I finally finished the Tri-Wheeler. 

It cleaned up remarkably well! I did all of the disassembly and I cleaned and repacked all of the bearings, crank, etc. myself. I also put the thing back together.

Thanks again to the guys at Richardson Bike Mart for the cleaning and repacking of the Bendix Kick-Back two-speed hub. It shifts and stops perfectly. RBM also did the final tweaking of the trike so that everything was tightened down right and pointing in the right direction.

A three-wheeled bicycle is a pretty strange thing to ride. It quickly drives home the fact that streets aren’t level. Streets have a crown in the middle so that water will flow off of them. So if you aren’t ridng exactly down the middle of the street………not really a very good idea in a heavy, not so nimble, self-propelled vehicle…………then you aren’t quite level.  That being said, you know how in all of those World War II movies, there is always a German guy on a three-wheeled motorcycle? I kind of felt like that guy. Cool, in a weird way.

I’m thinking that the new 12 foot wide bike trail at White Rock Lake has got to be pretty level and will be perfect.

It’s cargo capacity has yet to be tested.  There will definitely be liquor store runs and multiple garage sale weeknds in my E. Dallas neighborhood. I took the trike on an inaugural run to the Albertson’s grocery store up in the Casa Linda Shopping Center, but about halfway there one of the fenders started rattling. I had not tightened it down enough and it got worse and worse and drove me crazy, so I turned back around and rode home. Talk about a workout! This thing is a tank.

Amazingly, about a week after I got the trike back from RBM, I found a matching 1973 Schwinn Speedster 3-speed in Campus Green, as well. An absolutely mint bike:

What a pair, eh? Hello, St. Patrick’s Day Parade!

I even found an owner’s manual on ebay. No Town and Country for Old Men? Hmmm…..maybe I’ve got this whole thing backwards……

Exercise with a Sense of Security? I kind of like the way that sounds.

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