About Lance Miller:

Specialized Machinist, Welder and the inventor of the Landcrockitz™ Tricycles

When I was a young boy in summer school our teacher showed us a Westinghouse film titled “Transportation“. It had segments on planes, trains, automobiles and a piece on the “human powered vehicle” competition at M.I.T. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). I saw the film and thought I could do better. I didn’t think I would ever be able to go there, but I thought that I could learn how to build my own ideas if I apprenticed at the right places.

I studied drafting and metallurgy in high school and started working in different places. My first job was in Document Control, then material handling followed by a job as a purchasing agent for a company that built Microfiche duplicaters. One of the vendors suggested that if I took the welding courses at the local college he would let me practice after hours. I did so and began working at many different places over time. In my career I’ve built pressure vessels, parts for linear accelerators, gamma ray bombardment cells, silicone chip coating chambers, and recently, plasma fusion generators.

In my spare time I tried building my idea of a human powered vehicle, multiple wheeled vehicles. What you see here is two different types I built starting in 1989 through today. The first models were too large to be transported by car, but the geometry was good. The ‘4 Marjorie’ was named for my mother who taught me the appreciation for fine furniture and always encouraged me in my struggles. Several  times during my testing of the bikes, individuals would approach, who struggled with Cerebral Palsy and Multiple Sclerosis. While everyone else laughed at my stupid tricycle, they got it and how. I watched as they took off and spun doughnuts no problem. The bikes were meant to enjoy the scenery while riding along bike paths without the stress of balancing and to provide a more relaxing experience. I owe the completion to those individuals who showed me the importance and what it meant to them.