My next project - Tadpole Trike

I'll wait to disect until I believe that I've got all the t's crossed and i's dotted. I want to be able to have it welded back together the same day I cut it apart. I will record the procedure.
 
Hello Van

Nice project! What size is your Lifan engine? Is it 50cc or bigger? Is you new bike one of your finds, or did you buy it new? Cant wait to see more.


Forrest
 
You got our full attention van. :)

How far is the lake over how rough a road?
Is this tadpole to be fitted with a hitch?
 
It ocurrs to me that I should give a little background on this project: I am working on building a shop and house out at a place called Mosquito Lake. It's about 27 miles out of town. When I first decided to experiment with motor assisted bikes, the idea was to come up with something I could use for the 27 mile commute. I have a Subaru for the winter, and a Mercedes for carrying passengers in the summer. But I wanted something for the regular, daily, 50+ mile round trip. I'm getting older, and the legs ain't what they once were, I want to be able to make the trip in an hour, and I will sometimes want to drag a trailer to carry groceries, propane, etc., thus the motor. I'd like to be semi-comfortable, thus the trike.
I plan to put a Windwrap GX fairing on the front, for both aerodynamics and comfort. I plan to build a fairing for the rear, for both aerodynamics (from what I've read, the airflow behind a rider is as important as that in front), and aesthetics:cool:.

Forrest, anything over 50cc would violate the rules on motor assisted bikes:cool:. I bought the bike new.
Pete, there may be periods when this project holds up for periods of time (waiting on parts, etc.), but I'll post progress as it happens. And I will be pushing it as fast as I can.
I just had correspondence with The Wheelmaster. He says he can lace the HD Hub to a rim with 10g (or maybe even 9g) spokes in a four cross pattern. Four cross sounds tough on these little 20" wheels, but it would look good. I'll be sending the hub off to him next week.

It's not snowing this minute, so I may spend the day riding while I can. I'd like to have some mastery of the trike before I get the motor on it. I still haven't tried it on a steep, long hill (either way). There's a hill here they call "Cemetary Hill". Over 1/2 mile and more than 10% grade. Winding. That should be fun.
 
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Wheee!Haaaaw! That was some fun. It corners like a very sensitive sports car. Coming back up the hill was easy (if slow). I have a 34t low gear on the back. Get tired? Put a hand on the brake and rest a bit. You don't have to get off. You've already got the most comfortable seat around.
I stopped at a park to mess with the bike a little.

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It sure looks like there will be plenty of room for the freewheel and strap brake (parking brake) on the left side.
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It might be a bit snug for the freewheel on the right. Are 6 or 5 sprocket freewheels thinner than an 8 sprocket cassette?
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I had to change the hub around from the way it was when I received it from bicycle-engines. I'll post about that in the thread about HD Hubs.

I keep expecting to run into something that crashes this whole project. It's moving too smoothly. So far everything looks like it will fit together better than I had anticipated. :eek::cool:
 
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Freewheels

Yes the fewer cogs the less space neccessary to accomadate them. Based on the photos shown you should be able to make everything work with a minimal amount of effort.

ocscully
 
WOW. This is gonna be the coolest bike ever. Hopefully the way you mount your engine won't compromise your seating arrangement.
How fast do you think she'll go?
Gears rule.
 
I change my Avatar to honor Alaskavan's project. *tips hat*:D:cool:
 
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Large - How fast do I think she'll go? My stock answer - Anything over 30 mph would violate the rules for Motor Assisted Bicycles.:cool:

Pete - Thank you. The color on the bike is called Ultra Banana.

I got the info I needed on the frame tubing, so I'll be ordering the materials for the stretch today (probably).

Doc - Did you end up ordering your axle rod from OnlineMetals.com? How did that go? Any problems with the material or shipping?
 
I've seen on bentrideronline that there was one little company somewhere that was building (rather expensive) motorized trikes with the engine between the rear wheel and seat.

I've not ever rode a tadpole trike, but I have read that a lot of people note the twitchy handling when going fast down hills.

A delta trike always made more sense to me, it puts the two lateral wheels back where most of the rider's weight is anyway--but nobody seems to build them as low-slung as the tadpoles.
~
 
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