Where to put the motor?

[knowmad]

i am new here. I got to go ride a Catrike trail and expedition, a trice Q (wanted to ride a trice ice-t) and a scorpion fx. i could live with a catrike trail but love the Trice Ice Q. did not like how low the chain was to the ground but the guy said an ICE-t would be higher. So pretty sure i will go with the ICE-t. Now for the motor. decided on gas engine first and then mod to a hybrd and then last to all electric if distqance and life improve. for the motor i am not sure i want it close to me when riding. also i would like to easily remove it when not needed. I am thinking of creating a push trailer to put the engine on and have it run a wheel off the attached one wheel trailer. i saw a picture with one that had a boom arm attached to the frame next to the seat and went over the back wheel and then down to a platform that the engine sat on.

Anyone have pros and cons on doing this?
critical stats: i am 55, want to comute 13miles each way to work. maybe do some long distance riding.

 

[DetonatorTuning]

contact "thescooterguy" here on the forum and ask him to link you to his tadpole pics.

he has some great ideas for this very thing.

steve

 

[duivendyk]

I have reservations about push trailers,the tendency is to over-power them,because it is fairly easy to do.As the French say "l'appetit vient en mangeant" which amounts to stating that: once you've got something,you'll want more,that more is 'speed' of course.
My main objection is instability in extreme maneuvers (emergency braking&jacknifing),every thing is just fine& you're tooling along and then all **** breaks loose in a big hurry.In such a situation I would not like to have one of those contraptions behind me.Otherwise they are seductively attractive.

 

[s_beaudry]

I have reservations about push trailers,the tendency is to over-power them,because it is fairly easy to do.As the French say "l'appetit vient en mangeant" which amounts to stating that: once you've got something,you'll want more,that more is 'speed' of course.
My main objection is instability in extreme maneuvers (emergency braking&jacknifing),every thing is just fine& you're tooling along and then all **** breaks loose in a big hurry.In such a situation I would not like to have one of those contraptions behind me.Otherwise they are seductively attractive.

Now can be said to be true about push trailers...

BUT, an accident is a certainly unexpected event that you may not be able to avoid whether you are towing a motor or not.

On my first push trailer, I easily logged 300+ carefree miles with no jack knifing or flipping or the such.

On a lighter note though, I did flip over the handlebars when the bolt came loose holding the neck in and that HURT very badly! I was cut off by a car!

Safety is definately a concern riding a bicycle above it's intended sppeds, just keep this in mind regaurdless of a push trailer, frame mount, rack mount, or other...

 

[duivendyk]

Sure,no matter whatever you ride it's a lot more dangerous than say driving a car esp in traffic because you have next to no protection,but that does not mean that you should push your luck by going out on a limb,so to speak.Something seems "safe" until suddenly becomes lethal.I nearly killed myself once because I hadn't tightened up the clamp on my front brake cable enough,when encountering a hidden downhill hairpin turn in N Devon England once I went off the road and ended up in the middle of a big thorny bush,bolt up tight,when I extricated myself I found out that a precipice was only yards away.Shakes you up.