Wood Monocoque

B

boatbuilder

100 µW
Joined
Apr 5, 2015
Messages
9
Location
Sandy Springs, GA USA
Pic.s of my protos. 4K+ miles over the road so far. 75 volt cell_man packs, 18 fet Lyen controllers, CLYTE 3525s, 72V Satiator and of course Grin CAs. A 3rd bike will be complete next month (may to take components from Proto #2 to complete) but hoping to pop in a Phaserunner and possibly switch to a MXUS.

Bikes weigh approx. 120 lb.s.

Hope to conjure up the energy one of these nights and post up a summary with pic.s . . .

Special thanks to all who contribute to ES, the folks at Grin (including that Justin guy!), Paul and Edward. Also to Ilia at ebikesf who supplied the drive system for the first bike.
 

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Are you a woodworker, or is that an experiment too? Those are fabulous.

Scorpion-art-Car-by-Kirk-Jellum-in-storm.jpg
 
I like to create things . .. suppose that always involves some degree of experimenting although the bikes are just a modern take on old idea. Re Wood . . . . most of what I do involves wood . . . happened to be the best choice for this application too. And thanks for the kind words. I do my own thing and never really know how people will react.
 
I tell people if you do what SATISFIES you rather than merely what you're willing to tolerate because it's yours, sooner or later you'll impress others.
 
Very cool, thanks for sharing! :D
 
Great history of innovative uses in "your neck of the woods". Marcos autos and the Mosquito (one of the most beautiful aircraft ever in my mind). An eccentric engineer by the name of Don Woodford created a working plywood monocoque motorcycle with a Triumph 750 motor in the early 80s. Plywood construction is more stable for sure but limits shaping to some degree.
 

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Love dem' curves!!
Im a bit of a chippy too, love your wood skills! :mrgreen:
 
Thanks all. There's limited info on my website/blog http://paulkrausellc.comand a horrible video on youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xf9KMLE1H4 . . . must have screwed something up on the upload and too much else going on to backtrack right now.

There's some other info at the beginning of the thread but the wood is ash.

I usually offer them up for a ride if someone's interested and really been a blast to see/listen to the responses from folks who haven't experienced electric drive.
 
I LOVE a nice piece of ash.
 
Hehe... Ya know I was kidding here eh?
LockH said:
I LOVE a nice piece of ash.
Click to expand...

... but truth is, my first sailing catamaran (twin hulled boat) had "full length battens" made of ash wood. Very "old school" of course.

:)
L
 
Still
LockH said:
Hehe... Ya know I was kidding here eh?
LockH said:
I LOVE a nice piece of ash.
Click to expand...

... but truth is, my first sailing catamaran (twin hulled boat) had "full length battens" made of ash wood. Very "old school" of course.

:)
L
Click to expand...

Still sail? I haven't in a long time but will always remember how magical it felt.

I'm actually not a boatbuilder . . . goal is to be building boats by 2020 . . . not sure what they'll be or look like but will have a wind-power component.
 
Hehe... Like an ebiker might be "between bikes" at some time, yah, currently between boats. :)

Magical? Yah. Technically "solar powered". Most of my boats were watt the woodies (wooden boat folks) refer to as "Frozen Snot" (plastic). One "problem" w/wood maybe is ya gotta keep it sealed off away from the environment. Otherwise "things" can start rotting. OTOH can be easy to replace too. :) The last woodie I had was a 30ft. lobster boat design. Diseasal-powered, but I had plans to stuff it w/betteries and power by electric motor.

A "wind-powered component"? Good stuff. Currently assembling bits to fabricate a spanker sail... an "assist" to an ebike assist on my trike. :)
A4spankr.jpg
 
Looks severely overbuilt, but very interesting approach. definitely artistic merit over functionality, but I'm okay with that ;)

We used to build some amazing bamboo bikes at Grass Frames (vancouver BC), they were incredibly light and strong. the key processes included an excellent bio-resin and mesh to create incredibly strong joints, and a heat-treating process to finish the whole thing off. I would love to see more bamboo for ebikes for example, it's a fantastic eco-material.
 
ACK! "severely overbuilt"??? Think of it as a one-of-a-kind thing security measure. (Ya steal it? But where ya gonna ride it without being recognized right away?) The ash wood strips (sail battens) I had once upon a time got (fresh) water splashed and sprayed on them A LOT. Not sure it had any finishing coat on it but was "tough as nails" strength and moisture-wise.
 
Deaf cat: The monocoque and the swing arms are a bit overbuilt, especially for the current drive system. Do want to thank you for the post . . . very seriously, got me thinking about moving toward the other end of the spectrum . . . all of my designs actually are functional (in my mind anyway . .. the bikes actually are a blast ride and do what they were designed to do) just not very rational when it comes to commercial aspects such as costs, maximum efficiency, etc.

LockH: Thought about that "built-in security measure" but as usual, thought too much and found a hole in the logic: Quite a few thieves aren't smart enough to think through it that far! Good luck with that sail. I've been noodling on a unique idea for wing sail . . . if it ever gets to the drawing board (and I can find someone to write a program to control it) I'll send you the plans.
 
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