About a year ago, I got an email from Joe Totenbier of Lehigh Valley Choppers telling me about a new trike he was building. He had some early build photos but it was incomplete and it was hard to tell exactly what the finished product would look like. The one thing I could tell from the photos was the build quality, it looked really good. Time went by and I didn't think too much more about it. Then Joe sent me some more photos of the finished trike.
After a quick glance it looked a little too angular for my taste, something didn't strike me right so I just pushed it aside and moved on. Well, Joe's a persistent guy and he sent more photos and then a follow up wondering what I thought since he hadn't heard back. I thought I ought to at least give this trike another look to see why he was so persistent and I'm really glad I did. Check this out.
The Stealth Tryke, as Joe calls it, looks like it has the build quality of an Indy Car. This isn't something whipped together by someone who thinks trikes are neat and starts tacking tubes together, this is probably some of the highest caliber work you'll see on any build. The Indy Car look is explained by his background. Joe worked for Indy Car teams Porsche Motor Sports and Walker Racing in Warrington, PA., Granatelli Racing, Patrick Racing and Penske Racing. Joe was also part of the winning pit crew of the Indy 500 in 1993, with driver, Emerson Fittapaldi. After leaving Penske Racing, Joe moved to the west coast to work for the Gaffoglio family at Metal Crafters then in Newport Beach, California.
The Stealth Tryke is all bare metal and Joe did that for a reason. There's no paint or powder coating or filler or fiberglass to cover up build mistakes or shortcuts. You can see all the welds, examine the metal tubes and body and look for anything that would show less than first class work, a builder has to be pretty confident the work will stand up to inspection if he's going to do that. Joe's work shows very well which makes sense since he's an FAA certified A&P mechanic plus he's American Welding Society certified to TIG weld 4130 Chromolly tubing, titanium and stainless steel.
OK, so what about the Tryke? As shown it weighs 980 pounds. The body is aluminum but it could be carbon fiber or fiberglass or whatever the customer wants. The photos here show the prototype but there are a lot of variations possible, the V tail, which I'm personally not crazy about, could be a single wing or a multi wing or no wing at all but you need to be careful because what you have here is something like a 3 wheel Indy Car, downforce could be important. Wheels? You choose. In other words, this isn't a one off, this is the prototype of a custom Joe will build to suit.
This is all Joe's own design with extremely high quality components, Joe used an Indy car steering rack, a Quaife reverse box with his own custom mount, 98% of the hardware is aviation grade. Shifter location, reverse lever location, steering wheel and pedal location, all fully adjustable. As is, it will fit anyone from 5 foot 9 inches to 6 foot 5 inches but it can be built to fit anyone. Like a race car, five screws and 2 push pins remove the nose and wing in about 45 seconds. Power is either Hayabusa or GSX-R1000 in any state of tune desired.
Price? Not cheap and totally dependent on options chosen but if you have the means, this could be a pretty incredible street legal racer. Yes, street legal.
Check over the photos and see what you think. Remember, as Joe told me, if there's something not to your liking, it can be changed, but above all, look at the design of the chassis and suspension and the overall build quality. We've shown a lot of trikes on The Kneeslider, I don't think we've ever shown one with this attention to detail. Very impressive. Nice work, Joe, ... very nice.
Link: Lehigh Valley Choppers
Steve says
June 3, 2008 at 12:15 pmI can understand the “Stealth” part of the trike. The angular styling and the tail fins are definitely a nod to the USAF F-117 Stealth Fighter. Of course, it would have to have flat black radar absorbing paint on the carbon fiber body to maximize its stealthiness.
Ride says
June 3, 2008 at 12:25 pmIf I spent that much time fabricating something I would want it to look beautiful, this to me does not.
meteor says
June 3, 2008 at 1:50 pmWow what a beautiful piece of art, I think a high performance diesel engine would be a nice addition
Sean says
June 3, 2008 at 4:03 pmI’m into it. Can we get the ‘Busa V8 engine in there?
Loomis says
June 3, 2008 at 6:00 pmInteresting front suspension. I wonder if the builder ever considered torsion bars?
todd says
June 4, 2008 at 4:02 pmThe suspension isn’t strong enough to use torsion bars and large bending loads. The only piece that is handling much of any loading (strictly compression) is the strut angling up from the lower control arm out near the wheel.
-todd
Joe says
June 4, 2008 at 4:41 pmAs far as a V8 Busa, anything can be done for a price. Your basically asking for another build, with engineering to go with it.
I’m not a fan of torsion bars, they have their place, but not on anything I am currently doing. The current suspension layout on the tryke works for my package. Yes, loads are seen at the pushrods and lower wishbones, while the uppers see next to nothing. It is also offered with cockpit adjustable (anti-rollbar) settings.
AB says
June 5, 2008 at 12:54 amBrilliant fabrication work, reminds me of early fighter planes with the angled sheet metal and rivets. The custom rear mount must be from a couple of chunks of aluminum and waterjet machinery.
Ride who doesn’t appreciate the time and effort that went into the design has obviously never been very mechanically inclined.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Loomis says
June 6, 2008 at 7:37 pmI’ve always liked torsion bars. I know they aren’t the lightest idea ever thought up. But they are simple and they keep the weight situated low in the chassis.
You may think there’s no load on the upper control arm, but hit the brakes hard and there’s going to be plenty of load. At least that’s how I’m picturing it in my minds eye right now.
Joe says
June 6, 2008 at 8:55 pmLoomis, I did not mean there is “nothing” per say, load wise on the uppers. Just quite a big difference. Yes, hit the brakes and it changes. I’m covered thanks.
I am not against torsion bars, like I said, they have their place. As far as weight distribution, on this build my CG is right where it should be to make it handle the way I want it to. I made provisions to bolt on “SKID PLATES” on the bottom of the tryke. 1/4″ Aluminum,Brass,Wood,Tungsten plates are pre drilled to play with weight distribution. (full size plates,bottom of tryke) That is what we did on the Indy cars. So I just copied the procedure of tuning a vehicle. It works. Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.
Titus says
January 9, 2009 at 1:40 amfirst, total creds for a very nice american trike. It’s about time we caught up on the “tadpole” (Reverse) trike designs. I see alot of the ride on type and not enough ride in. have you considered FWD trikes? I know there would be many complications to building, and torque steer would screw the handeling. but just the thought of chasing an olds 455 down the road gives me the chills.
oh, and I can picture the stealth in carbon and flat black …SICK-N-NASTY!
Joe Tote says
February 21, 2009 at 8:04 pmTitus,
Not really into FWD vehicles. Not for any reason in particular. I am very busy and have not had any time for personal builds. Thanks for the compliments.