Newest trike

Hugh

Hugh

0
This started out as a LWB 2 wheeler. I decided it wasn't worth my time to learn how to ride it so I bought a childs 2 wheeler with 20 by 3" wheels and disc brakes both ends. The rear triangle and wheel is now the left rear driven wheel. A 20" front fork was converted to a rear triangle so the former front wheel could be used. The front suspension fork off the donor bike is used in front with a 48 spoke BMX wheel with a 20 by 2.125" tire. I experimented with a couple different drivetrains and steering system's before moving to the tried and true underseat steering system and a jackshaft for the drivetrain.

Something a bit different was used for the steering this time though. A ZOOM brand stem with 2 FR8-2RS bearings. A 2"bolt was welded to the underside of the frame. The bearings are commonly used on wheelbarrows and have a shoulder on one side. They fit into the stem and have a 2"diameter so they make a nice low profile setup and no need to cut and shorten normal bicycle steering stems.


 
Looks like it was made to be a trike right from the start.
Is the derailleur under the seat or at the rear drive wheel?

Brad
 
The derailleur is the stock one that was on the child's bike. The benefit of using the rear triangle from the bike was aside from a slightly longer chain no modifications were needed to that part of the driveline. One great benefit of re-using my original jackshaft is no pulleys are used. The first experiment to the driveline was to use the bottom bracket of the donor bike.

For this a triple chainring set had 1 ring removed along with the pedal and this was installed in the donor bikes bottom brkt. Then a short chain from the jackshaft to 1 sprocket and the other had a longer chain to the rear wheel. Complete failure - the 2 chains were close enough on the modified 2 sprocket set that they kept hitting each other and binding. So the jackshaft was extended enough to allow a chain from it to the rear wheel.

The 5/8" jackshaft now was unsupported for about 5" which made me feel it might bend under load so instead of redesigning the 5/8" pillow block mounting, I purchased a 5/8" flange bearing and added that nearer to the left side of the shaft. So now the shaft is supported by 3 bearings, a bit of overkill but very sturdy and virtually silent in operation.

I've been riding the trike around my home town of Winnipeg in order to debug it and fine tune the controls for the steering, motor, brake cables, etc. Once all that is satisfactory the trike will get a coroplast roof and lexan windscreen making it my go to ride for rainy days. Plus some redesign of the rear area to make some suitable storage space.
 
This is the stem I used, my friend gave it to me with a set of worn bearings so it was removed and you can see one of the new bearings beside it.
 
Next incarnation of the trike coming soon. I read on another e bike site of the success a builder had incorporating a mid drive with a front hub. He did so on a cargo bike with the cargo box in front of the rider I think it's called a bakfeits type? Any way his claim is the front hub motor kicks in immediately and then the mid drive kicks in around 6 mph. That allows him to run the 11 tooth rear all the time without straining the mid drive and has a side benefit of reducing chain wear.
Since I have 2 delta trikes and the garage is really getting crowded I think the long wheelbase red trike will for now have it's 48V battery removed also it's 20" geared front hub assembly. Then red can be stacked vertically freeing up some space. The front hub motor can go on the yellow trike used in conjunction with it's mid drive motor. That satisfies my urge to tinker and experiment. Pictures to follow in a couple weeks.
 
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