My love for vehicles began with a little red pedal car that I drove into the ground before I was 5.  Since my first bicycle,  I learned how to ride it, fix it, and modify it.  I could wheelie my BMX on one wheel, anywhere someone could ride theirs on two.   

 

One day, I found an old "Big wheel" discarded on the side of the road, and my love for all things pedal powered was solidified.  

The "BIG WHEEL"  inspired the EcoCycle X1 Vector,  a unique lean steering tricycle for which I received a US patent for.   Unfortunately, the X1 was a victim of it's own success.  It was superfast and a very efficient to pedal, but after 50 km/hr, it became too sensitive to steering input and became potentially dangerous. Understanding and accepting this,  I could not pursue mass production, despite tooling it up with molds and assembly fixtures.  Only 6 Vectors were ever produced, and are still in the family to this day.

 

While schooling for mechanical engineering, I built my first human powered recumbent tricycle. It was my first functional vehicle and featured a transverse leaf spring on the front end and a mono shock on the back wheel.  My final year project was a tube chassis dune buggy that was  built from various car parts, including a 3.4L V6 engine, S10 axle and a Chevette front suspension.     I still have the dune buggy and upgrade it year after year. You can see these vehicles under the "Vehicles Tab" 

 

Since then, I have continued to design, engineer and prototype new pedal and powered vehicle designs.  I am truly passionate about building these vehicles, exploring new concepts  and bringing my visions to life.

Ecocycle currently represents a series of over 30 vehicles,  I have designed, fabricated and tested. Most are human powered, many were electric, and I even built a barge I used to float my truck across a lake.

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Recently, my focus has been on the "212 PowerPack" An engine drive system for custom motorized vehicles.   The PowerPack is intended to help someone motorize their project and is engineered to solve many of the challenges they might encounter installing an engine drive system in their creation.

 

I have learned a lot over the years designing and building these vehicles and hope I can be a part of helping you with your project, whatever it may be.

 

Warmest regards,

 

Arne Pelkonen

EcoCycle Powered Vehicles

www.ecocycle.ca