So, let me introduce you to the trike-canoe (as my co-workers lovingly refer to it). It is actually just a terratrike tour recumbent tricycle with a coroplast tailbox that kind of resembles half of a canoe. I haven’t tried it yet, but I bet if I just pump up the front tires really big, it would float. The jack-0-lantern faces were a halloween day treat placed by some of my coworkers, so they aren’t usually on there.
Anyway, I’ve been riding my trike to work, 3-5 days a week, for 2 1/2 years now. Before the trike, I pedaled my mountain bike the 6 miles each way for 2 years. I love the trike for commuting, and the tailbox has made a huge difference. It’s purpose is somewhat to improve my aerodynamics, somewhat to improve my visibility to motorists, but mostly to give me a nice storage place for my gear/clothes/whatever I need to haul to work. There is a hatch door on the top that opens, and gives access to the space inside.
You can kind of see the lid here, I’ll have to shoot some photos of the inside sometime. I usually carry my clothes, lunch, some bike tools, and my keys/phone etc in here on the way to work, but I’ve also fit a camera bag and tripod in here at the same time. Recently, I even put new brake rotors for our van, (that was on jack stands in the garage) in the tailbox. Luckily Checker is only about 2 miles from my house. They probably weighed well over 50 pounds, and the box handled it just fine. There is an aluminum bar for support, that goes over the wheel well inside, down to the accessory mounting holes above the hub.
Anyway, the tailbox has been great. Before the box, I used an standard bike rack and panniers. I had a fender, but all that did was keep the spray off of me by splashing all over the panniers. So snowy or rainy days usually meant that I hauled some soaking wet, muddy bags up to my desk. Everything inside had to be in plastic bags so they didn’t get drenched too. The box is awesome. There is a wheel well underneath that acts as a fender and seals the bottom from moisture. I just throw a duffel bag inside with my stuff, and I can pull it out, completely dry, when I get there.
I have been using the tailbox for a year now, and at first I was worried all of the taped seams were going to be constantly peeling off, or it was going to fall apart, but it has performed like a champ. Here is how I built mine:
First step: Pay some little kid to do all the manual labor.
Okay, just kidding. That is my helper Jaxon. First step is to get that old Ikea or refrigerator box you’ve been hoarding and cut it up in to pieces until it fits. I drew up some plans and kind of just kept trimming until the joints came together. Packaging tape was used to hold it together. This was worth the time, because cardboard has similar properties to the coroplast, so I could spot places where the curves were too complex, etc. There were just too many bends, curves and holes where the seat posts had to go through to just start cutting the coroplast without a pattern. In case you are wondering, coroplast is like a plastic corrugated board, used by print shops for things like those yard or election signs. I got mine at a print shop supply house in Salt Lake.
Next step, cut apart the prototype and lay the pieces over your sheet of coroplast.
This is a 4′ x 8′ piece of orange coroplast, with the pattern laying over the top. The large piece with holes in it is for the bottom of the box with a piece that goes up behind the seat. The box is fully enclosed to keep out moisture and so it doesn’t act like a parachute as I ride. The extra coroplast was used to make the wheel well, which I measured from the assembled box, so those pieces aren’t seen above. Once you cut out your pieces, leaving extra for joints, then you can start putting it together. Like I said, this takes a while so, I didn’t stop to take pictures. I had to get it done in a weekend so I could ride to work again monday. Joining the pieces is fairly straightforward. Glues typically don’t stick to coroplast very well or at all, so zip ties were used to join the pieces. A small hole is made with a soldering iron, about 1/2 inch from the edge. Then a zip tie is threaded through and cinched tight. I placed zip ties every 3 inches or so. I also cut a long skinny piece of coroplast, comprising of 1 rib of the material, and placed that on the inside, along the joint, with the zip tie circling it. I think this has helped so that the holes don’t pull through, and so that stuff doesn’t push through the gaps between zip ties. Once everything was put together, I took orange electrical tape, and taped along the outside of the seams to cover the zip ties. I think it has held so well since it isn’t structurally holding it together, but just cosmetically placed over the joints.
It has held up through the heat of summer, and the cold of winter. I ride just about every day, in the slush, rain or snow, so I feel like it has been thoroughly tested now. Plus, if you thought your trike was a babe magnet before, wait until you put one of these on there. Someday, maybe I post photos of the joints, lid, and inside, if I don’t build a full fairing before that.
