At the HPV-Worldchampionchip in Cologne unexpectedly many people were interested in my Forelle-trike so I decided to write a little column about it for the germans HPV-association.

Forelle is a very simple trike. Equipped with a big box behind the seat its a good citybike to go shopping or have a picnic in a park. Its well suited for daily distances at normal biking speeds. The Forelle is very easy to build, too. If you have any experiences in welding or brazing your are well prepared for it. It's a very simple construction, you don't need special parts.

But: Be careful when riding curves!
Everybody who wanted to take a testride on my Forelle I had to give a warning: Go slow through curves! Because the Forelles steering is at the backwheels it tends to roll over very suddenly without any warnings. The only thing to do about it is to brake and slow down before arriving to the curve. You can get used to it very quickly. From the sight of a homebuilder I think about it like follows: Any trike with more stability in curves is less easy to build and much more expensive, too. So I prefer using my brakes, in the city I have to do this anyway.

How to build it
The first is to get a buildup plan from Werner Stiffel. It's written in German. After you took a close look at any details of the construction you'd better make your own drawing, e.g. in a 1:5 scale. To vary the proportions is less critical. Be careful not to build it to small.

It's a good idea to include some sort of damping mechanism on the steering. Otherwise the Forelles steering will shake at higher speeds. I took it from an old motorbike and mounted it on the right side under the seat. It's worth it!
It took two month to build the forelle in the evening hours.

Enjoy the ride!
Straight on it's great fun to ride at high speed. The Forelle, however, rolls as good as any bike and doesn't care about holes or railways in the streets. Cardrivers leave plenty of room for me, not knowing what they should think about such an unknown flying object. :-) Maybe they think it's a bike for handicapped people (what it could be perfect for), -I don't care. It's a great advantage to be less in danger by cars even in the city.