corkscrew

I've been talking to a fellow bicycle commuter @ my work, who rides a Terratrike Tour. I expressed my interest in trikes (I've never ridden a recumbent, but gads I *want* a trike.) I mentioned that I work on my uprights, and was considering building my own trike from atomic zombie plans.

So he offers me his old frame that was replaced under warranty. It has a crack along the base of the stub tube that connects to the boom. I'm figuring that it's 4130 cro-moly steel that and can be fixed. (Am I wrong?)



I have the frame now, as well as a broken seat frame.

My questions to everyone:

Is there a way to tell between the terratrike versions? I've been surfing utahtrikes.com and their kinpins/hub mounts are dependent on the version of the frame.

Also, assuming I can have a person more competent than myself fix the boom seam, is it worth building up? I have a plethora of diamond frame bike parts.

Where can I find the specific parts? Will I have to go straight to Terratrike or is there another option?



I'm assuming it's a "pre-tour" model, as it doesn't have the rear dropouts needed for the 26" wheel mod.



Thanks everyone!

BlazingPedals

It should be fixable. I'm not surprised it cracked there, because the boom gets the most stress of all the tubes. You'll have to pull the joint apart and assess the damage from there. Maybe you can cut an inch or so off and re-insert it, maybe you can just clean it up and re-insert it as-is. If it were me, I'd be tempted to sleeve the inside of the tube with another tube, just to strengthen that area. Then braze it instead of welding, to get more surface area bonded.

But, I'm just an interested on-looker, with no training in such things.

corkscrew

I have no idea on the repair process. Trying to find a local frame builder to take a look at it for me.

Just running numbers now to see if it's financially viable to fix on my own. It's not like they sell spare parts for these things @ Jensens or Nashbar!

Also, cross-posted this on the bentrideronline forums. They've identified it as an early model 3.6/tour. Dated it around 2005.

corkscrew

Got it fixed! Found a local framebuilder. He went all the way around the joint with new welds.



Cost me $50 and a six pack of sam adams lager. So far so good, now to gather parts!

BlazingPedals

Good luck!

BTW, that's how I got my NoCom frame, too. Broken and having been replaced under warranty. Some day I may get it prettied back up, but it rides well and that's what matters most!

corkscrew

Thanks! I have a guy on the Bentrider forums shipping me some of his old terratrike parts.

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one bringing dead recumbents back to life!

I figure once I get this all put together, and fall in love with it, I'll strip it back down and get it powdercoated. There are too many red terratrike tours as is.