Bumstead wants to build a Gas powered Trike

I'm a 51 year old disabled guy, and I'm a bit tired of being stuck on a quarter acre.

I've got some moderate balance problems, so driving is now out of the question. On the other hand, all my friends ride offroad on the railroad right of ways in my area. So a gas powered trike seems like it might be a good solution.

Not interested in speed, so I'm looking for something that will have good torque, but max at about 10-15 mph.

Local bike store recommended I look into Worksman Trikes, due to the heavy duty drive train and wheels.

I'm interested in the PAV,

http://worksmancycles.aitrk.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/pav3.html

which has a flipping arm chair for a seat. Harder for a dizzy old man to fall out of... It's semi reclined so I'm not sure it's suited to having a engine mounted. The engine is necessary because, I only have about 25% strength on my right side.

I'm still in the early stages of researching this idea, so any suggestions for a better trike to build on would be appreciated. Needs to be a setup that would be hard to fall off of. Rather not be strapped into the thing. Worksman PAV seems to fit the safety parameter at least.

Total newb on the topic of mounting a gasoline engine to anything. **** I'm a total newb on gasoline engines. But since I've nothing else to do and internet access, I figure to learn.

Trike would be a significant investment for our family. My disability just came through, so I have a little bit of money to spend, but I'd like to keep expenses down as much as possible. After a couple of years without an income, there's a long list of places to put money.

So, anyway, with a budget of around 1200 bucks can I get anything useful built?

Steve,

Thank you. I just sent them an email.

I've been looking on craigslist and I saw a worksman with the upright seat setup for two hundred bucks. I'm not stuck on the PAV, just like the low center of gravity and the wide seat. I also particularly like the reputation for toughness. This thing needs to be tough enough to last because we won't be able to just go out and buy another one.

I'm messing about with disability back pay. But you know, it been two and a half years since my last paycheck, so there's sort of a list of stuff that needs to get done. I have a wonderful wife and she's insisting on the trike first.

I'm 6'1" 230 ish. Not particularly breakable, just sort of newly careful.

I'm handy enough to do something like this (I think. It's probably more important that I'm determined to figure it out.), and yeah I've got some friends that would enjoy helping with this. One friend has mounted an engine on his bicycle. He tinkers with the thing constantly (looks like fun) which is what set me to thinking. (I'll be doing the build in his shop, with his help.)

I can come up with more cash. 1200 was to get the engine and get it mounted and ready to ride. Sorry I wasn't more clear on that. The trike isn't part of the budget. But I've been eating through the family's resources for a couple of years now, so if ingenuity and creativity gets me there, great.

Also not in any big hurry. Much rather enjoy building it and be able to get it right, than just toss a crap load of money around and roll up in my shiny ride that someone else built and I have no idea how to maintain. See what I mean?

Never bothered to learn this stuff, now is a good time to give it a go.

I can pedal but need the assist. Mostly for stamina reasons. I don't like the electric option, because they are more expensive and the range limitation wouldn't work for me. I'm hoping to do trips in excess of fifty miles. Also, I really have this yen to play around with gas powered engines.

I figure I can do a pedal start. I don't really want to have to get off the bike to start up. But if that adds too much to the price, then I'll get off and pull start. Pull start will probably be harder for me than pedal start though. I'm right handed and weak in that hand, so pull start doesn't sound like a lot of fun. More like I'd end up having to ask someone to start it for me, which is sort of unacceptable.

We have a lot of abandoned railways around here, tracks have been removed so they are essentially rough gravel roads. Access can be a bit tricky, but nothing that a trike with good torque couldn't handle. And they are open to the public.

I can ride on the roads, but have this morbid fear of hooligans throwing beer cans at me. I'll likely overcome this as necessary.

Completely open to suggestions. Like the idea of saving money. But more interested in building a stout solution that will last a couple of decades with proper care. Figure that actually saves money over the life of the trike.

*removed double post*

Here's a few pics of the $200 Worksman I'm looking at.

The setup looks really clean, practical.

If I can swap to a wider seat, this might be a good alternative to the expensive PAV. Be really nice to build the thing for around 1000 bucks.

I'll keep thinking about the electric option. I like stealth aspect of it. Doesnt' draw so much attention when you are using the power plant. But my main concern is that I'd be pretty limited on range. I'm a ways out of town and figure I need the extra range for the trike to be really useful.

My left hand is fine so operating a clutch with that hand won't be a problem.

Would you folks mind looking at the worksman pics and seeing if you think I can mod it to work?

I'm gonna email Worksman as see if the armed seat is for sale separately.

Hmm. I may not be allowed to link.

Anyway, I found a Worksman PAV3 for 600 bucks. Prolly not the stretch frame. I wonder how much difference that makes?

I'm four inches over the max rec height for the non stretch frame.

Okay, first I'd like to thank everyone for the feedback.

Helped me feel a lot more confident during the first stage of this project.

Keep in mind that this seems like a pretty complicated thing to me:

I know very little about gasoline engines or trikes.

So the information I've gathered here turned a fairly intimidating process into something much more simple.

So thanks.



Now, I've made progress. Yesterday I picked up a Worksman PAV3 for 600.00 bucks. (craigslist) Yellow, but it's gonna be repainted anyway. (another thing I want to learn how to do)

I wasn't able to post pictures here earlier, I'll see if I can't track down the reason why, resolve that problem and post some pics of my new trike (and a rather large American bulldog.)

Remarkably, the trike was an hour from my house and was the stretch version. In fact the thing had every option, including the 3 speed recommended here, that I wnated. Except rear fenders, which I'll order from Worksman.

Fairly bizarre set of coincidences involved. Maybe you'll be interested.

My dad's name was Arvin. My middle name is Arvin. The only time I've ever seen the name Arvin was on an old tube radio created by a company named Arvin. The car that carriend my grandmother to the hospital to deliver my father had a radio in it named... Arvin. My grandma was notorious for putting things off. While on the way to the hospital she panicked because she realized she hadn't yet picked out a name for the new baby.

Arvin.

Grandma was a music lover and I dont' recall a time when her house was without a radio playing in the background. People are so wonderfully strange sometimes.

Only seen the name once... until yesterday. The trike was located in a town named Arvin. Exactly what I want, 'cept for the fenders, Saved around 800 on the bike and 250 on the shipping.

Thanks Dad.

This thing is fun to ride even without the motor. I've been stuck in chair for over two years, so I'll tell you frankly that I was excited as Christmas. I'm pissed cuz it's dark and I can't ride it.

My legs are pretty sore. But I'm grinning.

As it happens I have this American Bulldog. 130 pounds of high energy. So, I put her on the leash, hop on the trike and she takes me for a walk...

She needs training, in safe locations, but now it seems that I have another power plant for the trike...

Still gonna do the motor, she can ride on the back or run along side. Felt bad that she never got enough exercise. That's gonna change.

Looks like there is a lot of room under the seat. But then I don't really know what engine to mount or how big it is.

Not sure how to proceed from this point. I'm gonna take some pictures and measurements in the morning.

I'd appreciate some input on the best way to go about mounting the engine. The Staton kit will work according to Worksman. But I'm not terribly fond of it.

I don't like how it sticks out the back and consumes cargo space.

Since this is my first try at something like this, I'll need to keep things simple and bullet proof. So, I may end using the Staton kit to serve that more important requirement.

But perhaps you folks have some better ideas?

KC,

I missed your post.

Thanks for the info.

My dog is a purebred, bought just as we went over our own personal fiscal cliff.

I have this incredible wife. I fixated on getting a dog after the operation and being laid off... Months of research. Finally I settled on the breed. Then I spent a month or so checking out a variety of breeders. Always something wrong. One was obviously a puppy mill, no reason to support folks like that. Other I just simply didn't get the right 'feel'.

After awhile I found a place a couple hours from my house. When I drove up I saw this huge dog in the back playing with one of those donut tires you stick on to get you to the place that's will fix your flat.

The rim was still on and this female was flipping this tire and wheel at least six feet in the air. Growling like Godzilla. Sounded like a nightmare. Pretty cool, right?

So I go inside and the guy obviously doesn't want to give up this last pup of the litter. His wife just as obviously doesn't want another frenzy of energy bouncing off her knickknacks.

So, he brings this pup out that's about the size of my hand. Promptly bit me on the finger. So I gave her, her first name.

Widget.

When she was about nine months old I was walking her along this route we'd travel daily. Roosevelt Utah, really damn cold. I was still able to get around fairly well at that point so, we spent a good bit of time walking along this small river that ran right throught town. Thing was chock full of beaver, which rather remarkably came as a shock to every single person I mentioned it to. No one appeared to know about the beaver. Strange.

So we are walking just after the first freeze and we come to the river and Widget goes bombing toward it, full out enthusiasm at all times.

Well the river has frozen except for a couple foot wide strip down the middle. So Widge goes bounding toward the water for a customary drink and suspicious sniff at all that water, hits the ice and slides right into the water. Which is moving pretty good, 5-8 mph at a guess.

Before I can even start to panic her head pops out and she grabs the edge of the ice with her front paw and heaves herself right out and up the shelf of ice. Leaving like four inch furrows in the ice.

I can tell she's a bit freaked out. So she comes running up to me, give a huge shake, which essentially turns to snow and is damn near completely dry.

I bend over and pet her sort of weak kneed with relief. "Good girl"

So, she flips around and jumps right back into the river.

Just to prove she could do it on purpose, I guess...

Dumb ass dog. Reminded me of those Jackass movies. You know hillbilly punch me in the stomach idiocy...

So she got her second name.

Bubbachili



Just after she turned two I was walking her, where we finally ended up. We were living in an RV park at that point, and I'd take her out and sit a the picnic tables while she'd run.

So, I'm sitting there and she's run off somewhere and I look over my shoulder and a couple of dogs are kind of sidling up behind me. Sort of rough looking, and I really didn't like the look of them much.

Bad problem with strays around here, they end up killing a lot of pets and doing other kinds of mischief. So, I'm looking around for a stick.

One of them kinda looks at me an that upper lip curled back. And that low warnings snarl that sort of curls your hair came out.

No way, this was gonna come out good.

The Widge comes blasting over this little hump, she'd been down messing about in the pond and was cover in moss.

I don't think she bit anything, but she ran right through both of those dogs. Under one, lifting it completely into the air and flipping it on it's back. And right over the other one. Sort of squashed that one a bit.

Pretty good surprise attack, completely routed the enemy.

She thought it was a joke.

That's when she got her third name.

Slaverfangs.

Uber drooly