recumbent

When we moved to Vegas we bought a nice little home and I fell in love with having my own garage. This particular garage had been painted bright orange. We have recently sold that home but I have had more than one person suggest that I paint all my garages the same color. This was one of my first projects in the orange garage. I put this video on facebook sometime ago but I thought I would link it to the blog so here you go  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8e2KhgB5n8&feature=youtu.be

tandem and eliptical

The summer before I was married my buddy Josh told me that now was the time to make any last minute purchases while the money was still "my" money. Shortly after, I found a coupon for a welder and noticed some scrap steel lying around near my house. I took it as a sign and started teaching myself to weld, something I had wanted to do since I was little. Inspired by my cousin Mark, my first bike project was a tandem. Shortly after my wife was in California and saw an Elliptigo which she was excited about. I teased that we would get beat up riding that around Las Vegas, but I was half done building it by the time she got back. In Salt Lake City these bikes brought approving nods from policemen and big smiles from everybody on the sidewalk, in Las Vegas we mostly get weird stares...but were never beat up.  For some reason  these first projects never made the blog so here is a link to the original video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbwa_YOLxwg

Lean Trike

Lean Trike

After putting the larger engine on the frankenbuggy I had the original smaller engine lying around the garage. Engines lying around the garage unused makes me start thinking of new projects. I eventually came up with a lean trike design.

The engine and torq-a-verter drive a live axle for the two wheels in back. The front wheel is connected directly to the seat. One hand has a twist grip throttle from a motorcycle and the other controls a disc break.The entire seat is hinged to the back section and to steer the rider leans his whole body into the turn.  The end result is a pretty bizarre riding experience. The first time Maria saw me ride it she instantly decided that it belonged in a parade...maybe if she drives.

Here is a video of the trike in action  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIqeUj5oxoo&feature=youtu.be