# Building a Quadricycle...



## irw (22 Jan 2010)

*Thinking of building a Quadricycle...*

Hi peeps, I hope this is the correct place on the forum for this query, I couldn't really see anywhere else it would fit in...!

After watching a couple of episodes of Chucklevision tonight, I've had a sudden urge to start thinking about using a quadricycle!

Now I've found a few sites on the internet such as this one which give you details of how to build your own and I must say that I'm intrigued, however I was wondering if anyone could advise on the ins and outs of using such a construction on UK roads? 

Would it be classed as a larger than usual bicycle and therefore perhaps just draw some funny looks, or would I be likely to get pulled over by the police as soon as I get out of the garage?

Also, if my spur of the moment idea ever gets off the ground, do you think that it would be wise to take out some sort of insurance policy?

Thanks,

Ian


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## spiro (22 Jan 2010)

Ones like this are quite a common site around various Spanish tourist resorts, some have 2 seats other 4. Kevin at D-Tek has a quad that I am sure he would be happy for you to look at to get some ideas, he may have some ideas of his own.


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## twentysix by twentyfive (22 Jan 2010)

I think you'll be OK on the road. It won't be any wider than a tricycle (not much) and certainly not a car. Go for it say I


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## Piemaster (22 Jan 2010)

but you've only just joined the forum and admitting to something that embarrassing already?
Not the quadricycle, that sounds quite reasonable to me (I quite like the brox workbike recumbent quad) BUT watching Chucklevision? 

Can't help but wish you well. Sounds like a fun project.


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## irw (23 Jan 2010)

Thanks for comments so far!



Piemaster said:


> but you've only just joined the forum and admitting to something that embarrassing already?




Thanks for the welcome, but I have been around for about six months now! I've just been lurking!


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## twentysix by twentyfive (23 Jan 2010)

Well when you have completed your quad you will be required (by forum law) to tell us all (with pics) about your build and your plans to ride it. That'll put a stop to your lurking


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## LeeW (24 Jan 2010)

Hmmm, not sure if I would trust pvc plumbing pipe myself.
You may find this site intresting though http://www.quattrocycle.com/


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## irw (16 Feb 2010)

Right...well I've now got a design together which I am fairly happy that I can make work- I'm sure it's probably a bit over-engineered in places, but having not done that much metalwork before I think I'm going to err on the side of caution.

Below are a few screenshots of my initial CAD work.

There's no steering mechanism drawn yet, as I'm still trying to get my head around the geometry of it, and the angle of the seats and exact positions of the bottom brackets will be set once I start building and testing.

The main structure will be made out of 3"x1"x10swg (3.25mm) aluminium tubing. 

The lighter grey bracket-ty looking bits are 2"x2"x1/4" aluminium angle.

The rear-wheel supports will also be made from the 2"X2" angle.

View from above/stoker side:







View from above/behind:




View from above/pilot side:





View from above/front:





View from below/pilot's side:





View from below/front. Many of the 2"x2" brackets can be clearly seen:





I intend to bolt the whole thing together, (hence all of the bracketry) as opposed to welding, as I have very limited welding experience and going by what I have read, aluminium welding is not for beginners.

Obviously, the chains are not shown on these drawings, however I'm planning on simply using two rather oversized chains to go straight from the cranks to the cassettes. I did originally start designing with the back wheels pretty much in line with the front ones, then decided all of the extra bits required to make it work would just end up being too complicated & costly!

Any comments welcome!

Ian

Edited to add: to give an idea of scale, the wheels in the drawings are 20" rims, with MTB tyres, so round abouts 60cm in diameter.


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## Charlotte (17 Feb 2010)

A few thoughts from someone who has considered similar sorts of projects:

Not having a wheel at each corner could be Bad News. You're starting off with an less stable vehicle and for the cost of a couple of transfer gears, you could build it right from the off. It also looks a bit odd.

Steering geometry - how will you make sure that your machine goes round corners? If you've not understood why a four wheeler needs Ackermann steering, you're going to have a sod of a job.

Front wheels - whare will you get single-sided hubs from? Sturmey do some nice ones, as used on a lot of recumbent trikes. Which leads me onto:

Braking - are you going to just brake the rear wheels with calipers? If your machine is reasonably heavy, will this be enough?

Wheels - if you're planning on using standard bike wheels for this machine, you may also encounter issues. You're going to be putting a lot more sideways forces through your wheels compared to a two wheel machine, so you're going to want to look at string rims and hubs with a high spoke count to offset this.

Different size riders: What's going to give - the seats or the bottom brackets? How are you going to make this work?

I'm really interested in the idea of a light weight, practical two-seat quadricycle. There's absolutely nothing on the market that comes even close to the sort of quality that you'd see on a Trice or a Windcheetah. Which is a shame, because quads could be a fabulous transport option for people who don't like bikes.

Also, it would be a cinch to add electric assist...


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## Hilldodger (17 Feb 2010)

We have a very similar machine at Cyclemagic.


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## irw (17 Feb 2010)

Thanks for your comments, below are my thoughts on what you have said:



> Not having a wheel at each corner could be Bad News. You're starting off with an less stable vehicle and for the cost of a couple of transfer gears, you could build it right from the off. It also looks a bit odd.


Point taken, I'll have another look at this.



> Steering geometry - how will you make sure that your machine goes round corners? If you've not understood why a four wheeler needs Ackermann steering, you're going to have a sod of a job.


I've been doing a lot of reading up on this, I hadn't quite got my head around it when I saved those drawings, but I've got the theory now, I just need to CAD up the measurements



> Front wheels - whare will you get single-sided hubs from? Sturmey do some nice ones, as used on a lot of recumbent trikes. Which leads me onto:


Hmmm...something to think about there. I have picked up a couple of cheap bikes from ebay, but the axels are standard solid axels that came on them. My reasoning for using these wheels was that should they break, new spares should be available easily. I will look into creating some sort of wheel arch with a pivot point above the wheel for better support.



> Braking - are you going to just brake the rear wheels with calipers? If your machine is reasonably heavy, will this be enough?



V-Brakes (the same used on my tandem)will be attached for use on the rear wheels. If I adapt the front wheels as above I shall mount the same type on the front as well.



> Wheels - if you're planning on using standard bike wheels for this machine, you may also encounter issues. You're going to be putting a lot more sideways forces through your wheels compared to a two wheel machine, so you're going to want to look at string rims and hubs with a high spoke count to offset this.


Again, point taken. I'm not planning on doing any off-roading, or especially speedy riding. As I have these wheels sitting in the garage anyway, I'll probably use them to start with, and when spokes start pinging I'll say you told me so!



> Different size riders: What's going to give - the seats or the bottom brackets? How are you going to make this work?



D'oh! The plan was to make the seats moveable, however now that I've moved the back wheels in, that plan has gone out the window...back to the drawing board on the back wheel positioning I think!



> I'm really interested in the idea of a light weight, practical two-seat quadricycle. There's absolutely nothing on the market that comes even close to the sort of quality that you'd see on a Trice or a Windcheetah. Which is a shame, because quads could be a fabulous transport option for people who don't like bikes.
> 
> Also, it would be a cinch to add electric assist...



Electric assist is on the second phase of the build, once I've got a working quad! Thanks a lot for the comments, I'll go back to the drawing board on the bits I've mentioned and post some more renderings!

Ian


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## Hilldodger (17 Feb 2010)

V brakes just won't stop it - you'll need hydraulic discs on the front.

Believe me, you will. Even with Sturmey drums on ours it takes some stopping.


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## Charlotte (17 Feb 2010)

Have you got a picture of yours, Roger?


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## arallsopp (17 Feb 2010)

Charlotte said:


> Have you got a picture of yours, Roger?



+1. Would be very interested to see this.


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## Hilldodger (18 Feb 2010)

<Rummage>

Got one somewhere.


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## irw (8 Mar 2010)

Righty-ho. After a bit of time back at the drawing board, I've decided on a couple of changes, and have now started constructing 

Pictures so far:

From the front:






From the back:






Close up of the first front fork:





Exact bottom bracket position is still yet to be decided. It's either going to be above or below the bar you can see it sitting on in the photos, but I'll decide properly once the frame is all bolted and the seats go in! The seats, by the way, will have probably 2-3" of movement in them. 
Front brakes will be mounted to the front forks, and rear-brake positioning is yet to be decided.

Ian


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## Armegatron (8 Mar 2010)

irw said:


> Righty-ho. After a bit of time back at the drawing board, I've decided on a couple of changes, and have now started constructing
> 
> Pictures so far:
> 
> ...



I cant see any pics


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## irw (8 Mar 2010)

mike.pembo said:


> I cant see any pics



Hmm...They're showing up on both of my computers...!


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## arallsopp (8 Mar 2010)

Shows on mine mate. Think it might be just you.


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## irw (12 Mar 2010)

Construction has now moved to my garage:

The main two length-ways tubes looking from what will be the back of the quad (these are upside down in this picture):





All four length-ways beams with all of their brackets attached, and laid out in approximate positions, looking from what will be the front:






And again, but looking from the back:






As you can see, I've been busy grinding, drilling and bolting my right angle brackets which will join the tubing that runs the length with that which runs the across the width.

Hopefully by the time I go to work at 6pm tomorrow the main chassis will be almost completely assembled


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## Captain (14 Mar 2010)

This is looking awesome. I'm always interested in how people make bikes, trikes, quads, buggies, karts etc... from scratch. 
I hope to see many more photo's of this build as it keeps going. 
Is there any issue using multiple sets of v-brakes per wheel? Would this increase breaking power or would it take so much more effort that the effect is negligible? how heavy is this thing going to be anyway?


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## irw (17 Mar 2010)

Thanks for the kind words Captain!
I'm not sure on the multiple sets of brakes per wheel thing- I was planning on having one set per wheel and operating them with dual-pull levers.

In terms of weight, I don't have an exact figure yet, as I originally said, I've not done too much metalwork before, and never any bike building, so it's a bit of a question mark until it's finished! I don't have any means of weighing it, but to give a general idea, the state it's in at the moment (main chassis) is a comfortable lift for me, so probably around 20Kg so far. 

I've not quite got as much done over the past few days as I had hoped to, but here are the latest pics:

Working out rear wheel support spacing in the living room:




I'm glad I did this, as the measurements I originally drew on the computer turned out to be incorrect- in that I'd set the spacing at 170mm (ever so slightly shorter than the axel :s)

Looking from the front of the bike towards the back, the latest additions are the two cross pieces towards the rear:




The remaining right angle brackets that you can see about 2/3 of the way back are for the seat supports to bolt onto.

A close up of the new bits, looking from above the back of the bike:





And finally an overall view of the chassis from below, up against the garage wall:


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## irw (11 Apr 2010)

Ritey Ho- Sorry I've not updated in a while, it's been a busy few weeks at work, but it's also been a busy few weeks in the garage!

The main chassis is now complete, and the quad has four wheels 

*19th March*

1. First rear wheel being positioned and bolted in: 





2. Due to the route the chain will take, it is imperitive that the back wheels are in line with the lengthways tube in front of them:





3. The second rear wheel supports being positioned and bolted on:





4. Both bolted on and spinning freely. You can just about make out the slots that the axels slip into:





5. An overall view from the front, with the chassis now the right way up:





6. And a view from the rear:





More pictures from the last two days coming very shortly!


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## 02GF74 (12 Apr 2010)

interesting project.

is that all from alumimuim? what grade is it? And you are bolting/riveting it together?

Are you an engineer so have analysed your design or kinda building on a gut feel for what will be strong eough? (I have no idea whetehr what you are building will keep in one piece or not do you?).

Incidentally, did you not consider using 2 bike frames mounted side by side?


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## irw (12 Apr 2010)

02GF74 said:


> interesting project.
> 
> is that all from alumimuim? what grade is it? And you are bolting/riveting it together?
> 
> ...



Pretty much all of it is aluminium, the bolts and what I suppose you could call the front wheel kingpins are steel. It is all bolted together, as I did not think pop riveting would be suitable, and as I mentioned in a previous post, I am not confident with Ali welding.

I'm not an engineer (I'm a theatre technician!), but a lot of my work involves carpentry (see the 'set design' section of http://www.irwdesign.com/portfolio.php), and calculating/guesstimating static and dynamic loads. 

Although I have CADed up the majority of the design, it is changing as I go along, I am erring on the side of caution and over engineering most bits. For example, the choice for the main chassis tubing was 3"x1" 10SWG, 3"x1" 16SWG or 2"x1" 10SWG. I decided to go for the 3"x1" 10SWG, but am now of the opinion that the 16SWG, or the 2"x1" would probably have done the job.

At the moment, I am confident that the chassis is overly strong, and the main possible point of failure is the cheap MTB wheels I have scavenged from a pair of donor bikes. (Which somebody on here did warn me about!)

In other words, everything I'm building should stay in one piece, but the wheels might collapse, at which point I will go and buy some better ones! 

I very briefly though about the two bike frames side by side during the course of my reasearch, but then dismissed the idea, as it would end up looking like a dodgy something-or-other that I cobbled together. (No offence intended to anyone who does this, it's just not my style!)

I hope that answers some of your questions, on with the photos from the last two days!

1. Working out the length of the threaded rod 'kingpin':





2. Look! A Trike!





3.How the kingpin works, and how the front wheels are attached on:





4. A view from the rear with the nearside front wheel attached:





5. A Quad! (Not sure about the cycle bit yet though!)





6. A view from the rear of with all four wheels attached:





7. Pilot's eye view- and it didn't collapse when the stoker sat down either!





8. A closeup view of how the front wheels attach on:





9. A shot of where the steering tie rod will attach.





Thats all for now. The next jobs on my list (in order of priority) are:


Seats (as I can't work out ergonomic positions for steering/pedals until these are made)
Steering
Drive/Braking
Lighting
All comments welcome!

Ian

E2A: I forgot to mention current weight: If I stand in the right place, I can still just about lift it, so I think we're probably somewhere between 35Kg and 45Kg at the moment. If anyone has any tips on weighing, please let me know!


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## snailracer (13 Apr 2010)

Steel + Aluminium + rain do not mix.


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## irw (13 Apr 2010)

snailracer said:


> Steel + Aluminium + rain do not mix.



Hmm, care to elaborate? 

The steel bits are all zinc plated, and if neccessary, I will paint the chassis with a suitable paint to help prevent corrosion.


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## mickle (13 Apr 2010)

http://cyclorama.net/viewCategory.php?id=27&page=1


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## irw (13 Apr 2010)

mickle said:


> http://cyclorama.net/viewCategory.php?id=27&page=1



Thanks for that Mickle, a very interesting read!


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## snailracer (13 Apr 2010)

irw said:


> Hmm, care to elaborate?
> 
> The steel bits are all zinc plated, and if neccessary, I will paint the chassis with a suitable paint to help prevent corrosion.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion

As long as you have zinc plating and/or paint, you should be OK. Very thin tubing may need special attention.


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## irw (27 Jul 2010)

Right- First off, apologies for not updating over the past few months, I haven't actually done that much work on the quad mainly due to the day job and trying to plan my wedding.

Anyway, Here are the latest updates & photos!

*Bottom Bracket Initial Design (friction hold in within the frame)*






The amended design, as implemented on the stoker's side, uses a wider hole and a slightly larger gauge of aluminium tubing to help provide space to bolt it in place. Photos to follow. I think, once the quad is in a fit shape to ride a few miles, I'll pop along to a local welding shop and get them to weld the BB's into place in the rectangular tubing, as this is the one area of the quad where I am struggling to get things nice and snug and immovable.

*The Seats*




Currently each seat is made up of a welded steel right angle frame (salvaged from a piece of scenery that was being chucked at work) with a couple of sheets of 18mm ply attached and some thick foam to save a sore bum. In their current guise, these seats probably add about 5-10Kg each onto the weight of the bike, so I'm looking for ideas to reduce this. Probably in the form of proper recumbent bike seats!

*Gears*





I have gone for the axel-mounted style rear derailleurs, quite simply because it's really obvious where they need to go, although because of the angle they sit at, removal of the derailleur(s) is required to take the rear wheel(s) off. Pictured here (pilot side) prior to the chain being run through. I haven't got as far as front derailleurs yet, mainly because of the slight movement that still exists in the BB's. Since I took this photo, I've actually drilled out a bit more so that the rear wheels sit higher up in the metal now, to help with the chain path, so to fit the derailleur on, I've had to angle grind off the tip of the curvy section at the top of it.

*Steering*
Pictured below is an experiment which took place whilst trying to work out the steering linkage, from the shaft to the wheels. I'll follow up in the next few days with how the final linkage looks. 






Because of how the steering column aligns almost exactly with the front right wheel, I couldn't use the same design found on a number of other quadricycle models I have come across in my research. It took a bit of thinking outside the box, and a bit of good old Technic Lego to come up with the final design.






And here's another picture of the steering column prior to handlerbars being fitted:





*Brakes

*No Photos as of yet, but rear brakes have been fitted to both rear wheels. I intend to get hold of some dual-pull brake levers so that both rear brakes can be operated on one lever, and both front brakes on another lever.

*Testing

*Well I'd been waiting for this moment for a long time- I finally got a second set of brakes fitted once I found out that the LBS round the corner from me stocked 3m brake cables, and I set out across the road to Morisson's car park (after closing time, so it was deserted).

This is the most compehensive testing so far, everything else has just been out of the garage and up and down my small driveway.






It Works!!!!






Is that the recumbent smile I've read so much about on these forums?!

My tests today have shown that I seem to have got the Ackermann geometry pretty much spot on (well, at least, when I realised yesterday that I was reading Peter Eland's spreadsheets upside down it is now spot on! ) and the quad's turning circle is about 5m[sup]2[/sup] for a full 360 (although this should only be attempted at low speeds as I found out when I nearly tipped myself!)

The second attempt to get into the car park (On the first, the chain came off the front chain ring due to BB movement so I had to take a quick left turn off the round about!):
[media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFAc4bLZXCQ[/media]]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGKcBidqDvY[/media][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFAc4bLZXCQ[/media]


Now I was having so much fun I got a bit carried away, and on returning home, forgot I was still on a test ride, and took the turn into my driveway a little on the fast and sharp side, and managed to bend the rear wheel out of shape . Yes, I know, you told me so!

So, can anybody recommend a couple of sturdy rear wheels which take a standard cassette, and where to buy them? Should I be thinking something along the lines of this? (although one of the FAQ's on that says it does not accept a cassette)


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## irw (27 Jul 2010)

It would appear that I can't post more than two youtube videos in one post, so here's a few more of the testing!

Trying a high-speed sharp turn:
[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDaMzpnxZxo[/media]


And trying the brakes out:

[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CpgEH62Ods[/media]


Like I say, if anyone knows where I can buy some suitably strong rear wheels, please let me know, as I can't do any more testing until I replace the one I broke!


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## bikepete (27 Jul 2010)

Nice work! Glad my steering spreadsheets were useful...

Re seats: might be worth a look at the bottom of this page:

http://www.zephyr.nl...p?pagina=winkel

also

http://www.zephyr.nl...agina=zittingen

If you can bend plywood something similar might be possible - otherwise just 33 Euros for an untrimmed seat. Needs some supporting hardware too of course. 

Re wheels: I would probably have recommended 20" (BMX) ones if starting from scratch - these come as strong as you want, even up to 48 spokes, for not silly money. Usually just single speed though if you get BMX ones, so you'd need another gearing solution. You can get 20" wheels with cassette hubs too (for folding bikes, recumbents etc) but usually not cheap nor usually as strong...

Looks like you could fit 20"-ers in your chassis without probs - would lower it too which would improve stability... 

If you're sticking to 26" I'm not sure there's an affordable extra strong solution if you stick to cassette type hubs - they're so strongly dished that lateral strength is low almost irrespective of spoke count and rim strength. You could possibly get stronger wheels by using singlespeed hubs i.e. no dish - but this is unlikely to be particularly cheap either.


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## bikepete (27 Jul 2010)

BTW, whereabouts in the country are you? If there's a bike recycling operation within striking distance they would be an ideal source of cheap wheels etc for experimenting.

EDIT - looking your profile it's Lichfield, which appears to be 30-odd miles from Leicester. which means DOWN TOOLS NOW and get ye to Cyclemagic!

http://cyclemagic.org.uk/

http://www.velovision.co.uk/cgi-bin/show_comments.pl?storynum=932

Hilldodger on this forum is one of the people who run it.


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## irw (28 Jul 2010)

bikepete said:


> BTW, whereabouts in the country are you? If there's a bike recycling operation within striking distance they would be an ideal source of cheap wheels etc for experimenting.
> 
> EDIT - looking your profile it's Lichfield, which appears to be 30-odd miles from Leicester. which means DOWN TOOLS NOW and get ye to Cyclemagic!
> 
> ...



Thanks for the tips Pete, It's actually on 20" wheels at the moment!

Ian


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## irw (30 Jul 2010)

irw said:


> Thanks for the tips Pete, It's actually on 20" wheels at the moment!
> 
> Ian



D'oh...It would appear I have made a schoolboy error and thought I was using 20" wheels as that is what the rims are. I went to Halfords today to buy one of the BMX wheels that I linked to above and turns out I actually had 24" wheels.  (To be fair, the ebay auctions in which I won the original donor bikes had them listed as 20" wheels.)

Anyway, all is not lost as the cassettes from the original donor bikes will go on the BMX wheels, I just need to adjust the positions of the rear wheel suports slightly to sort out alignment.

I've also had a think about the seat situation, after looking at the links that Pete supplied, and it just so happens that work want to get rid of some old conference chairs (formed plywood!).






I think this has to be one of the more interestingly shaped things I've ever had on my rack! (The new wheel can be seen attached to the side of the rack!)


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## irw (23 Jan 2011)

Right- I actually finished the Quadricycle back in October, but now that I have my wedding and our theatre's big annual show out of the way, and I've got some time off, here are the photos documenting the last few months of the build!

Continuing where we left off:

*01/08/2010*

The new formed-plywood ex-conference room chairs, mounted, with pre-drilled locating holes, giving a fore-aft movement of about 8":





Close up of the rear-right brake set, now moved to align with the new 20", 48 spoke BMX wheels:





Bottom Bracket Mark II:





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*23/08/2010*
An overall shot of the quad, now with both sets of handlebars attached, and with both bottom bracket mounts converted to BB MkII:





You can just about make out an elasticated carbon-fibre tent pole that is wedged into the front wheel arch, and the rear wheel support, this was just there whilst I was musing about a fairing shape! During test rides around about this time, we discovered that BB mount MkII was just as unsuitable as Mk I, so a Mark III was called for!

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*31/08/2010*

A bit of angle-grinding later, and here is Bottom Bracket Mark III:





This modification on the bottom bracket mount proved absolutely rock solid! The wheels on the donor bikes may have been white-elephants, but a lot of other bits are coming in useful!

New chain-pulleys to get the chain-line in order!




After a test ride with the pulleys like this, the forward of the two (on the right) was raised up and mounted directly to the level of the 1" square steel spacer bar to get the chain running a bit straighter, and lower the forces acting on the mount. The original idea behind having it as low as possible was so that the seats could be set further forward, but in practice, the seats should never have to go far forward enough to interfere with the chain as it is now.

First tester-coat of paint on the frame:





It was around this time that the then soon-to-be-Mrs. IRW started thinking seriously about using the quadricycle as our wedding transportation, we had been joking about it for a while, but were not sure how the build would go, so I stepped up a few gears to get it finished in time for the big day on the 22nd of October. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*06/09/2010*

The painting coming along nicely:





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*19/09/2010

*And a little bit more:




The steering linkage/handlebars has been sprayed in gloss black Hammerite, with the frame in blue Hammerite.

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*19/09/2010

*With the paint-job pretty much complete, and all integral parts re-assembled, I took the quadricycle the one mile trip into work so I could weigh it on the counterweight flying system:





At this point, it weighed approximately 65Kg

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*14/10/2010

*With the wedding fast approaching, and the soon-to-be Mrs. IRW away at her parent's house in Bristol, I took the opportunity to build a special 'wedding carriage' seat:




I knew it was worth keeping the frames from those conference room chairs, and that bit of set that provided the original seats! In the above picture you can just about see the padded faux-leather covers I salvaged from some skipped office chairs that I have attached to the ply wood seats. 

Here is the passenger seat with it's wooden base in position:





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*17/10/2010

*Here you can see the quad sitting on my drive-way, with the passenger seat padded and covered in a similar material to the seats:




You can also see the new mud-guards that I whizzed up as a means of wedding-dress-proofing the passenger seat!

Carol testing her seat!:




You can also see the front lights mounted on each front wheel arch in the above photo. There are two matching rear lights on the back.

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*22/10/2010*

The big day arrived, and the best man got to my house to find me still tinkering in the garage!

Myself(left) and Steve, my best-man cycling the quad to the church:





And with Carol on the back, going from the church, via Freedom Cycles (the brilliant & helpful LBS where I bought most of the new parts) to the reception venue!





And finally, me locking it up outside the reception venue!





And that's it for now! Carol and I have been out a few times over winter, mainly just to work and back. I'm waiting for some nicer weather to go further afield!

Ian


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## mickle (23 Jan 2011)

Brilliant!


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## Keith Oates (23 Jan 2011)

Says it all Mickle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## germanicdogman (23 Jan 2011)

that is fantastic


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## Arch (23 Jan 2011)

Wow. I missed this thread somehow, and when I read the first posts I thought, oh, he'll never do it, then I realised it was an old thread, and saw the progress.

Just fabulous!

And especially fabulous that the new Mrs irw was happy to use it for the wedding. There's a marriage that's going to last!

Well done, and congratulations!


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## irw (23 Jan 2011)

Thanks for the positive comments everyone!

Arch, you may have missed it because up until yesterday it was in the 'Know How' section.

Obviously now it's come a bit further than 'How should I build this?', so I asked the mods to move it to here!


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## Night Train (29 Jan 2011)

What a fantastic build. I also missed it and I began reading thinking it was January this year. Doh!

Have you seen this blog? Quadracycling in Ottawa.
I found it very inspirational but they seem to have stopped writing now that they have 'his and hers' Catrikes.


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## irw (29 Jan 2011)

Night Train said:


> What a fantastic build. I also missed it and I began reading thinking it was January this year. Doh!
> 
> Have you seen this blog? Quadracycling in Ottawa.
> I found it very inspirational but they seem to have stopped writing now that they have 'his and hers' Catrikes.



Thanks NT, I have seen their blog, I've got it bookmarked in fact!


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## irw (4 Aug 2011)

Well its been a good while since I last had reason to get the quad out, and that's partly due to moving jobs/house in April- I just don't know the local area well enough to feel confident with it round here yet!

However, now that I'm settled in here, and with Leicester Skyride looming on the 28th of August, I've cleared some room around it in the garage and am making some adjustments to make the quad a little more 'user friendly'.

Since it was completed, the seats have been awkward to adjust, requiring the use of two spanners to undo the nylock nuts and bolts that held them to the seat beams, and also requiring the use of a squeezy clamp to hold the inside edge down to the central beam. After a day or so of thinking, I got the angle-grinder out today, and have started cutting some 'slots' that match the bolting positions on the seats so that seats can be slid into position after loosening off the new wingnuts and spring washers that will hold them still.






In this photo, you can see the new driverside rear slot, towards the right hand side of the picture, you can see the old holes that would have held the front of the seat down. There is now a slot here as well, and also one in the central beam (You can just see the inner rear seat bracket of the stoker seat up centre).
You can also see in this picture what made me adjust the chainline to how it is in the wedding pictures! I've still got the bracket on as I'm going to straighten it out, pop another pulley on it and use it as a pickup to take some of the sag out of the return run of the chain.

More updates to follow!

Ian


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## starhawk (6 Aug 2011)

Came into this thread rather late, but two points came into my mind, You don't have any suspension, as a quad doesn't have a natural stable position how does one wheel in the air affect the bikes performance? The steering position seem a bit awkward, why didn't you go for steering sticks?


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## byegad (6 Aug 2011)

starhawk said:


> Came into this thread rather late, but two points came into my mind, You don't have any suspension...edit



I looked at the photos a few times thinking the same. I dismissed it as I felt sure after all that work the builder had thought of it. 

Maybe the builder will elucidate?


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## irw (6 Aug 2011)

starhawk said:


> Came into this thread rather late, but two points came into my mind, You don't have any suspension, as a quad doesn't have a natural stable position how does one wheel in the air affect the bikes performance? The steering position seem a bit awkward, why didn't you go for steering sticks?



Hello! One wheel in the air doesn't tend to affect performance too much- it doesn't happen often- only if a corner/slope (e.g. into a driveway) is taken a little on the quick side, but the BMX wheels take it in their stride. I'm generally reading the road ahead and planning the route along it so as to avoid any particularly nasty potholes, but it can cause a bit of a jolt if I get it wrong!

Steering is on the upgrade list, as it is a bit tricky getting into the seat if you're not used to it (although myself and Mrs IRW have perfected the art!) I went for this method as it (a) worked with all the bits I had lying around, and (b) worked around the rest of the frame. 

With hindsight, I would have planned it a little better when I was planning the frame, but if you read the whole thread you'll see the whole build was a fair old learning experience for me!

A few more pictures of the latest modifications:

New chain guide pulley mountings, rear driver side pulley:






Forward driver side pulley and chain rings from above:




As you can see, the two chain ring pulleys (on each side) are now mounted on a length of M8 threaded rod. This allows them to move to line up with where the chain is coming from/going to. Because of the extra space they now have to move, the drive is now much quieter, and I hope I won't go through pulleys quite as much as I have been!

A view under the stoker's seat, showing the new slot/wingnut/washer arrangement:


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