Background: I already have a trike I love that I use for regular riding, but I want to create a fat tire tadpole I can use as a base vehicle for mobile sculptures - basically an "art trike". This will be something that will generally be used on the flat, and not at higher speeds - honestly, 15 mph is probably much higher than I'd ever be riding.
What I do need is the ability to carry more weight. I'm 275 pounds by myself (trying to get lighter), but to give me some room for sculptural additions, leds, batteries to power them, water, a bit of cargo, and so forth I'd like to have capacity for up to 400 pounds (including me). Probably would never get that heavy, but if I overbuild I have room for error or just to play with.
I'd also like to extend the steering arms a few inches, to widen the wheel track. That would compensate for the larger wheels so I can turn a little tighter without rubbing, and give me a little more leeway in terms of center of gravity. Neither fitting in a bike lane nor getting through residential doors is really a concern.
The Warrior seems like a good base to start with, especially since it can already handle 300+ if 14 gauge tubing is used. But since I'm shooting for a significantly higher weight capacity, and longer steering arms would add more leverage against the welds where the steering booms connect to the center tube, I assume I'll need to beef it up further.
The question, then, is how best to do that. I can think of a few approaches:
I'm thinking retaining the standard 1.5" square dimension and going to 12 gauge might be the simplest option since it doesn't change any base measurements. But even there, I just don't have a good enough sense for material properties to know if that would be strong enough, or whether it's actually overkill.
Anyone have any thoughts on the best approach here?
- Eric
What I do need is the ability to carry more weight. I'm 275 pounds by myself (trying to get lighter), but to give me some room for sculptural additions, leds, batteries to power them, water, a bit of cargo, and so forth I'd like to have capacity for up to 400 pounds (including me). Probably would never get that heavy, but if I overbuild I have room for error or just to play with.
I'd also like to extend the steering arms a few inches, to widen the wheel track. That would compensate for the larger wheels so I can turn a little tighter without rubbing, and give me a little more leeway in terms of center of gravity. Neither fitting in a bike lane nor getting through residential doors is really a concern.
The Warrior seems like a good base to start with, especially since it can already handle 300+ if 14 gauge tubing is used. But since I'm shooting for a significantly higher weight capacity, and longer steering arms would add more leverage against the welds where the steering booms connect to the center tube, I assume I'll need to beef it up further.
The question, then, is how best to do that. I can think of a few approaches:
- Standard 14 gauge build, with triangular gussets reinforcing the joints. Not sure how I'd add vertical strength where the steering booms meet the center, though.
- Standard build, but using 12 gauge.
- 14 gauge, but with a rectangular tube (perhaps 1.5"x2"), oriented vertically. This would give more vertical bracing where the steering arms attach, but would probably require a modification to the steering rod spacing to pass under the boom.
- 14 gauge, but a bigger tube - maybe 1.75" or even 2". Seems like this might cause weirdness joining to the head tube and bottom bracket, since they are smaller in diameter.
Dimension | Gauge | per foot | per 11 feet |
1.5" square | 16 | 1.26 | 13.86 |
1.5" square | 14 | 1.67 | 18.37 |
1.75" square | 14 | 1.88 | 20.68 |
2"x1.5" rectangular | 14 | 1.90 | 20.90 |
1.5" square | 12 | 2.07 | 22.77 |
2" square | 14 | 2.14 | 23.54 |
I'm thinking retaining the standard 1.5" square dimension and going to 12 gauge might be the simplest option since it doesn't change any base measurements. But even there, I just don't have a good enough sense for material properties to know if that would be strong enough, or whether it's actually overkill.
Anyone have any thoughts on the best approach here?
- Eric