| 07/06/2001 | The First Tandem Trike Cruiser
By Gary NewcombThe first tandem trike cruiser in the United States was registered into the National Bike Registry this month by California custom builder, Gary Newcomb. With over 100,000 custom/mass-manufactured bicycles on file, the National Bike Registry is one of the largest bike databases in the world.
The League of American Bicyclists who has over 300,000 members, agreed it was an original. They requested it be displayed at their BikeFest 2001 in Altoona, PA. The trikes skeleton started as a 1966 Huffman tandem bike. After over 200 hours of restoration and painting, the bike was converted to a trike. The trike is a total of 9 feet 4 inches and almost 90 pounds, with an amazing 13 feet of chains. Instead of the traditional rear basket, a custom pine plank flatbed was made for it.
The trikes wheels were upgraded with 72 (straight laced) spoke rims with 2.125 high profile white-wall tires, a Schwinn springer fork and ducktail fenders were also added. For a finishing touch he added dual (matching painted) Specialized Astro 2.4 headlights, and handlebar flag set. Did we mention the Phillips Compact Disk player, and Seiko SII amplified stereo speakers?
Mr. Newcomb is researching production possibilities, and hopes to be making more trikes (tandem/conventional) to retail on an upcoming website. Any questions about the tandem trike should be directed to AtomicBike@aol.com. The National Bike Registry can be found at www.nationalbikeregistry.com and the League of American Bicyclists can be reached by their website at www.bikeleague.org
|
|
|
