Submitted by Geoff Sagar, UK
Two Atomic Zombie thumbs up to you, Noah! A perfect fit.
Human powered trikes come in two varieties - two wheels at the back (delta), and two wheels up front (tadpole). The general opinion is that tadpole trikes are made for speed and comfort while delta trikes are great for load carrying, pulling trailers, and sending granny off to the shopping mall. But, not anymore! The radical DeltaWolf Recumbent breaks all the rules that have held delta trikes back for so many years. This trike is ultra low, very laid back, designed for comfort and speed, and has full-sized 26 inch rear wheels thanks to unique, yet easy-to-make rear hub axles.
The DeltaWolf Recumbent is also designed to be easy to build using only a welder and an angle grinder, and requiring only a single part to be machined (plans also show alternative to this machined part). The rest of the trike is made using a few feet of square tubing and standard bicycle parts that can be purchased new or salvaged from scrap bicycles. Even the unique rear wheel hubs are made using nothing more than a hand drill, and a few washer shaped steel discs.
There are no hard-to-find parts used in this project, and the only part that needs to be machined is a small threaded part that will allow a standard freehub to connect to one of the rear axels. The total cost of building the DeltaWolf Recumbent including the machined part is about $200, and could actually be much less depending on the size of your junk pile. The frame is made from mild steel square tubing, and can be put together in a few evenings, not bad for a trike that looks as good as it rides. Check out the video below to see how well the DeltaWolf Recumbent behaves as it handles tight corners and straight-aways.
All of Atomic Zombie Extreme Machines plans are downloadable PDF format. Multiple discounts, free tutorials, videos, gallery, newsletters, blog and more.
