American Deluxe hybrid trike

GoldenMotor.com

fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,454
4,920
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British Columbia Canada
The Atco sure looks good. So does the old fella standing next to it. Hi Curt. great to see you again.
I dragged the two pieces of aluminum that we bent to try out the shape for the rear of the trike out of the camper today to give them the eye ball. It will be a while before I can get started on it but I am at least able to drive myself to the hospital now so wider fields can't be far off and I'll get up to the metal supplier and get some tubing.

Bike camp never sleeps.

Steve.
 

curtisfox

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2008
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minesota
Hi Steve sure glad you on your feet again,you sure have been through a lot with that infection. Was good to see that old Atco in person and get my piicture taken with it,sure will be a nice power plant for the trike. Up made a big loop from Brainer to Grand Rapids to Effie then ove to Ely then on to the North shore and home now. What beautifull colors,just in time to we hit rain on the last leg of the trip. Rain will take care of the leaves.

It was good to visit with Silverbear today and see what he and you were up to this summer. Our dogs got along good, and didn't bight each other. Would of been nice to spend a little more time there maybe i can come up next summer a stay a couple days and see you at the camp also. Sure enjoyed the road trip down and picked up the Sacks engines with you to younger old guys( not by much ) though,73 in a couple days. If i am going to ride i better get somthing built this winter..................Curt
 

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
8,325
670
113
northeastern Minnesota
Thanks for the nice comments, everyone...
The Atco does look nice... "I concur" as Tinsmith would say. I think it's going to look great at the back of the delta trike with a nice retro look about it. I have it inside now next to the laptop and give it a "creative stare" now and then. I want to clean up the fins on the cylinder head, take the carb off for a cleaning, see if the muffler will come apart as it is supposed to for a cleaning out of carbon and no doubt oily nastiness inside. Might clean up and paint the muffler. Shine up that aluminum flywheel cover. Buy a new spark plug. I gave it my copper fuel filter I made some years ago for another bike, but which never got used. Looks good and should work well. Will pick up some new fuel line. I like clear or yellow so I know there's fuel going to the carburetor at a glance. Debating whether or not to paint the head black... not shiny. Don't care for the rusted look it has now, though.

Yes, it is a little sad putting the tri-car and delta trike away for the winter, but as Steve says, "Bike camp never sleeps". Even without a shop to work in I can tinker away at some things which contribute to the builds later on, for example the electrics for both of them under the tutelage of cb2 & Lungcookie. It will be exciting to see photos of the trike rear end coming together up in Vancouver. You're planning to do two of them, is that right, Steve?

The Indian summer weather of the past week has ended with wind and rain tonight and falling temps tomorrow. Supposed to drop to the low 30's tomorrow night. Winter is a comin' in. Must be nice, you guys in more southerly climates... and most southerly of all, you Annie. To think it is spring there! Good to hear you're getting out on your trike some. Excellent.

Heal up, Steve, but go slowly about it. Safe journey home, Curt. Good night, good people...
SB
 

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
8,325
670
113
northeastern Minnesota
Hey Curtis!
Good to hear you're safely home. Yes, I was thinking about your coming up next summer for some of bike camp. We could move Steve's camper over to my brother's while you're here and your bigger rig would fit right in where he normally parks.
Now we need to get Ron (Neat Times) out of Florida next summer for bike camp and see if Tinsmith can fly in to Duluth for a week or so. Boy, would that be fun!
I hope you can get some shop time in this winter to get your build finished up. I went for a bike ride out Bearhead Road this afternoon and it was awesome... great place to ride a motorbike.
SB
 

curtisfox

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2008
6,048
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minesota
That is tractor paint from Van Sickle. It is Ford Gray, like on the old Ford 8N's & 9N's. Kind of classy looking, I think.
SB
this was posted elsewere on the forum. Vansickle is the only consumer level supplier of true Alkyd Enamel in an aerosol can that I know of.

It takes longer to cure fully, but is a very tough coating when cured.

It makes for really good paint,love the old Fords. My Case garden tractor is kind of chevy ornge and like Ford read better so repainted it.......Curt
 
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fasteddy

Well-Known Member
Feb 13, 2009
7,454
4,920
113
British Columbia Canada
I'll be making two trike rear frames. One for each of us though I don't know if mine will ever get used. Have to get the motor for the tri car back and in and running and the bike completed so I can get on to the velocar. Then if life permits I'll do the trike.

Steve.
 

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
8,325
670
113
northeastern Minnesota
Curtis Fox kindly sent me this link showing an Atco mower in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KtXwg3mupc

It is the same model engine as mine although I believe it is more recent from the 1950's. I believe mine is from the initial ones made between 1931 and 1935 due to the different muffler, black rather than green gas tank and lower serial number. As you can see in the video the roller throttled up moves the mower right along at a nice fast walk. I love that engine...
SB
 

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
8,325
670
113
northeastern Minnesota
If it weren't such a long drive & ride & drive some more from northern Minnesota I'd be at the tip in the morning to see if I could clip it loose. One person's trash is another's treasure as the saying goes... I'd give a fair effort to salvage those sprockets and chains & bits as I cast a skeptical eye on my idler sprocket (the one in the middle of the cluster) since it has a slight bit of wobble from having been braze welded in a repair sometime in it's star studded past. Will it give out again sometime twenty miles from home? It would be nice to have a spare. Sigh...
SB
 

moto-klasika

Member
Jan 12, 2013
584
18
18
Bern (more) and Belgrade (less)
Hello Silver,
I will abuse your hospitality and announced here opening of new thread that could be interesting to us all...

As many of us are interested in stronger wheels, cheap as possible, I opened special thread for that under name "WHEELS for velocars, velomobiles and other multi-wheelers" in our sub-forum "Motorized Tandems, Trikes and Recumbent Bicycles". Maybe we could gathered there interesting ideas, without strangling too much this one...
Ciao,
Zoran
 
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jose Pinto

Member
Aug 29, 2010
111
4
18
64
Portugal
Here it is...
Hello SB I am very anxious to see his project completed , 'muito that come together all your post. time has not been much so I have not commented , but this modesty of a picture leaves much cheerful something that has nothing to do with it , but not let it pass in vain , that your sewing machine brand " singer" is very family , is manufactured in Portugal right here next to my house , sorry you apart . still here support their plans with great admiration and satisfaction , all the best for you
 

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
8,325
670
113
northeastern Minnesota
Jose... hello old friend!
The trike is on hold for now, but hopefully this summer work will continue. I stole the Harley Davidson front fork which is now on the "kindalikeawhizzer" build, but I will give the trike another suspension fork. Our friend Fasteddy has been laid low through the fall and winter with knee problems so there is no progress on the rear frame fabrication. Once he is back in good health and mobile again he will be able to fire up the welder at motorbicycling summer camp for boys who never grew up and weld up the rear assembly. Then I can continue from there.

Thank you for your continuing interest. I want to see it all together, too. I think it will be a great trike. Wishing you and your family well in far off Portugal. I thought of you this winter while fabricating a headlight for another build, 1934 Elgin Velocipede. I made the headlight out of an old copper pot which says on the bottom "made in Portugal". I'm the only kid on my block with one of those!
SB
 

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
8,325
670
113
northeastern Minnesota
While this project has been dormant for the better part of a year, it is not forgotten. It is to be my someday not too far in the future "mobility scooter", a deluxe, custom version. I don't yet need a mobility scooter and don't want one, but turning 70 this past winter is a wakeup call that the day I need three wheels instead of two is coming. Over the winter I stole the trike's front fork for the "kindalikeawhizzer" build which is ahead of it in line. That old Harley fork is perfect for the two wheeler which is coming right along and is going to be a very cool bike, but it left the trike forkless.

A recent comment Curtis made about vintage mountain bike forks sometimes having 1" head tubes made an unknown deposit in my memory bank. I made a withdrawal the other day realizing that such a fork might be the perfect one for the hybrid trike. It would solve the brake problem I have not been able to work out. The ones I'm familiar with have V brakes which clamp against the rim and as far as I can see would work with my electric front wheel. The pancake motor wheel is an early version from Golden Motor, has a 36 volt controller and came with no provision for a front brake. I want a front brake on any motored bike, two or three wheel and I also like suspension forks. Until now I haven't been able to come up with anything and had discounted the possible use of a mtb fork because I had the idea they were all 1 1/8" while the old Schwinn uses a 1" fork. But if some of the old mtb forks were 1" and had V brakes, well then that would be the cat's meow. Am I on the right track? Will this treasure hunt pan out? It would be a major hurdle clearing the way for real progress on this trike. I'm hopeful...
SB
 
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