solar powerd off road trike build log

[Chalo]

heading inland from towomba now, I ve replaced all the remaining original spokes in my wheel with stainless dt spokes, none have been breaking but I have had had a bit of trouble with them loosnening, any ideas?

If spokes loosen, it's because they are not tight enough to maintain tension under the applied load. With a normal bicycle, the cure is adding more tension, up to about 140kgf per spoke if you're using a sturdy rim. On a trike, it's not that simple.

The trike should have enough tension, say 100kgf, but not too much. When trikes side load their wheels, tension can rise a lot, so you have to have some headroom to work with. Using a mild spoke adhesive like boiled linseed oil or purple Loctite 222 is a way to keep spokes from backing off when they go slack, while still being able to true your wheels when necessary.

 

[patrickza]

Loving your adventure, and the bike too. One day when I don't have to worry about a daily paycheck I'd like to make something similar to do a cape to cairo on

 

[solarshift]

I had a bit of an intresting day yesterday, rolled the trike, f***ed the frount wheels and a frount fork, but all is fixed boe, although Ive got no susupenchon on one side of the frount. I carnt be botherd reloading pictures so heres a link https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=463903070357264&set=pb.223767927704114.-2207520000.1368436833.&type=3&theater and https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=419246831506404&set=o.223767927704114&type=3&theater

 

[whatever]

can you tell us how it happened? I must say I often think of that crazy guy riding up the coast, and I'm blown away by what your doing..........truly envious

 

[whatever]

I've just looked at your pics, looks very familiar, i've had 26" rim collapse exactly like that ( on a heavy trike), I was fortunate I bent it back into shape good enough to get home.
Heres some thoughts on it:
1. bloody thick spokes, let me know what length you need, I have up to 3.2mm dia but I might not have correct length.
That will pretty much solve the problem ( within some limits)
2. once its relaced: tie together the spokes where they cross, it gives alot more strength to the wheel laterally.
Its a bit hard to find wire that you can twist around where the spokes cross that wont come loose, I use thick copper wire out of old household cable
3. you could consider going to 20" unless its too low, but will increase lateral strength alot ( if you could go to 16" you could get solid wheels with no spokes but still look like bicycle.
If you stick with 26" try find some old mountain bikes, alot of the old mtn bikes that get dumped have really wide/thick/steel rims, hard to buckle them

The very thick spokes I have here ( standard steel type) I had made to suit lacing hub motors of varous dimensions, its not likely I will have any long enough for your purpose but if you know the length you need i'll check anyhow. If I have ones that will suit i'll send em no cost, like to see you overcome this problem for good
I would say if you went to 20" there would be a better chance i'll have thick thick spokes of correct length

 

[Chalo]

Heres some thoughts on it:
1. bloody thick spokes, let me know what length you need, I have up to 3.2mm dia but I might not have correct length.
That will pretty much solve the problem ( within some limits)

One of the OP's existing problems is loosening spokes. Thicker spokes loosen more easily, because they are not elastic enough to maintain tension under load. They don't make the rim any stronger, either.

2. once its relaced: tie together the spokes where they cross, it gives alot more strength to the wheel laterally.

This is an ancient wheelbuilding fallacy. Jobst Brandt used instrumented tests over 30 years ago to demonstrate that it isn't true. Not even a little bit. The only useful function of tied spokes is to hold broken ones in place to keep them from flopping around and getting stuck in the machinery.

3. you could consider going to 20" unless its too low, but will increase lateral strength alot

This is true. Also, inexpensive heavy duty rims are generally more available in 20" than in 26".

If you stick with 26" try find some old mountain bikes, alot of the old mtn bikes that get dumped have really wide/thick/steel rims, hard to buckle them

Steel rims used on normal bicycles are rolled from sheet metal. They are much heavier than most aluminum rims, but they are weaker and less rigid. They are easier, not harder, to collapse. The only exceptions I have seen are the grotesquely thick steel rims used on Worksman industrial trikes, mopeds, etc. Those may be stronger and stiffer than most aluminum MTB rims, but only because they are several times heavier. They too are weaker on a strength-to-weight basis.

Double walled aluminum rims are the way to go, unless you're trying to work with salvaged parts and such rims are not available. I don't know what is widely available in Australia, but in the USA, Weinmann DM30 rims are available from almost any bike shop in 20" and 26" diameters, don't cost much (about $30 US at full retail), and are among the strongest in their price range. Alex DM24 rims are even better, but I understand their availability is diminishing.

I can't view the pictures to offer observations or advice, because they are hosted on Facebook.

 

[whatever]

my suggestions based on experience

 

[Tommy L]

Subscribed! Nice work here! More Picture Please!


Tommy L sends....

 

[bowlofsalad]

I wonder what solarshift is up to on his ride, his updates are pretty infrequent, I wonder how his range is generally, exactly what he carries, where he sleeps at least some of the time and things like that. It seems strange to me that the exact discussion occurs as a serious problem later. I dislike censorship, chalo can seem abrasive or even troll like at times, but others he seems brilliant and insightful or at least spot on, I've seen this everywhere I go in many people and even if I don't agree with chalo or someone I wouldn't ever try to censor them. The sad thing is, those who scream and complain about the people who seem strange, scary or whatever often get their way and often get the strange ones banned, thrown out or worse in some situations. At the very least, the whiny screamers often scare off the eccentric and 'strange' individuals away or scare them into not saying something, which really sucks.

Anyway, I think that if I was going to do something similar to what solar shift has done, and I very well may some day, I'd use the recumbent bike I have now and purchase a leaning trike adapter made by http://www.noomadbike.com/en/ these guys. This leaning trike adapter looks very interesting. In addition to this, I'd use a trailer for the solar panels rather than a place the panels on top of the bike. The idea or reason I have around this is multi purpose.

1. The trailer would have it's own independent column for an attachment to the trike. If the trailer did end up getting flipped over with the solar panels attached to it, the trailer wouldn't (at least try to) flip the trike with it. Sure it would probably be very dangerous and so on, but at least the trailer is flipping over instead of you. The idea is at the very least this prevents you from adding weight up high on the trike which is bad for the balance of the trike in any kind of turn.
2. I would attach, as best I could, the solar panel(s) to the lid of a large hinged plastic and/or metal container of some kind (this would likely also hold lots of gear and batteries). This might help alleviate some of turning the solar panel into a sail. Having the heavy stuff directly underneath any upwind is the goal.

 

[solarshift]

sorry about the infrequent updates, and minimal stu about dayly distence etc, because I try to avoid doubeling up to mutch with this and the faceboock page because my intenet is slow, converage is infrewuent, and I dont have the patence to wright the same thing twice. I put tecnical bike stuff up here and leave campy landscapes and stuff for aceboock an dthe blog over the lst e wweeks Ive probebly avraged 700km a week, I ueselly camp on the side of the road or somtimes in rest arias or freecamps and ocassionaly somone offers me a bed ( and ueselly good discussion at the sme time) if you want more constant updates have a loock at http://solarshiftaus.blogspot.com.au/ or https://www.facebook.com/solarshift

Im nearly at townsville now yesterrday I pulled in I think a record 52ah, 0ver 2.5kwh, and I managed to do 160km. I somhow managed to strech an expensive chain in 500km of gental riding more than a simple old thing did in 4000, any ideas?

 

[bowlofsalad]

I somhow managed to strech an expensive chain in 500km of gental riding more than a simple old thing did in 4000, any ideas?

The way I understand it, there is no such thing as a stretched chain, I don't know why they call it a stretched chain. The chain slowly (or quickly in your case) wears away through friction, as this happens, the gaps between the links becomes larger so the chain becomes longer, giving the illusion of stretching I suppose. The answer to friction on a chain is often at least lubrication. But if the chain is very dirty, the lubrication may not be enough, the lubrication will simply mix with the dirt already on your chain and you'll still get plenty of friction. I doubt this is easy or practical to consider, but you can clean chains in various ways.

Here are my recommendations. Clean the chain real well, there are a lot of ways to do this but I am no expert. Some put their chain in an ultrasonic bath, some run the chain through some type of brush tool, some just use lots of some kind of spray. After you get all the junk and such off, you'd probably want to use some kind of 'dry' lube. This was probably the source of your problem, you may have used a chain lube that was very sticky and 'wet', it picked up a ton of dirt. My last piece of advice is to consider various forms of chain tubes. http://www.hostelshoppe.com/tech_chaintube.php Here is an example of a chain tube. Keeping the chain covered means it won't need maintenance (at least cleaning) as often. Your best bet is to probably stop by some bike shop and see what they'd charge and if they'd recommend cleaning the chain and drive train parts.

For all I know, your chain is just lacking lubrication, but from my understanding, a dirty chain (think very find sand and dirt in the air/wind) is the most common cause of this issue.

I can remember many very hot and dry windy days feeling like the wind was sand blasting my skin. A wet or sticky surface would pick up what is in the air pretty swiftly making it dirty in a hurry.

I am surprised how resourceful you seem, a cracked frame seems like the end of a bike to me, but not for you.

 

[Chalo]

Im nearly at townsville now yesterrday I pulled in I think a record 52ah, 0ver 2.5kwh, and I managed to do 160km. I somhow managed to strech an expensive chain in 500km of gental riding more than a simple old thing did in 4000, any ideas?

A worn-out and elongated chain wears the teeth of your sprockets. Then when you put a new chain on, the sprockets quickly wear the chain to match. If you wear out a chain much more than 0.5% longer than new, you have to put on a new freewheel or cassette as well.

 

[solarshift]

I should mention that the chain in question is the drive of the motor, so a little more power than a standard pedel drivin chain would.
I do genrully ceep the chain farily well lubricated and cleaned, I havent had problems with the chain jumping under power, the teltail was that it had become mutch slacker, for a givin tenchoner position, (ther is no spring tenchoner just a manual tenchon),

Im nearly at townsville now yesterrday I pulled in I think a record 52ah, 0ver 2.5kwh, and I managed to do 160km. I somhow managed to strech an expensive chain in 500km of gental riding more than a simple old thing did in 4000, any ideas?

A worn-out and elongated chain wears the teeth of your sprockets. Then when you put a new chain on, the sprockets quickly wear the chain to match. If you wear out a chain much more than 0.5% longer than new, you have to put on a new freewheel or cassette as well.

shure, Ive been awere of that with standard setups, but the new chain streched ( as aposed to wore, ie equally tight on the cogs but total lenth increased,) to the point that it was significantly longer than the old one.
I assume that the fancy expensive chian was just to lightweaght for the job and that the motor streched it, but I stand to be proven wrong

 

[Chalo]

but the new chain streched ( as aposed to wore, ie equally tight on the cogs but total lenth increased,) to the point that it was significantly longer than the old one.

I think if you take a link of that chain apart and inspect the pins and bushings, you'll discover normal wear patterns there.

That said, a wider chain presents more wear surface than a narrower one, and an old-fashioned bushed chain has more endurance than a modern "bushingless" chain.

 

[whatever]

looks like his in townsville, bloody amazing, hope the boys in blue dont hassle too much,
a cheap way to keep mossies at bay: buy some citronella lamp oil ( $4 bucks in a two dollar shop), just rub it on, works great cheap than aeroguard etc,
can mix it with water and spray it on too

 

[solarshift]

almoast, Im im innsfale for a bit, that would have been a great idea, and I do perfer the small of cytronella oil to arogard, but I have gone and brought a roll on, witch should last the trip, and is worth every cent, the mozzies here are massive and they swalm, I have found myself wearing a jumper just to keep them oult because they sting threw my shirt, and thats before I need to visit a tree

 

[whatever]

plenty of people keeping an eye on your trip with interest, what an adventure!

 

[whistle_stop]

I can report that Sam is still going strong!



Sam headed off from a slightly chilly Yungaburra on the Atherton Tablelands this morning, we got him out of bed for a photo opportunity so he is missing some of his load.
We shot a short video interview and will try and get it edited an online later this week.

I only met Sam a few days ago and am over the moon to met someone who is really doing stuff! What a great achievement.
he is heading west towards Ravenshoe and is probably already there by now.

I hope that slow leak was an easy fix Sam - I look forward to seeing you again somewhere!

 

[solarshift]

well done you found it, the slow leak was becoing less slow, but I pulled a fine piece of wire oult of the tube and pached it so its staying up now. its great to be back on the road, but frustratingly there is bugger all sun, after being in the sun for all of the last 2 weeks

 

[whatever]

how are the solar cells and encapsulation holding up?

 

[solarshift]

pannels are holding up fairly well, at first 2 had a bit of blistering, I think there were air pockets that ended up getting vocs seald in and then when they got hot the expanded, there are a few srach marks where theyve been hit by flying rocks and stuff, and a parm branch did land on them at one point but they still have good oultput.

 

[solarshift]

https://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

for thoose wanting a map

 

[whatever]

you've done a good job on those panels you built , well done

 

[whatever]

he's made it to katherine.........amazing stuff.......the map link doesn't give your track it just goes to google earth

 

[solarshift]

sorry Il have to do somthing about that. try http://goo.gl/maps/WLwYV