KMX tadpole trike with canopy, Windwrap, cromotor, 10KW

[Marc S.]

One of the owners of Velomobil.nl did roll tests with moped tyres for his recumbent moped and found their rolling resistance inferiour to bicycle tyres. Quote: 'the cart rolls more than twice the distance with three bicycle tires' http://www.velomobiel.nl/allert/Recumbent%20motorbike.htm

I wouldn't use unnessesary heavy and 'slow' moped tyres in my trike. Bicycle tyres with ECE-R75 approval are up to the task and offer a relativly wide choice of tyres.
For instance Schwalbe calls their ECE-R75 approved tyres 'E-Bike 50 ready'.

http://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour.html
http://www.schwalbetires.com/bike_tires/e-bikes

 

[adam333]

You may want to consider 16" moped tires for your front wheels to match your big rear wheel. 16" tires fit on wide 20" bicycle rims. I run Shinko 714 2.25-16 moped tires and love them. The key is to make sure your rim is wide enough for some of these tires.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

Can you link a picture of your bike using those tire?

 

[adam333]

One of the owners of Velomobil.nl did roll tests with moped tyres for his recumbent moped and found their rolling resistance inferiour to bicycle tyres. Quote: 'the cart rolls more than twice the distance with three bicycle tires' http://www.velomobiel.nl/allert/Recumbent%20motorbike.htm

I wouldn't use unnessesary heavy and 'slow' moped tyres in my trike. Bicycle tyres with ECE-R75 approval are up to the task and offer a relativly wide choice of tyres.
For instance Schwalbe calls their ECE-R75 approved tyres 'E-Bike 50 ready'.

Wow. I had no clue that those moped tire could have such a high roling resistance...

Thanks for the ECE-R75 tire link.

 

[xenodius]

I'm running 14" slick moped tires on the front right now (IRC NR77's) and they're about 3mm away from the edge of my seat when I've maxed out the kingpins on my KMX.

The custom frame I'm planning on putting together will be a leaning delta, and capable of zero-point turns...

 

[GiantEV]

You may want to consider 16" moped tires for your front wheels to match your big rear wheel. 16" tires fit on wide 20" bicycle rims. I run Shinko 714 2.25-16 moped tires and love them. The key is to make sure your rim is wide enough for some of these tires.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

Can you link a picture of your bike using those tire?

I'm using these tires on front and rear of my A2B metro bike, and front wheel of my recumbent bike. I am selling my two trikes without motors so I don't have any pictures, but I was only running this same tire on the rear wheel with the motor. The front tires were good bicycle tires, but they still would get flats and I'd have to fill them with air once or twice a week. With my Shinko moped tires I can go a month or two without losing tire pressure, and I've yet to get a flat on any of my bikes using that tire. I ride on streets with glass and other debris, as well as nasty thorns that eat up tires, so a reliable tire is important to me than rolling resistance.

I'm planning on building a full-suspension trike in the future, at which point I'll use these tires on the front with some Alex DX32 rims. I've never had these tires on the front of my trikes, just the rear, but based on my good experience with these moped tires I'm a convert.

I realize that these moped tires won't have as good of rolling resistance as a bicycle tire, but I'm willing to trade durability for rolling resistance. I've even entertained the idea of running 17" or 18" motorcycle wheels on the front of the trike I want to build since I'd like to see how well a trike could do on some mild offroading.

 

[adam333]

I was able to finally use my KMX rack this year.

Made from steel by a guy near Montreal.

 

[Doctorbass]

nice Work !

I guess you have a 2" hitch ..

Doc

 

[adam333]

Thanks Doc,

This is the nice thing about this rack, it is a 1 1/4" hitch.

the guy welded two stabilisation bar on each side on the car.

 

[adam333]

I should have integrate those cellmeter in the main box but since its too late now, I designed a small box to hold em on the side of the seat.

3D printed and painted:

unfolded:

folded:

 

[adam333]

1 min video showing how to get on the trike.

 

[dmwahl]

Would you consider posting CAD files for the KMX frame and your battery box? I'm doing a similar project and it would save me some time to have those.

 

[adam333]

Would you consider posting CAD files for the KMX frame and your battery box? I'm doing a similar project and it would save me some time to have those.

Hi David,

Sure, the separated 3D pieces can be downloaded here : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/78649823/E-bike/KMX/Frame and batt/Frame and batt.rar

They are not in an assembly though. Let me know if it is a problem.

 

[dmwahl]

Not a problem. I was mostly after the frame model. If you do have an assembly model that would help too, but if it's a lot of effort don't worry about it.

 

[adam333]

I added the assembly to the previous link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/78649823/E-bike/KMX/Frame and batt/Frame and batt.rar

 

[dmwahl]

Great, appreciate it.

If you were to do this project again, would you do anything different? Specifically in regard to the battery or box?

 

[adam333]

If I had to make another one, I would add the voltmeter for each cell inside the battery box and remove the heater pads modules.

I would also make sure the seat can be mounted from the top instead of the bottom in order to have access to the components inside the box easily.

Finally, paralleling Lipo is really annoying if a cell go bad as it will degrade the other cell in parallel with it if you don't change it quickly. The best would be to find cells with more Ah and only go in series.

What I dislike the most about this bike is the lack of suspension and the comfort of the seat.

 

[adam333]

I have finally access to a big CNC.

So I can make the dropout pieces at a reasonable price. see : https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=74881

 

[adam333]

It was more work than expected, but I finally made a front KMX trike suspension ...

I would say that it made a 66% improvement on the ride smoothness. I am very pleased with the result.

The total travel of the suspension is 57mm ( 2.2in )
The Bike width is now increased to 950mm ( 37.4in )

Alu 6061-T6 Black anodized:

Assembly:

Left and right side:

The process is fairly simple, remove the old wheel then screw the assembly in place:

top view:

There is no modification done to the break lines and no welding required. Only 3 screws per side.

I made the pieces myself on my CNC and I can reproduce it if any one is interested.

 

[madin88]

fantastic work man!

 

[Simonvtr]

Really love the custom front suspension.

 

[farmerjoe99]

This is by far the my favorite and the most impressive tadpole trike I've seen!
I had read this thread 2-3 times in the past and now simply had to read it again,
every time I amazed... you did an amazing job! Congrats on a sweet trike and now its even full suspension 8)
I would be interested in them except I know they are worth more than I can pay...
Would that design work on other trikes as well?

Did you ever end up trying a steering dampener or wasn't is necessary?

 

[adam333]

Thanks for the good words guys :wink:

I would be interested in them except I know they are worth more than I can pay...

The ICE Front Suspension Kingpost Retrofit Kit is selling for 899 US$ at Utha Trike.
http://www.utahtrikes.com/PROD-11619080.html

I would sell a KMX Retrofit kit for 895 US$ + shipping.

Would that design work on other trikes as well?

It will fit on any adult KMX trikes.

Did you ever end up trying a steering dampener or wasn't is necessary?

I first thought I would need one when I pedaled the non motorized version.

But once you rely on the motor alone, it is fairly easy to go in straight line without a steering dampener. I do not see the need for it if you stay below 70km/h ( 43mph ).

 

[soaresdacosta]

A work of art...

Luís.

 

[adam333]

Thanks Luis

Here is a 2 min video of the suspension in action:

Details can be found at https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=78893

 

[madin88]

i like such suspension vids seems to work great