Interesting trike - unsure of it's handling though ?

Joined
Feb 7, 2008
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Hi all seen this :-


It is not a Python the rider is sat on the pivoted portion and infront of the pivot , I can't find anything else on it.

I suspect the pivot is a pair of rubber blocks with embedded threaded rods , similar to a car engine mount ?

In some respects similar to the French Triflex

The cornering looks a bit extreme ?

regards Paul

ps found another video includes the red trike that has some sort of self centring and a narrower track
 
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Joined
Oct 19, 2012
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The yellow one appears to have some sort of hard plastic discs (possibly delrin as it's self lubricating) that act as a python pivot would. Either that or the black thing is just the outer part of a standard bearing system. I don't think that's rubber as the parts twist perfectly around it. Also if it were rubber the whole thing would sag substantially under the weight of a rider. There's a steering damper on the left and the front wheel appears to have a very limited degree of free self turn which is possibly controlled via twisting rubber plus the damper. It's also possible the damper is also a spring to control free turn - it's not exacly a high resolution video. If it didn't have any ability to turn there would be no need for the damper or damper/spring unit. The ability to free turn appears to require quite a force or in other words whatever resists that free turn is quite strong. It has handlebars fixed to the non-pivoting part and these are used via push and pull to rotate the front. The red one appears to use a completely different system that has some small degree of self-centring. I can't figure out what is generating the resistance to twist though it could be a rubber block inside the main tube. The amount of self-centring appears to be little more than would be required to make it stand up and I suspect the red one will require to be balanced to a large degree by the rider.

I would say the yellow one is indeed a python derivative whilst the red one is not. I find the yellow one fascinating with what appears to be that free turn on the front wheel. It's ability to turn is exceptional. Keeping the rider in the same plane as the front wheel is key to obtaining that turning circle. I do wonder if the resistance to free turn works at speed without generating any tank-slappers. I suspect it does though. I can see myself building something like that at some point.
 
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Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
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Nottinghamshire England
The red trike was for sale in 2012 however the advert only supplied a poor mob picture:-

 
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
2,384
Location
Wakefield, UK
One other thing is that there must be some degree of free turn as the chain is sent back and down the wheel forks. If the wheel were solid to the front frame there'd be no need to put that 90 degree bend in it.
 
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