Nihola Cargo Trike Rebuild - N380 IGH-TSDZ2

Changelog
04/03-Opening post
04/03-Update 1- Frame welding and improvements
05/03 Update 2- Frame Tectyled, Benchmounts, Popnuts
05/03 Update 3 - Front wheels, drum brakes, rod ends, control and tweaks.
14/09 Update 4 - Custom sprockets


I'm from The Hague, Netherlands. A few years ago my mother gave me her Nihola Dog Trike. The design is pretty clever, the hood is supported by two aluminum rods that can be stored in the compartment, they have the same shape. Further the wheels steer independently of the frame, the result is a very comfortable ride and good control. The dog edition is almost the same as the family edition but has a door in the front of the compartment that allows easy entrance for pets. Below are the general specs of the trike.

Total length: 2 meter
Total width: 89 cm/85 cm with turned front wheels
Weight: 32 kg
Max. load: 100 kg + rider
Transport box height: 50 cm
Max. width in cabin: 62 cm
Max. length in cabin: 88 cm


https://i.imgur.com/TFqZH6qt.jpg[/url]


Planned upgrades:
-Nuvinci N380 Internal Gear Hub
-Automatic Hub Interface
-Automatic Grip Shifter
-Tsdz2 Motor (48V), Opensource Firmware, Bearing upgrades, Cooling improvements and Electric tuning
-Custom Luggage Rack with battery compartment
-Custom Batterypacks
-Magura HS11 Rimbrakes
-Sturmey & Archer Drum brake improvements
-HellermannTyton Tube and Cable Metallic Conduit System SSC10-SS316ML
-Custom Stainless (SS316) and Brass Surface Mounted Cable Saddles
-New SKF Bearings and Askuball KI-DNRBF Stainless rod ends with PTFE anti-friction film
-Vredestein Perfect Moiree tires
-Frame improved, leached, de-rusted, tectyle treatment, zinc primer, powder coating (3-layer) black and clear topcoat
-Mounting adapter for passenger bench or other add-ons
-Stainless (SS316) Mud Guards
-All Stainless (AISI316) fasteners and parts (where applicable)
-Lights, Alarm, GPS, BMS etc.

When I got the bike it had no electric assistance. Also it was pretty rusty (after only 3 years). Plenty of reasons for a total rebuild.
In this topic I will post pictures and text of the process. Hope you guys enjoy!

The bare frame with the compartment's bottom plate removed, all rivets drilled out.
[url=https://i.imgur.com/qg6D7Ry.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/qg6D7Ryt.jpg

Some parts


Some rusty parts


Cleaning the parts, stripping the paint. Paint stripper with methylene chloride. Lots of thinner and aceton.


The frame has returned from a nightlong alkalic leaching bath. Some (rivet)holes taped up so the phosphoric acid stays contained in the frame. This treatment will convert the rust inside the frame to iron phosphate.


04/03 Update 1- Frame welding and improvements
The rear fork is one of those places where a frame starts rusting first. Four pieces of SS316 were welded en ground to shape so when the coating is compromised the corrosion won't creep underneath the rest of the coating.


After another acid treatment, wooden inserts were turned for the various bearing fittings. Threaded holes filled with a screw. The frame was then sandblasted, coated with zinc primer and finally the black and clear powder coating. The result is pretty sweet.

05/03 Update 2- Frame Tectyled, Benchmounts, Popnuts
Closeup of the brass knurled thumb screws. On both left and right side a metal flap is welded with two threaded holes.


The thumbscrews consist of Onkenhout en Onkenhout PFC2-M6 "Press fit panel adapters" so called captive screws. A knurled slice of brass rod is connected on top with a press fit, the large diameter allows for pleasant operation.


Rowan reading "Finnegans Wake" on the freshly mounted bench.


Detail of the topside mounting. Basically a PFC2-M6 Screw+Ring, two custom Stainless parts were machined, press fitted together sandwiching the polycarbonate.


Stainless PopNuts M4, appeared to be to tough for my handheld manual PopNut tool. So I ordered one by phone: "I want one on battery!", later finding out the price was a bit sturdy


PopNut in place, connecting the bottom plate to the frame while providing a M4 threat insert and Tectyling entrance.


Back view of the Mud Guard adapter showing the "crimp/clamp" connection method.


Through all of the holes in the frame a straw with spraying head was pulled, inserting lots of Valvoline Tectyl inside the frame. Even if there was some rust left inside, it is now isolated and the process can't continue without air/oxygen.


05/03 Update 3 - Front wheels, drum brakes, rod ends, control and tweaks.

Nihola advertises with maintenance free steering. Ironically the steering is the only section of the trike where non stainless parts are used. The 20" front wheels are build around Sturmey & Archer X-SD 70mm Hub's with drum brakes. They have various different versions, 90mm/70mm, quick release axis, dynamo, polished.


Nihola opted for the "free floating axle principle", this means that (in this specific case) a standard 1$ bolt is used to clamp the wheel to the steering control. The bearings have a 12mm ID, the "axis" is 11,87mm. The idea is not all of the forces will end op on the axis, this principle is used with car's not bikes. Just a way to justify not having to machine a custom axis if you ask me. To get rid of this issue, 12mm centerless ground shaft steel was machined to lenght and threaded, 3mm holes were drilled for through axis wiring.


Some pictures from another Nihola, some before and afters. Where needed parts were machined from SS316, the nuts that hold the drum brake pad together with the threaded tube are made of 22mm and 24mm hexagonal SS316 stock. The thread is M16x1.0, pretty nasty machining, I had to buy a special tap.




14/09 Update 4 - Custom sprockets.[/b
Im building custom gear, spider and sprockets for the TSDZ2. I was not happy with the current centerline and thin sprockets.

Maedler sprockets
Front 54t
Back 28t
Spider Alu 6076T6
40 M2 screws fasten the spider to the sprocket

HiRes files of the spider and sprocket
https://i.imgur.com/RLNuyVM.png
https://i.imgur.com/5TIkTL6.png

Lots of pictures tell the story. To be continued.

9-Spline

Enviolo/Nuvinci Data sheet

Enviolo/Nuvinci Data sheet

Gear ratio

Spider

Sprocket

Sprocket

Sprocket

Maedler

Maedler

M2 screws 12.9 Ti Gold platen CS Hex

Custom spider

Custom spider

would probably be more interesting if the pics were visible.

if you attach them directly to the post with the attachments tab, then they'll be hosted on the same server as the post itself, so anyone that could see the post could see the pics (and they also won't get lost when the external site goes away or changes their tos like photobucket did).

Welcome to the club. I just did the same conversion and find the motor quite a good match for this bike.
We have several bikes with the BBS02 and I originally intended to use another of those, but after riding the Nihola in stock/pedal only mode for a bit decided that the "moped" feature of the BBS02 might lead to some drama when cornering.
I'm Dutch as well, so taller than average, and things felt a little top heavy on turns, especially off-camber ones.
These are interesting bikes and quite well made. It is surprising that yours needed a rebuild, I had to indent the right chain stay a bit to clear the motor and used my usual method of 30mm aluminum rod hit with a dead blow hammer -it did not even crack the paint.
Perhaps they improved the finish? Ours is from 2015. This one came also as the dog model, I had to buy the child seat and top separately.
Mine came with a Nexus 8 speed hub, I'm curious as to why you went with the Nuvinci one.
These bikes are much lighter than most of the Bakfiets types I have seen, but not very common here in the US. I really wanted a Babboe "Carve" but they seem to be pretty much unobtainium.
I build bicycle frames for fun, so the ultimate plan is to build my own suspended version that leans.

04/03 Update 1- Frame welding and improvements
The rear fork is one of those places where a frame starts rusting first. Four pieces of SS316 were welded en ground to shape so when the coating is compromised the corrosion won't creep underneath the rest of the coating.


After another acid treatment, wooden inserts were turned for the various bearing fittings. Threaded holes filled with a screw. The frame was then sandblasted, coated with zinc primer and finally the black and clear powder coating. The result is pretty sweet.

05/03 Update 2- Frame Tectyled, Benchmounts, Popnuts
Closeup of the brass knurled thumb screws. On both left and right side a metal flap is welded with two threaded holes.


The thumbscrews consist of Onkenhout en Onkenhout PFC2-M6 "Press fit panel adapters" so called captive screws. A knurled slice of brass rod is connected on top with a press fit, the large diameter allows for pleasant operation.


Rowan reading "Finnegans Wake" on the freshly mounted bench.


Detail of the topside mounting. Basically a PFC2-M6 Screw+Ring, two custom Stainless parts were machined, press fitted together sandwiching the polycarbonate.


Stainless PopNuts M4, appeared to be to tough for my handheld manual PopNut tool. So I ordered one by phone: "I want one on battery!", later finding out the price was a bit sturdy


PopNut in place, connecting the bottom plate to the frame while providing a M4 threat insert and Tectyling entrance.


Back view of the Mud Guard adapter showing the "crimp/clamp" connection method.


Through all of the holes in the frame a straw with spraying head was pulled, inserting lots of Valvoline Tectyl inside the frame. Even if there was some rust left inside, it is now isolated and the process can't continue without air/oxygen.

your pictures (images) are still not visible.

please use the attachments tab to upload them when posting.

then everyone can see them, and understand the whole thread.

All the pics are rendering fine here, both the thumbnails and "view in gallery" local low-res ines, and the full-size versions when clicking through to Imgur, the best off-forum hosting service out there.

Chrome/Android

they're not visible here, in any browser, regardless of addons. this is a common problem with offsite hosting, and is why it is much better to attach images directly to the post. when this problem happens, then those that can't see the images can't get the information in them.


the other problem is that when imgur goes away or changes it's terms of service like photobucket did, all the images linked there will go away, and the threads that depend on them will be useless to everyone. there are many threads here on es like that already.


i'm not sure why people fight so hard to keep having this problem.

If Imgur does that I'll send you $100, works great for distribution out to multiple sites, no resizing needed.

Sure if just posting to one forum, can local host.

05/03 Update 3 - Front wheels, drum brakes, rod ends, control and tweaks.

Nihola advertises with maintenance free steering. Ironically the steering is the only section of the trike where non stainless parts are used. The 20" front wheels are build around Sturmey & Archer X-SD 70mm Hub's with drum brakes. They have various different versions, 90mm/70mm, quick release axis, dynamo, polished.


Nihola opted for the "free floating axle principle", this means that (in this specific case) a standard 1$ bolt is used to clamp the wheel to the steering control. The bearings have a 12mm ID, the "axis" is 11,87mm. The idea is not all of the forces will end op on the axis, this principle is used with car's not bikes. Just a way to justify not having to machine a custom axis if you ask me. To get rid of this issue, 12mm centerless ground shaft steel was machined to lenght and threaded, 3mm holes were drilled for through axis wiring.


Some pictures from another Nihola, some before and afters. Where needed parts were machined from SS316, the nuts that hold the drum brake pad together with the threaded tube are made of 22mm and 24mm hexagonal SS316 stock. The thread is M16x1.0, pretty nasty machining, I had to buy a special tap.

Huguenot said:

Welcome to the club. I just did the same conversion and find the motor quite a good match for this bike.
We have several bikes with the BBS02 and I originally intended to use another of those, but after riding the Nihola in stock/pedal only mode for a bit decided that the "moped" feature of the BBS02 might lead to some drama when cornering.
I'm Dutch as well, so taller than average, and things felt a little top heavy on turns, especially off-camber ones.
These are interesting bikes and quite well made. It is surprising that yours needed a rebuild, I had to indent the right chain stay a bit to clear the motor and used my usual method of 30mm aluminum rod hit with a dead blow hammer -it did not even crack the paint.
Perhaps they improved the finish? Ours is from 2015. This one came also as the dog model, I had to buy the child seat and top separately.
Mine came with a Nexus 8 speed hub, I'm curious as to why you went with the Nuvinci one.
These bikes are much lighter than most of the Bakfiets types I have seen, but not very common here in the US. I really wanted a Babboe "Carve" but they seem to be pretty much unobtainium.
I build bicycle frames for fun, so the ultimate plan is to build my own suspended version that leans.

Click to expand...

Cheers, besides the price I really like the Nihola's, I think mine dates back to 2010. Most of the coating was still in perfect condition, only the dropouts got very rusty. Further the bike starts rusting from the inside, the rivets are open and rain will enter the frame.

I had enough clearance at the chain stay. Also the supplied motor bracket should fit, it slides in from the side, although I had to puzzle a bit before finding out.

The reason that I had to dent the stay was that I also had to tap and face the bottom bracket. When tightening the big nut to hold it in the BB, the motor "cocked" enough to touch and so would probably loosen in service. A bit of measuring showed the faces were not parallel, and after facing (and so removing a bit of material) I still needed another mm.
It seems plastic BB cups and sealed bearings can deal with this misalignment, but probably not a Chinesium casting -I expected better from such an expensive bike.
Another pet bitch is all the tie wraps holding cables -Hey Nihola, would a few braze-on cable stops really cut into your profit margin that much?
My bike has all the steering knuckles and small bits (that should be stainless) zinc plated, from the pics yours appear to have been painted?
And as for rain getting inside the frame, I'm in California so less of a worry here.
I have some experience building and repairing light aircraft structures with tubing and we pour in linseed oil and roll things around to coat the inside. Many airframes built this way in 1930s-40s are still in service but this only slows the formation of rust somewhat, it will not kill rust already there.
Great project and write-up, please keep the pictures coming. No problem seeing them at my end, though they are thumbnails but pop up right away on Imgur.

amberwolf said:

they're not visible here, in any browser, regardless of addons. this is a common problem with offsite hosting, and is why it is much better to attach images directly to the post. when this problem happens, then those that can't see the images can't get the information in them.


the other problem is that when imgur goes away or changes it's terms of service like photobucket did, all the images linked there will go away, and the threads that depend on them will be useless to everyone. there are many threads here on es like that already.


i'm not sure why people fight so hard to keep having this problem.

Click to expand...

I'll take the time at some stage, and upload them to the ES-server. But how come you cannot view the Imgur website?

don't know, but suspect the isp i'm going thru (which i have no control over, as i borrow wifi for my access from a friendly neighbor, or my brother, depending on which one is working at the time) has a block on the ip or domain or whatever. at first i thought it was something in one of my addons that blocks scripts / ads / etc., but even with them all disabled (or even uninstalled) it still happens, and in any browser (even on an old android tablet, though that tablet not being able to do something is never a surprise, it's nearly useless at this point).

this kind of thing happens (not just to me) with various "hosting" sites, for images or videos or files, all around the world, at various times. sometimes the sites become accessible again, sometimes they don't.

a worse problem is when places change the way their stuff is accessed (google, etc have done this multiple times) so all the links to your stuff on their sites break, even though the content is still there, it's "lost" as far as any place you just put a link to it, especially since the links are rarely descriptive, usually some random character set assigned at upload or when the link was created (making it impossible for someone trying to read a post with a lost pic to just go "find" the pic on the site again).

even worse is when places (like photobucket) change their terms of service, and make all the "freely accessible" content that people put there inaccessible without paying money to allow that. or when places simply go away, sometimes just disappearing, sometimes selling to some other place that changes the site name (thus the links all break) or the wya the site works (so scripts don't work or links break), or deletes all the content, etc., etc.

Since the beginning of Reddit, IMGUR has been the site that hosts all their images.

So maybe someone's got parental controls try to stop kids getting "offensive" stuff.

Maybe start a GoFundMe for a decent internet connection?

You do such great work for the community it's the least we can do.

Although ES is making lots of ad revenue, the owner should be able to kick in too.

I get 130GB/mo via a T-mobile reseller faster than most cable providers, not expensive, never been throttled, works off DC and a SIM card nearly everywhere around the country.