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A Tricycle For The Big Kid In All Of Us

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Somewhere around five months ago, I wrote an article discussing the process of putting my neighbor's tricycle together for her. [The WindRoamer Tricycle]

The intent at the time was for her to use the trike for getting around the paddock of her horse/donkey arena, which is a normal, daily activity for my friend. Due to life difficulties I will not go into here, she experiences some challenges physically moving around a large area like a horse arena, and this tricycle seemed to be a very good answer to the dilemma at hand.

A Bit Of Three-Wheeled History

I was called upon one afternoon to assemble the new tricycle, and I soon had it de-boxed, then wrenched, banged, cussed and assembled into tricycle shape. And once completed, it was obvious this was no ordinary, run of the mill, little-kid-messing- about-on-the-front-lawn tricycle. Even the name suggested grander possibilities. Definitely not the HobbleTrike III by Huffy, one sees abandoned in little-kid disgust on sidewalks and front yards all across Suburbia, USA.

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The Completed, Brand-Spanking New WindRoamer Tricycle

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The WindRoamer. Even the name suggests lofty, wind-in-the-hair, hugely adventurous outings, once the new owner is fully saddled and pedaling on into the sunset. Say, in the wilds of Sedona Arizona, the epic Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore of Michigan, or some other exotic destination of three-wheeled joy.

The WindRoamer. A beefy tricycle made for adults, that sports shock absorb-ers and knobby, air-filled tires. And a nifty, removable egg basket. Even a place for a trailer hitch. How cool is THAT?!.

Just right for bopping around, over and through the most difficult obstacles of the bumpy-ride variety. We were both very excited about the possibilities the trike offered for her daily donkey care, and the mobile, move-around-the-arena activities that it requires.

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All Revved Up And Ready To Go

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Singing The Front-Wheeled Conveyance Blues

At the time of my fist post about this tricycle, I promised I would give a heads up and progress report on how it all worked out in the end. And here we are today.

Jump ahead four and a half months from original post, and many a trial in the donkey and horse arena later. The muddy, messy, sloppy arena. The many trials and resulting tribulations of the WindRoamer in action.

I am crestfallen to report, that the tricycle did not work all that well in these conditions. I had such high hopes for success, as did my friend that owns the trike. I think there are a few problems that arose, that make it untenable as a muddy-area transport device. At least for her situation.

Unfortunately, simply by tricycle design, one has a hard time putting major weight over the front wheel when pedaling, thus making int harder to get enough traction in sloppy conditions. I did not get to witness the day-to-day action in the paddock, but from the sound of it, there just was not enough weight over the front 'drive' wheel to get things 'going' for an extended period of time. Particularly in such a muddy environment.

The tricycle had to be pushed at times, when it would not go where steered and intended. My friend does not generally ride a bike, and therefor does not have really strong pedaling legs, and this may also lead to the difficulties at hand.

I think a person that is practiced in pedaling a bicycle or trike longer distances might have an easier time of it. And if the tricycle was used on more dry and flat, hard-surface land, this thing would actually work pretty well. But a donkey paddock is not a hard, dry surface during our endless winter months of rain, and as such, we are plumb, tricycle-about-the-paddock out-of-luck.

(Yes, I did think of that. Use of this machine in the summer months should theoretically work. But the number of horses and donkeys drinking water in during the hot weather months, then expelling it out the south end, basically all over the place, all day long, seems to keep the area quite wet and boggy. Even in the pleasantly dry months of the year.)

Though not an official engineer, I am quite certain that if this tricycle had a chain drive mechanism, allowing for better weight distribution and front drive power, it would work quite well. (And if it had a motor, would work even BETTER!)

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The WindRoamer Tricycle -- After Being Put Through The Horse-Pasture Paces

The Proof...

Is In...

The Horse Puddin'

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For Sale -- Windroamer 'Trycycle' -- Inquire Within

Now that I've told you the WindRoamer does not work as well as we both had hoped, I will turn right around and say, "It's for Sale...You can't afford NOT to buy it!!" Just joking of course, but that is the general plan.

The tricycle will go out on Craigslist, and we will see if she can sell it to someone who needs a trike for other, hard-ground-as-intended, flat-lander sort of uses. I'm pretty sure she will have little trouble selling it, as it is a cool, hip, three-wheeled machine.

The ad just needs to emphasize and point out the cosmic yellow color, those shock absorb-ers, inflatable knobbies, cool basket, and awesome trailer hitch. I'm sure it will then go faster than a WindRoamer down the face of Sleeping Bear Dune.

Can anyone say major, sand-packed-in-the-snout faceplant?

~ Finto ~

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Day One: The Author, Test Driving The Tricycle -- "That's what I'm talking about!"

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Thanks for stopping in and viewing the update on the Dirt King WindRoamer Tricycle. If you have any thoughts about adult tricycles, mudbugging on three wheels, donkey and horse paddocks, or anything else this post reminds you of, feel free to comment away in the spaces below. I'd love to hear from you.

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