Amberwolf's Delta Trike Build v1.0 (The Delta Tripper)
- Thread starter amberwolf
- Start date
that's good; it's the one i have with the coaster brake (though i think i will add rim brakes to both rear wheels too when i build the box frame).Chalo said:
i appreciate your coming here to giv eme advice on this project!
oh, i know theyr'e not good fasneters; I hav esome really good ones off a car's engine-stuff moutning brakcets but just don't remmeber where tehy are right now. The stuff on there now in the pics at top of page 2 is just temporary while i figuer out exactly what i am building.
ah; that's very useful info i didn't know! atm i am not using a differential at all, just a left-side driven axle for the pedal drive. a geared hubmotr will run the right side.
if a peerless diff is like htis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File
ifferential_free.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File
ifferential_locked-2.pngView attachment 2
then i think i have one like it i can use or i could build one from parts i already have. but there's also something similar to the powerchair diff in the drawing i postied previously in reply to agniusm in my pride powerchair, which i could take out of there and use instead, if i decided to drive the whole rear end from a single power source on a future version of this trike.
if i undertsand correctly, that's what i already have up there in the trek800 frame? but i have troulbe remembering which frames are which.
it's short enough i can stand over it with a few inches to spare; i have to have them short because i can't swing my legs over a regular one easily; my nishiki pedal-only bike http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=33246
is often really hard for me to ride nowadays even if it had a motor doing al the work, as i can stand over it but getting on and off can mean leaning against a wall and pulling hte bike up between my legs rather than swinging a leg over it.
i have other good 80s frames like my schwinn sierra where the front forks in the pics on page 2 came from,
http://electricle.blogspot.com/2010/01/schwinn-sierra-from-junk-to-ride.html
or the nishiki itself, and considered using them but they are as i said too tall to swing my legs over.
or the nishiki play alloy frame from li-ghtcycle
but i think that one is too tall for this aplication. plus i couldn't weld or braze anything to it if i ended up needing to modify it, like i easily could with the steel frames.
i alos have decided against suspension on this version of the trike, although a later one will eventually ahve full suspension. the only sus forks i have that are worth using would make the front end way too tall even with a short frame, unless i modify the frame a lot or use a stepthru frame, and either wya i'd have ot modify the headtube angle, especialy based on what you said about that (quoted below).
regariding tall frames: i guess it wasnt' very clear, but the idea behind the super-tall frame on page one would not be to rde seated on or astried that frame, but to have a semircumbent seat behind it instead, and my handlebars would actually be in the seattube, tierod to the steerer in the headtube something like crazybike2 is setup, so that i could have a crank-forward semi-recumbent design. the main reason i abandoned the idea of any of those on the first page is that when i actually tried the trike kit on the already-long crazybike2, i found it to be so tippy in turns even at extremely slow speeds that even witha slightly shorter version i don't think i could ride it on streets in traffic safely.
if i could make it a tilting trike, then that's another story...but it's also probalby another build nto this one.
that all sounds familiar...i think i might have read about that somewhere once, and forgot.
that is helpful, because it might help to have a smaller front wheel anyway, especially becauase it means i could make it a recumbent with a boom over the front wheel for the cranks. being a trike it wouldn't matter that i could not lower my feet to the ground or raise them from it to the cranks fast enough to not fall over like i would on a bike built the same way. but with the smaller wheel my feet would be closer to the ground anyway, so i wouldn't ahve to have as laid back a riding position for comfort; i don't really want to be laying back, just basically sitting comfortably like i do on crazybike2.
i ahve to depend on the motor for most of my propulsion anyway because of my knees (and lately the rest of me), so it deosn't really matter that the riding position doesn't provide me the best use of my leg power.
i have 20" and 24" forks and wheels that will fit this trek800 frame, which is a 1" steerer headtube. i'll have to ponder this some more now.
to lower the cog, ultimately i'd like to use 24" rear wheels on this bike, really 20", so i guess that would mean a 12" or at best 16" front wheel to keep the same geometry? i think the only ones i have in that size are from little kids' bikes. i wonder if they are tough enough? i guess i could easily carry a whole spare wheel or two at that size, though. :lol:
but...if i built it as a leaning trike, i would then need to have that bike-style geometry and trail, right?
Chalo
100 TW
The thing that makes a small front wheel better for a trike is largely a matter of head angle, so raising the rear end of the frame (by using larger wheels, or by modifying the way it attaches to the trike subframe) helps almost as much as lowering the front end with a small wheel. That is something else to chew on.
makes sense. so i guess short of modifying the headtube on the frame itself (cut and reweld), the best thing i could do is use the shortest most crankforward frame i have and make a set of plates to mount in it's dropouts to raise them up above the mount poinst on the kit. then i can use smaller wheels both front and back, and not raise up the trike kit itself (to keep cog lower when loaded with cargo).
does that make sense? or is my brain still melted?
does that make sense? or is my brain still melted?
Chalo
100 TW
amberwolf said:
Makes sense to me. Shoot for between zero and 1/2" trail to keep frame drop and down-slope steering bias to a minimum. You don't want negative trail because that causes up-slope and inside-the-turn steering bias, which are treacherous.
I haven't measrued it yet, but i set it up with a 20" wheel and U fork some hours ago just before finally falling asleep for a while. Was looking for the 24" U fork but couldn't find it, or the 20" with brake bosses. Might have to make one.
But with 20" front on this frame, I would have to do something to raise the rear end, because it leaves only about 160mm from the bottom of the BB shel to the ground, and I'm not sure I even have less than 170mm cranks that will let me put the chainrings on there I want to use. I think the only 150mm ones I had got their swaged-on rings tacoed back on one of CrazyBIke2's last chaindrives.
Not sure what the rake angle is here, GIMP says it's about 73 degrees. the tire's flat in the pic so maybe that would be a bit less in reality, but the rear wheels have no tires so maybe not. if I measured correctly then trail is about 0.9", see drawing on partial pic below. had to extend the pic cuz i didn't take one with the whole wheel for some reason and was easier than getting up again to do that.
frame height is good like this, it's only a few inches above my knee. Since this makes the handlebars and seat quite low I would wind up making an extension for the steerer out of an old seattube just like I did for CrazyBIke2--clamp end goes over top of steerer, and use a threadless stem on the other end for the bars.
still pondering an easy way to make a "chair"-like seat mount to this frame strongly, so would probably use a regular but wide saddle for now but would need a tall seatpost to actually pedal, if i can even do it usefully with the cranks back as far as they are this way.
Hachi is very bored wtih the whole thing and wants it to be over with.
But with 20" front on this frame, I would have to do something to raise the rear end, because it leaves only about 160mm from the bottom of the BB shel to the ground, and I'm not sure I even have less than 170mm cranks that will let me put the chainrings on there I want to use.
I think the only 150mm ones I had got their swaged-on rings tacoed back on one of CrazyBIke2's last chaindrives. Not sure what the rake angle is here, GIMP says it's about 73 degrees. the tire's flat in the pic so maybe that would be a bit less in reality, but the rear wheels have no tires so maybe not. if I measured correctly then trail is about 0.9", see drawing on partial pic below. had to extend the pic cuz i didn't take one with the whole wheel for some reason and was easier than getting up again to do that.
frame height is good like this, it's only a few inches above my knee. Since this makes the handlebars and seat quite low I would wind up making an extension for the steerer out of an old seattube just like I did for CrazyBIke2--clamp end goes over top of steerer, and use a threadless stem on the other end for the bars.
still pondering an easy way to make a "chair"-like seat mount to this frame strongly, so would probably use a regular but wide saddle for now but would need a tall seatpost to actually pedal, if i can even do it usefully with the cranks back as far as they are this way.
Hachi is very bored wtih the whole thing and wants it to be over with.
Sancho's Horse
1 kW
I am testing out the dual-overriding differential. It is what comes standard on the Worksman. The engineer I am having an email exchange with said he (of course) could not make any specific recommendations for motorizing a trike, but that he saw no problem with this differential system. Who knows? Ddk says it is working out for him, I guess I will see.
Chalo is right on about getting the trail down. A motorcycle forum I occassionally visit has a guy who has experimented with different configurations of front end geometry on his trike. He prefers 2-3" of trail. He argues that more is problematic in turning, and less requires more attention while driving straight. Little differences in friction make the handlebars want to twist unless you are giving attentive counterpressure. Apparently, this is usually not a problem, but it can arise unexpectedly on the right surfaces.
I am shooting for 2"- 2 1/2" on mine.
There is a discussion on tipping point center of gravity from the jet-trike guy:
http://www.jetrike.com/why-does-tilting-matter.html
He has a good discussion on baking angle also. Definitely check that out, if you haven't already
The single best thing you can do to improve stability is to widen the track. If you can't do that, front end geometry is crucial. However, unlike most typical trikes, an electric trike can have some significant weight held very low with the motorized components, batteries, and if you are hauling cargo...the cargo placement. I would still go with smaller back wheels, say 20", for COG considerations, as well as motor happiness. You could definitely modify how you attach the bike front end to the trike rear, and get the right front end geometry without sacrificing the benefits of lower COG.
What would happen if that trike attachement were not parallel to the ground? Could it be tipped down in the front, and heck maybe even be the start of a comfy semi-recumbent seat? Fun stuff.
Chalo is right on about getting the trail down. A motorcycle forum I occassionally visit has a guy who has experimented with different configurations of front end geometry on his trike. He prefers 2-3" of trail. He argues that more is problematic in turning, and less requires more attention while driving straight. Little differences in friction make the handlebars want to twist unless you are giving attentive counterpressure. Apparently, this is usually not a problem, but it can arise unexpectedly on the right surfaces.
I am shooting for 2"- 2 1/2" on mine.
There is a discussion on tipping point center of gravity from the jet-trike guy:
http://www.jetrike.com/why-does-tilting-matter.html
He has a good discussion on baking angle also. Definitely check that out, if you haven't already
The single best thing you can do to improve stability is to widen the track. If you can't do that, front end geometry is crucial. However, unlike most typical trikes, an electric trike can have some significant weight held very low with the motorized components, batteries, and if you are hauling cargo...the cargo placement. I would still go with smaller back wheels, say 20", for COG considerations, as well as motor happiness. You could definitely modify how you attach the bike front end to the trike rear, and get the right front end geometry without sacrificing the benefits of lower COG.
What would happen if that trike attachement were not parallel to the ground? Could it be tipped down in the front, and heck maybe even be the start of a comfy semi-recumbent seat? Fun stuff.
I figure that whatever makes it a good balance between turning at speed and straight is what I want. Right now it's just under 1", if I use 20" front and everything else fixed up the way it is.Sancho's Horse said:
There is a discussion on tipping point center of gravity from the jet-trike guy:
http://www.jetrike.com/why-does-tilting-matter.html
He has a good discussion on baking angle also. Definitely check that out, if you haven't already
I will have to re-read it when my mind is working better, becuse for somer eason I had troulbe picturing some fo the things discussed.
I'd prefer using smaller back wheels, but until I can build a 20" wheel around the IGH (assuming I even have spokes that will work), and go middrive, or move the 20" 9C 2807 over from crazybike2, it's not yet possible. I don't have the spokes for lacing up the Fusin hub into a 20" wheel, and I'd rather not unbuild the wheel it's in, anyway.
I have a (badly built) 24" wheel for an older smaller Fusin, and a (badly-built) 24" IGH wheel for the other side, but Id' rather not use either one, and just go to 20", if I can.
for the moment, as an "easy" cargo carrier, I'm probably going to go with this bad idea, of a foldup dog crate that I can spot weld to the trike kit. I'd like to remove the top two braces, maybe reinstall them upside down, so I can put the crate right on top of the kit. But I expec tthat will interfere with the tires. If I don't have it as low as I can, it will probalby cause me more problems.
Will need to come up wiht a quick-relase latching setup that will hold the top corners together when it's open. folded up is no problem, and it makes a decent rack to strap stuff to like that, but it isn't stable when open without something extra.
For a lockable box for stuff I will probably use the old bent-up one I took off of Crazybike2, though I don't have a cabinet lock for it yet. Will probably have to use a padlock and hasp.
Well, I coudln't use the trike part as the seat because I need it for cargo, but would be easily possible to do that. Right now, ti actually sits taht way against the biek frame anyway, but it won't when I get done.
I have a "beach chair" seat that I wish to use as the seat, but cannot without moving hte BB up and forward. However, that may not be as much of an issue as it sounds, or rather, it might be sort of necessary, anyway.
I have tried a number of ways, but I cannot remove what's left of the old BB stuff out of the BB shell--whoever put it in there did a great job of doing it unremovably .
(maybe I could i I had the splined tool for the left side, but I don't see a way to ge t the rightside piece out. So I have to put a different BB on the frame anyway, or else use a different frame entirely. So I might put the BB up on a boom over the tire so I can use that beach chair. 
For now I don't have the strength and coordination to build that square-tube frame I want. so in order to use the wider rear Fusin hubmotor wheel, I cut the kit frame and made some tube bits to widen it. I haven't welded it yet; I have to figure out a way to clamp everything in place so it's straight so the wheel ends up straight when I'm done. Having troulbe holding stuff again with today;s weather change and a tooth started throbbing again intermittently, so dind't get it done today like I'd hoped. Took a couple hours yesterday just to get as far as I did.
View attachment 7
I still couldn't manipulate the soldering iron to work on miguerrialrts controller yet, so....
Took what felt like days but really only hours, in few-minutes-here and fewminutes-there fits and starts since the last post I got some stuff welded, but it is actually crappier welds than I ahve on Crazybike2. Should still hold ok, but looks like birdshit, at best. :lol: Def wanna redo it later but need something for now.
teh top bars for the trike kit are now welded to it so they intresect the seattube where th estays and toptube come toether. want to make a clamp at their meeting point that will go aorund a seattube or seatpost but not sure how to make it yet. might just tack weld it to the bike frame thr einstead.
dog crate was too havey, couldn't hold it in place and couldn't clamp it, so used a piece of a retail display rack instead, just across the top rails above wheels. big flat thing is in back so I can mount tailights/etc on it, big reflector, etc. And bumvper stickers. :lol:
View attachment 12
also put the base rack out of a retail "dumpbin" one level below that, between wheels. Will have a lockable box mounted below that for stuff to stay secure in, but I haven't had luck or energy to deal wti that yet.
added a rimbrake boss U on the 20" fork. cut it off the crappy "shock" fork I used on Crazybike2 ages ago. Def not a loss on that fork.
I think it's straight enought to work.
still looking for the ones i wanna use on the rear wheels, and the dual-pull brake handle Aussiejester sent me ages ago with some disc brak estuff. for now just have the left rear coaster brake and the front rim brake. i Guess I could wled a caloper mount on the right side to use the disc on the fusin, but all the disc calipers I have are rpetty crappy; would get better braking with rim brakes.
the nwer fusin fits fine in the expanded rightside, botls in ok and teh tabbed torque washers fit ok in a way that shouod work fine against drive torque, although they would not work against braking torque if iths whas a dd hub with regen. Gonna have to be sure the nuts are always tight.
View attachment 6
one possible problem I dind't think of is the fusin wire sticks out ht erihght axle instead of the left. this means the whole axle is actually even longer on that side, sticking out like 2" form the frame. have not yet tested if this still fits thru the front door without catching; i'ts too cold outside to test that right now.
temporarily put a piece of old toptube set on the steerer and hooked the stem/bars on it, till i can figure out what ehight i actually need, and cut/clamp stuff like it need.s
think i'm def gonna have to put the cranks on a booom over the wheel. tried to figure out where else i could put them but theyd interfer with the wheel turning or else i couldn't comfortabley reach them and use them.
since i'll have to do that, i figure i'll stick the beach chair on there, too, isntead of a saddle.
proelbme with all this is it raises teh COG by putting more of my mass up higher.
Can't test how well it works yet though, till ig et brakes and steering setup. once i do I will wire up the Fusin otor and test drive it a little to see how bad it is with the saddle and legs down, and then just expect it'll be owrse with legs higher. but maybe since battery will be higher at first an dthen moved lower it'll make up for it a little bit.
Took what felt like days but really only hours, in few-minutes-here and fewminutes-there fits and starts since the last post I got some stuff welded, but it is actually crappier welds than I ahve on Crazybike2.
Should still hold ok, but looks like birdshit, at best. :lol: Def wanna redo it later but need something for now.teh top bars for the trike kit are now welded to it so they intresect the seattube where th estays and toptube come toether. want to make a clamp at their meeting point that will go aorund a seattube or seatpost but not sure how to make it yet. might just tack weld it to the bike frame thr einstead.
dog crate was too havey, couldn't hold it in place and couldn't clamp it, so used a piece of a retail display rack instead, just across the top rails above wheels. big flat thing is in back so I can mount tailights/etc on it, big reflector, etc. And bumvper stickers. :lol:
View attachment 12
also put the base rack out of a retail "dumpbin" one level below that, between wheels. Will have a lockable box mounted below that for stuff to stay secure in, but I haven't had luck or energy to deal wti that yet.
added a rimbrake boss U on the 20" fork. cut it off the crappy "shock" fork I used on Crazybike2 ages ago. Def not a loss on that fork.
I think it's straight enought to work. still looking for the ones i wanna use on the rear wheels, and the dual-pull brake handle Aussiejester sent me ages ago with some disc brak estuff. for now just have the left rear coaster brake and the front rim brake. i Guess I could wled a caloper mount on the right side to use the disc on the fusin, but all the disc calipers I have are rpetty crappy; would get better braking with rim brakes.
the nwer fusin fits fine in the expanded rightside, botls in ok and teh tabbed torque washers fit ok in a way that shouod work fine against drive torque, although they would not work against braking torque if iths whas a dd hub with regen. Gonna have to be sure the nuts are always tight.
View attachment 6
one possible problem I dind't think of is the fusin wire sticks out ht erihght axle instead of the left. this means the whole axle is actually even longer on that side, sticking out like 2" form the frame. have not yet tested if this still fits thru the front door without catching; i'ts too cold outside to test that right now.
temporarily put a piece of old toptube set on the steerer and hooked the stem/bars on it, till i can figure out what ehight i actually need, and cut/clamp stuff like it need.s
think i'm def gonna have to put the cranks on a booom over the wheel. tried to figure out where else i could put them but theyd interfer with the wheel turning or else i couldn't comfortabley reach them and use them.
since i'll have to do that, i figure i'll stick the beach chair on there, too, isntead of a saddle.
proelbme with all this is it raises teh COG by putting more of my mass up higher.
Can't test how well it works yet though, till ig et brakes and steering setup. once i do I will wire up the Fusin otor and test drive it a little to see how bad it is with the saddle and legs down, and then just expect it'll be owrse with legs higher. but maybe since battery will be higher at first an dthen moved lower it'll make up for it a little bit.
Attachments
way too cold to do anything else yet, but maypbe wed i can get it rideablet to est it. sunday? saturday? cna't remembe rnow. i found some more bits i needed like a seattube to make into steerer extender, etc. i tried sitting on the loose seat with a pillowc uz of the seattube under it, and holding myself in about the position needed for cranks over wheel, and figured out that tis' still too high off ground.
could cut up trek frame but don't want to if i don't have to, so over a copule of days i omoved stuff and found a crhome 'dyno' bmx frame thats shroter and lower to the gorund, and also has some flat level areas of the seatstays that i can use to weld the seat to instead of making something welded to toptube.
also found my office chair seat i meant ot try out on the fs cargo bike w/nuvinci project but that's still stalled too. so will temporarily put this seat on this trike cuz it loosk to fit well this way.
bmx frame is shorter by 6-8 inches i guess so that means shorter wheelbase overall, maybe means better in turns. dunno. gotta test it.
u-fork i used before with trek frmae has too short a steerer for bmx frame, so have to ctu the brake unit i welded to silver u fork off and reweld it to a fork that has a longer sterrer; i have on e that is barely long enough to reach but not long enough to reall y work so will also have to extend steerer tube with pipe inside the steerer tehn more pipe outisde steerer all wleded togethr so i can then clamp the upside down ex-dseattube over it for the stem/handlebars to clamp onto.
gotta cut bas e of ofc chair off its' wehels so i can wled it to the bmx frame over the seattube, which i already cut down level with the stays/toptube.
can diitch teh spacers for the trike kit dropout mount points, cuz the bmx rear drops are actulaly narrower than the kit, an d i had to use an axle and nuts to spread tehm enough to fit over the trike. still gotta find my good bolts/nuts though.
also gotta cut/reweld the tubes from top of trike kit to seatstay/tube on bike, cuz it is a lot lower on the bmx frame , like 2-3 inches, and also 3-4 inches or more closer to trike so tubes must be a lot shorter to fit. probly gonna just weld them right to bmx frame. tired of ponderng ways to make them clamp to it. more stuff to make and get to fit and welding just works.
was something else but i forgot. oh, i didn't get teh lockabel cargo box bolted to the trike kit yet. thought i found my cablnet locks for it but i's just the locks, and some random unmatching keys even though both are def ibm parts. wish i knew more about the locks and keys maye i could modify one to fit the ohter. guess will be going with hasp and padlock. gotta find the hasps now. got some here somewhere.
huh...went to upload the pics but threre aren't any on the card. i could swear i took pics of the stuff but obvoisuly am imagining it cuz that camera has no internal memory. :? guess my brain cells are frozen too. def not getting out from blankets to go tkae pics, am even typing with hands under the blankets and all the dogs even hachi are under here too; she usually gets on top of blankets and puts feet in air to cool off but not tonight. :lol:
mabye pics tomorrow or wed.
could cut up trek frame but don't want to if i don't have to, so over a copule of days i omoved stuff and found a crhome 'dyno' bmx frame thats shroter and lower to the gorund, and also has some flat level areas of the seatstays that i can use to weld the seat to instead of making something welded to toptube.
also found my office chair seat i meant ot try out on the fs cargo bike w/nuvinci project but that's still stalled too. so will temporarily put this seat on this trike cuz it loosk to fit well this way.
bmx frame is shorter by 6-8 inches i guess so that means shorter wheelbase overall, maybe means better in turns. dunno. gotta test it.
u-fork i used before with trek frmae has too short a steerer for bmx frame, so have to ctu the brake unit i welded to silver u fork off and reweld it to a fork that has a longer sterrer; i have on e that is barely long enough to reach but not long enough to reall y work so will also have to extend steerer tube with pipe inside the steerer tehn more pipe outisde steerer all wleded togethr so i can then clamp the upside down ex-dseattube over it for the stem/handlebars to clamp onto.
gotta cut bas e of ofc chair off its' wehels so i can wled it to the bmx frame over the seattube, which i already cut down level with the stays/toptube.
can diitch teh spacers for the trike kit dropout mount points, cuz the bmx rear drops are actulaly narrower than the kit, an d i had to use an axle and nuts to spread tehm enough to fit over the trike. still gotta find my good bolts/nuts though.
also gotta cut/reweld the tubes from top of trike kit to seatstay/tube on bike, cuz it is a lot lower on the bmx frame , like 2-3 inches, and also 3-4 inches or more closer to trike so tubes must be a lot shorter to fit. probly gonna just weld them right to bmx frame. tired of ponderng ways to make them clamp to it.
more stuff to make and get to fit and welding just works. was something else but i forgot. oh, i didn't get teh lockabel cargo box bolted to the trike kit yet. thought i found my cablnet locks for it but i's just the locks, and some random unmatching keys even though both are def ibm parts. wish i knew more about the locks and keys maye i could modify one to fit the ohter. guess will be going with hasp and padlock. gotta find the hasps now. got some here somewhere.
huh...went to upload the pics but threre aren't any on the card. i could swear i took pics of the stuff but obvoisuly am imagining it cuz that camera has no internal memory. :? guess my brain cells are frozen too. def not getting out from blankets to go tkae pics, am even typing with hands under the blankets and all the dogs even hachi are under here too; she usually gets on top of blankets and puts feet in air to cool off but not tonight. :lol:
mabye pics tomorrow or wed.
agniusm
1 MW
Was doing some digging and found beautiful differential for use on trikes and quads. The price is 65USD per unit, Special 36H disk hubs cost 11USD a piece, axles - 16USD and axle adapters - 6.5USD.
Good price, nice peace of hardware:
Follow the image link for manufacturer.
Good price, nice peace of hardware:
Follow the image link for manufacturer.
Chalo
100 TW
agniusm said:
One of my friends in town checked out that differential when he was designing a pedicab trike. He decided it wasn't capable of pedicab duty, and he now uses the cruder, heavier, and slightly more expensive Peerless differential axles.
There is no beating the price, but I would not expect to put a great deal of power through the Samagaga differential. It would be great for a pedal drive, in combination with a front hub motor. Or for a low torque e-assist setup.
The axles of the Samagaga rear end are kind of small, so they'll need good bearing support right next to the hubs.
Sancho's Horse
1 kW
I am convinced. Thanks Agnuism! Far better prices and looks like excellent quality by the technical specs.
now for soem pics of the present version. Ignroe the gold frame except for the upside down seattube that's on the steerer with handlebars on it. I just havent' cut it off the top and downtubes yet.
View attachment 7
The box below the kit in back will get bolted on the bottom of the lower rack behind the axle.
old brakes on there will get replaced with a brake unit presntly welded to the one in the next pic
crank boom is coplete old seatpost and bb off a kids bike for now, may hcange to something else with a better BB later. To mount it I just weld an old seatpost to the front of the headtube, slide it on, and use a QR bolt on the clamp to adjust it's length. I might have to cut the seattube shorter though, cuz it mayb e too long as it is now.
View attachment 4
(FWIW, tihs is the complete assembly i was going to use for the old ReCycle lowracer recumbent that was my very first scratchbuild bike, but never finished partly cuz I realized it would be too dangerous to ride in everyday traffic...leading to building Crazybike2 instead. )
Black tubes are the topmounts for the tike keit, gotta cut and reweld them and put them onto either the stays of the bmx frame or the seatube under the stays.
View attachment 3
That nice flat area of the stays and toptube is perfect for this, the bottom of the ikea desk chair i got off freecycle.org . I just need to cut this part off the base of the chair, and weld it to the stays/toptube. Doesn't have to be adjustable becuase i can do adjusting at the BB itself and a little at the bars, too.
Back fo seat bolts to base separately so can adust that almost 2 inches, seat bolts in 4places and dodesn't adjust.
Oh, and it's been cold enough the last few days that this half of an ice cube I tossed out for the dogs (guess they didn't notice it?) hasn't completely melted yet, sitting on the back porch. It's only about half gone now, I'd guess, after almost 4 days.
I did a little work outside in the sun where it was nice and warm, but its already cooling off from the high of 61F. As long as my hands were in direct sun it was ok but in the shade they cool off fast, with the teensiest little breeze we have going from the southwest. I'm still warming up the front room to be able to wrok on the thing inside, cuz it got down to 51F in there last night, and the sunlight and air exchange in the front door/window only just now are reaching 60F. Got a little crockpot running for some soup in there now that the doors/windows are shut (but uncurtained) as the outside is already colder than inside, and another heating some water making tea for later. But that's not enough, so there's also a little bitty space heater, which i don't like running cuz it's just wasting energy doing nothing but heating the air, where at least the crockpots are cooking something with the heat first.
View attachment 7
The box below the kit in back will get bolted on the bottom of the lower rack behind the axle.
old brakes on there will get replaced with a brake unit presntly welded to the one in the next pic
crank boom is coplete old seatpost and bb off a kids bike for now, may hcange to something else with a better BB later. To mount it I just weld an old seatpost to the front of the headtube, slide it on, and use a QR bolt on the clamp to adjust it's length. I might have to cut the seattube shorter though, cuz it mayb e too long as it is now.
View attachment 4
(FWIW, tihs is the complete assembly i was going to use for the old ReCycle lowracer recumbent that was my very first scratchbuild bike, but never finished partly cuz I realized it would be too dangerous to ride in everyday traffic...leading to building Crazybike2 instead. )
Black tubes are the topmounts for the tike keit, gotta cut and reweld them and put them onto either the stays of the bmx frame or the seatube under the stays.
View attachment 3
That nice flat area of the stays and toptube is perfect for this, the bottom of the ikea desk chair i got off freecycle.org . I just need to cut this part off the base of the chair, and weld it to the stays/toptube. Doesn't have to be adjustable becuase i can do adjusting at the BB itself and a little at the bars, too.
Back fo seat bolts to base separately so can adust that almost 2 inches, seat bolts in 4places and dodesn't adjust.
Oh, and it's been cold enough the last few days that this half of an ice cube I tossed out for the dogs (guess they didn't notice it?) hasn't completely melted yet, sitting on the back porch. It's only about half gone now, I'd guess, after almost 4 days.
I did a little work outside in the sun where it was nice and warm, but its already cooling off from the high of 61F.
As long as my hands were in direct sun it was ok but in the shade they cool off fast, with the teensiest little breeze we have going from the southwest. I'm still warming up the front room to be able to wrok on the thing inside, cuz it got down to 51F in there last night, and the sunlight and air exchange in the front door/window only just now are reaching 60F. Got a little crockpot running for some soup in there now that the doors/windows are shut (but uncurtained) as the outside is already colder than inside, and another heating some water making tea for later. But that's not enough, so there's also a little bitty space heater, which i don't like running cuz it's just wasting energy doing nothing but heating the air, where at least the crockpots are cooking something with the heat first.
I got a little done lats night, with heater running constantly on middle setting it finally got to 65f and held there, but it took until like 8 or 9pm to do it. I puttered aorund before that, hurting less than previous days, but still havig troule moving my hands the way i needed o to work the tools. After it was warm enough i was able to actually do a little bit before i started dozing off (the less it hurts the easier it is to sleep, and as tired as i uusually am it's hard to resist sleepign when i start feelign like that).
Anywahy, i got the brake thing cut off the old fork and bolted to the new one in preparation for welding it on, cuz i oculdn't get the clamps to hold it in place (i just couldn't hold everything right *and* work the clamps too). I used the bolt off the brake that had been on it, and a washer and nut as spacer to make it level with the fork face. Will weld it tomorrow if weather holds. Meant to today but was called in to work a half shift in the afternoon just as it got the nicest and warmest it's been in a long time.
Also trimmed the top trike kit mount tubes. ready for welding. Clamped with hose clamps for now.
Found the right bolts and nuts i meant to use before. Also discovered the kit's U-bar is actually threaded for bolts to right into it, but I don't have any the right size that are also the right thread pitch. I tried a rear axle cuz its' the right diameter, but it's too fine a thread, jjust by a tiny bit. Dunno why i neer noticed the threade dholes before.
View attachment 1
Cut the godl frame's seattube off, QR clamped to the steerer stub. Definitely needs an extension to the steerer, cuz less than 2" of tube is just nto enough for a good clamp, especially with the lever forces against it from various directions. also clamped the bars/stem to the gold tube in about the right place.
View attachment 3
Temporarily stuck the cranks onto a stub i left on the gold seattube, just to see how it looks. it'l really go a few inches lower and a more flat angle, on the headtube itself, so it won't pivot with teh wheel. Balanced myself in the seat carefully (just rsting on the toptube/seatstays) and held the bars and put my feet on the cranks--I think this will actually work ok for fit and interference/etc.
I gotta get the other armadillo tire from Ohzee off the old 26" 9C rim and put it on the leftside trike wheel (there's already one on the Fusin right wheel). Also gotta finish truing that wheel; it's still got lots of side-to-side slop, a few mm. wont'w ork with rim brakes that way.
Gotta atttach brake Ubars/studs to both rear wheel stays, too, so I can have rimbrakes on all three wheels. Gotta find that dual lever from Aussiejester so I can activate both at the same time with even braking; it has separate adjusters for each cable. I found two more Ubars on junk shock forks, but one of them doesnt' use standard bolts to hold the arms to the studs; it needs slighltly smaller ones by just a tiny hairsbreadth, and possibly a differetn thread pitch, too. First one i ever saw like taht. it does take the standard arms, though. :? Was off a tiny junky kids' bike, so not a shock or anything. like 16" wheel or something. I have one more Ubar identical to the first one, still on a mostly-working (crappy) bike, though. don't wanna cut it up if I don't have to, but I might.
Gotta ponder the chainline; probably will stick an old rear hub in the empty Ashtabula BB on this BMX frame, using the freewheel/cluster on it as a chain guide/tensioner. I also have an old nylon pulley I'd gotten for a guid/tensioner on Crazybike2's old drivetrain, but I never used it because I gave up on the chaindrive before I got that far. Also have some nylon or teflon tube tha tthe chain can pass thru to guide it if I have to. Can also weld something to the frame at the headtube for a guide if necessary. Old brake studs and then screw in jockey wheels out of old derailers, or whatever.
Gotta get the box mounted under the trike kit, and hinges/lid installed. probably will just unbolt the one off crazyBIke2's box and use it since it has a lock already, and i wont' use both trike and bikea the same time anyway. Used to do that with DayGlo Avenger adn CrazyBike2, no reason to change now. :lol:
Weather is def way nicer, though, Nana likes sitting in the sun.
really hope ti stays this way thru next week like they saiid it should. Trees lost all their leaves though. just the rosebush and some lantana still green after the freezing nights. Hachi is dissapointed, and Nana is diggign thru them trying to find her poopie-cookies.
View attachment 6
I puttered aorund before that, hurting less than previous days, but still havig troule moving my hands the way i needed o to work the tools. After it was warm enough i was able to actually do a little bit before i started dozing off (the less it hurts the easier it is to sleep, and as tired as i uusually am it's hard to resist sleepign when i start feelign like that). Anywahy, i got the brake thing cut off the old fork and bolted to the new one in preparation for welding it on, cuz i oculdn't get the clamps to hold it in place (i just couldn't hold everything right *and* work the clamps too). I used the bolt off the brake that had been on it, and a washer and nut as spacer to make it level with the fork face. Will weld it tomorrow if weather holds. Meant to today but was called in to work a half shift in the afternoon just as it got the nicest and warmest it's been in a long time.
Also trimmed the top trike kit mount tubes. ready for welding. Clamped with hose clamps for now.
Found the right bolts and nuts i meant to use before. Also discovered the kit's U-bar is actually threaded for bolts to right into it, but I don't have any the right size that are also the right thread pitch. I tried a rear axle cuz its' the right diameter, but it's too fine a thread, jjust by a tiny bit. Dunno why i neer noticed the threade dholes before.
View attachment 1
Cut the godl frame's seattube off, QR clamped to the steerer stub. Definitely needs an extension to the steerer, cuz less than 2" of tube is just nto enough for a good clamp, especially with the lever forces against it from various directions. also clamped the bars/stem to the gold tube in about the right place.
View attachment 3
Temporarily stuck the cranks onto a stub i left on the gold seattube, just to see how it looks. it'l really go a few inches lower and a more flat angle, on the headtube itself, so it won't pivot with teh wheel. Balanced myself in the seat carefully (just rsting on the toptube/seatstays) and held the bars and put my feet on the cranks--I think this will actually work ok for fit and interference/etc.
I gotta get the other armadillo tire from Ohzee off the old 26" 9C rim and put it on the leftside trike wheel (there's already one on the Fusin right wheel). Also gotta finish truing that wheel; it's still got lots of side-to-side slop, a few mm. wont'w ork with rim brakes that way.
Gotta atttach brake Ubars/studs to both rear wheel stays, too, so I can have rimbrakes on all three wheels. Gotta find that dual lever from Aussiejester so I can activate both at the same time with even braking; it has separate adjusters for each cable. I found two more Ubars on junk shock forks, but one of them doesnt' use standard bolts to hold the arms to the studs; it needs slighltly smaller ones by just a tiny hairsbreadth, and possibly a differetn thread pitch, too. First one i ever saw like taht. it does take the standard arms, though. :? Was off a tiny junky kids' bike, so not a shock or anything. like 16" wheel or something. I have one more Ubar identical to the first one, still on a mostly-working (crappy) bike, though. don't wanna cut it up if I don't have to, but I might.
Gotta ponder the chainline; probably will stick an old rear hub in the empty Ashtabula BB on this BMX frame, using the freewheel/cluster on it as a chain guide/tensioner. I also have an old nylon pulley I'd gotten for a guid/tensioner on Crazybike2's old drivetrain, but I never used it because I gave up on the chaindrive before I got that far. Also have some nylon or teflon tube tha tthe chain can pass thru to guide it if I have to. Can also weld something to the frame at the headtube for a guide if necessary. Old brake studs and then screw in jockey wheels out of old derailers, or whatever.
Gotta get the box mounted under the trike kit, and hinges/lid installed. probably will just unbolt the one off crazyBIke2's box and use it since it has a lock already, and i wont' use both trike and bikea the same time anyway. Used to do that with DayGlo Avenger adn CrazyBike2, no reason to change now. :lol:
Weather is def way nicer, though, Nana likes sitting in the sun.
really hope ti stays this way thru next week like they saiid it should. Trees lost all their leaves though. just the rosebush and some lantana still green after the freezing nights. Hachi is dissapointed, and Nana is diggign thru them trying to find her poopie-cookies.
View attachment 6
Lots of trike pics, it is now rideable under power but no chain yet. still working on chainline. Any suggestions welcome.
I had a miscalculation about the width of the trike. I was SURE I ahd measured the front door as 36" actual usable width including the space the door itself takes up against the wall, the jamb, etc, but apparently I scrwed that up, and it's probaly closer to 33", if that, cuz the trike don't fit thru it.
It's at least two inches wider than the doorway's available usable space, and even if I cut the axle ends off flush wht the frame on both sides (impossible) it still wouldnt' fit htru. I am SURE I checked this before, but obviously I dreamed it, or else the house shrank.
View attachment 9
Anyway, so I have to shimmy the trike around the doorjamb at the knob side, kinda like you would to get a couch in or out that's too wide for the doorway, where you feed an arm out at an angle first, keeping it all tilted as you go thru with the middle, and then back at an angle to get the other arm out. With the trike, I have to turn it almost sideways to the door, sort of lift and drag the riht wheel over the doorsill, whcih I can barely do because I have ot do it from inside the house from the left side of the trike. Then scoot teh trike sideways and sort of back and forth until the back end is out the door, then roll it backwards to get the front end out. Same thing in reverse to get it insde, and it's even harder because I have to lift that rigth wheel up farther to get it over the doorsill from the outside direction.
Oh, the best part: I have to take the seat bottom off to do it at all.
Meaning, take the seat bottom off, get the trike out the door, put it back on, ride, come back, take the seat bottom off, get the trike in the door, etc. I just wont' be putting the seat bottom on except when I'm outside with it to ride. Maybe see if I can come up with a quickrelease for it, instead of four allen-head bolts.
I seriously considered narrowing the trike by cutting some of the right side frame and "axle" section of the kit away, about four inches, on the left side of the rigth wheel "cage". That woudl let me easily roll the thing in and out the doorway, but it would also make it much more prone to tipping, and also make it very non-symmetrical. So i left it alone and for the moment I will deal with the shuffle method, but I'm not sure that I *can* do that when I'm hurting enough to have to use the trike in the first place.
So...am also considering making it collapsible on that side, with al lthe tubing having a "telescoping" section that slides over the rest, and then nuts welded on teh outer tubing with butterfly-head bolts or t-handles or something thru the nuts and a hole int eh tube into the inner tubing, to lock it in place when extended. That's a lot of work, and may not even do what I need it to, but it might have to get done.
Ok, bakc to the how-to stuff:
Extending the steerer tube: First I made sure all the headtube/bearing/etc hardware was setup like I watned (cuz I can't replace it after I do this!).
Then I took this old seatpost and cut off the wider part and the "flange",
View attachment 23
leaving this part to be slit and hammered into the steerer tube off a junk shock fork
View attachment 22
which even though ti's only 16" wheel sze still weighs as much as a jug of water and has almost no springiness at all.
but it wroked out fine, fits like a glove and extens the steerer tube safely
whcih I then welded thru the tubing on a high-amp welder setting to cause burn-thru on purpose, and then ground down to flat so the sterer extension for the bars to clamp to will slide over it.
Seat base attachment:
Next up I cut the seat bse of f the chair stand, and ground it flat for weldign to the bmx frame
so ti sits like this now (beofre weldign by stpot weldign the four courners of it to the stays):
Actually doign the welding was a huge PITA because I couldnt' find a way to clamp it without the clmaps slipping on teh tube, and I tired wood and other stuff across the top and bottom but even that kept slipping just as I'd get it tight. Must've wasted 45 minutse on taht, and eventually juet held it with one gloved hand while tacking it down on one side, forcing against the tacks to do it on the other side, checkig my work and cutting it off and retacking it a few times before I got it stragith enough, and then really welding it. That sucked.
I put the handlebars on the tube and clamped it all down, using a stem from Oatnet called "black mrkt" I think it is. Seems to be steel not alloy, and is VERY short--ideal cuz I don't need leverage on this thing much, and don't want to hae the bars far foward or back from the steerer tube. Found the right height spot for them for arm comfort, about teh same place I hav them on CrazyBike2 but their a little closer tahn CB2's; feels beter. Forgot a pic but you see them in others later.
Then I went for welding the pedal boom on. Old seatpost fishmouthed at the former seat end, then again just held in place whiel tacking it. miractulously this actually worked perfectly the first time. My welding still sucks though cuz I cant' keep my hands steady OR on course and drift away from the seam area.
PEdal boom itself: I put it on there adn sat in teh seat, and found i neede d to take at least two inches off teh boom to reach pedals prperly. Easy to do; just cut clamp ring off, cut a couple nches off boom, slit it for like 3 inches and put clamp ring over it. Slide it over boompost, and clamp it down. boompost narrows for last couple inches, so I actually gained 4 inches of adjustment range this way (towar d the short side--already has plenty of adjustement the other way). Ended up what feesll ike a perfect fit.
So at thsi point the trike is like this:
and I remembered to finally put a tire on the elft side (so now it ahs the Armadillos from Ohzee on each rear wheel; hopeflly will keep me from getting flats on it...Oh, and I forgot to ever metnion it, but the front wheel is actualy a rear wheel with most of the spacers/nuts off, and crammed into teh dropouts of the fork, and it is a solid foam tire, so it can't go flat. It's th e wheel that was gonna be the front tire of of ReCycle. I think it is 44 spoke or 40 spoke). I also played with placments of the ammocan battery it will start out with. The first one I realized was stupid only after taking the pic--the chain has to go thru there. Fred realised it before I did though, and tried to tell me....
View attachment 11
This might work out, on the axle on one side, rooom for two packs taht way. Or a pcakc and a toolbox, or whatever. Probalby ought to sling it UNDER thae axle instead though, and drop all the cargo racks down to axle level.
I played with chainline possibilities, but realized that i just didn't have time to do that part today, after I woke up from yet another unintentional nap when Nana came up and pushed me over to say hi, and I saw the sun going behind the big tree and shading me. I forget what time that was, like 4pm or later, but it meant it was time to start cleaning up out there and bringing stuff in (takes an hour or more) before it started cooling off too much, so i could clse up the house and not lose all the heat gathered from airing it out during the warm part of the day.
So up next was in-the-house work, of wiring up the Fusin kit and lights on the trike (cuz they're all one big wiring harness just ttransfered voer from the Fusin Test Bike that hte kit spent it's first 500+ miles on, successfully. I intended to tkae pics of each step of this part, too, but I kept forgetting to do it, or I'd go get the camera nad forget what I was gonna do next, so at some point I just stopped trying and only got pics of basically finished (except pedal drivetrain) trike.
I guess i got my fingers nt eh way of the flash or somethign:
Somwhere in here, Loki gave up on me and didnt'e ven wake up when i dropped things noisily, which is very unsual for him (he's the scaredy-dog of the group, afraid of everything).
Bike reflectors at the ends of the back of the top cargo tray, and the motorcycle tailight (with "license plate light" shining down on an endless-sphere bumper sticker from Mr.Electric). The fusin kit's taillight is ziptied to the top of the seat back, partly cuz it is a white light with red lens, so if I need to see the cargo area when loading or unlaoding or whatever, I can pop the cover off and use it kinda like a flashlight. The turn signals ae under the kit's rear crosmember, ziptied to the lowre cargo tray. Ammocan pack is strapped down to the lower cargo tray in the front right, for now, so I can test this thing.
then with the lights on (are off in above pic), left turn signal going. Has the flash on the camera too, meant ot block it but forgot.
I did block the flash on the pic of the front with the lights on. The car headlight is ziptied to the top of a stem from Oatnet clamped to the steerer about 8-10" below the handlebars; this keeps the headlight lower than my eyes by enough tht I can see shadows cast by it on stuff in the road, and thus more easily see what I must avoid. The fusin headlight is ziptid below the stem. I only even have it on there because it has the keysiwtch in it, and I just wanted to test drive this thing before doing any major rewiring. Turn signals/front markers are ziptied to the handlebars.
not nearly as messy looking as CrazyBike2 yet, but not doen. :lol: Lights are on and camera flash too.
outside view with flash and lights on.
same but no flash
EDITt: i dozed off so many times typing this up I think it took two hours to write. must've click submit by mistake somewhere cuz I had to go back and edit in the last half of it or so. was afraied I'd lost it cuz for some dumb reason I typed it right into the edit box in the browser instead of in notepad first like I usually do.
But before you go, my usual grumpiness:
Weather was better, was able to do a lot in between involuntary naps, cuz i stil didn't get enough sleep; hardly any at all. Now that it's warmer and my bonz don't hurt quite so much, one of my toothaches came back with a vengeance (lower left molar I think). Ibuprofen took off the edge kinda like it does with my body aches, but still throbby. I had a couple of Darvocets left, and used one of them so I could at least get a little sleep. Am using another now so I can get hopefully enough rest for work tomororw. When those run out I still have a few Tylenlo3 with codeine left from a few years back when I had to have the front top two left teeth pulled (incisor and canine?) from an infetction cuz I broke them off when i tripped and fell due to complete exhaustion, when my mom was really sick in her last year, going to and from the hostpital lots and lots (felt like every other day), and I felt like the only person that was doing anything around the house (and I was the only one also holding a job; neither of the sisters then here did or has even now, that I know of). Anyway, I will get thru it, like i always do, eventually. Even if I don't like it.
end of rant
I had a miscalculation about the width of the trike. I was SURE I ahd measured the front door as 36" actual usable width including the space the door itself takes up against the wall, the jamb, etc, but apparently I scrwed that up, and it's probaly closer to 33", if that, cuz the trike don't fit thru it.
It's at least two inches wider than the doorway's available usable space, and even if I cut the axle ends off flush wht the frame on both sides (impossible) it still wouldnt' fit htru. I am SURE I checked this before, but obviously I dreamed it, or else the house shrank.
View attachment 9
Anyway, so I have to shimmy the trike around the doorjamb at the knob side, kinda like you would to get a couch in or out that's too wide for the doorway, where you feed an arm out at an angle first, keeping it all tilted as you go thru with the middle, and then back at an angle to get the other arm out. With the trike, I have to turn it almost sideways to the door, sort of lift and drag the riht wheel over the doorsill, whcih I can barely do because I have ot do it from inside the house from the left side of the trike. Then scoot teh trike sideways and sort of back and forth until the back end is out the door, then roll it backwards to get the front end out. Same thing in reverse to get it insde, and it's even harder because I have to lift that rigth wheel up farther to get it over the doorsill from the outside direction.
Oh, the best part: I have to take the seat bottom off to do it at all.
Meaning, take the seat bottom off, get the trike out the door, put it back on, ride, come back, take the seat bottom off, get the trike in the door, etc. I just wont' be putting the seat bottom on except when I'm outside with it to ride. Maybe see if I can come up with a quickrelease for it, instead of four allen-head bolts.
I seriously considered narrowing the trike by cutting some of the right side frame and "axle" section of the kit away, about four inches, on the left side of the rigth wheel "cage". That woudl let me easily roll the thing in and out the doorway, but it would also make it much more prone to tipping, and also make it very non-symmetrical. So i left it alone and for the moment I will deal with the shuffle method, but I'm not sure that I *can* do that when I'm hurting enough to have to use the trike in the first place.
So...am also considering making it collapsible on that side, with al lthe tubing having a "telescoping" section that slides over the rest, and then nuts welded on teh outer tubing with butterfly-head bolts or t-handles or something thru the nuts and a hole int eh tube into the inner tubing, to lock it in place when extended. That's a lot of work, and may not even do what I need it to, but it might have to get done.
Ok, bakc to the how-to stuff:
Extending the steerer tube: First I made sure all the headtube/bearing/etc hardware was setup like I watned (cuz I can't replace it after I do this!).
Then I took this old seatpost and cut off the wider part and the "flange",
View attachment 23
leaving this part to be slit and hammered into the steerer tube off a junk shock fork
View attachment 22
which even though ti's only 16" wheel sze still weighs as much as a jug of water and has almost no springiness at all.
but it wroked out fine, fits like a glove and extens the steerer tube safely
whcih I then welded thru the tubing on a high-amp welder setting to cause burn-thru on purpose, and then ground down to flat so the sterer extension for the bars to clamp to will slide over it.
Seat base attachment:
Next up I cut the seat bse of f the chair stand, and ground it flat for weldign to the bmx frame
so ti sits like this now (beofre weldign by stpot weldign the four courners of it to the stays):
Actually doign the welding was a huge PITA because I couldnt' find a way to clamp it without the clmaps slipping on teh tube, and I tired wood and other stuff across the top and bottom but even that kept slipping just as I'd get it tight. Must've wasted 45 minutse on taht, and eventually juet held it with one gloved hand while tacking it down on one side, forcing against the tacks to do it on the other side, checkig my work and cutting it off and retacking it a few times before I got it stragith enough, and then really welding it. That sucked.
I put the handlebars on the tube and clamped it all down, using a stem from Oatnet called "black mrkt" I think it is. Seems to be steel not alloy, and is VERY short--ideal cuz I don't need leverage on this thing much, and don't want to hae the bars far foward or back from the steerer tube. Found the right height spot for them for arm comfort, about teh same place I hav them on CrazyBike2 but their a little closer tahn CB2's; feels beter. Forgot a pic but you see them in others later.
Then I went for welding the pedal boom on. Old seatpost fishmouthed at the former seat end, then again just held in place whiel tacking it. miractulously this actually worked perfectly the first time. My welding still sucks though cuz I cant' keep my hands steady OR on course and drift away from the seam area.
PEdal boom itself: I put it on there adn sat in teh seat, and found i neede d to take at least two inches off teh boom to reach pedals prperly. Easy to do; just cut clamp ring off, cut a couple nches off boom, slit it for like 3 inches and put clamp ring over it. Slide it over boompost, and clamp it down. boompost narrows for last couple inches, so I actually gained 4 inches of adjustment range this way (towar d the short side--already has plenty of adjustement the other way). Ended up what feesll ike a perfect fit.
So at thsi point the trike is like this:
and I remembered to finally put a tire on the elft side (so now it ahs the Armadillos from Ohzee on each rear wheel; hopeflly will keep me from getting flats on it...Oh, and I forgot to ever metnion it, but the front wheel is actualy a rear wheel with most of the spacers/nuts off, and crammed into teh dropouts of the fork, and it is a solid foam tire, so it can't go flat. It's th e wheel that was gonna be the front tire of of ReCycle. I think it is 44 spoke or 40 spoke). I also played with placments of the ammocan battery it will start out with. The first one I realized was stupid only after taking the pic--the chain has to go thru there. Fred realised it before I did though, and tried to tell me....
View attachment 11
This might work out, on the axle on one side, rooom for two packs taht way. Or a pcakc and a toolbox, or whatever. Probalby ought to sling it UNDER thae axle instead though, and drop all the cargo racks down to axle level.
I played with chainline possibilities, but realized that i just didn't have time to do that part today, after I woke up from yet another unintentional nap when Nana came up and pushed me over to say hi, and I saw the sun going behind the big tree and shading me. I forget what time that was, like 4pm or later, but it meant it was time to start cleaning up out there and bringing stuff in (takes an hour or more) before it started cooling off too much, so i could clse up the house and not lose all the heat gathered from airing it out during the warm part of the day.
So up next was in-the-house work, of wiring up the Fusin kit and lights on the trike (cuz they're all one big wiring harness just ttransfered voer from the Fusin Test Bike that hte kit spent it's first 500+ miles on, successfully. I intended to tkae pics of each step of this part, too, but I kept forgetting to do it, or I'd go get the camera nad forget what I was gonna do next, so at some point I just stopped trying and only got pics of basically finished (except pedal drivetrain) trike.
I guess i got my fingers nt eh way of the flash or somethign:
Somwhere in here, Loki gave up on me and didnt'e ven wake up when i dropped things noisily, which is very unsual for him (he's the scaredy-dog of the group, afraid of everything).
Bike reflectors at the ends of the back of the top cargo tray, and the motorcycle tailight (with "license plate light" shining down on an endless-sphere bumper sticker from Mr.Electric). The fusin kit's taillight is ziptied to the top of the seat back, partly cuz it is a white light with red lens, so if I need to see the cargo area when loading or unlaoding or whatever, I can pop the cover off and use it kinda like a flashlight. The turn signals ae under the kit's rear crosmember, ziptied to the lowre cargo tray. Ammocan pack is strapped down to the lower cargo tray in the front right, for now, so I can test this thing.
then with the lights on (are off in above pic), left turn signal going. Has the flash on the camera too, meant ot block it but forgot.
I did block the flash on the pic of the front with the lights on. The car headlight is ziptied to the top of a stem from Oatnet clamped to the steerer about 8-10" below the handlebars; this keeps the headlight lower than my eyes by enough tht I can see shadows cast by it on stuff in the road, and thus more easily see what I must avoid. The fusin headlight is ziptid below the stem. I only even have it on there because it has the keysiwtch in it, and I just wanted to test drive this thing before doing any major rewiring. Turn signals/front markers are ziptied to the handlebars.
not nearly as messy looking as CrazyBike2 yet, but not doen. :lol: Lights are on and camera flash too.
outside view with flash and lights on.
same but no flash
EDITt: i dozed off so many times typing this up I think it took two hours to write.
must've click submit by mistake somewhere cuz I had to go back and edit in the last half of it or so. was afraied I'd lost it cuz for some dumb reason I typed it right into the edit box in the browser instead of in notepad first like I usually do. But before you go, my usual grumpiness:
Weather was better, was able to do a lot in between involuntary naps, cuz i stil didn't get enough sleep; hardly any at all. Now that it's warmer and my bonz don't hurt quite so much, one of my toothaches came back with a vengeance (lower left molar I think). Ibuprofen took off the edge kinda like it does with my body aches, but still throbby. I had a couple of Darvocets left, and used one of them so I could at least get a little sleep. Am using another now so I can get hopefully enough rest for work tomororw. When those run out I still have a few Tylenlo3 with codeine left from a few years back when I had to have the front top two left teeth pulled (incisor and canine?) from an infetction cuz I broke them off when i tripped and fell due to complete exhaustion, when my mom was really sick in her last year, going to and from the hostpital lots and lots (felt like every other day), and I felt like the only person that was doing anything around the house (and I was the only one also holding a job; neither of the sisters then here did or has even now, that I know of). Anyway, I will get thru it, like i always do, eventually. Even if I don't like it.
end of rant
oh...stuff I forgot to put above:
--added a front white reflector on pedalboom where the kickstand would normally be bolted.
--added yellow reflectors from old pedals to the side-ends of the actual pedals, and to the outer rear "stays" of the trike kit, as "side-markers", since there's no reflectors int eh wheels themselves yet. Cna't rmember where i put those.
--Brake arms, lever, and pads for front brake are Tektro stuff from Oatnet. Cable wasn't long enough so had to use a rear cable off a kids' bike from Freecycle. But no matter how I adjust them, the brakes basically don't work when in motion. I can keep teh wheel from moving if I apply them hard when already stopped, but if I'm moiving already it just slows it a little bit. I could drag my feet and get better braking (except feet don't reach the ground at all). I'm not sure what's wrong. Rim is aluminum, and has signs of previous use a a braking surface, but is not actually machined all shiny like typical braking surfaces on alloy rims tend to be. Maybe the pads are just old and hard; gotta try the Avid ones off the Fusin Test bike instead.
--Forgot to install the rear brake studs when doing the welding earlier today. guess it'll be next week to do that, probably.
--test ride went ok, other than haing to coast to a stop, cuz of front brakes no realy working. trike goes straight, doesn't push or pull to one side even though motor is only in right wheel.
--turning...i still ahve to slow way way down before turning. maybe 10MPH max. But at least leaning my body out towad the inside of a turn does help a little. Definitley gonna have to work on a leaning or tilting trike. Eventually.
--i think I'm gonna have to go 20" rear wheels too; it just feels way too tall, and I can't even put my feet on the ground without getting off the seat. that is going to really comlicate things cuz I will have to build new wheels. For motor either gotta take the 20" off CrazyBIke2 (don't wanna) or ahve to build a whole new one, and for that I will have to try Karma's twist-up spke method; I ain't got the spokes to build any 20" hubmotor wheel.
--controller is under the seat, leftside, wire bundle facing inward. Seems to fit well there. But it's the newere 9FET version and has a bug where it doesn't send the speedo signal to the Fusin display thing, so I have no certain idea how fast I was going at any point in the test. didnt' wanna take the CA off CB2 yet just for this.
--Used a turnigy watt meter jut to monitor power for the test, and it was typical of usage for this kit, based on previous data logged in the kit review thread.
--trike is a little back-heavy; if I had a bit more power I could probably wheelie it. If I put this motor ina 20" wheel I might well accidentaly flip it over backwards if I hit WOT from a stop and was leaning back, especially fi there was cargo loaded behind the axle line. :lol:
--Seat is comfy enough, not quite as much as CB2's suspended mesh, but way eway better than a saddle.
If i cna fix the brake thing I may try this for my work commute tomorow, but probably not enough time to do taht. maybe sudnay or later next week. I just have to have it ready for when the weather goes back and I get hurty again.
--added a front white reflector on pedalboom where the kickstand would normally be bolted.
--added yellow reflectors from old pedals to the side-ends of the actual pedals, and to the outer rear "stays" of the trike kit, as "side-markers", since there's no reflectors int eh wheels themselves yet. Cna't rmember where i put those.
--Brake arms, lever, and pads for front brake are Tektro stuff from Oatnet. Cable wasn't long enough so had to use a rear cable off a kids' bike from Freecycle. But no matter how I adjust them, the brakes basically don't work when in motion. I can keep teh wheel from moving if I apply them hard when already stopped, but if I'm moiving already it just slows it a little bit. I could drag my feet and get better braking (except feet don't reach the ground at all). I'm not sure what's wrong. Rim is aluminum, and has signs of previous use a a braking surface, but is not actually machined all shiny like typical braking surfaces on alloy rims tend to be. Maybe the pads are just old and hard; gotta try the Avid ones off the Fusin Test bike instead.
--Forgot to install the rear brake studs when doing the welding earlier today. guess it'll be next week to do that, probably.
--test ride went ok, other than haing to coast to a stop, cuz of front brakes no realy working. trike goes straight, doesn't push or pull to one side even though motor is only in right wheel.
--turning...i still ahve to slow way way down before turning. maybe 10MPH max. But at least leaning my body out towad the inside of a turn does help a little. Definitley gonna have to work on a leaning or tilting trike. Eventually.
--i think I'm gonna have to go 20" rear wheels too; it just feels way too tall, and I can't even put my feet on the ground without getting off the seat. that is going to really comlicate things cuz I will have to build new wheels. For motor either gotta take the 20" off CrazyBIke2 (don't wanna) or ahve to build a whole new one, and for that I will have to try Karma's twist-up spke method; I ain't got the spokes to build any 20" hubmotor wheel.
--controller is under the seat, leftside, wire bundle facing inward. Seems to fit well there. But it's the newere 9FET version and has a bug where it doesn't send the speedo signal to the Fusin display thing, so I have no certain idea how fast I was going at any point in the test. didnt' wanna take the CA off CB2 yet just for this.
--Used a turnigy watt meter jut to monitor power for the test, and it was typical of usage for this kit, based on previous data logged in the kit review thread.
--trike is a little back-heavy; if I had a bit more power I could probably wheelie it. If I put this motor ina 20" wheel I might well accidentaly flip it over backwards if I hit WOT from a stop and was leaning back, especially fi there was cargo loaded behind the axle line. :lol:
--Seat is comfy enough, not quite as much as CB2's suspended mesh, but way eway better than a saddle.
If i cna fix the brake thing I may try this for my work commute tomorow, but probably not enough time to do taht. maybe sudnay or later next week. I just have to have it ready for when the weather goes back and I get hurty again.
Swapped brake pads to the ones from the Avids off the Fusin Test Bike; made a huge difference for about 10 feet until one dove under the rim, becuase I'd forgotten to weld the stud bracket U frame to the fork (only teh top bolt holding it on).
It wasn't a problem until there were pads capable of actually grabbign the rim, so I didn't notice or remember till now. It ripped the back end of the left pad open, exposing the metal inside. Theoretically I could still use it if I have to, if I turn it around so it has the open end forward. I'd rather not, though.
So I thought I'd try something else: The surface of the Tektro pads seems to be metallically glazed, so I took a flat file and rubbed the pads across it just enough to remvoe that glazing; left a rough surface. Now they work better than before, though still not as well as the Avid pads. I have a few more (also used, I think) sets of the Tektros from Oatnet, and i will try them tomorrow or something. Wanna do it now but I can't concnetrate/hold the tools well enough to be sure I'm doing it right. Don't wanna screw up brakes, especialy since i only have the front ones.
.
That's it for the bike report on this post; the rest is ramblings about pain and why it's so ahrd for me to get antyhing done.
Thankfully most of my bodyaches are minimal cuz the good weather, but toothache thing is pretty bad right now. Tylenol3 doesn't really do anything significant, ibuprofen helps a teeeeensy bit. Last night at work it was keeping me from even concentrating on anything poeple were saying to me/asking me, so I tried a Darvosomething Id' saved from when my sister still lived here and gave me some when i'd almost broken my shoulder in late 2005 when the bike that later became DayGlo Avenger had the stem break just ridng down the road, tossing me on the sidwalk cuz i was just holidng handlebars no longer attached to bike excdpt by cables.
Anyway, that did take away most of the pain but it made me so out of it and dizzy that i was even less functional than with the pain. I could hardly stand. I didn't know it owuld do that to me cuz I have only ever taken them when I was gonna be laing in bed anyway due to whatever injury or whatever was the reason i needed to take it (which has to be reAAALLY bad to get me to that point cuz I can't get more so I only use them when I would rather hit myself witha sledgehammer than feel that pain. I have groewn to handle a LOT of pain over the years...I don't think mostpeople have any idea how bad pain can actualy get...and even I don't feel as bad as it is possible to get, I'm sure. I'd rate a typical toothache as an 8/10, a bad toothache as a 9/10, and a multiple really bad toothache as 10/10. Most of the time I'm at maybe 3/10 in a lot of places, usually joints, with left knee at 4/10 when walking, and left hand at 4/10 or even 5/10 when gripping things. On bad days like last week and week before, I would be at 5/10 just for general pain, and 7 or 8/10 for knee and hand. The worst day, tuseday of the week before, I think, I was past that to 9/10. I barely made it to work, and was sent home before starting. I wasnt' totally sure i would even make it home, and i took a whle.
Mind you, "10" is relativ e to my experinece of pain so far, so as I get to expierience new levels of it, I'll probably look back on times like this as mild. 10/10 is basically me just laying there holding what ever is hurting and being unable to think or do anything until it starts to fade a little.
Ok, I am really rambling now. I was going somehwere with this...but I got lost. Oh..yeah, I also have a few Oxysomethigns she gave me at the same time, but I never took any till now, cuz sh said they were really strong and could cause all sorts of wierd sideeffects and memory loss, but would take away any pain. or at least make me not care about it. So, I have been sipping cold water and holding it in that side of my mouth, because it makes the tooth pain go away almost completely. Whereas warm water or worse, hot soup, makes the pain an instant 10/10 like a spike driven into my head. but as soon as the water warms eough, the pain begins to come back, so maybe 5 minutes at best even with a cold compress on my cheek, too.
So I cant' sleep...so i took one o fthose Darvs several hours ago but all it did was make me too dizzy ot walk without holding onto walls and stuff, and hard to think. Nada on the pain. I finally figured i hae waited long enough for it to go away and let me safely take the oxy, so i did, a couple hours ago. (a littl while after I started typing upt his post, cuz I do get to doze off for a few minutes here and there somtimes before it flares up again, so it takes a long time to type this up). It has made me even dizzier and out of it more than the darv, and made all my other aches and pians go away completely, but it hasn't realy touched the tooth thing.
Yet the water works fine. wtf.
however, even ice in a wet rag on my cheek right over the same spot does not work, even if I keep it there till my whole face is numb and super cold. it does help keep the water in my mouth effective for logner, but by itself dose basically nothing.
Pain is really friggin' weird, and inconsistent in how it responds to remedies. Sometimes things that worked fine last time don't work at all next time, or even do opposite of what they did. Last time around, november or december, I was able to use warm/hot water to take away the pain but then suddenly it just didnt' work anymore and only cold would work.
I knwo it will stop at somep oint, but it could take several more days if it's like last time. Am really lookign forward to that day, though. But knowingmy luck, it'll happen just as th eweather turns super cold again, so the rest of me takes up the slack on the pain thing.
eidt: also, all that water means I gotta get up to pee every half hour or so, or more. and also the oxy is making me itch randomly. mostly back of my neck and shoulders. two more things to make sleep even harder.
It wasn't a problem until there were pads capable of actually grabbign the rim, so I didn't notice or remember till now. It ripped the back end of the left pad open, exposing the metal inside. Theoretically I could still use it if I have to, if I turn it around so it has the open end forward. I'd rather not, though.
So I thought I'd try something else: The surface of the Tektro pads seems to be metallically glazed, so I took a flat file and rubbed the pads across it just enough to remvoe that glazing; left a rough surface. Now they work better than before, though still not as well as the Avid pads. I have a few more (also used, I think) sets of the Tektros from Oatnet, and i will try them tomorrow or something. Wanna do it now but I can't concnetrate/hold the tools well enough to be sure I'm doing it right. Don't wanna screw up brakes, especialy since i only have the front ones.
.
That's it for the bike report on this post; the rest is ramblings about pain and why it's so ahrd for me to get antyhing done.
Thankfully most of my bodyaches are minimal cuz the good weather, but toothache thing is pretty bad right now. Tylenol3 doesn't really do anything significant, ibuprofen helps a teeeeensy bit. Last night at work it was keeping me from even concentrating on anything poeple were saying to me/asking me, so I tried a Darvosomething Id' saved from when my sister still lived here and gave me some when i'd almost broken my shoulder in late 2005 when the bike that later became DayGlo Avenger had the stem break just ridng down the road, tossing me on the sidwalk cuz i was just holidng handlebars no longer attached to bike excdpt by cables.
Anyway, that did take away most of the pain but it made me so out of it and dizzy that i was even less functional than with the pain.
I could hardly stand. I didn't know it owuld do that to me cuz I have only ever taken them when I was gonna be laing in bed anyway due to whatever injury or whatever was the reason i needed to take it (which has to be reAAALLY bad to get me to that point cuz I can't get more so I only use them when I would rather hit myself witha sledgehammer than feel that pain. I have groewn to handle a LOT of pain over the years...I don't think mostpeople have any idea how bad pain can actualy get...and even I don't feel as bad as it is possible to get, I'm sure. I'd rate a typical toothache as an 8/10, a bad toothache as a 9/10, and a multiple really bad toothache as 10/10. Most of the time I'm at maybe 3/10 in a lot of places, usually joints, with left knee at 4/10 when walking, and left hand at 4/10 or even 5/10 when gripping things. On bad days like last week and week before, I would be at 5/10 just for general pain, and 7 or 8/10 for knee and hand. The worst day, tuseday of the week before, I think, I was past that to 9/10. I barely made it to work, and was sent home before starting. I wasnt' totally sure i would even make it home, and i took a whle. Mind you, "10" is relativ e to my experinece of pain so far, so as I get to expierience new levels of it, I'll probably look back on times like this as mild.
10/10 is basically me just laying there holding what ever is hurting and being unable to think or do anything until it starts to fade a little. Ok, I am really rambling now. I was going somehwere with this...but I got lost. Oh..yeah, I also have a few Oxysomethigns she gave me at the same time, but I never took any till now, cuz sh said they were really strong and could cause all sorts of wierd sideeffects and memory loss, but would take away any pain. or at least make me not care about it. So, I have been sipping cold water and holding it in that side of my mouth, because it makes the tooth pain go away almost completely. Whereas warm water or worse, hot soup, makes the pain an instant 10/10 like a spike driven into my head. but as soon as the water warms eough, the pain begins to come back, so maybe 5 minutes at best even with a cold compress on my cheek, too.
So I cant' sleep...so i took one o fthose Darvs several hours ago but all it did was make me too dizzy ot walk without holding onto walls and stuff, and hard to think. Nada on the pain. I finally figured i hae waited long enough for it to go away and let me safely take the oxy, so i did, a couple hours ago. (a littl while after I started typing upt his post, cuz I do get to doze off for a few minutes here and there somtimes before it flares up again, so it takes a long time to type this up). It has made me even dizzier and out of it more than the darv, and made all my other aches and pians go away completely, but it hasn't realy touched the tooth thing.
Yet the water works fine. wtf.
however, even ice in a wet rag on my cheek right over the same spot does not work, even if I keep it there till my whole face is numb and super cold. it does help keep the water in my mouth effective for logner, but by itself dose basically nothing.
Pain is really friggin' weird, and inconsistent in how it responds to remedies. Sometimes things that worked fine last time don't work at all next time, or even do opposite of what they did. Last time around, november or december, I was able to use warm/hot water to take away the pain but then suddenly it just didnt' work anymore and only cold would work.
I knwo it will stop at somep oint, but it could take several more days if it's like last time. Am really lookign forward to that day, though. But knowingmy luck, it'll happen just as th eweather turns super cold again, so the rest of me takes up the slack on the pain thing.
eidt: also, all that water means I gotta get up to pee every half hour or so, or more. and also the oxy is making me itch randomly. mostly back of my neck and shoulders. two more things to make sleep even harder.
Finished up enough of the trike to rid eit to work today and back home after. Ugh.
It's scary even going straigth at above maybe 15-17MPH, and I'd rather not go above 13-15MPH. Every teensy movement of the steering seems like it'll instantly send me careening off the road, and it is hard to correct because I'm not used to trike steering (vs bike steering).
To go into a driveway, I have to basically slow to walking speed to turn and make sure it's pointed perfectly perpendicular to the sidewalk so the rear wheels go over the sidewalk edges/gutter at teh same time, and up the ramping part evenly, or there's risk of tipping over.
Riding any road with a little crown is hard, especially if I'm near the edge where it's worst. Riding on parking lots that are angled upward toward the building (common around here) is very difficult and scary; any twitch of steering caused by bump steer (common because of potholes) careens me off in the direction of some parked car.
Bump steer on the roads with teh potholes is also a big problme.
At minimum, two things are gonna have to happen to make this thing rideable at street speeds:
--lower the COG a LOT--at least a foot. Or more. Put my seat down by at least a foot, which means cutting the toptube and seatstays of the frame off, weldign the seat down ont eh downtube/chainstays. I won't be able to pedal or see well like taht cuz my feet will be around the same height as my head, with the boom over the front wheel, and I'll have to be laying back too far.
--use 20" wheels in back. That means figuring out how to relace the Fusin hub in that small a wheel whith whatever spokes I have from other wheels. I'm pretty sure I can get creative with a 3x lacing for the IGH wheel to make it work with spokes off a coaster hub 20" wheel, as it should be able to take up the extra spoke length. But it's a lot of work I'm not even sure will work out. So...it's a lot more likely I will put the motor and the IGH as middrive, and use somethng else as the motor, so I can leave the Fusin 1000W hub in it's 26" wheel. Alternatley, put the 20" 9C hub off CrazyBike2 on the trike's right side, and stick teh IGH in the middle of the pedal drivetrain somewhere, and use a regualr 20" wheel with a singlespeed freewheel (liek the one off a one-wheel kid's ride-on trailer I have) on the left side.
Bump steer I can't fix...about the only thing I could do about that is add rear independent suspension, and the only way I can do that is to not use the trike kit thing, and work out a totaly different trike for that. If I do, I might as well make a tadpole, cuz I'd ahve to be building a whole frame up anyway.
Anyway, I guess it's back to riding CrazyBike2 fora while till I figure this out.
It's scary even going straigth at above maybe 15-17MPH, and I'd rather not go above 13-15MPH. Every teensy movement of the steering seems like it'll instantly send me careening off the road, and it is hard to correct because I'm not used to trike steering (vs bike steering).
To go into a driveway, I have to basically slow to walking speed to turn and make sure it's pointed perfectly perpendicular to the sidewalk so the rear wheels go over the sidewalk edges/gutter at teh same time, and up the ramping part evenly, or there's risk of tipping over.
Riding any road with a little crown is hard, especially if I'm near the edge where it's worst. Riding on parking lots that are angled upward toward the building (common around here) is very difficult and scary; any twitch of steering caused by bump steer (common because of potholes) careens me off in the direction of some parked car.
Bump steer on the roads with teh potholes is also a big problme.
At minimum, two things are gonna have to happen to make this thing rideable at street speeds:
--lower the COG a LOT--at least a foot. Or more. Put my seat down by at least a foot, which means cutting the toptube and seatstays of the frame off, weldign the seat down ont eh downtube/chainstays. I won't be able to pedal or see well like taht cuz my feet will be around the same height as my head, with the boom over the front wheel, and I'll have to be laying back too far.
--use 20" wheels in back. That means figuring out how to relace the Fusin hub in that small a wheel whith whatever spokes I have from other wheels. I'm pretty sure I can get creative with a 3x lacing for the IGH wheel to make it work with spokes off a coaster hub 20" wheel, as it should be able to take up the extra spoke length. But it's a lot of work I'm not even sure will work out. So...it's a lot more likely I will put the motor and the IGH as middrive, and use somethng else as the motor, so I can leave the Fusin 1000W hub in it's 26" wheel. Alternatley, put the 20" 9C hub off CrazyBike2 on the trike's right side, and stick teh IGH in the middle of the pedal drivetrain somewhere, and use a regualr 20" wheel with a singlespeed freewheel (liek the one off a one-wheel kid's ride-on trailer I have) on the left side.
Bump steer I can't fix...about the only thing I could do about that is add rear independent suspension, and the only way I can do that is to not use the trike kit thing, and work out a totaly different trike for that. If I do, I might as well make a tadpole, cuz I'd ahve to be building a whole frame up anyway.
Anyway, I guess it's back to riding CrazyBike2 fora while till I figure this out.
Chalo
100 TW
emiyata said:
"Rake" is used to mean two different things. Motorcycle guys use that term to mean head tube angle. Bicycle guys use the word to mean fork offset. On bikes, steep head angle and short fork offset go together, and so do slack head angle and long fork offset.
Bikes and trikes have very different steering geometry. and what works for a bike does not work for a trike-- it causes the trike to steer strongly in unintended directions when it turns or rides on a sloping surface. Lots of manufacturers make this mistake out of cheapness or ignorance, because they aren't riders themselves.
If AW used a normal bicycle-like head angle, he'd need a fork with several inches of forward offset to compensate. I think he chose the head angle he did to complement the fork that he had, for a trike-specific amount of trail.
Pretty much, tried to anyway. Ended up wiht more trail than I wanted, actually, which might be why it's twitchy. I guess I could reverse the fork to test that theory. :lol:
Nope. I guess it's closer to what was suggested than I thought, a bit less than half an inch, as level as I could get the trike as a whole. I expect it's really closer to a bit more than half an inch, despite my efforts to be accurate.
I can get a bit more than an inch by reversing the fork. (again, probably a bit more than that)
As an aside, everything appears to be reasonably water-resistant (except the seat) as I didn't know it was going to rain today, and had left the trike out in the back yard when I got home last night, becuase it's a huge PITA to get it in and out the front door, but relatively easy to get in and out the yard gate. It wasn't a soaker rain, but enough drizzle to make mud in some places. I powered it up and tested it while it was all still wet, and it worked ok. Dunno how it does in soaking rain yet. Coudl test that with the water hose I guess, if I cared.
(And of course, the weather change to humid and warm-ish is making me all hurty again, but nto nearly as bad as it was when ti was also cold. On the good side, my teeth aren't hurting much right now.)
I can get a bit more than an inch by reversing the fork. (again, probably a bit more than that)
As an aside, everything appears to be reasonably water-resistant (except the seat) as I didn't know it was going to rain today, and had left the trike out in the back yard when I got home last night, becuase it's a huge PITA to get it in and out the front door, but relatively easy to get in and out the yard gate. It wasn't a soaker rain, but enough drizzle to make mud in some places. I powered it up and tested it while it was all still wet, and it worked ok. Dunno how it does in soaking rain yet. Coudl test that with the water hose I guess, if I cared.
(And of course, the weather change to humid and warm-ish is making me all hurty again, but nto nearly as bad as it was when ti was also cold. On the good side, my teeth aren't hurting much right now.)
Sancho's Horse
1 kW
I bet the fork wants to turn at "high" speeds. It definitely needs some more offset. In my mind turning over a country mile is better than twitching out of control at speeds. Does it feel dangerous because it sure looks it. Butt clinching dangerous. You can have my front forks off of my worksman. Good offset, but the guy who helped me by storing it at his barn...I think his brother drove over it, so the fork needs straightened. It would need to get thrown in the fire and fastened to a jig somehow, maybe a bit of pounding. Not sure if it would helpbut you are welcome to it. Worried about this trike, and mine is pushing so
me serious edges.
me serious edges.
Chalo
100 TW
To be fair, the steering geometry is not far off that of some successful long-wheelbase delta trike load haulers I have used and made. But those are long, and they are slow.
Because of the short offset BMX fork, the head angle to complement it with trike-appropriate short trail is very steep. The short trail means that slope and centripetal forces won't feed in much unintended steering force, but the steepness means that there will be negligible self-centering effect at any speed.
Using a fork with more offset to complement a slacker head angle would also imply a longer wheelbase given the limitations on handlebar position, and that could only be a good thing in this case.
I think he's going to have to sit down inside this trike before it's tamed.
Because of the short offset BMX fork, the head angle to complement it with trike-appropriate short trail is very steep. The short trail means that slope and centripetal forces won't feed in much unintended steering force, but the steepness means that there will be negligible self-centering effect at any speed.
Using a fork with more offset to complement a slacker head angle would also imply a longer wheelbase given the limitations on handlebar position, and that could only be a good thing in this case.
I think he's going to have to sit down inside this trike before it's tamed.
