Category: Big Red Trike Build

We could all agree that our Pacific Beach Locksmith Eco Trike, Big Red, named after the cinnamon gum, was pretty cool. There were a couple concerns, though. Could it withstand high speed turning and stopping stress factors? More importantly, could we consistently jump it off plywood ramps and curbs without shearing the bolts off the toolbox or bending the frame? Time for some performance tests. Let’s run it through the gears, boys. Giddyup!Big Red has six gears, so it can haul rear end. That’s good, because it has a big one. Here I am slamming through the gears, double checking my foot placement as I reach launch speed. It hit the ramp squarely, didn’t get much air, but made a perfect three point landing. Nice run. Upon inspection, the toolbox bolts looked like they held fast and the frame still looked brand new. With the weight of the tools it might have been ok, but .. Why take the chance? We discussed various supports, voiced their pluses and minuses, and decided the bottom support made the most sense.This is after the two initial bends. We needed to drill the holes for the toolbox, bend the bottom of the support up out of the way, cut it, and determine the exact location for the bolt that would run through the frame. We considered running two bolts through the frame, but felt that doing so, would remove too much material on the frame and degrade the support strength. Here is Weston heating the steel before bending it.When it’s hot enough, it’s time to get to bending.
Bending…bending..
aaand bent. Next we cut off the excess steel and bolt the support to the tricycle frame and the bottom of the toolbox.Looks great. Now we can push Big Red to perform in extreme high speed beach conditions. Stay tuned for our wacky summer locksmith beach adventures!

If you need locksmith beach service, give us a call. 858-750-2224 

The toolbox for Big Red has been painted inside and out. It took quite a few coats of paint to get it just right, and it looks great. Big Red’s toolbox is ready for installation and decals. Just in time too. Summer beach traffic has already reared it’s ugly head last weekend. Some chick passed me on the shoulder of an off ramp on Sunday, while traveling at speed. She’s not sneaking up the side on a red light. She’s full on making her own lane while we’re all driving. What’s wrong with you, girl? Are you that starved for attention? People are driving crazy already. It’s a free for all out here at the beaches in San Diego.

 A small set of compartment drawers were also added for odds and ends. After the paint has dried for a few days, I start applying the first of the vinyl decals for our Pacific Beach Locksmith Eco Trike toolbox. I didn’t have any spare decals, so there was a lot of measuring and remeasuring before I applied the graphics. I figured it took less time measuring two or three times than ordering more vinyl decals and having to go pick them up. I went slow.

Weston has an aversion to taking pictures, so I asked Jessica to take some shots of me, so it didn’t always look like I wasn’t doing any work. I asked her to shoot them so you couldn’t see my fat neck. It was a difficult task, but she made short work of it by shooting me from behind. It’s clearly my best side.
I went and grabbed the sunbrella out of the office that I had bought for the Locksmith Trike a few days ago from the thrift store.  It was cool breeze with the sunbrella. We are going to integrate a spot to attach the umbrella, if needed, when we secure the workbench top onto the toolbox. The option for a little shade while working on the bench will be a relief. I really noticed the difference. Chill.The first side of the toolbox turned out pretty good and then I really started to crank it out. Side two went on very quickly, since I had just applied the same decals on the other side. Then I moved to the door of the toolbox.The toolbox door took a while because the spacing needed to be correct. It needed to look right; not just be measured out perfectly. There is Dan, getting some face time with the camera. Smile, Dan. Come on. One smile, Dan. Usually, he’s smiling. Laughing politely at my stupid jokes.Here I am using the Dremel tool to grind down some sharp corners inside the slide out drawer. Details, details. Then we were ready for a road test. With six speeds, Big Red can haul. The trick is remembering to downshift when you’ve slowed down the trike, so your not crunching your way back to the lower gears to get moving again. With the extra weight in the toolbox when the tools are added, it is an important point to remember. The seat was squeaking every time you pumped the pedal and it was quite annoying. I took the seat off, tightened the springs, and sprayed silicon on the squeaky sliding parts on the bottom of the seat. It was a big improvement. We got a lot of looks as we ran the six speed tricycle through its paces. Big Red really pops. There were amused and curious looks. Others had crazy looks, but crazy looks are pretty standard for the beach area. Some people really can’t relate to the fresh hell that summer beach traffic unleashes on our Pacific Beach locksmith team. It will be sooo nice not to have to drive around in circles and scrap for every parking space, going to and coming from all the locksmith calls at the beach.
The lady in this Pontiac really likes our Locksmith Eco Trike concept. I talk to her for a bit about the parking challenges and approaching a solution.
It’s hard to convey some experiences if you haven’t been through them yourself. It’s not just finding and securing one spot at the busy beach parking lot, relaxing at the beach, swimming, and then later you go home. We need to find 6 spots at the beach, without going swimming at all. We are fishermen and swimmers. We need the ocean. At least the ocean air on our face and in our lungs if we have to work that day. Not playing bumper cars in the San Diego streets with lost, sunburnt newbies, and fierce, frustrated locals. If you don’t secure your parking spots, then you’re  hanging your locksmith truck’s rear end out into oncoming traffic, and gambling that your ride doesn’t get crushed by a texting tourist. Gambling that the parking nazis don’t ding you, while you’re just trying to make a decent living, to support your family, in a congested, hectic beach destination locale. Not the best odds. It’s tough, man. We will adapt. We will overcome. People see a funny red trike. We see the ocean breeze on our face, and a front row seat to peruse the visually stimulating beach scene, unconcerned about parking spaces, and who’s in pole position at the stop light. We feel the glow of the sunshine on our skin, breathing fresh ocean air, as we get a bit of exercise. Pumping the trike pedals, gliding by the sea wall, and surveying the beach, the delights sunbathing on it, and Big Blue. We think about killing fish and swimming in the ocean; as it should be. Laid back, cruising down a quiet side street, cutting through a back alley, dodging lights and frantic drivers, feet pushing pedals towards the locksmith call, and beyond. If I don’t get caught up in the beach traffic fray, I’m slated to arrive early. The customer is comforted and relieved. Now everyone is happy. Look. Weston seems happy about it. He did a nice job building out the toolbox and installing the sliding drawer and compartment drawers. The prep before the paint is very time consuming. You need to prep correctly and apply multiple coats if you want the paint job to look great. He put the time in on the toolbox paint job and it shows.

If you are going to show up on a red tricycle to a locksmith call, you better bring your A game. We needed top notch tools. We needed full size cordless power tools that are truly powerful. When the customer sees your tool bag contents, there would be no discussion of your abilities without a locksmith truck. Of course he can do the job. Look at those tools. One particular power tool set came to mind. The Makita Blue 18 Volt LXT Lithium-Ion Cordless 1/2 Inch Drill/Driver and the Makita 18 Volt LXT Lithium-Ion Cordless 4 1/2 Inch Cut-Off/Angle Grinder. These are no nonsense high quality cordless power tools. They are for real. Especially the cut-off tool. Have you ever seen such a magnificent cordless angle grinder? She’s a beauty.If you need beach locksmith service in San Diego, give Dup-A-Key Locksmiths a call at 858-750-2224. Swing by our Pacific Beach locksmith shop at 1478 Garnet Avenue and get your house key duplicates, car chip key copies, extra factory keyless entry car remotes, laser cut keys, and motorcycle keys made.  While waiting,  enjoy a tasty treat from Frosties, a slice and a brew from Hoboken, visit the various thrift stores and the pawn shop, and watch the people parade slowly stroll west, towards the water.

Jack Frost and I chose not to smile. Just look cool. Haines Street is in effect.

 The welder called and said our toolbox was ready. We jumped in the locksmith truck and jammed tunes as we cruised over to scoop it up; our minds racing. Did we have the bolts, drill bits, washers, and nylon nuts for it? We need paint. Happy happy joy joy. Then, we went to work. We fit and mounted the aluminum plate on the tricycle. It took a while to figure out where to place the toolbox so it was stable and we had enough room in the rear for our rear end. If the toolbox was mounted too close to the seat, it would be uncomfortable, at best. We needed room to pedal and have the room to really dig in if we had to bust a move.We are confident that we are going need to reinforce the 4 mounting points with either a strap, or a bottom strut. It’s solid and secure, but it needs to be able to withstand our locksmith techs jumping it. You know they’re going try to jump it. Give them a piece of plywood and a few cinder blocks and they’re all stuntmen. One bad jump and the bolts shear. Not a good scenario. It needed to be ready for their wear and tear, devil-may-care approach to traffic. The same reason we wrap the locksmith technician phones in these ‘indestructible’ cases. Indestructible? They’ll put that claim to the test. Don’t tease them.These are the new ape hangers. It makes the ride nicer not having to stoop over the bike. The old handlebars were silver. I like the black better.
The box mounted nicely and now we needed to install the drawer for the key duplicator. The mounts for it have been welded into the toolbox and the drawer sliders were next. Weston, you look tired. Are you sleeping and drilling again? Weird.It went in well. Then we took it all apart, for paint. Stay tuned as we primer, paint, and decal our new locksmith beach trike, Big Red.

This is the inside of the toolbox for Big Red before we sent it off to the welder. We need to have the holes filled and weld the mounts for the slide out key duplicator platform. The bottom of the toolbox is made of aluminum and must be cut and fitted to Big Red. Weston bought aluminum instead of steel for the bottom of the toolbox to reduce the weight. Steel is typically two and and half times more dense than aluminum. Hopefully, it will also reduce some corrosion. It will be painted white, so I doubt that it will matter much.These are the pieces of the sliding platform that the key duplicator wil be on.Weston did a nice job cutting and bending the frame for the platform. Here’s a close up of the angle. Ready for our welder’s steady hand. Here is the platform as it should look inside the toolbox. The key duplicator platform was cut from the only shelf that came with this Adrian Steel toolbox. It’s like waiting for Christmas morning on this toolbox build. We’ve been naughty, too. Hmm.
We had the vinyl decals cut when we cut the NV locksmith truck decals. Here is a mockup of what it should look like in a week or so. We’re digging it.

Stay tuned as our Pacific Beach locksmith trike helps us overcome our beach traffic and parking hurdles. We might get a nice set of calf muscles, and tone those glutes in the process. As long as we’re not driving around in circles all day, looking for a parking spot, we’ll be stoked. We got some medium sized ape hangers for it (not in above photo). It’s easier on the posture, not bending over.

So we have completed the NV of SD Nissan locksmith truck and have now set our sights on completing our Eco Friendly Rapid Response Trike – Big Red 

So, it has some holes that need to be repaired and a set of mounts welded on the inside of the box to install the slider brackets for the key duplicator. It is off to the welder on Cass Street for some touchup work. 

Here is Weston propping up the box so you can see what it will look like once it is installed. We’re going to paint it white and the decals for it are ready to go. So exciting to have this ride on line. It is going to make our locksmith rekeys, car lockouts, and lockpick runs around the beach a lot easier on the boys. Hope our welder gets it back to us this week. Stay tuned for the our rapid response locksmith trike that can circumvent beach  traffic and doesn’t need a parking space or gasoline.  Heres a side view. I’m glad Big Red is a 6 speed. A quick estimate puts the extra weight load at 85 – 90 lbs. Looks like we should all be in excellent shape by the end of the summer. Yaa! Summer is here!