A reader, Tim, who owns a Baccura Airlite from the last batch made, describes it as “a beautiful lean steer trike that mimics the simplicity of a bicycle.” Baccura.com, an unofficial site that was “developed to showcase the lightest, fastest recumbent trike ever made” refers to it as the “only successful lean steer trike design ever produced” (check out this video to see the steering in action). The Baccura site points out that the trike was designed between 1981-1983 by Jamie MacMenemy, who according to this BikePortland forum thread also developed the lefty hub for Cannondale. Even out of shape, MacMenemy came close to winning the OHPV’s inaugural PIR Human Powered Challenge with his new trike design. The history of the Baccura Airlite design is pretty interesting, and you can read more about it at Baccura.com. Also check it out (along with other trike designs) at the 2006 OHPV-Human-Power-Challenge.
Josh Hadar’s E-Trike Chopper has been spreading around the design blogs lately. It is not sleek, low, and aerodynamic like the Baccura design, but it does have an interesting look. Unlike some of Hadar’s other sculptural bike designs, this one doesn’t even have pedals. It is a completely electric version of one of his earlier pedal trike designs, the Christy Lynn. According to Inhabitat, Hadar’s new e-trike is “powered by a Mars Electric motor that can produce an output of 4.8 kilowatts (6.4 horsepower) continuously and 15 kilowatts at a push, allowing the chopper trike to hit a top speed of 45 mph.” Pretty impressive…but I’d still like it better with the option to pedal.
Leave a Reply