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I have done some extensive googling trying to find a place to buy these wheel. Here is a picture of one of the front wheels:

enter image description here

And here is the description from the design which can be found here/n55.

FRONT WHEELS 24”x1.75 equipped with a reinforced axle (M12, 8.8) for one-sided attachment

A google search pulls up this stack exchange article which calls this a

wheelchair wheel or wheelchair hub

However these "side mount" wheels are commonly found on bike trailers as well as most recumbent trikes - see here

My goal is two buy a pair of these wheels, but I can not find a way to effectively google them, find them and buy them from a distributor.

I want the wheels for the n55 design.

Example wheel here:

enter image description here

Argenti Apparatus
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john.mackey.00acee
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    Search for “recumbent trike replacement wheel” and I think you’ll find some options. For example here: http://store.velocityusa.com/p/recumbent-trike-wheelset – Andrew Jan 09 '21 at 12:03
  • Unfortunately we cannot do shopping advice or recommendations here as they date quickly and are geographically specific. As far as 'common manufacturer', while its likely they do have wheels delivered made up by a wheel manufacturer, its a small market and they will likely be custom orders. Best option if you cannot find the wheel you want is have one built up from a rim and hub (by yourself or a shop) to your specifications. @Andrew offers you an approach for searching online shops for what you need. – mattnz Jan 09 '21 at 23:01
  • I appreciate the help, but I was following the n55 design, as they acted as if you can build a trike from basic materials, bolts and aluminum are easy to find. However, the cost of these custom wheels are more than all the other materials together by a factor of two given the "shopping" link. I'm not looking for a "shopping link" but a technical way to describe what I need from a manufacturing company. For example fastenermart.com is providing bolts at 1/5 the cost of say a Home Depot. – john.mackey.00acee Jan 10 '21 at 03:52
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    To be honest, the N55 looks more like an art project than a practical bike. – ojs Jan 10 '21 at 12:21
  • @j.m.00acee: There has already been a question on this site about that project or a similar design. With extensive answers. – Carel Jan 12 '21 at 15:52

1 Answers1

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This type of wheel is fairly common on "tadpole" design recumbent tricycles, meaning that there are two front wheels and one rear wheel. Therefore, many companies sell such wheels in this size. Look for stores that sell replacement recumbent trike wheels.

The exact axle size is variable, so you should decide on the wheels that you are getting before you drill the hole in the frame to accept the axle, and then drill an appropriately sized hole.

A second consideration is brake mounting. The n55 instructions recommend mirrored drum brakes or disc brakes, but do not provide instructions for mounting disc brake calipers. You will need to work out how to do that. Using drum brakes will eliminate this issue, but wheels with drum brakes are much less common than those with disc brakes.

UPDATE: OP has indicated in comments that 1) brakes are not necessary and 2) cost is a concern. Given those constraints, some other options are

  1. find a discarded wheelchair and take the wheels
  2. DIY a one-sided wheel by acquiring two discarded BMX bikes with over-sized axles (20" wheels will be much easier to find than 24"). Remove the axles from the wheels and replace the front wheel axles with the longer ones from the rear wheels, adjusting the cone positions so that the excess axle length is entirely on one side. You may need to cut additional threading into the axle to accomplish this. If 24" size is extremely important, find a kids mountain bike with 24" wheels with the same spoke count as the BMX wheels and lace the BMX hubs to the 24" rims. You may need to get new spokes to do this. There are many nonprofit bicycle co-ops that have free or inexpensive BMX bikes for salvage to do this project.
Andrew
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  • I'm just building a simple trailer for now as a test build using ideas I got from n55. So not worried about brakes yet. ... taking it one step at a time. The axle is specified as equipped with a reinforced axle (M12, 8.8) or 12 mm in diameter. So I take it wheels can have different axle sizes they fit to? – john.mackey.00acee Jan 09 '21 at 20:56
  • Trike manufacturers likely do not build their own wheels? I'm guessing they get them from somewhere as well? I was hoping their would be a common manufacturere of these style of wheels, where I could order from with out an absurd markup? – john.mackey.00acee Jan 09 '21 at 20:59
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    @j.m.00acee see updates. You are right that most wheels are made by different manufacturers than the bikes themselves, but that doesn't mean they are available cheaply. If you have the skills you can build up a wheel yourself from salvaged or new parts for less. – Andrew Jan 10 '21 at 14:16
  • thanks for info. I went into the depths of youtube and it is amazing! They have someone with a tutorial for everything. Complete wheel builds down to the ball bearings in the hub. I am trying to find the "true cost" of what a wheel is, not what you pay for a fancy name, distribution, and dishonest selling. I'll post a pic to the Q of another trike build I found and of the wheel he used. Amazing how easy the install was. Thanks again. – john.mackey.00acee Jan 11 '21 at 04:31
  • In the pic I posted, you can see he simply bolts the wheel on to a slab of aluminum or steel. Can not believe it is this easy if you can get a hold of the wheel. I see they are calling them "hollow hub" wheels in some corners of youtube. – john.mackey.00acee Jan 11 '21 at 04:34
  • Just had a thought: there are these relatively rare, "lefty" fork bicycles, that have a fork with only one side rather the usual two. The wheel for such a fork might fit the bill, but whether it's a reasonable price for one of them, I don't know. See https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/30765/pros-and-cons-of-single-sided-forks-cannondale-lefty for an example –  Jan 11 '21 at 19:10
  • The photo looks like someone just took a standard front wheel, replaced the axle with a longer rod with similar thread and clamped the other end to aluminum slab. The reason why bikes are not usually constructed like this is left as exercise to readers. – ojs Jan 11 '21 at 20:05
  • The wheels are similar to those used on wheelchairs. Shopping around for used parts might help. Although wheelchair wheels are larger (700) but by using the hubs of trashed wheels with new rims one could build new wheels. – Carel Jan 12 '21 at 15:58