Featured The StP guide to Bike Touring

Matt Derrick said:

Fixed gear bicycles are bikes that have a drive train with no freewheel mechanism. This means you cannot pedal the bike backwards and the pedals of the bike will always spin forward at the same speed the bike is currently going.

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This should be reworded, pedaling backwards on a fixed gear slows the rear wheel or if the rear wheel isn't spinning will literally make the bike go in reverse. A bike with a free wheel, pedaling backward does nothing. I know you covered the braking in the next sentence. I think what you are trying to say is you can't backpedal or "free" pedal like you can on a normal bicycle on a fixed gear bike.

It isn't so much the lack of gears that make bike touring a nightmare on a fixed bike, it's the added weight having gear and stuff with you especially on your back which make standing and pedaling difficult/tiring. If one has trained their legs for a while riding fixed, even insane hills aren't much different than riding a normal bike, if you like a work out. Throw a 20 lb+ pack on your back, excruciating.

I've done 25-35-even 40 miles on a fixed track bike in less than a day, with no pack, no problem. I rode from Boston downtown to Providence downtown with 80ish pounds of shit on my back on a fixed bike, I was literally dead. It took 2.5 days to go the 50 miles, and it's a mostly flat ride. Not recommended unless you're carrying nothing with you and the route is flat. I always found the benefit of fixed track bikes to be you can maintain 25+ mph for long periods of time once you build up the momentum. But I agree, those types of bikes are not meant for touring, they're meant for racing on velodrome.

Also I recommend carrying as little stuff as possible, it may seem that since you've mechanized yourself you can carry additional shit, but when you break down, which is inevitable, you're back on foot until you can find somewhere to fix your bike if you can't fix it on the road.

I will look and pass it on to a guy I know traveling by bike now.

yo a few things you might consider adding.

Some kind of compact pump and a spare innertube or a patch kit are pretty important in case you get a flat.

If you have nutted axles instead of quick release, a wrench for those is necessary. That could be a 6 inch or larger adjustable wrench or a crescent wrench that fits (axle nuts are usually 15mm). I guess some bike tools have a 15 on them but because they are so compact you might not have enough leverage to tighten your rear axle fully.

Also for the kind of awkward description of fixed gear, you might just want to say you can't coast on one.

I have to disagree on your opinion about touring with a mountain bike. Many DO have spots to mount front and rear racks. I bike toured perfectly fine through Canada with a mountain bike. Averaging 70 miles/day, front and rear racks. I sure appreciated the wider tires going over gravel roads and bumpy sections of highways.

What about off road touring? Or touring through Nepal or Africa? I'd definitely prefer to be on a mountain bike.

I'm not saying that mountain bikes are superior over road bikes for touring. Sure, road bikes rule when you're on nice smooth roads. I just think you should consider them a perfectly valid possibility. I've done it and it worked great for me.

Hey Derrick, new member here. Great to see your touring post; very thorough. I have a bit of input.

I've been touring (and being a freak) for many years and work at a bike collective. Here is some input; take it for what it's worth.

I usually steer people away from riding road bikes if they are carrying gear as I once broke a frame on a tour. A touring bike is a bit different than other road bikes; they frame and wheels are stronger and the wheels are farther apart (helps keep the weight of your gear from shifting back and forth making your ride a bit less stable). The gearing is more suited to climbing with all that weight. The parts tend to be more durable and the brakes are much stronger.

I think a mountain bike is a good option and many people tour on them. You don't want shocks in the front or rear though, as they slow you down. And, unless you are bikepacking (off-road touring) you'll want non-knobby tires. The modern dual suspension versions often don't have a place to attach a rack, but pretty much all the others do.

Recumbents, while very comfortable are terrible on the hills. Climbing is really difficult and descending steep hills is treacherous as your control goes out the window.

A hybrid is a bit to leisurely of a riding position and you just can't put the power into your pedal stroke with them and of course a cruiser is out of the question. I know one person who went from the Midwest to Cali on a fixey and a backpack, but I am just not that bad-ass. He must have walked it a lot; walking a bike for a long period really sucks.

There are some new trends in bags. Frame bags and large under-the-seat bags are becoming a popular alternative to panniers. A frame bag goes in the front triangle, attaching to the top tube and the seat tube. There've always been under-the-seat bags, but now they're making them huge; some will stick out 10-12 inches behind the seat. Look kinda crazy, but your gear is managed really well. Of course with these options you can't put as much stuff in them as you can a set of large panniers. I like a handlebar bag so that I can get at stuff without stopping.

Can't remember if you mentioned apparel so I'll give my two cents about that. Padded shorts can really help prevent soreness and numbness down there. I wear cargo shorts over them so I don't look like a a snob in just some undies. And bike gloves are really good. Your hands dont fall asleep as much and its easier on your joints. Bike shoes have a sole that doesnt flex much and are a bit more comfortable on your feet and give you more power. You can use them with or without clipless pedals.

Gear that I carry on longer tours:
*A few tools. Allen wrenches, chain breaker, leatherman, spoke wrench, Phillips and flathead (tiny ones do fine).
*Parts. A few inch length of chain, replacement spokes, a brake cable and a shifter cable with a bit of housing for each, small bottle of chain lube.
*A headlamp and a blinky. The blinky can be good as a campsight light as it doesn't ruin your night vision and can't be seen from too far away
*Bivy sack, hammock or tent, a camo (for illegal camping) tarp and a sleeping pad because I'm a princess.
*A camelback will keep your water cool for hours in the heat and I am apt to drink more water with one on, though they do make my back sweaty which is annoying. I also carry packets of emergenC; its a lower sugar and salt electrolyte powder. I'm able to go twice as far if I drink a couple of times a day.
*A small stove that takes multiple kinds of fuel. You can use gasoline, so there is fuel almost anywhere. Mine is the MSR wisperlight international. They're kinda pricey though.
*a couple of tubes, a patch kit and a portable pump (I like the long old-school type because they're faster and its easier to get that higher PSI.
*UV protection Sunglasses and a cap with a visor for under the helmet.
*Small first-aid kit
*One change of clothes and a rain jacket
*Paracord
I prolly forgot something,, but that's mostly it.

There's my input. Thanks for your site - it's a great thing!

hey thanks for making this guide. i had never heard of those aca maps, would you consider putting those pdfs up for people to use?
thxxx

I buy used Burley child trailers off Craigslist. this allows me to tour with any bike. I pay $50 to $150 for them. You can buy lesser brands but the quality is worth it.
Just because you have the ability to load 70 to 100 pounds into a trailer, don't do it. You will regret that much weight on the first hill.
I usually cut the trailer down to create a flat bed trailer to lessen wind resistance. The other cool thing about kids trailers if you don't modify them is that cars give you room thinking there is a child inside.

A few points here:

The majority of bicycle travelers I know ride mountain bikes from the 1980's to 1990's. The reason of this being is they are cheap, durable, and they have a steel frame. You can typically find these on Craigslist for 100 bucks or less. I am speaking of "vintage mountain bikes" or "all terrain bikes." A Craigslist search of atb or mtb work do you well. Some common bicycles in this category would be swcwinn high Sierra, specialized stuntjumper, or giant Sedona.

A huge thing that I feel is essential for bicycle travel is tire clearance. I personally will not tour on tires less than one inch. I just recently rode 6,000 miles on 2.0 tires, and will probably switch to 2.5s after I get to the dessert. The fatter the tires, the less chance you'll break spokes, the more stable you'll be, but also the fatter the tire, it'll slow you down slightly.


700c wheels are a bit faster, less durable, and less stable.

26 inch wheels are more stable, have better center of gravity and are extremely ideal for going on gravel roads.


I would say the best bikes to get are mountain bikes from the 1980s or 1990s. The modern touring bicycle like a surly long haul trucker is essentially the same geometry of most old mountain bikes.

THE REAL SCAVENGER said:

A few points here:

The majority of bicycle travelers I know ride mountain bikes from the 1980's to 1990's. The reason of this being is they are cheap, durable, and they have a steel frame. You can typically find these on Craigslist for 100 bucks or less. I am speaking of "vintage mountain bikes" or "all terrain bikes." A Craigslist search of atb or mtb work do you well. Some common bicycles in this category would be swcwinn high Sierra, specialized stuntjumper, or giant Sedona.

A huge thing that I feel is essential for bicycle travel is tire clearance. I personally will not tour on tires less than one inch. I just recently rode 6,000 miles on 2.0 tires, and will probably switch to 2.5s after I get to the dessert. The fatter the tires, the less chance you'll break spokes, the more stable you'll be, but also the fatter the tire, it'll slow you down slightly.


700c wheels are a bit faster, less durable, and less stable.

26 inch wheels are more stable, have better center of gravity and are extremely ideal for going on gravel roads.


I would say the best bikes to get are mountain bikes from the 1980s or 1990s. The modern touring bicycle like a surly long haul trucker is essentially the same geometry of most old mountain bikes.

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Very well said. My friend build my bicycle from a Nashbar frame. It's a mountain bike. I had it since 2008. I even got hit by a vehicle in 2010, the bike and I survived. I was bruised up a bit, the bicycle needed a new handle bar and a peddle. I believe my frame was manufactured from the 1990s. My friend would of agreed with you on the 80s and 90s bikes. John

Matt Derrick said:

Bikes that are poor choices for touring include mountain bikes, trikes, fixed gear bicycles, and any other slow moving bike that will make it difficult to cover as many miles a day as possible. Mountain bikes have fat tires and often front/rear shocks that are designed for going over extreme terrain, but they are slow, and usually lack a place to put a bike rack for storing gear. Trikes are three wheeled bikes that are great for stability and hauling goods, but are far too slow and lack the gearing required for hilly terrain.

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Overall, this is a good post, but I take issue with your assessment of trikes.

I can cover more miles on a trike than ANY other type of bike in a day, and not even feel worn out.

A trike can be fitted with gearing low enough to climb any hill. Mine has gearing that allows me to climb 25% gradients without hurting my knees or wearing my quadriceps out. In lowest gear, 2.5 mph requires a 60 rpm cadence. I could climb hills for tens of miles, riding a heavy 91 lb motorized trike with a body on it lugging 50 lbs of gear, with the motor completely disabled. Don't just settle for what the trike has stock: modify it for the job it is needed for. I set it up for a wide gearing range, as in top gear, I can pedal with a 140 rpm pedal cadence at 50 mph and my pedaling still contributes to the vehicle's motive force.

On a road bike, riding for any appreciable distance would wear out my abdominal muscles, my wrists and arms would get sore, my back would get sore from being hunched over with my gear in a backpack, and I'd generally be spent travelling 60-80 miles in a day on it. On my trike, I can go for as long as caloric requirements and sleep needs allow.

The speed on a trike is not much slower overall than a normal bike. Before I motorized my trike and put a body on it, it weighed around 45 lbs. My bonded-aluminum framed Raleigh Technium road bike was about 25 lbs. In terms of rolling average over long distances, the trike was only 1-2 mph slower than the road bike. In a sprint, I could get the road bike to 31 mph on flat ground, and the trike to 28 mph. My trike was built for a heavy-duty use case, in anticipation of eventually motorizing it and turning it into a highway-capable microcar of sorts, so it had air shock suspension, the heaviest e-bike tires I had ever seen at the time, a steel frame, and was 980mm wide. A normal recumbent trike would not have been as "slow" and would have been even closer to the road bike in terms of performance.

The advantages of a trike are many. There's static stability, which means I don't have to expend mental energy maintaining my balance when stopping, and without having to crane my neck to look up at the road ahead, I can instead relax and enjoy the scenery. I can place mirrors directly within my line of sight, which allows me to keep my eyes focused on the road ahead of me, while allowing me full view of my surroundings without blind spots, so no need to always look behind me for oncoming cars. I take up more space in the road and look like something that would damage a car if it hit me, which generally prompted automobile operators to give me more respect and courtesy as I shared the road with them. A trike can much more easily have a body built around it for aerodynamic drag reduction than a two-wheeled bike can(an upright bike will end up vulnerable to crosswinds from both the weather and passing vehicles if you try to wrap a shell around it or even just put a front fairing on it, so if you want a two-wheeler with a body, you need a recumbent for it to be practical, as this sort of drag reduction will generally be useless in real-world riding for any upright bike). You can scrounge some corrugated plastic out of a dumpster or pilfer some election signs, obtain some zip ties and gorilla tape, some c-clips, a utility knife, cutting shears, a screwdriver, and a black marker and get to work. With a few hundred hours invested, you can have aerodynamic drag reduction, storage space, and weather protection, for cheap. Further, with a trike, you can find an out of the way place to rest and use the trike as a chair, taking a piece of furniture with you everywhere you ride.

The comfort of a trike greatly pays dividends, especially on long rides.

After designing and installing aerodynamic body for my trike, the speed went up tremendously. My rolling average was about 5 mph faster than the road bike after doing this, even thouh the vehicle now weighed over 60 lbs plus my luggage, and I could now sprint to 35-37 mph top speeds on flat ground. I could also store all kinds of things in it and a lot more of them, instead of having to keep my stuff in a backpack on my back as I did on my road bike. The trunk space I designed can store a small tent, a sleeping back, all of my bike tools, spare tires/tubes/other parts, and acts as a built-in pannier with significantly more room than any set of bicycle paniers I've ever seen. All of this upside, and I hadn't even motorized it by that point.

To illustrate my point regarding speed, here is a video of me operating an early prototype of this vehicle, no motor installed, completely pedal-powered, AND keeping up with automobile traffic:

Pedaling my ass off Part 1
Pedaling my ass off Part 2

A friend of mine discovered this posted on Facebook, sent me the link, and I saved it, posted it to vimeo. You can see the speedometer of the car of whoever was recording me riding it. I was doing 30+ mph that entire duration. On a normal bicycle, not even an Olympic sprinter could hold this kind of speed for long. I'm very fit, but I'm not an Olympic sprinter, or even close to being one.

Pics of this early prototype, whose construction began in 2016:





Unmotorized, covering 100-150 miles in a day with this machine was perfectly viable, especially thanks to the added body shell increasing the sustainable speed on flat ground, slight uphill inclines, and downhill. The only time I was at a disadvantage versus a normal road bike, was on any uphill incline greater than about 3%. I still had the gearing to get up even the steepest of hills.

On the subject of adding a motor, a trike lends itself extremely well to being motorized. You have more space for batteries and more design freedom than a normal bike when it comes to placing parts. With the right gearing, weight is not an issue. After motorizing my trike and building a body, it weighed 91 lbs, and in spite of that weight, I can completely disable the motor and there has never been a hill I was unable to climb. In fact, when it comes to climbing hills, a recumbent trike has an advantage at extremely low speeds because I don't risk falling over or getting wobbly with each pedal stroke. If the hill is sufficiently steep that you have to drop to a speed so low that you can't maintain sufficient pedal cadence to balance a bike, you have to get off and walk it up the hill. Not so with an appropriately-geared trike.

After motorizing it, I can cover distance like an electric car. When using the electric motor plus light pedaling, I get a 150-200 mile range @ 30-35 mph on a 1.5 kWh battery pack thanks to the aerodynamics, and top speed is about 45-50 mph on the flat depending on the battery's state of charge. It makes 4 horsepower peak in its current configuration when I don't have the restrictor switch turned on. This battery is much smaller than that used in an electric car, so every 110V outlet could charge it at the speed using a Level II charger or ChaDeMo charger could charge an electric car(less than two hours), and any 240V outlet became the equivalent of using a Tesla Supercharger to charge a Tesla(charge in under 30 minutes). Both 110V and 240V outlets are common throught the U.S. Consider how many miles in a day can be covered with this setup, even if you decide to restrict the motor to 28 mph/750W(with such a restriction, energy consumption goes down even further, extending range beyond that 150-200 miles, btw).

If the battery runs dead, maintaining 20+ mph rolling averages in the countryside with low pedaling effort is still viable, sometimes reaching over 60 mph on descents with the motor shut off. Remember, I designed/built this machine to handle this type of speed, so don't try 60 mph on just any old trike or you're asking for trouble. There is also be a "street legal" mode limiting the electric assist to 28 mph/750W for jurisdictions where the cops can try to fuck with me for "operating a motor vehicle" without a license or registration or insurance, and with the flip of a switch, this vehicle becomes "not a motor vehicle" and 100% legal in jurisdictions that have defined class 1, 2, and 3 e-bikes. In some areas that haven't legally defined e-bikes yet, I can still get away with operating it unrestricted and there is NOTHING the cops can legally do because there is no throttle for speeds over 20 mph and you must be pedaling for the motor to add thrust at any speed over 20 mph, which in many places gets around a large number of motor vehicle regulations. So this car is legally a "bicycle" and is perfectly functional as a "bicycle" too by being light enough to pedal and having the appropriate gearing. I always research the laws in whatever state I'm riding it in, and frankly, the 28 mph limit is rather goofy since I can still sprint to significantly faster speeds entirely under my own leg muscle power after the motor shuts itself off, especially going downhill. Even where operating it unrestricted would be illegal, out in the boonies, I can get away with it and fly down the highway at 45 mph, because no one is there to witness it.

If anything, a trike is a superior touring machine to a bike, especially if one needs to cover a lot of miles in a day. This is the best bike I have ever owned, and I have no regrets building it.

My trike is approaching 70,000 miles since building it in 2016. It works wonderfully. It has never left me stranded, but I always carry my tools/spare parts and know how to work on it. The photos below are the second iteration of my design:








And for fun, this was a proposed paint scheme that never materialized:



I'm in the process of making a 3rd and greatly more streamlined body based upon a Milan SL velomobile in my possession. Unmotorized, I can pedal that fucker to 50 mph on flat ground. I will also do a paint scheme like the above some day on the next body shell, and want to put a silver Baphomet hood ornament on the front and have pentagram decals on the wheel discs, a fallout shelter sign for a rear-derailleur access hatch/cover, red/orange/yellow/blue LEDs in the wheels to make them look like they're on fire during night riding, full windshield/roof, among other changes. Efficiency should more than double thanks to yet more aerodynamic drag reduction, and I may make it slippery enough that my flat-ground all-day-long cruising speed with the motor disabled jumps to 30 mph and my sprinting speed jumps to 45 mph, in spite of all the weight and heavy-duty components I will be lugging around.

Here is what this vehicle started life as(this photo is after motorizing it and taking the body off for upgrades, but it looked much like this back in 2016 before adding a body/motor):



It is currently receiving upgrades which include but are not limited to: roll cage, 5-point safety harness, crushable sub-structures and crumple zones, light-duty 16x1.5" motorcycle wheels, solar race car tires(low enough rolling resistance coefficient to be pedaled to high speeds with the motor off, enough rubber to handle panic stops from car-appropriate speeds without failure), fully functioning lights/turn signals/hazard flashers, DC to DC converter and inverter for using laptop computers(mobile hack station!) and charging phones/flashlights off the traction battery, hydraulic disc brakes using an amalgamation of bicycle/motorcycle/ebike/ATV parts that will be able to panic stop this thing from top speed without anything failing, 2.5 kWh 128V battery pack, a 10 kW controller setting, a Schlump HS drive up front to multiply the gearing spread by 2.5x, and even a detachable solar-panel equipped camper trailer.

It is being set up for 100+ mph top speed and the ability to accelerate like a sports car when it is operated unrestricted. We're talking about the possibility of 0-60 mph acceleration in under 7 seconds. My pedaling will still be able to add thrust at 110 mph, even though it might only be accounting for 2% of the motive force of the trike by that point. Meaning, the police Dodge Chargers might have difficulty if they give this thing chase. Minus towing the trailer, the complete bike is going to weigh 100 lbs or less when finished, remaining perfectly pedalable on a dead battery, and will still have that extra low gearing for crawling up mountains at less than walking speed. But it will, for all practical purposes, be a race car. A race car pretending to be a bicycle, that my unlicensed, unregistered, uninsured, no-plates, no-title ass gets around in long distances with, that, is technically legal in the vast majority of the U.S. as long as I'm mindful of what setting I'm using. And with performance like that, does legality really matter from a practical standpoint? I could pick this thing up and carry it into a home or apartment for hiding if the cops are looking for it. Range with the next iteration? My last iteration was getting 150-200 miles @ 30-35 mph on a 1.5 kWh pack, and I'm going to have perhaps one-third the drag and a 2.5 kWh pack next time around, which might mean a 400+ mile range per charge at 35 mph and a 100 mile range per charge at 70 mph, as long as I'm not towing the solar camper trailer.

Here's another trike I built in 2015, and learned many lessons from after the frame failed on me:





Here is my Milan SL velomobile, also a trike(it's a carbon fiber monocoque and has no frame, also very expensive as I did not design/build this), which is being used as a template for my next body shell design, which is capable of maintaining 30 mph with 150W of my pedaling, where the same effort on a normal bike would get me 13 mph, all with no motor, AND I can sprint to 50 mph on flat ground:




Touring with a trike is really, IMHO, the overall best form of cycle touring possible. It's the bike-touring equivalent of riding "Cadillac" train cars. Every bike punk should have something like this. If I were a millionaire scumbag, I'd try not to be a scumbag by building one for every nomadic gutterpunk I came across plus a towable camper trailer and giving it to them for free, because these things are EXTREMELY useful for someone like that. Off-grid inexpensive(per mile) long distance travel, with minimal environmental impact, plus the ability to carry all your shit, without having to go through the trouble of hopping trains? There's a brutal amount of utility right there that would be foolish to ignore.

I get that they're expensive. My Milan cost $8,000 on the used market. My custom build would cost about $3,000 to replicate, assuming one was patient enough to purchased used parts(especially electronics) where needed. Most people don't have that kind of money. BUT, for a $300 craigslist adult trike, and $300 of solar panels and electronics, some scavenged corrugated plastic, access to basic hand tools, and a set of zip ties, one could build an electric trike capable of covering 100 miles a day at 20 mph rolling averages, no problem. Which is still VERY useful.

Please give it a try. You might reassess your opinion on this.

So I read "The Anarchist's Guide to Travel"'s section on bike touring. There was mention of recumbent trikes, and nothing there I disagreed with.

However, given that the author hasn't tried one, I think an addendum whenever/if ever there is another edition printed should be in order. With an unmotorized velomobile fully loaded with camping gear, it is relatively trivial to travel 100-150 miles in a day if you are fit, with rolling averages easily 50% faster than an unloaded/empty road bike not equipped for touring. A normal recumbent trike with no body will still be within 1-2 mph rolling average of a road bike, but a lot more comfortable and less fatigue-inducing.

I hope the author gets a chance to try these machines out. They are really too perfect a fit to this lifestyle. The most major downside is the cost of entry. If these machines were produced in volume comparable to normal bicycles, there would be a greatly reduced cost penalty, if any, but they are not, so you'll have to pay accordingly, or have the skills/tools to build your own. Greatly worth it, IMO. ut being as expensive an investment as it is, you'll have to treat it and prize it as one would a car, and make damned sure it doesn't get stolen.

To get started - find an 80s to 90s mountain bike. Mine was free in a shed. 1990 Scott Montana, steel frame, 7 speed, 26" wheels.

Parts for this era are cheap. 3x7 shifters, derailleurs, rim brakes. Learn to fix it yourself - it ain't magic.

Then go with whatever camping gear you have. Start overnight and close to home for shakedown.

Trikes and recumbents may have a place, but mostly on-road with cars. That's one way of touring. I prefer something off the beaten path... Gravel, rail trial, and trail. Stealth camping is better too.

RagingZenDog said:

Trikes and recumbents may have a place, but mostly on-road with cars. That's one way of touring. I prefer something off the beaten path... Gravel, rail trial, and trail. Stealth camping is better too.

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That's what the electric mountainbike is for:



On the same battery, it gets 1/3 the range of my custom aerodynamic trike at 30 mph. But it can go places the trike cannot. It's about like comparing a full-sized SUV to a 1st generation Honda Insight in terms of energy efficiency as well as offroad prowess. If you found a full-suspension frame where you could stuff a massive 3 kWh battery into it, you could have a 100-ish lb electric motorcycle disguised as a "bicycle" with a 100 mile range at 30 mph. And if you retain a functional bicycle drivetrain, it would remain pedalable when the battery runs dead.

My electric mountainbike has 2x7 gearing, gets about 40-50 miles range with a 1.5 kWh battery at 30 mph with light pedaling effort(I use an Fischer-AG torque sensing bottom bracket to augment pedaling effort with electric propulsion), tops out at 39 mph with hard pedaling effort and the motor providing 750W, cruises 30 mph with throttle only at 750W if I tuck myself down to reduce cross-sectional area posed to the wind, and thus far has attracted zero police attention, unlike my other vehicles, which I consider to be its greatest advantage. My recumbent trikes are cop magnets, unfortunately.

I have tried this bike at 3 kW, and it wants to do wheelies. At 3kW with a 1.5 kWh battery, range can drop to 15 miles with speeds of about 45 mph, with no pedaling. But this bike is NOT SAFE over about 35 mph. I have cable-pull disc brakes, Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour tires, and stock bicycle rims.

Component failure at speed = probable death.

A good safe cruising speed is about 30 mph on the mountain bike, and obviously much less if you're going off the beaten path.

One of the trikes is undergoing upgrades to AWD at the moment. It will have 25 kW and over 500 Nm of peak torque on tap in a vehicle weighing under 120 lbs, a motor in all wheels, and the goal is 0-60 mph acceleration under 4 seconds and the ability to participate in street takeovers/drag races with the local Dodge Hellcats. Going to name it "Mayhem".