Outlander 13
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Like all builders I too was interested in tadpole trikes.
After reading as much as I could find on what it takes to build one right, I discovered
that it would be as simple as putiing two regular forks together. Since CR# 9 was not
meeting my expectations I decided that it would be best to try and convert it's frame into
a trike. I designed and built forks which had the steering tubes coming out of one leg so
I could make use of regular front wheels. I chopped the head tube of #9 and drilled a 1
1/2" hole through the 2" square main tube and attached two short head tubes to
the ends at an angle. The resulting rig was a really eye opening because it proved the
theory that I had gleaned from all the text that I had read. Cambering the steering
inwards was an important thing were trikes are concerned, it's what allows them to track
straight on a cambered road.
What I was unable to figure out was the Ackermann steering.
Also the whole project was getting really big and each time I moved in or out of the house
I had to dismantle it. So I put it aside, a few years later I gave away the frame to Alan
Thwaits who then passed it on to John Murray who was able to build a working trike out of
it. Sometime in the future I will build one again.
