Conversion of a e-bike into a trike

[azad]

Hi,

I'm planning on converting my bike into a trike. It is a standard 28" bicycle that I'd already converted into e-bike. I'm interested in a cost effective solution replacing/augmenting perhaps front wheel fork as back wheel has 7-speed shimano and could be much more complicated. I'm not as much interested in cargo load or anything however, I am interested in creating stability for different terrains. This means wheels not need to be so far apart from each other. I'm OK in building myself as well if it doesn't require welding.

Any ideas how can I easily and inexpensively do that? (maybe something like in the pictures)

Thanks,

 

[amberwolf]

Hodala here on ES has a thread about a kit that might work.

THere are some European "trikes" that are built with narrow-spaced front wheel pairs.

There is also a bike called the Juggernaut (a few threads here on ES talk about it) that uses two fatbike wheels on narrow-spaced interconnected forks.


I don't know if it's going to make for better stability, but if you do it in an undoable way, I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.



Regarding changing the rear end to make it a trike, there are a few "trike kits" out there; most of them bolt to the rear dropouts and the seatstays and/or seattube. They are all generally going to be in the 30"-wide range, more or less.

It's likely you can keep the rear derailer and sprockets, by using a bare hub (either hubmotor or plain bike hub)instead of a wheel there, and bolting a sprocket to the left side of the hub (easy if it's a disc-capable hub) to pass the chain to the rear axle. If it uses a single-sided drive rather than something like a live axle / differential, it'll probably only drive the left wheel, whcih may not be useful in terrain requiring a trike configuration.

There are several types of these trike kits, so you have to decide what you want out of it before you pick one.

 

[azad]

Hodala here on ES has a thread about a kit that might work.

THere are some European "trikes" that are built with narrow-spaced front wheel pairs.

There is also a bike called the Juggernaut (a few threads here on ES talk about it) that uses two fatbike wheels on narrow-spaced interconnected forks.


I don't know if it's going to make for better stability, but if you do it in an undoable way, I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.



Regarding changing the rear end to make it a trike, there are a few "trike kits" out there; most of them bolt to the rear dropouts and the seatstays and/or seattube. They are all generally going to be in the 30"-wide range, more or less.

It's likely you can keep the rear derailer and sprockets, by using a bare hub (either hubmotor or plain bike hub)instead of a wheel there, and bolting a sprocket to the left side of the hub (easy if it's a disc-capable hub) to pass the chain to the rear axle. If it uses a single-sided drive rather than something like a live axle / differential, it'll probably only drive the left wheel, whcih may not be useful in terrain requiring a trike configuration.

There are several types of these trike kits, so you have to decide what you want out of it before you pick one.

Yes I have checked the european experiements but they are really expensive. I like the above Rungo (just realised juggernaut and rungu are the same) design but it is also very expensive, besides, I would like to convert one than buy a pre-built full bike. I'm primarily looking for stability and self-balance from the design in different terrains. I'm not into cargo as much as I would like to do some fun experiments with a balanced bike later on.

 

[Balmorhea]

I think if there were a straightforward version of what you suggest, you'd be able to buy it. There have been smart people thinking about these things for much longer than any of us have been alive.

Trikes are generally less stable and less efficient than bikes, not more. If you doubt me, try one.

 

[amberwolf]

Yes I have checked the european experiements but they are really expensive. I like the above Rungo (just realised juggernaut and rungu are the same) design but it is also very expensive, besides, I would like to convert one than buy a pre-built full bike.

Yes, the point was that you could look at those, see how they are made, and rebuild your bike to work like theirs.

There isn't a simple "kit" you can buy anywhere that I know of to do what you want, for the front end.

 

[dogman dan]

I would say that to do it cheap, you start with a wire feed welder. Nothing bolt on would qualify as cheap, even if you found it.

One of the coolest things I saw at interbike about 3 years ago, was a tilting tadpole cargo trike. The front of it looked a lot like a standard dolly, but its wheels tilted too. They had it in pedal version, and motorized.