Redesigned horseless carriage seen cruising Gravette streets

Don Justice and his three-wheel "Eco-bike" on Gravette Main Street.
Don Justice and his three-wheel "Eco-bike" on Gravette Main Street.

— GRAVETTE - A new “horseless carriage” has been cruising around Gravette streets the past few days, the brainstorm of a local man who is at the controls of the three-wheeler.

When Don Justice converted a Chevy pickup into an all-electric vehicle, it took him many months. That was a challenge he conquered a couple of years ago.

His latest creation - he calls it an E-bike or an Ecobike - didn’t really take that much time.

The pickup project, which was featured at the time in a story in the News Herald, attracted lots of lookers asa huge bank of batteries silently powered the vehicle.

After he sold that vehicle to a new owner in Wichita, there was a new challenge. In fact there were two challenges - one lifethreatening.

Justice developed cancer. And the prognosis wasn’t good.

“They sent me to the VA hospital in Little Rock,” he said. “The doctors told me unless they were able to get the fast-growing disease under control, I only had about three weeks to live.”

He explained that after the treatments they were going to send him to ahospital in Memphis for stem-cell treatment.

“I balked,” he said. “I told them I wasn’t going to Memphis.”

The treatments were successful and, with the cancer in remission, Justice returned to his home in Gravette to face that other challenge.

He has spent the past three months converting a three-wheel recumbent bicycle into a self-propelled three-wheeler which he is now powering around town.

Justice said he got the idea from ultra-light aircraft. He installed a hub motor on the single rear wheel. A sprocket and chain, powered by three 12-volt batteries strapped to the frame, drives the Ebike.

“I could add a fourth battery,” Justice said, but admits he gets about 25 miles per charge and, although he has timed the vehicle exceeding 20 miles per hour, speed isn’t his real object.

Equipped with dual disc brakes on the two front wheels and 7-speed gears, Justice mostly uses pedal power to get around on the town’s level streets. However, if he gets tired of pedaling or when he encounters an uphill stretch of road, he can instantly switch to the 450 amp motor and then just sit back and relax.

The bike is equipped with a very noticeable bright orange banner, as shown in the photo. There are also lights, a front head lamp and a red blinking tail light.

His health? Justice said he feels fine. He calls the remission of his cancer a miracle and a gift from God.

News, Pages 1 on 05/11/2011