Archer said:
Marc,
Thanks for the reply.It's obvious you have a lot of knowledge and hands on with the ICE Trikes.
I have been thinking very seriously about an electrified trike,especially after seeing the new ARCUS velo shell.It was made for the ICE Sprint and Adventure trikes.It will also fit a handful of other trikes with a bit more work.I'm in the US and am waiting on a Man who recently bought an ARCUS Shell kit.I want to get the pros and cons etc before making a final decision.
And if I could have it powered with LR's kit that would be the icing on the cake.ARCUS pic below.
Take Care.
Tim.
Tim,
While I love my ICE Sprint (soon two of them) they are not without flaws. I've accumulated 30,000km on my Sprint over the last four years. 6,000km with rear suspension and 24,000km without.
The suspeded rear frame is made from 7005 Aluminium and definately too weak for a high power set-up. I've broke two 20" suspended rear frames at the same welding seam of the suspension hinge. ICE Trikes customer service is first rate and they send a replacement via FedEx the day after I send an email with photos of the defect, though.
I've checked with ICE Trikes, the new suspended 26" rear frame uses the same (in my opinion) too weak part and would guess their claimed <1% failure rate for that part will get up with the even bigger rear wheel....
The unsuspended 26" rear frame of the Sprint and Adventure is ok with handling higher loads.
About the ARCUS shell:
Unfortunately I have no experiance with velomobiles, yet. I'm closely following the developement of the European models, though.
Since you would regularly reach quite high speeds with a high powered velomobil, side winds are an issue. The rear of the ARCUS shell looks a bit high and probably offers too much area for side winds and a gust will probably blow it all over the place.
Then there is the price and the weight. €2500 for the ARCUS shell weighting 16kg plus €3000 to €4000 for an ICE trike thats weights an other 17-20kg. I'd rather get a 'real' velomobil with a glass fiber body for that money, have a sturdier ride designed for high speed and save 5-8kg.
A velomobil with carbon fiber body will cost €1200-1500 more, is more rigit and even a bit lighter.
Take a look at the WAW velomobil from http://www.katanga.eu for instance. No rear suspension but its known to be fast, offers good handling and has a relativly small turning circle (for a velomobil at least).
Thats the rear wheel without rear cowling. Looks like there is just enough space to fit a drive unit with chain drive directly to the rear wheel.
The WAW without front and rear cowling. Easy to work on and its way cheaper to repair or replace front or rear cowlings in case of an accident. That front boom is actuall left longer than necessary to offer space for a mid drive (to finally come back to the thread topic).
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If you dont speak french, switch on the english subtitles!
@Michael: Sorry for deflecting from your drive unit! Since you are interested in velomobiles as well, I thought you might like the little distraction too.