Church Pod build

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Oct 19, 2012
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I did consider a narrower rear track but that may encourage myopic passers to think the front is narrow too and leave less or insufficient room.
 
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Feb 10, 2022
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Yes that's certainly true. With the narrow rear body too that would be an optical illusion you really wouldn't want to create. Maybe rear mudguards will add to the 'presence' of the rear wheels too.
 
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Apr 10, 2021
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Looks amazing so far, I have found another Rhoades car owner on a FaceBook group and that Rhoades has disk brakes, I have asked for pictures of the setup when they have the time or when doing any work on the bike in hopes to options like the one you made, can't wait to see how this turns out
 
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The best laid plans etc etc. The pedal system I was planning to use is not something I actually liked when I tacked it in. I used some crappy bearings in the BB to simulate some load and it's stop stop stop at many of the potential points. Whilst I'm sure that would improve with technique it wasn't something I wanted to persevere with so I'm now going with a regular pedal action but trimmed down to unicycle 114mm cranks to give some clearance. I may get away with 125 and will try them at some point. The 114mm arms give me 2.5" clearance under my heel to the road which will no doubt appear massive to the velomobile crowd but seems tight to me. The headlight mouldings are going to have to go as my toes want that room and that brings me to bodywork mods which I wanted to avoid as I'm aware of my limitations in that field. I have found a couple of mouldings intended as bonnet (hood) scoops and will attempt to graft them over the holes. Whilst sat in the machine and having a ponder, as you do, it occurred to me USS left my arms in a nice comfortable position so I've cobbled up a system. Given the limitations the quad front end puts on steering rods reaching places you want them to reach it has left the steering with less movement of the bars than I'd like. I can improve that a bit by whittling the clearances down some more and will do so. Tank steering had my arms in a position that was less comfortable than USS.

The cranks in the picture are strictly for testing. I have some unicycle ones in the post.

 
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Feb 10, 2022
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That's a shame as the pedal setup looked mechanically clever but only testing it can give the full picture and obviously the result was not so good. A pair of scoops should look fine faired into the bonnet and maybe small 'side lights' let into the fronts?
Watch that heel clearance though Darren. Scares me the thought of a leg being dragged under. Heel straps do you think?

John
 
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Oct 19, 2012
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Got all 4 calipers mounted, have chosen a place for the battery and have cut the light pods off. The air scoops don't look too bad imo though I'd have preferred not to have to do that. Clearance with 4.25" cranks was about 2mm toe and heel with the light pods. Maybe now I can try some 5" ones.



 
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I tried some 140mm cranks today but no joy - there's just not enough room. I've measured up for some gas struts to raise the body. It's a complete comedy bordering on painful to get in through the "door" and that's without a windscreen in as I tend to get standing through the space during my torture sessions. Tomorrow I'll finish the chain management and make a start on the electrics.
 
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Oct 19, 2012
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I got the chain management in and noticed my long cage derailleur I planned for this scrapes the ground. Why didn't I realise this would happen with 20" wheels? Will need to find a decent short cage unit for the job and even then I'll need to steer carefully over raised manholes. In better news the gas struts are in and make a great job of raising and lowering the body. The struts hold the body at the angle shown when open and just go overcentre when closed so should keep it down. At a tenner for the pair I'm well happy. This makes getting in and out a lot easier but again one job makes another and I now realise that some hand holds, so I can raise and lower my backside in to or out of the seat, are needed. Not a massive job but it's going to add more weight. It also means more working outside the garage as the body simply won't go up inside. I mounted the light units I got for the drypod2 to the body but have not done anything but ponder on the best wiring routs to use. I also plan to use some led rope as lighting. The steering proved to heavy (it was fine on the stand - doh!) so I've altered the ratios and have gone from the outer holes in the picture to the inner ones. This has given me extra throw at the bars which as needed anyway.





 
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Feb 10, 2022
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That's really nicely done and very practical- no gymnastics necessary getting in and out. A bit Bond Bug-ish. Love it.

John
 
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