Demo

Chop, cut, rebuild. I did say that this is going to be truck, so a trike really doesn't cut the mustard. Like I've said, I only want to use the rear end, the head tube, and the bottom bracket off this thing. So I've cut off all the pieces I need, grinded them down, and sanded them clean. Even though all of this is going to be hidden under the body of the truck, I still want it to look good.

Last picture: impromptu balance test on the rear end. =)

...and fail. haha.

Design

So I've been doing a lot of research on trikes, quadracycles and recumbents to figure out how all of this is going to go together. My plan is to re-use as much of the existing steel as possible to keep costs and waste down. I've figured I can use the head tube for the Pitman Arm steering setup and I can relocate the bottom bracket in front of the "front axle". I'm going to need some additional idler gears due to the extended length the chain will be running (some more research into recumbents is in order - maybe a tandem recumbent for inspiration!).

For the seating arrangement, I was originally planning on setting the pedals pretty much horizontal from the rider's butt; however, after drawing it out to scale, I noticed that gives the truck a really LONG front end and the rider's head far from the front window. I wasn't happy with that look, so I raised the butt of the rider closer to a traditional bike position to allow for the front end to be nice and squashed looking (granted, this raised the overall height of the truck, which I'm not totally thrilled about, but it's a acceptable trade-off).

Up next: DEMO! Get out your saws and grinders people!

It has begun...

Welcome to the Slangin' Sweets Truck Build blog! I've taken on the task of building a pedal/electric quadracycle with the body of a miniature LA Food Truck. My plan is to ride around the streets and beaches of LA, selling sweet treats for all to consume. I'm doing this as an expression of creativity and to build my design skills. I'm not very familiar with the inner-workings of bicycles, the brands or the part names so this project is a bit of an undertaking. I'm excited!

The start of the Slangin' Sweets Truck build has started with the purchase of a Schwinn 3-speed trike. My original intentions were to make the truck front wheel drive and steering; however, I didn't want to go through the hassle of finding and modifying CV joints to fit this application. So I am going to use the rear end of this trike as my basis. It's an all steel frame with an internal hub 3-speed connected to a 1-wheel drive rear axle. There is a lot of work to be done, but it is nice to have something to look at to help visualize the build. I will continue to update this blog so please check back later as the build progresses.