test down the hill showed that. And what if there are bugs or snails you run over? First it it plain murder. and secondly jealous snails will do anything to slow you down. Ah well. Important thing is your DIY trike won't break down. If there are any 'no so good' geometry issues you kind of forgive it because you built it yourself. Can't expect wonders. I once bought someone's homebuilt trike and the tires were gone after 10 km. While the Big Apples on my trike last 3000 km or more easily. Without e-assist or solar roof my old legs can pedal the thing at 22kmh cruising. That's only 2-3 slower than my fancy 2007 ICE QNT. So I guess I learned to drill holes somewhere where they should be after all.
Exemplary work, mate. That's a beautiful machine. I'm old and disabled, so have been looking at recumbent/semi recumbent trikes, and, as you say here, the even half decent ones are prohibitively expensive, so building our own is a real plan. Beautiful countryside there (wherever "there" is), great cycling terrain. Greeting from the Wirral peninsula, UK 👍🏻
Thanks! That's a nice thing to say. We're in northern Germany and it's flat and lends itself well to cycling. I hope you can get some ideas from the videos for your build. Please give me a shout if you want to talk through any bits which aren't clear. I am getting the next video ready ready(front handlebars and axle) which once these are done, the rest of the body of the trike should be fairly straightforward!
@Saol_Now_Rolling Lovely, thank you very much for sharing your expertise. I shall now begin reclaiming my tools from my Sons and Grandsons in preparation 🤞🏻
Love to see a video where you just go over your build before going into details about how they were designed and built. Also having a hard time understanding and finding what components to use. I'm looking to build a e-assisted quattrovelo with carrying capacity for a large dog and/or my surf gear. I'd like to use pre-made stuff as much as possibly as I have no welding skills and limited space to build it on. The back I'm thinking of buying a tricycle conversion kit but I'm yet to solve the front with steering knuckles and wheels with one-sided axle mounts. Any links to where you got yours would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the sub and I'm happy to tell you that that is exactly the video I'm currently working on. It's a little bit different to my normal type of video and I want to make sure I'm not talking rubbish so it is taking a bit longer. The steering knuckles are bespoke parts, but I can hopefully give you some tips on how to build your own and how best to use wheel chair wheels. I agree, I have tried to use premade components when possible(no need to reinvent the wheel!) but somethings just don't exist. I would also suggest taking a look at @driewiel with regards to steering. He has gone a different way and while I personally don't think it looks as solid, it might be easier to build as there is no bending metal involved. I will be taking a look at his design after finishing mine!
My Tribolt trike can be build for 300 Euro using not that powerful rim brakes or maybe V-brakes. The front hubs/wheels indeed is where the money goes if you want better Sturmey Archer SD drum brakes or disc brakes. You always start with the front wheels! And it probably means you have to learn how to spoke a wheel. It's not that difficult and a fun job.
After that you try to achieve a brake-steer geometry much as possible even if you link the front brakes eventually.
What I don't understand is why you have your front wheels cambered. It makes alignment that much harder. Just give it a wider track.
I am not saying my DIY trike is perfect! It isn't. But I have done fully loaded bumpy 2000 km trips to the Alps and nothing major broke. With e-assist. I think that is key. If you want any speed e-assist is a must have. For which you will have money if you keep the trike it self cheap. Of course you want it to ride nice and smooth first on your own power. There are so many e-bikes today that are total crap to pedal if you run out of battery.
I will subscribe and see how it goes. I'm sure there are lots you do better than I did. I can't hammer a nail straight in a wall so don't think I'm some kine of a NASA engineer.
Thanks for the feedback and the subscription!
I miserably failed to spoke a wheel, I tried cutting the spokes down but then I needed a special spoke threading tool and I gave up and tried another way.
The axle holders are currently on sliding profile nuts and found the path of least resistance, which was the camber. I guess they will need adjusting at some point, but currently I the trike doesn't feel too bad to ride.
The trike doesn't seem to brake steer very much. Probably all that camber...
Your Tribolt has been around for a while and I'm guessing you have tweaked and improved the design and I still have some catching up to do. You have given me a number regarding cost, thanks for that, it will be interesting to see how much my design exactly costs to make.
My aim is still to make the design so that even people who aren't that good at getting holes in the right place can still make it.
@@Saol_Now_Rolling If I can build my trike the design is definitely suited for all stupid people around the flat Earth.
The fact that your trike goes straight, corners, brakes, and can handle 2000km trips shows that you have talent getting holes to line up and parts to fit. This is quite apart from the design.
No one is born with fabrication skills , it takes time and practice to get that right. Therefore I feel "stupid" is the wrong word here!
@@Saol_Now_Rolling Couple hundred people made a copy of my trike. Most did a better job quite honestly. What I find difficult in my design is to get the front wheels perfectly vertical. I think people should first make a tool to get them nice and straight. Or have a level work table/floor.
But last time I did come up with an easy way to set the toe-in. I just hold a flat bar against the front of the L-shape profile steering knuckles. You could do the same. As long you know those are 90 degrees you put them at the outside of your wheel axles. Then hold a straight bar or tube against them. A measuring tape will not work. Much too inaccurate. You little roll test down the hill showed that. And what if there are bugs or snails you run over? First it it plain murder. and secondly jealous snails will do anything to slow you down.
Ah well. Important thing is your DIY trike won't break down. If there are any 'no so good' geometry issues you kind of forgive it because you built it yourself. Can't expect wonders. I once bought someone's homebuilt trike and the tires were gone after 10 km. While the Big Apples on my trike last 3000 km or more easily. Without e-assist or solar roof my old legs can pedal the thing at 22kmh cruising. That's only 2-3 slower than my fancy 2007 ICE QNT. So I guess I learned to drill holes somewhere where they should be after all.