Outlander 21
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After completing CR 18 Thom's big red delta trike, it was
obvious that the trike really lacked performance. The weight was also prohibitive at 75
lb.s. Despite the success of the U-joint steering the trike was not much of a speed
machine. The other problem it had was the drag that the disc brake had. So Thom and I
decided that to optimize his performance I would build him a Low racer.
The special considerations that had to be made was the seat
had to be extra wide, the seat bottom had to be longer and the seat back angle had to be
fairly upright. To keep the cost down I opted for a frame with no rear suspension, and
used a rear triangle from an old MTB frame. To get the seat down to 12.5" I had to
steepen the 'down' tube, this also allowed the seat to be moved forward to increase the
pedal clearance.
The 20/26 wheel arrangement also meant that I didn't have to
be concerned about hopping the gearing up, so conventional gearing was used. The MTB rear
triangle also allowed a conventional rear rack to be fitted. Two water bottle braze-ons
were fitted behind the seat at the base of the seat tube on each side. A special 200mm
threadless stem was made to allow the handle bar to be placed where Thom found it to be
most comfortable. The main frame excluding the seat stays and chainstays where made from
chro-moly tubing. The rear brake is attached to the underside of the chainstays. Both
brakes are linear pull, with the front one being an Odessey A-brake. The A-brake allowed
the cable to approach from the left side.
