WHile waiting for my crazy sister to clear her stuff out today (multiple-months-extended-deadline in one minute and she is still not even trying), I worked out a few other possible combinations for the new bike, none of which I'm perfectly happy with, but the last of which might work.
It's the Trek930 front frame, with an old BMX as the mid/rear, and the swingarm off a crappy steel FS Y-frame for rear suspension. Front suspension is the disc sus fork off a very heavy Murray crappy steel bike. Some ex-retail aisle-signholders for the cargopod top rack bar and side seat supports. "beach seat" for the new 'bent seat/chair.
Motor (Icecube57's GM/9C) goes in the Trek dropouts. Pedals on the Trek BB. Chainline not yet fully worked out, but should go from pedals to a jackshaft in the BMX, motor to same jackshaft, freewheel of jackshaft setup so motor doesn't spin pedals (ok if pedals spin motor). From jackshaft to rear hub, which is a 3-speed Sachs IGH with coaster brake. Jackshaft *might* include ability to shift gears for the motor more than just the 3 on the IGH.
Rear will be a 26" rather than 24" like it is now, probably, and if I can make it fit, 26" in front. Frame is significantly lower to the ground than CrazyBike2's, so this will put me and the bike back at about the same height off ground that CB2 is, which is about the same height as the average car driver would be at.
Since motor is at the rear of the triangle, there's still room for at least some battery in the rest of the triangle. More battery can go in the front triangle, but as much weight as possible I'd like to keep in the center and low, on the axle-line.
Everything is steel, so I can weld it all together.
Steering will still be remote, but I will likely go with a steering setup mostly copied from a trike design posted elsewhere on ES, where a headstock setup was bolted to a seatpost rather than how I welded stuff up on CB2's seatpost/headstock setup, whcih has proved problematic in a few ways since then (incluidng one complete failure earlier this year, which woudlnt' have happened if I'd had the other setup). Same handlebars as on CB2, but I'll have to build new controls as I don't have anymore scooter bar controls, and haven't run across any MC or scooter stuff in a long while.
Bike will be about 6-8" longer than CB2, almost 8' exactly from tire edge to tire edge. Positioning of things along the frrame is different, though, putting the seat a bit farther forward and the cargo pods a bit farther forward, too, so that they are as much completely forward of the rear axle as I can get them. That should let me put a rack over the rear wheel that is level with the tops of the pods, so I can use the entire top surface as an extra cargo rack for big stuff. Can't do that with CB2, as the pods are below the level of the rear tire top. I just have to figure out the swingarm clearances at full droop/bump.
Swingarm itself is held to the BMX dropouts by a scooter axle, using a long 1/2" drive socket instead of the original hollow bolt-together pins. Two more sockets on either side of it that are larger diameter than the long socket will keep the whole thing from sliding around on the axle, pinching it between the dropouts so it doesn't wiggle. Rear spring will need to be doubled-up, due to weight when laoded with cargo, and will be butted up against a bracket welded across the top of the BMX rear triange to seatpost.
Lots of things might change as I work this out. With luck, I'll have it finished and tested to bring to the DeathRace in just under a month, assuming everything works as planned.
Below are two of the other configurations I pondered. The Y-frame would be cut off at the point it overlaps the other frame, and welded to it there. That's pretty heavy, so I went with the BMX thing instead. Simpler and less frame-chopping, and weighs less. Should be as strong or stronger, too.
View attachment 1
I might yet use the red Nishiki frame from Li-ghtcycle as the front of the bike, as it gives a lot mroe triangle space. But it also chagnes some geometry and prevents me from doing any welding-together of the bike halves, forcing me to come up with bolt-together stuff that wont' come loose or wiggle under the power of the chain drive.