“D” at Redemptive Cycles was good enough to talk with me about what I am imagining for the Worksman Trike. I’m calling this experiment the “Worktryke.”
I understand that this trike was used in the Fairfield Still Works. This seems like a good experiment for Birmingham, Alabama. Take something from Birmingham’s past and modernize it for 2021. This trike certainly has good bones. It is officially a Worksman Model U tricycle manufactured by the Worksman Cycles Company, Inc. in Ozone Park, NY. This company is the oldest bicycle manufacturer in the United States.
Conceptually, I imagine several upgrades to make this trike more useable for use in the city (as opposed to in a covered still mill). The trike was designed to carry a lot of weight, slowly. It would be useful to carry weight, but for urban use the trike has to move faster and not trap rain in the front tray. Moving faster may mean better brakes. Here is a bullet list of possible upgrades
- Electric motor drive
- Brakes to accommodate the faster speed
- Windbreak to cover tray (maybe with a solar feature)
The next step seems to be to reach out to a metal fabricator and see what options there might be for adding tabs on the front and left right so that there would be a place to bolt the part of the disk brake that pinches the disk and slows the trike.
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