help with trike ideas

[voyager]

Here is a photo ( sandman's OD hinges ) for his folding tourer made from 5mm steel with centering pin, this is the sort of quality and precision you will need for a reliable and sturdy joint being in mind that any slop will result to bad handling .

regards emma

 

[stuee147]

The problem with MOST of these manufactured items is the POOR tolerances they are made to - Trikes especially , the steering end do require a good tolerance fit so it is not sloppy . .

5 mm minimum is ok obviously 6 mm is good but slop is the main problem
John ( sandman ) has made his own in the thread " my electric tourer " on the AZ site


regards emma

ill have a look for the thread on AZ as im on there to but i find it very confusing and hard to follow threads on AZ as you can only see one persons comments at a time and i always seem to get lost and end up giving up lol

as for the tollerances i know what you mean it will need to be a good fit with no play or i could end up with the wheel geometry out, and it took me long enough to get it set in the first place. thats why i have been considering having the entier boom move in one pice rather than cutting it into 2 or 3 parts.

@classic33 they are advitised on ebay as horsebox, trailer, tool box hinges. i must say i do like your idea of drilling and replacing the hing pin i hadent thought of that.

i ordered a pair of the hinges and they came this morning they seem to be very good quality they are heavy and i wasnt able to open them by hand i had to get a screwdriver betweent the plates and pry them apart enough to get hold of each side and there dosent seem to be any play at all in any direction. the hinge pin is a 4mm steel pin so im not overly sure if i will use them yet but i have them just incase and i have other projects in my new house where i will be needing hinges so even if i dont use them for the trike they wont go to waste.

and emma wow that hinge looks very nice i like the locater bit in the middle to make sure its all in line thats another thing i hadent really thought of.

my biggest problem is althow i now have a workshop im still very limited on tools, this makes it quite hard to make high prosition parts, making one isnt to bad but making 2 of the same i find dificault. having said that im quite proud of what i managed to do in the back garden without even having a workbench or vice. i think i just need to give it a try and see and hopfully build my confidence up,

thanks for all the ideas everyone

 

[voyager]

@stuee147
You need to join AZ to be able to view the complete thread

On retirement John might be persuaded to build one off items
http://recumbentrider.co.uk/www.recumbentrider.co.uk/Welcome.html ( his electric tourer project )

regards emma

 

[classic33]

@stuee147
You need to join AZ to be able to view the complete thread

On retirement John might be persuaded to build one off items
http://recumbentrider.co.uk/www.recumbentrider.co.uk/Welcome.html ( his electric tourer project )

regards emma

Ere, if he goes and joins AZ we'd never see what he was making. What you doing, putting ideas in his head?

 

[voyager]

What is wrong with joining both , Some of my other builds are featured in the newsletters of the atomiczombie website ,
The AZ forum is basically an international bike/trike building forum for amateur bike builders .
There are a few of us on both ..................... and the pedelec forums

I come , I go, I return .....................................

regards emma

 

[stuee147]

lol calm down im already a member on both but when i goto a thread on AZ i always get the first post of the thread then a box at the top with a list of who has posted comments ect and to view the next post in the thread i need to click on the next post before i can read it. maybe im reading it wrong or something but thats the only way i have found to read a thread one post at a time which is anoying espeshely when i have to keep scrolling up and down the page to read the post and then to get the next post. and to be honest i dont think i have ever posted anything on AZ as it just dosent seem as simple to do as on here. i have enough troble posting on here at times trying to get pic ect up.
like i say it could just be me but i do find AZ confusing.

 

[stuee147]

@stuee147
You need to join AZ to be able to view the complete thread

On retirement John might be persuaded to build one off items
http://recumbentrider.co.uk/www.recumbentrider.co.uk/Welcome.html ( his electric tourer project )

regards emma

iv just been exploring the link and its very good thanks. i do like the folding design where the rear wheel folds onto the front boom, its funny iv always thought to fold you fold the front onto the back i dont know why iv never thought about it the other way which makes so much more sense than trying to ballance everything on the one rear wheel.

i always think its funny that you see something like the folding design and it makes such sense and is so simple so why didnt i think of it myself lol

 

[voyager]

@stuee147

John and I are only 5 miles apart , so we have some interesting chats and idea bashing sessions on skype ,
His new trike has some very interesting ideas and is using a e-hub motor as a middy drive , twin battery packs , mesh seat and USS . The middy drive will be harnessing the 21 gears available to the rider to assist the pedalling , . and fitted with large hydraulic brakes as it will be used for camping trailer towing as well.


AZ uses external photo hosting eg postimage to keep bandwidth and server space at a minimum .
The difference between being logged correctly is when the " whats new" box changes to "todays posts " then you should be able to view the 20 items per page of the thread .

regards emma

 

[ufkacbln]

When I was looking for a folding trike I narrowed down to the then unproven HPVelotechnik Gekko and the ICE series.

Both trikes are well designed and I have no doubt safe

However the ICE had the hinge above the fold so (in my mind) a failure would open the hinge

The Gekko had the hinge underneath so would close in case of failure

THAT was the main factor in my choice of trike and I bought the Gekko "at risk" on my experience with the Street machine and riding a Scorpion

Never regretted the choice.....

BUT the downside is that the hinge being underneath it requires maintenance as it gets a lot of road muck

 

[Sandman-bm]

Those hinges look handy Stuee, but what are they made of ?
If stainless steel then your going to have to use dissimilar metal rods to weld them.
My hinge uses an 8mm ground dowel pin in a reamed hole size and size polished to fit.
As for my fold being simple that's because I am simple incapable of a complex thought.
BUT and this is a big BUT, the tricky part is where to position the hinge so it folds with all the gubbins ,i.e chain, cables etc still stay in place and that nothing collides when folding.
In my case the hinge is at 45 degrees across the spine but angled back 8 degrees to get the needed clearance,, I should add I built an animated 3D model of the complete trike before slashing into steel to prove it out, so its well worth a bit of thought before cutting.
regards
John

 

[classic33]

What is wrong with joining both , Some of my other builds are featured in the newsletters of the atomiczombie website ,
The AZ forum is basically an international bike/trike building forum for amateur bike builders .
There are a few of us on both ..................... and the pedelec forums

I come , I go, I return .....................................

regards emma

Never thought we'd be able to draw him away from it, once he got on it.

 

[voyager]

Welcome to Cycle chat John even Frank the crank is on here !

regards emma

 

[FrankCrank]

...cranky is indeed on here, and delighted to be part of this site ..... and AZ. Doing a months hols here in the UK right now, into my last week. Managed to pick up a few bike component bargains, and been out cycling most days - great weather for this time of year don't you think. Make the most of it as still 100 degrees back home......ouch....

 

[stuee147]

@voyager i get the list of todays/latest threads iv never counted but 20 seems about right its when i go onto a thread i find i only get the first inital post of the thread then i have to view each post on the thread one at a time.
but like i say it could well be me that is doing something wrong im not that great with computers lol

Those hinges look handy Stuee, but what are they made of ?
If stainless steel then your going to have to use dissimilar metal rods to weld them.
My hinge uses an 8mm ground dowel pin in a reamed hole size and size polished to fit.
As for my fold being simple that's because I am simple incapable of a complex thought.
BUT and this is a big BUT, the tricky part is where to position the hinge so it folds with all the gubbins ,i.e chain, cables etc still stay in place and that nothing collides when folding.
In my case the hinge is at 45 degrees across the spine but angled back 8 degrees to get the needed clearance,, I should add I built an animated 3D model of the complete trike before slashing into steel to prove it out, so its well worth a bit of thought before cutting.
regards
John

hi john and welcome
the hinges are made of steel with a coat of what looks like a powder coat paint i sanded a small bit off to check lol
the angles for folding is something iv been worried about like you say its unlikle all the cables, chain ect would fold and unfold with a simple 90' hinge, unfortunatly i have enough trouble using paint on my computer a 3D modle is way way way out of my skill level. i tend to hand draw everything all to scale and use them to work things out but folding is different i think im going to need to build a scale model.

oh and emma this is my idea bashing sessions on here

stuee

 

[voyager]

@stuee147

Now you have the EXPERTS on the case ,

......

Frank the Guy who builds his trikes from stainless ,

John the engineer building a middy drive folding e-trike or 3

regards emma