Electric Bikes - Practical electric trike

I've posted this picture in the Utility Cycling forum as well, but I thought it might be of interest. The hub motor is a 250watt 24 volt unit and I find that it works well as a car replacement around town.

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/3024/annieshercules01yc0.jpg

Looks very traditional.

What are those extra silvery bits that run in front of the forks? Some kind of spirngs maybe?

Those are fork braces and they do have a coil spring to provide a level of pre-tensioning to the front fork. Not quite a sprung fork, but they greatly improve the ride in rough going. Yes it certainly is very traditional, but then that's what I like when it comes to bikes.

Looks pretty stable and like it would be useful for a quick trip to the store at the bottom of the hill.

Looks pretty stable and like it would be useful for a quick trip to the store at the bottom of the hill.

Yes it is :) I've put a few more miles on my tricycle now and it's proving to be very reliable. I've used it to take recycling stuff to the local collection depot at the dump; collect the week's groceries; bring DIY materials back from the hardware store. Being easier to park and get through traffic it's proving to be a great car replacement.

Since your bike looks unique I would imagine that neighbors and strangers would tend to stop you and ask you about it. Anyway, good job on putting this together and taking another car off the street for a while.