Warrior Flag

I've been test riding.  As a result, I have made some minor modifications.  1) You will notice that the angle of the upper portion of the seat tube has been changed to better mount a rack or rear engine.  2) The brake levers have been rotated more to the rear of the bars.  Just more comfortable for braking and keeping my hands out of the wheels.  3) I needed a flag so that cars and trucks will pay attention to me and not attempt to crowd me when they pass.

Side view showing the flag.  My flag pole was missing a flag, and since no one will see much of the vest from the rear if I was wearing it ... I decided to tape it to the pole and use it as a flag.

You'll notice that the flag pole bottom bracket attaches to the idler pulley bolt at the base.  And I made a bracket that attaches to the seat bolt at the top of the seat.  It has a 2-1/2" length of 1/2" tubing that the pole passes through.  That controls the angle of the flag and secures it in a fairly rigid position.

From the rear, you'll notice that the flag pole extends a foot or more to the side of my left front tire.  I have found from experience that this tends to keep cars and trucks from crowding you on the roadway as they go past.  Due to there being no nifty bicycle trails around here ... I ride a lot of roads.  With this arrangement (I tried it on the main road today), if there is oncoming traffic ... the vehicles behind you will slow way down and wait to pass.  Opposing traffic on a narrow 2-lane road with no shoulders, will also slow way down and stay to the far edge of the roadway while going past.

The trike seems to roll easily without apparent mechanical drag (brakes, wheels, etc.)  The flag didn't provide significant drag either ... although any flag will provide some drag.  The smaller hills that I've pedaled up could be easily spun up (spinning).  I have a small gear on the front and a mega-tooth gear 42(?) on the rear.  I'll try spinning up a steep hill tomorrow and see how it goes.  I've stayed out of the smallest gears on the rear ... unless there is a tailwind or a good down-slope, it is just too stiff pedaling.  Although it does go FAST!