That is so cool.

To those who mock trikes: You have NO idea!

Ever since I read that Dick Morris (H.R. Morris) was a fan of trikes and had built a few of them I became interested in trying one. When I was quite unexpectedly offered a pair of Morris frames, a bike and a trike, in my size, I decided it was too good an opportunity to miss and bought them. One of the best cycling decisions I ever made.

Most cyclists used to 2 wheels find it impossible to ride a trike due to their deeply ingrained habit of counter steering when they turn. Most cyclists are not even aware that when they go right or left they put pressure on the bars in the opposite direction to do so. Thus, in a right hand curve they push the right side of the bars ever so slightly forward with their right hand. Do this on a trike and you crash. You have to 'steer' a trike, like a car.

Of the 25 or so cycling friends who have tried my trike, only 5 could manage it, with most going into a panic within the first couple of yards, despite my explaining how they had to override their cycling habits. Some gave up immediately while others tried 2 or 3 more times without success. This happens to most cyclists who try trikes, who then spend the rest of their lives dismissing them as 'impossible' or 'death-traps'.

Apart from overcoming their counter steering instinct bicyclists have to learn to put both feet on the pedals before setting off and when stopping, or risk getting their feet trapped under the axle if they don't. They also have to learn to lean off the trike when cornering in order to counterbalance the trikes tendency to tip over outwards on corners. If you look at a mixed field of 2-wheeled and 3-wheeled racers the angle of lean of the two are more or less the same, the difference being that the bicycles follow the same angle as their riders.

When it comes to fun, a trike is hard to beat. I certainly haven't ever had as much fun on a bicycle as on my trike. You have to concentrate more on a trike: a pothole, or a sudden camber can send you flying so you always need to have your attention on the road ahead. You tend to sit more lightly on a trike for this reason, supporting more of your weight on the pedals. Lastly, you get far more exercise on a trike, what with standing as you let the machine move around under you and leaning off on corners. If I had known a trike was so much fun I would have bought one years earlier.

There is one other cool thing about riding a trike. Here in Japan, at least, kids and the elderly are amazed when they see me riding mine. Most kids shout to their friends or parents, 'Wow! Look at that. Cool!' and I've lost count of the number of times elderly people have stopped in their tracks and said, 'That's beautiful, isn't it?' or 'How strange!' with a smile on their faces.

The Bob Jackson in Denver is a very nice example but from a UK point of view very expensive. You'd expect to pay about 1/3 of that in the UK.

Here's a video I made one Sunday with my trike - unfortunately the music has been stripped out for copyright reasons but it has captions explaining how to ride...

I fixed and cut some info and you could be talking about a fixed gear. Which has its own differences like some others the trike has. I've had friends hop on and they can't stop, or get off and their legs are trembling as using back pressure to stop uses a different muscle.

I can see why you would get a rush, its a different animal.

Brian Baylis had a pretty good one. I tried one once, you notice the sensation if you are on one with one wheel drive and no differential, especially out of the saddle. Cornering I felt Always requires lateral movement, at any speed. I would want one with a really short frame, and a very low bottom bracket. You could get away with really low if you kept awareness of road debris. Good application for disc brakes.
Reminds me of an old issue of Autoweek, when it was on newsprint, there was a guy cleaning up in UK motorcycle sidecar road racing until his trike got ruled out. Two wheels fwd, power to a meaty rear tyre and the pilot and monkey sat tandem, very little lateral movement, they sat behind a fairing too. A Colin Champman approach, study the rules and find the loophole.

Having tried unsuccessfully to ride Jim Baross's pedicab, I can attest that I am one of the 20/25 who cannot break the countersteer 2-wheel habit, which is ironic, because I was 12 years old before I could master it.

If I were going to try a trike, I would definitely demand two wheels in front and one in back, for vastly superior stability and elimination of the two-wheel differential drive problem.

Here: read up on this Lightweight Racing and Touring Tricycles and Conversions

Upright racing trikes are alive and well. Since american drivers don't like sharing the road with recumbent trikes, these upright ones likely have the same issues with drivers crowding their space. Really cool and I've talked to the guy recently as I was trying to modify my own drive line issue.

Dave
dbtrikes.com

its the same reason they stopped selling 3-wheel ATVs and went with 4, even though the three wheelers could actually go a lot more places. learning to NOT counter-steer is hard once you learn it. jump from a motorcycle to a 3 wheel ATV and you end up in a ditch with 300lbs of metal and plastic on your head. going to a 4 wheel ATV was easier as its like a car, and even if you mess up, it wont immediately flip over.

BUT - if you learn how to use it, a 3 wheeler is WAY fun. and yes, you hang off it in crazy ways just like on a trike. to get around corners at speed one has to really use ones whole weight and throw against, and then nearly off, the thing.

The link you kindly posted is to Trykit, who converted my trike from 1-wheel drive to 2-wheel drive. It was originally fixed gear with the left wheel driven. This works well if you drive on the left, as the trike tends to the right, cancelling out the camber. Not so good in countries where you drive on the right. If anyone buys a British trike I would strongly recommend having Trykit convert it to 2WD.

In my experience, cars tend to give me a wide berth, which they don't when I'm on 2 wheels (or a 'falling over machine' as they are sometimes referred to in triking circles). Likewise, cars coming the other way will wait for me to pass before overtaking stationary vehicles parked on the other side of the road. They almost never do when I'm on a bike.

Thanks for the video. Besides the trike observations, it brought back strongly the atmosphere of Japan for me.
I doubt American drivers would react as carefully.
The two wheel drive system developed with the basic mechanicals of a freehub look very intriguing. The cost of the system, especially with disc brakes is significant! Be fun to have a two wheel drive version.

Glad you liked it! I'm trying to get permission from the copyright owners to the music I used. It was much better with. I would have just had the ambient noise but the rattle from the bell was really annoying. Making another video, showing more of Tokyo, is something I want to do when I have some time.

Geoff Booker, or Mr Trykit, does great work. The 2WD is just a Shimano cassette body with extra ratchets. Very simple and very effective. As you may have seen, I don't have brakes at the back. The conversion, including the hubs, front brake extension and all parts cost £519/$650.

[IMG]https://c3.staticflickr.com/4/3749/1...9baf2d53_z.jpg1963 H.R. Morris upright tricycle by Dawes-man, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2926/1...cb5e42b8_z.jpg1963 H.R. Morris upright tricycle. by Dawes-man, on Flickr[/IMG]

You've probably seen this but this pic from the Trykit website shows the modified Shimano cassette body:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/trykit/Ca...s/image017.jpg

Regarding the price of the trike for sale in Denver, at the start of this thread. I said it was high for the UK. However, as someone on the trike list on3wheels pointed out, given the nice condition of this machine, and considering the cost of getting a trike shipped to the US, it is really quite reasonable. Someone should buy it and have a lot of fun. I would if it didn't cost so much to ship it to Japan.

I surfed around a bit earlier today to fully understand how the two wheel drive went together.
Not shown well it appears in the partial cutaway photo illustration is the need to have a bit of distance between the axle ends. And I am guessing a bit of space between the pawl discs.
From a technical standpoint would want the hollow axles and disc brakes at the rear wheels. Of course requires associated caliper mounts. The cable running was pretty clever up the diagonals to a center pull type straddle yoke. Kind of auto parking brake tech.
The variation in overall width of what is out there is interesting too.
I need to reference better how the Longstaff axle design is different.
Found the Newton tadpole design too.
I need to sketch out some ideas that came to mine as I was looking at the various trikes.
Some of the stuff is quite clever, some looks like it could be lightened up and even simplified.
All the rear axle frames look very beefy, the breed probably did away with inferior designs, or the retrofit axle assemblies led the way to provide decent strength and all followed suit.

If possible, what is the bottom bracket height of the Morris?

Okay some pretty bikes, and I do like Mercians, but we're talking 'bout a bunch of gussied up steel bikes here. Pretty, but not the bikes that really put a wicked smile on your face to ride. Steel bikes are like wives, pretty to look at, and probably sensible to marry and raise a family with, or go on a century ride or such...but not the bikes you have naughty dreams about, or would want to do epic mountain routes on. The more climbing the less that girl next door steel frame makes sense, and descending? Please.

Show us that all Campy C'dale and the other 'dale please!

22.5 cm at the moment but by turning the eccentric it could be 22 cm.

The wheelbase is 99 cm.

Thanks. They took advantage reasonably well of the configuration. Had to think for a quick moment that you mentioned the trike was a fixed originally, have to have chain adjustment somewhere.

There actually may be a trike on offer locally, not sure as to how the drive is configured... my excuse would be it could fit my daughter too, who has never really been excited about two wheels... and thinking further as it has a modest rack, a grocery getter... oh, the rationalization one can come up with...

The Beeston Humber was an early example of a British trike. They came into vogue about 1880 and supplanted Pennyfarthings until the 'safety bikes' supplanted them. But trikes never went entirely out of production.

There was a trike made in the 1950s with Reynolds tubing that employed 2 wheels in the front... and maybe still now:

Tricycle Association

MercianCycles : And now for something completely different

http://www.roman-road.co.uk/conversions/index.htm

The other 'dale is a 2004, wasn't aware that it was "C&V"

how did this trike thread turn into a random "show me as many pics as possible of your bike collection" thread?

Anyhow, here's some cool trike stuff:

Bikeville thoughts: Awesome Shop Bike: Bob Jackson racing trike

http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...-pictures.html

Most fine post by a pro! They do intrigue but if I ever had the chance to try one, it certainly would on a bike path as in the vid. These trikes look extra scary for riding on roadways. Thanks for sharing :)

+1 And for future reference, lets show and tell what the OP is about.

Per CL description~

Collectors bike bob Jackson 1975 raising trike 61 inches fream - $1500 obo (Littleton)
Very rare made in England tubing 531 campanolo derailler components and santuor shifter mac faded break new giro continental tires 61 inches fream is beautiful machine ready to take ride (303) 489-6311
https://images.craigslist.org/01515_...Q_1200x900.jpg

https://images.craigslist.org/00I0I_...s_1200x900.jpg

https://images.craigslist.org/00q0q_...x_1200x900.jpg

https://images.craigslist.org/00A0A_...h_1200x900.jpg

https://images.craigslist.org/00M0M_...G_1200x900.jpg

https://images.craigslist.org/00y0y_...F_1200x900.jpg

https://images.craigslist.org/00v0v_...3_1200x900.jpg

https://images.craigslist.org/00W0W_...8_1200x900.jpg

I was wondering the same. Perhaps the poster of the off-topic photos would consider deleting them.

Thanks for the link to a thoughtful and useful (to anyone considering a trike in the US) post. The Jackson trike featured is very interesting (indented chain) and I've never seen a cable-hanger-stem-bolt like that before.

[QUOTE=crank_addict;19248927]+1 And for future reference, lets show and tell what the OP is about.

https://images.craigslist.org/00I0I_...s_1200x900.jpg

Something I wondered about when I first got interested in trikes was the axle and how much of it the frame builder made and how much the axle maker. What I now know is that the frame builder's work stopped at the chain and seat stays with the axle maker making the rest, which is then brazed onto the frame by the frame builder. Jack Taylor and Bob Jackson made quite a few trikes, usually with Higgins axles.

The axle for this machine was made by Higgins and is almost identical to the axle on my Morris (the grease zerks are missing and there is no Higgins badge/transfer). I think Higgins is the most common axle maker but I'm not sure. It is certainly one of the most common. The main competitor for Higgins seems to be Rogers while Paulson, Longstaff and H.E. Ferris made trikes with their own axles and, as far as I know, didn't sell just the axles. Higgins and Rogers also made frames.

[IMG]https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7341/1...c58be91c_z.jpg1963 H.R. Morris upright tricycle by Dawes-man, on Flickr[/IMG]

trike for sale in New Jersey:

Mid-80's 47cm Acycles (UK) Joachim Racing Trike