Hugh
0
Well it's that time of year for me again. No snow yet but all the leaves have fallen and the temp's are dipping into minus Celcius at night. I installed a Chinese diesel heater in my garage last winter so instead of running from 1500 to 3000 watt's of electric all winter one electric heater set at 750 watt's is left on 24/7. Cut my power bill by at least $650. And only used $40 worth of diesel.
Enough of that though. My red delta is just a tad under 8' long. It has a 500 watt bafang geared front hub motor and pedal power uses a 58 tooth chainring and a 7 speed cassette. With 20" wheels all around cruising speed is 17 to 24 kph depending on road surfaces and how I'm feeling. That's using primarily the lowest power setting for the front hub motor which is very useful for starts and clearing intersections, hill's etc. The trike has 2 48V batteries which give a range far in excess of any distance I want or need to go in a day so zero range anxiety.
I did remove the suspension from the trike, installing a tube in place of the single shock. The tube is a couple inches longer than the shock was to give a bit more ground clearance. Very useful, now the trike can go slowly over a standard curb without the lowest point on the body - the remote steering - touching the curb. I have 2 delta trikes that were being considered for a body, one red and one yellow. Red won out because it is incredibly stable at speed and has been ridden for a few thousand km's and has proven itself.
My daughter offered me the thin walled square 1/2" tubing a large parcel came in some time ago. This is being used for the framework that will get covered with white coroplast. It's going to be a velomobile style which means the riders head will be above the body. Plus at this time the body will be removeable if desired by removing 4 bolts. So far I've built, ridden and tested 5 different trike bodies. Each time a bit more knowledge is gained. The main goal is not velomobile type speed but streamlining to reduce the effect of wind with a bonus of some rain protection also. One thing all the different bodies have shown is on level riding less power is needed to go my usual speed and distance. All of my experiments have been with e assist and all the displays used have a meter that shows power consumption and the effect on that when you add pedaling. Which I almost always do. The benefit's of streamlining are real. I'm off to the garage in a couple hours and will take a picture of the progress so far.
Enough of that though. My red delta is just a tad under 8' long. It has a 500 watt bafang geared front hub motor and pedal power uses a 58 tooth chainring and a 7 speed cassette. With 20" wheels all around cruising speed is 17 to 24 kph depending on road surfaces and how I'm feeling. That's using primarily the lowest power setting for the front hub motor which is very useful for starts and clearing intersections, hill's etc. The trike has 2 48V batteries which give a range far in excess of any distance I want or need to go in a day so zero range anxiety.
I did remove the suspension from the trike, installing a tube in place of the single shock. The tube is a couple inches longer than the shock was to give a bit more ground clearance. Very useful, now the trike can go slowly over a standard curb without the lowest point on the body - the remote steering - touching the curb. I have 2 delta trikes that were being considered for a body, one red and one yellow. Red won out because it is incredibly stable at speed and has been ridden for a few thousand km's and has proven itself.
My daughter offered me the thin walled square 1/2" tubing a large parcel came in some time ago. This is being used for the framework that will get covered with white coroplast. It's going to be a velomobile style which means the riders head will be above the body. Plus at this time the body will be removeable if desired by removing 4 bolts. So far I've built, ridden and tested 5 different trike bodies. Each time a bit more knowledge is gained. The main goal is not velomobile type speed but streamlining to reduce the effect of wind with a bonus of some rain protection also. One thing all the different bodies have shown is on level riding less power is needed to go my usual speed and distance. All of my experiments have been with e assist and all the displays used have a meter that shows power consumption and the effect on that when you add pedaling. Which I almost always do. The benefit's of streamlining are real. I'm off to the garage in a couple hours and will take a picture of the progress so far.
