In September 2012 I began my first ‘grown up’ job role as a Graduate Engineer for Jaguar Land Rover. At 8 miles away I really should be cycling to work throughout the year but in cold weather the car is just too tempting. In an attempt to solve this problem by getting to work faster (less time in the cold) and have some fun at the same time I decided to build myself an electric bike.

For a long time I have wanted to build and ride my own bike from scratch, specifically a recumbent. Since I have never built a bike before I did some research and quickly found the joy of Atomic Zombie. ~£15 later and I had downloaded the plans for an Atomic Zombie Warrior Trike. I went for the trike for a few reasons:

• More stable for a first time recumbent rider, especially when combined with electric power
• Potential to more easily add fairings to the trike (to aid the cold winter rides)
• Stable at low speeds will make the trike an ideal trailer towing vehicle

After buying some steel and borrowing a work mate’s welder (thanks Robin!) I got to work. I can’t go in to too much detail with the actual dimensions/build of the trike, if you want this go buy the plans (trust me, they are worth the money). Some build photos to come in my next post as well as some details on my electric conversion system.