After your experience this is a moot point (for you)
, but
2 words:
Tilting/Leaning Trike.
Now you have:
- Legal..? (The main reason and lower rolling resistance)
- High Ride Height is no longer a stability issue = more visible and safer.
- The equivalent of a 2 wheeler, with around twice the braking capability in a Tadpole. (ONLY)
- With a Tilt Lock for stopping and low speeds the design can be Feet Up = enclosed = aero and dry/warm.
The challenge is a (complex) design that is both pedal-able and lean-able.
There are some on the net, but no time for searching and linking atm.
It seems to me that had one or both rear wheels on a quad locked up the end result may well have been similar??
So a design that does NOT lock up ANY wheel is actually what's important here???
A leaning trike would've not helped me when the rear wheel locked up. My steering input wasn't that much when it went sideways, faster than I could react, and the snap oversteering wasn't caused due to too much steering input. Also, in cars, you control oversteering by counter steering and throttle, if you countersteer while riding a tiling trike, you'll probably do two barrel rolls when the thing goes sideways.... I hope your luck never runs out like mine did. I lost a significant investment of time and money when A-3 wrecked.
As for your points:
-Now I have a vehicle that is far more stable than anything on three wheels. Succeeded on what I set out to achieve.
-No issues with legal that I am aware of where I live.
-I no longer care that much about efficiency, since the quad is still 100 times more efficient than any road going vehicle when using motor, and when I pedal it its infinitely more efficient than that. What I really care about is not getting injured, plus I can ride this thing in snow/icy conditions much safer than anything with three wheels. I think aero is far more important than having some extra rolling resistance due to a 4th wheel as I've measured a long time ago.
-The Quad runs even lower than the trike did, with x4 20" rims vs. x2 20" fronts and x1 26" rear.
-The rear quad assembly made the frame about 6 inches longer wheelbase as well.
Nope, locking the rear wheels on A-1 quad, while turning, on the same downhill at the same speed that caused A-3 trike to wreck, A-1 quad didn't go sideways, therefore it didn't flip, and didn't even feel light on the other side, and the outer tire didn't buckle at all. Instead, as soon the rear wheels locked up, the quad reduced speed drastically, and the yaw rate went down as well. That and the chances of the chain ever locking up the rear wheel(s) is now zero: as there is no physical way to lock up the rear differential even if the chain wrapped around it like a pretzel. The wheel spokes are also covered, so no chance of anything getting stuck in there either.
The fact I can take tight roundabouts at, at least, twice the speed of what I took them on the trikes is good enough for me. I don't drive this thing at 60mph, I rarely go above 30mph now... And the quad generates so much cornering lateral G-force that if I wasn't clipped when taking tight turns I would probably get ejected off the dang thing...
My humble advice is to go Quad, or remain on 2 wheels. Any trike, especially a delta trike, going at any decent speed, its just an accident waiting to happen. You might get lucky, but your luck could ran out (like mine did), and I simply don't want to play again and see... basically, I don't want to "Find Out" anymore.
A delta trike locking up its front wheel while going 35 mph on a downhill turn sounds like a perfect way to end up on assisted life support... seriously... I hope you don't drive that delta trike of yours at anything above 15mph... or motorize it to reach 65 mph like A-1 and A-3 were more than capable of achieving... math or the "Ironclad trike equation by Logic11" won't matter much when you are paralyzed from your neck down...
