Yesterday was a fine spring day – bright sunshine, not a cloud in the sky and only a light breeze:
While I was out taking Huge Dalmatian for a walk along the sea front, I was surprised to see this coming along:
Recumbents aren’t the sort of thing you see every day here, and the rider was nice enough to stop to talk about his steed. I’ve always liked the look of a ‘bent, ever since reading an article in Scientific American about them in about 1987. At the time, a recumbent tricicle had set the world record for one hour, covering something over 50 miles, and a tandem version had done over 55 miles.
As we were talking, this guy rode past:
. . . and he stopped to chat too. That’s an ICE Trike – seriously cool!
The only thing that’s put me off buying one just like that is the price tag – somewhere between £1,500 & £2,000 depending on the specification. So I have plans for a similar vehicle that I can build myself for about £350 – it uses a pair of BMX bikes as donors for the front half, and a 26″ wheeled mountain bike for the rear:
More on this if I ever get around to learning to weld . . . .
Do The Right Thing 
How would you do the steering on the trike? I couldn’t figure how to accomotate the mechanism ams the different speeds of the two wheels when turning.
It’s possible to build a recumbent without any welds if you think about the design a bit. I built a recumbent for the kids a few years ago with just one weld (which could have been avoided).
If you want a trike you may find it easier to have a single front wheel and two wheels at the back. I had a home made one like that a few years back too.
Currently I help with building these, which are great in any weather and go a lot quicker than unfaired ones.
Andy –
Easy. It’s rear-wheel drive, so there’s no mucking about with differentials needed. To avoid wheel scrub on cornering, the steering mechanism is Ackerman Compensated, so that each wheel tracks a circular path to a common centre point.
Hello Karl,
I was as amazed as you to find another recumbent rider, especially when we’d just mentioned ICE trikes whilst chatting – serendipitous in the extreme.
By the way I remembered after we rode off that a friend of mine is wanting to sell a delta trike – email me and I’ll give you details.
Rob (the challenge mistral rider from the photo)
Do not take the time to build one unless you are just dying to build the thing. I am Brad Hefta-Gaub’s dad and I have done some long distance rides on a recumbent t but decided I needed to have more stability. I did a lot of surfing and came up with the tw recumbent bike.
http://stevengaub.sweat365.com/
http://www.uk-recumbent-bikes.com/tw-trike.html
http://www.uk-recumbent-bikes.com/tw-trike.html
http://www.bentrideronline.com/reviews/abtadpole/abtadpole.htm
Gorgeous scenery where you are at. I have seen a couple of these bicycles where I live and have always wanted to stop to talk to the owners about them. Well done for being braver than me and actually doing it!