A couple weeks ago I had something unfortunate happen to me. I was driving home from work when I experienced "flashing colored lights" in my vision and pulled over to let my father (who had picked me up from work) drive. I moved over from the drivers to the passenger seat and then... The next thing I know I'm in an ambulance. I had had a seizure. To make a long story short, this means no driving for the next three months, if ever. That'll be determined in the next few doctors visits, but in the mean time, Its got me thinking about "alternative transportation", and I wanted to pick the brains of the members here. I own one of these: 26" Schwinn Meridian Tricycle - Walmart.com And since I bought it, I've had plans to make it multi-speed (using a derailer and other parts from an old mountain bike) and had ideas to do everything from putting a small motor on it to re-designing the rear "differential" to make it basically a limited slip diff with inboard, dual disk breaks (using available bicycle parts like BMX freewheels, mountain bike disk breaks and double pull brake levers like are used for disabled people.) I've had The Nerd Mobile, as I've affectionately named it out a couple times since my seizure, and in between snow storms and its occurred to me that the motor idea is a pretty good one. Nothing big or super fast, just an old lawn mower engine to help with hills and go farther distances. And yes, I would stick to side roads, ect. It would just be for running errands around the neighborhood and is even quasi-legal in my area. So, here's my questions: Does anyone have any experience with this kind of thing? As in converting bicycles, playing with minibikes, go carts, ect. Any ideas on how to proceed would be welcomed. The trike has one "live" axle on the chain side and the left side is a "floater" or non-powered axle. So I'm thinking the easiest way to power it would be to run an engine with a centrifugal clutch and do a minibike rear sprocket onto the non powered axle. (probably have to have a machine shop make the axle)That way the trike could be pedaled like normal with the right rear wheel and powered with the engine on the left rear wheel. Does this sound plausible? Thanks for the input.
Why not just make it one solid rear axle between both wheels with a disc brake on one side and a sprocket hooked up to the motor on the other? I don't know how you'd make it so you could pedal but I'm sure there's a way!
get a bmx bike, i use to have a nice cult bike all custom then i got a dirtbike and bmx got boring lol
2 Stroke Engine 80cc Motor Kits for Motorized Bicycle Black Body Muffler | eBay My aunt bought one of these, my uncle and I hooked it up and it runs awesome. Has everything needed to be able to freewheel and uses pedal motion to start engine. I'm sure with alittle mini trucking fab work you could hook it up on a trike.
Very nice! How is it for noise? A guy in the neighborhood has a bike with an engine like this on it and its obnoxiously loud. Like running a chain saw at full throttle non-stop. Although I would imagine even if it is loud, a different muffler would solve that problem.
