something which is conventional? Browsing the net I came across this guy nick named JaYoe, who set out on his recumbent trike and is presently covering the Far East, Korea and Japan. Then I came across a gentlemen who despite his handicap had travelled the Himalayas on his recumbent Trike. And that was it... my search for a recumbent trike began. A modest, entry level (non electric) recumbent trike costs around USD1,200 – USD1,500. Add to that a whopping 38% duty on importing a cycle into India; that put the costs to around USD1,600 – USD2,000 for an imported trike. I was pretty much sure I could build one for much less than. I wanted to keep the design simple to build with minimal of welding. I based my recumbent trike on the ‘all bolted aluminium frame’ open source design ‘N 55 from XYZ
Spaceframes.com’. I adapted the original design to suit my needs and local road conditions.
The entire trike is made of commercial grade aluminium sections and bolted with stainless
steel bolts. The bicycle parts were sourced on line and at a local bicycle store. The tools I used were a hacksaw, an electric handheld drill, a set of spanners and a screw driver. As I developed the design, I thought why not make it an electric trike? So I sourced an alloy wheel with a 250 watts brushless hub motor from another enterprising cycling enthusiast and added an electric drive. The power is via Lithium Ion batteries 36 volts, 10 Ah. Having done that, I added a 150 watts solar panel via a MPPT boost charger to charge the 36 Volt battery via a 12 Volt panel. This made OFFGrid Travel a reality for me. As I write this the roof and solar panel are being redesigned to make the shape more aerodynamically streamlined and aesthetic.
The entire trike (with the electric drive and solar power unit) was built in my office all by myself in about 100 hours and at a cost of INR 100,000 (USD1,300 or so) including wastages and material and parts lost due to errors. Not bad hey?
The biggest challenge when I ride it is to come to terms with public curiosity. I ride daily to my office which is just about a kilometre away from my home. If I walk that distance, I reach the office in about 9 minutes; but it takes over thirty minutes if I go on the trike! The amount of people who stop me at traffic lights and want to know about the trike is amazing! A lot of curious fellow motorists and motorbike riders are amazed that I am able to keep pace with them in the city traffic - by the way I can do 25 Km/hr as a maximum speed.
Q 14. At the end of a hot Indian day as you settle down with a cool beer, how do you choose to relax?
The way you asked this question Mike - I can’t resist the temptation to sit down with some cool beer; and if and when I choose to relax, I would love to be found on a little hilly island somewhere in some Ocean - living out of the land and sea - and teaching little children those things that they no more teach in the schools.
Milind and his trike
90 | The Report • December 2018 • Issue 86
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