Warrior Recumbent Tadpole Trike - newbie's first build

By odm1, Atomic Zombie Krew Member

   I started the Warrior Trike build today. I have always wanted a trike, but could never afford one - thanks, Brad!

I got the forks, dropouts seat tube and crank tube all together and somehow the seat tube is a half inch too high. The angle is 45 degrees on the money, though. Also, I want to use skinny tires up front maybe 1 inch. I will be using a double wall rim 36 spoke 20mm hub.

  Yep, that’s my welder. It’s OK, not a Miller by any means, but not bad for a hundred bucks. I was using a arc welder and had a hard time with filling holes and making a decent bead. I do fine on a piece of flat stock and not joining to pieces together, but when trying to weld the tubing together my beads look pretty bad. Much props to Brad with his skill! With the Harbor Freight welder my beads are OK and they feel strong, but I’m no pro!

   As for the frame, it is 5.5 inches from the ground to the seat tube. I think I will suck it up and try again. This will be my third attempt. Oh well, I’m having a blast building it, and I really want it to be as good as I can get it!

 Check out this seat I might use. It’s off a old XR Honda. I got the seat height right and built the steering tubes today, just need to save up for the front wheels and find some cranks, but I like the seat. It’s comfy and real close to Brad’s seat dimensions.

   Finally, got her on all three's today. This trike is awesome! I had my brother push me around for a bit it rolls so smooth and straight. I can’t wait to finish it! I dumped the motorcycle seat idea and went with Brad’s design instead. It is a lot more comfortable. I used some padding that you would use for knee pads, but I think it will work really well.

   The Bitex hubs I got worked out good. I just had to take some of the inner sleeve off. I would have taken the sleeve out completely, but one bearing is larger than the other. Thanks for the help. Got all four tie rod ends shipped for under $30. Now, can any one tell me where to get a cheap Ferrari? Just joking, thanks again!

  Not too bad. I did a test run with some scrap tube got it close then copied the cuts on to the steering tubes leaving room for error, and in a hour I was done. Got my gears today. Went with 30 40 52 up front and 11-32 8 speed in the rear. I hope it’s not too much. Finally, got to cruise the bike today got up to 15 mph. Just have to clean it up, adjust the gears more, and paint.








Fresh out of the back yard, I mean the paint booth. I left the boom long because I have a wheel I am going to mount to the bottom of the boom so I can do stoppies. KMX trikes has the same option and I'm planning on using the hole that I made, that is in the tip of the boom for my bike lock. If all goes well, I will post the finished trike Saturday night.

   I have been working on it for six hours now, and nothing is going back right. Hopefully, sleep will help.

   I’m finally done now. You guys can see what I meant by the wheel for doing stoppies. The most trouble I had was trying to find the chain pulleys. I used garage door pulleys but the chain would fall off. I tried close line pulleys and the chain would fall off then tried rollerblade wheels with a groove cut in the middle and you guessed it - the chain fell out.

   I looked every for the ones Brad used, but had no luck and couldn’t order online because of banking problems, so some how what’s on their now works like a dream. The rear pulley is a skateboard wheel and some furniture sliders.










   The trike gets a lot of attention and is real fast, so far 25 mph is the fastest, that’s from going down hill a little. I was worried that the font wheels would go out of control going that fast, but she glides straight and smooth and stops on a dime with the back tire in the air.

   If you guys know where I can get the right pulleys please let me know. I’m sure I will need one for the back soon.

Going night riding. Later Zombie peeps!









Congratulations, odm1 on your excellent Warrior Trike project. And, completed in a little over two months! More pictures of odm1's Warrior Trike build on the Atomic Zombie Builders Forum: http://forum.atomiczombie.com/showthread.php?t=3701