trikebum rides....

The continued adventures of trikebum. Transportation cycling, vehicular cycling, tricycle touring and camping. Go to: http://trikebum.webs.com/

Santa's Elf's Christmas Trike Sleigh

On Dec 6./08 I will enter my trike in the Peterborough Santa Claus Parade. This year the theme is Christmas sleighs so I've decided to turn my trike into a trike sleigh for the event, and I shall dress as one of Santa's elfs.
For the project I am using coroplast I have laying around including political signs. My environmental friends might cringe when they hear the word coroplast as it seems to have a bad name amongst greenies, as it is not always recyclable ( tho' the company begs to differ).
But it is reusable and it's light weight, durability and waterproofness makes it ideal for bike projects. It's also easy to cut and can be fastened using plastic cable ties. Holes can be punched with an awl.

Electric assist trike

This is a 2003 Lightfoot Cycles Courier, my personal transportation. This fall I installed a Heinzman Electric hub motor kit. It's a Mountain drive 500W motor w/36v NiCad battery pak.
The beauty of the NiCad battery pak is it only takes 2 hrs tops to charge it.
This is a heavy bike to begin with. I would guess with tools, cargo box, fenders and fairing, It probably weighs about 80#. My average speed doing errands in town is about 8.5 mph.
With the electric assist my average increases to 10.5mph or there-a-bouts. On the level I can maintain speeds of15 mph easily which makes it very effective for traffic cycling. But it's a lot easier on me, and I don't think that is a good thing. This way I will not get in shape for out-of town touring which is my pleasure.
When touring I usually carry 65# of camping gear plus added water at 2# per litre. My average speed then is about 9.5 mph depending on terrain. The motor is ok used judiciously for about 20 miles, and when it runs out of juice, it's a lot harder to pedal than without. Consider that the weight of motor and battery is another 11 lbs and the electric motor hub does not freewheel as well as a regular bike wheel. There is a lot of resistance. So suffice it to say, it's only good for in town, but in town it's damn good.

My main ride...

The Lightfoot Courier is a cargo trike, built to carry 500 lbs.
In these pics I just picked up a weeks groceries for two and am
adding on a large bag of dogfood for a total of 85 lbs.