elizilla
Member
Just wanted to share what I have done to my Rad Trike, to make it work better with my physical limitations. I have MS, and at this point in the disease’s course, I have a lot of trouble with my feet and legs. I can walk with a cane, albeit slowly. My left foot is hard to pick up, and it’s hard to aim my right foot while standing on the left foot.
The Rad Trike has a fairly low step through, but the battery is on the down tube and my foot kept fouling on it when I was getting on and off the bike. I believe they chose to put the battery there, to keep weight on the front, for traction, but for my use case I decided I wanted to move it. A little more wheel spin is much easier for me to cope with, than threading my idiot foot through a tighter space.
I also wanted to carry cargo, and to carry my cane. And avoid adding anything that rattles. I dislike the current trend of baskets made from enormous bars that support fabric delivery food carriers boxes. It’s a nuisance opening and closing those fabric boxes, but if you cut the lids off, water pools in them. And wire baskets rattle. I prefer a good old fashioned milk crate.
So here is what I did:
I ordered a piece of aluminum from McMaster-Carr. It was 12” x 24”, a quarter inch thick. Cleaned up the edges and rounded the corners, and painted the exposed areas flat black. Drilled 8 holes to match the mounting holes on the trike frame and bolted it on with the appropriate M5 screws. I used some rubber grommets as standoffs to keep it nice and quiet.
I drilled three more holes and mounted the battery under the left side. I placed it so it clears my heels when I pedal, and so it sticks out a little in the back, which gives easy access to the lock and the charge port. It doesn’t stick out past the back if the fenders, so it shouldn’t get bumped. The wire harness for it was plenty long enough to reroute to this spot, so I didn’t have to modify any wiring.
I found an appropriately sized plastic crate, it is a few inches short of covering my aluminum plate. You can’t see it in the photos but I glued pieces of foam to the bottom to prevent rattling. The foam was cut from one of those anti-fatigue floor mats. I drilled six holes in my aluminum plate, and tapped them so I could screw the crate in place without putting nuts underneath. I used some big washers to prevent the screws pulling through the crate bottom.
I made this for a cane holder:
The cup at the bottom, that the cane sits in, is a small cat food can. I painted it black and screwed it down to the edge of the aluminum plate. The clip at the top edge of the crate, is a broom holder. I attached the clip using double sided tape and black cable ties.
I took a long test ride today, went over plenty of bumps. Everything was quiet and the cane did not budge.
The Rad Trike has a fairly low step through, but the battery is on the down tube and my foot kept fouling on it when I was getting on and off the bike. I believe they chose to put the battery there, to keep weight on the front, for traction, but for my use case I decided I wanted to move it. A little more wheel spin is much easier for me to cope with, than threading my idiot foot through a tighter space.
I also wanted to carry cargo, and to carry my cane. And avoid adding anything that rattles. I dislike the current trend of baskets made from enormous bars that support fabric delivery food carriers boxes. It’s a nuisance opening and closing those fabric boxes, but if you cut the lids off, water pools in them. And wire baskets rattle. I prefer a good old fashioned milk crate.
So here is what I did:
I ordered a piece of aluminum from McMaster-Carr. It was 12” x 24”, a quarter inch thick. Cleaned up the edges and rounded the corners, and painted the exposed areas flat black. Drilled 8 holes to match the mounting holes on the trike frame and bolted it on with the appropriate M5 screws. I used some rubber grommets as standoffs to keep it nice and quiet.
I found an appropriately sized plastic crate, it is a few inches short of covering my aluminum plate. You can’t see it in the photos but I glued pieces of foam to the bottom to prevent rattling. The foam was cut from one of those anti-fatigue floor mats. I drilled six holes in my aluminum plate, and tapped them so I could screw the crate in place without putting nuts underneath. I used some big washers to prevent the screws pulling through the crate bottom.
I made this for a cane holder:
The cup at the bottom, that the cane sits in, is a small cat food can. I painted it black and screwed it down to the edge of the aluminum plate. The clip at the top edge of the crate, is a broom holder. I attached the clip using double sided tape and black cable ties.
I took a long test ride today, went over plenty of bumps. Everything was quiet and the cane did not budge.
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