My Eureka Moment.

For a few years I had wanted to build a tricycle.
No, for a few years I'd wanted to own a tricycle - a tricycle with a big box at the front to collect money for charity and cycle across Northern Ireland, from the Irish Sea to the Atlantic. Take my time, camp, cook, have a holiday - and raise money.
That never happened - well, not all of it.
I took part in the Belfast Marathon. I managed 18 miles in about 6 hours and raised £800 for a local animal charity, but my boots were not made for walking.
Back to the tricycles...
I looked at tricycles on the internet, on eBay. Always out priced and not really the type of trike I wanted.
I wanted an upright tadpole.
Lets get this out of the way now.
Tricycles are either tadpole or delta. Upright or recumbent.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about the differences between them, what I wanted and the reasons for the choice.
I don't want to run recumbents down, but they're not for me. Allegedly they are good if you have a hernia or back problems. I used to have a Volkswagen Scirocco and it was so low to the ground getting in and out was pretty hard. If you have a dodgy back - I can't see any benefit. I'll buy into the hernia notion though. Apparently you can ride a recumbent and still treat your hernia with the care and dignity it deserves. Bob will be pleased to hear that. Bob? I've called my hernia Bob.
Why not?
Visibility is an issue too. Being so low to the ground, I would worry about not being seen by other road users. One lorry driver lighting up a roll-up and taking his eyes off the road could mean a trip to Carlisle jammed under his front bumper.
All in all though - there is a big market for recumbent tricycles - notably in America. A lot of examples I've seen have been very well made and designed and I have a lot of respect for them - with the high end of the range models costing far more than my car.
But they're not for me.
There's something very English (substitute British/European if you like - I can't make up my mind which term to use) about upright tricycles and bicylces. Like Miss Marple's great aunt popping down to the post office to send a telegram.
Hmm?
Upright just sounds so English. Stiff upper lip with a broom handle up the back.
You can imagine a vicar on an upright tricycle, not Tommy Lee Jones.
Some one will prove me wrong about this, no doubt.
"Dear Sir,
I wish to inform you that Tommy Lee Jones owns an upright tricycle that was hand built in Holland in 1831. See attached photo.
Yours faithfully,
Mr A. Pendant, Missouri."
I await that email with anticipation.
I like vicars, Tommy Lee Jones and Holland. I'd probably like Missouri too, so absolutely no offence is intended.
Uprights, like recumbents can be either tadpole or delta. Tadpoles have two wheels at the front and a single wheel at the rear. Deltas have two wheels at the rear and a single at the front. The rear wheel(s) usually are driven by the pedals and front end steers.
Tadpoles are far more stable than Deltas - think Reliant Robin and Miss Marple's great aunt.
I like the riding position. I like being high up and being able to see over hedges. It meets that voyeuristic need. Being on a recumbent is, well, like being recumbent. On a one man bobsleigh - fair enough, but riding through traffic?
No.
Most of us have ridden a bicycle and I will put money on - that it was an upright. Feeling like a bet I'll go double or quits that before that you'd ridden a delta tricycle. Yes, I know it was plastic and you were being pushed by your mother, but it still counts.
I haven't spent hours with an Action man or a Barbie and cardboard models of bicycles working out the ergonomics of which is more comfortable or better or anything remotely like that, but because recumbent trikes and bikes are not common - and expensive, most people haven't had "wheel time" (I like that) on a recumbent and the upright riding position would feel most natural. I guess I'm saying that the upright position is the one that most people are familiar with.
I quite like the upright riding position.
That's my starting point, with a few of the reasons. There's a lot more, but too much for one blog post.
I want an upright tadpole tricycle.

The Eureka moment?  I didn't happen in the bath, but in the outside toilet, looking at the hole in roof and my wet bikes. That was when I decided to make my own trike.