Tadpole Trike Conversions?
- Thread starter bcunio
- Start date
docnjoj
1 GW
Yep!
otherDoc
otherDoc
deardancer3
10 kW
I have an e-tadpole and have done several conversions.
As usual rear hub motor easy, Bionx least modification to feel; plenty of power on 20" wheel, Heinzmann horrible efficiency, Cyclone best but toughest install. Two speed crystalyte pretty nice.
And others.
so depends on your situation. If you have a convoluted chainline and low ground learance, forget cyclone unless you are good and patient.
I will be putting a two speed crystalyte 408/4011 48v on my Tadpole velomobile. If it is not enough power then I'll get a 72v controller.
"Thats my story and I'm sticking to it."
As usual rear hub motor easy, Bionx least modification to feel; plenty of power on 20" wheel, Heinzmann horrible efficiency, Cyclone best but toughest install. Two speed crystalyte pretty nice.
And others.
so depends on your situation. If you have a convoluted chainline and low ground learance, forget cyclone unless you are good and patient.
I will be putting a two speed crystalyte 408/4011 48v on my Tadpole velomobile. If it is not enough power then I'll get a 72v controller.
"Thats my story and I'm sticking to it."
MidniteTweeker
100 W
- Joined
- May 16, 2008
- Messages
- 121
Yep. Brushless geared hubmotor on a Trimuter. 36V 15 AH Li-ion battery. Level ground speed approx 18-20 mph. Once it gets over 22 mph the motor is pretty well max'ed out. Anything faster than that is due to either me pedaling or gravity or both.
Personally, on the roads around here 18 mph is plenty considering #1. You've got 3X the number of wheel tracks to manage, and #2. You can't stand on the pedals to absorb shock. As a result, the tires, frame, seat, and your own backside have to absorb all road shock. If your Trice has a suspension that would help, altho it doesn't do much for the front wheels.
Not sure about maximum range. So far been 33 miles on a single charge and used a bit over 12 AH in the process.
I use a CA to monitor wattage on hills. The controller mfg stuck a temp cutoff inside the controller & picked too low of a temp value (according to Doug at evtech.) On a hot day (90F) it can cutout from a lot of stop and go driving or long uphills. Cool weather is better. I try to limit power consumption on hills to ~500W by slowing down and pedaling more. Doug says the cutoff can be disabled, but so far I haven't felt the need.
I love playing with gadgets & tweaking stuff, so it's tempting to go in search of more speed and hill climbing power by using a different controller and higher voltage. Then I think of what a hassle a broken frame would be and suddenly I'm happy with what I've got.
MT
Personally, on the roads around here 18 mph is plenty considering #1. You've got 3X the number of wheel tracks to manage, and #2. You can't stand on the pedals to absorb shock. As a result, the tires, frame, seat, and your own backside have to absorb all road shock. If your Trice has a suspension that would help, altho it doesn't do much for the front wheels.
Not sure about maximum range. So far been 33 miles on a single charge and used a bit over 12 AH in the process.
I use a CA to monitor wattage on hills. The controller mfg stuck a temp cutoff inside the controller & picked too low of a temp value (according to Doug at evtech.) On a hot day (90F) it can cutout from a lot of stop and go driving or long uphills. Cool weather is better. I try to limit power consumption on hills to ~500W by slowing down and pedaling more. Doug says the cutoff can be disabled, but so far I haven't felt the need.
I love playing with gadgets & tweaking stuff, so it's tempting to go in search of more speed and hill climbing power by using a different controller and higher voltage. Then I think of what a hassle a broken frame would be and suddenly I'm happy with what I've got.
MT
docnjoj
1 GW
Finally the website took a perfecty good jpeg. Took me 3 days to get it on here. Wah! Anyway, this is the Tricruiser awaiting the Ping 48 volt 20 ah battery. It doesnt show the latest mods, cause I'm too lazy to take pictures, but I will this weekend. 48 volts barely enuff to move it 20mph. Maybe the Ping at 20 ah will work better than tha NiMh ant 10ah. I use it for exercise and groceries in town. averages 25wh/hr/mi. Total weight with lil' ol' me is 310 lbs.
otherDoc
![315a[1].jpg](https://endless-sphere.com/sphere/data/attachments/8/8288-d9e6e538adcf0d32b4f21bd8c3292dd7.jpg "315a[1].jpg")
otherDoc
Freddyflatfoot
1 kW
I have a homebuilt tadpole, using a Bafang rear motor in a 20" wheel, @36v (original motor voltage 24v)
Top speed is 42 kph, cruise between 33-38 kph.
Currently have over 3500 k's on the trike. Using a Ping 36v/10 AHr battery, and a ANANDA 14.8A controller. Originally had 36v/10AHr of lead, but changed to LiFePo4 Feb this year.
Range is estimated at 40 k's, but have never run it down. Have used 8 Ah for 32 k's.
Good setup, good carrying capacity. The geared motor is good for hills.
I have tried a 26" wheel, which was good for close to 50 kph, but torque was a bit wheezy, and cruise speed was only marginally higher. Required more pedaling effort!
The trike is reasonably heavy, but the Bafang pulls her along quite nicely! Not planning any changes to the current setup.
Top speed is 42 kph, cruise between 33-38 kph.
Currently have over 3500 k's on the trike. Using a Ping 36v/10 AHr battery, and a ANANDA 14.8A controller. Originally had 36v/10AHr of lead, but changed to LiFePo4 Feb this year.
Range is estimated at 40 k's, but have never run it down. Have used 8 Ah for 32 k's.
Good setup, good carrying capacity. The geared motor is good for hills.
I have tried a 26" wheel, which was good for close to 50 kph, but torque was a bit wheezy, and cruise speed was only marginally higher. Required more pedaling effort!
The trike is reasonably heavy, but the Bafang pulls her along quite nicely! Not planning any changes to the current setup.
paultrafalgar
10 kW
I make that about 13 watt hours per mile which is very good. Others seem to report higher consumption, but I guess that keeping the speed down to 18mph (very sensible) accounts for it mostly.MidniteTweeker said:
Regards,
Paul
Freddyflatfoot
1 kW
Yep, that's pretty good power consumption!paultrafalgar said:
Mine tends to vary between 8-10 whr/km, depending on how hard I push, the weather conditions (wind), an how much effort I put into pedaling!
I reckon if I could maintain a max speed of 25 kph, I could get the whr usage to below 8 per km, but I never seem to be that disciplined, especially commuting to/from work! That power can be addictive!
The beauty of these systems, being a human/electric hybrid, the user can decide how much power is added to the human mix! Of course a lot depends on the fitness/ability of the rider, and the expectation of what speed to run at. I often try and limit the power draw to 10A or less, but with no current limiter, its easy to exceed that and go to max draw!
Funny how I can be happy riding my other trike or bike at 25 kph, but not the electric one! Go figure!
aquietstorm
1 mW
- Joined
- May 28, 2008
- Messages
- 11
Where can I see more pics of this trike?
docnjoj said:
MidniteTweeker
100 W
- Joined
- May 16, 2008
- Messages
- 121
You've got that right. My initial plan was more to provide "electric assist" than it was to be "all electric." I was just trying to avoid arriving at work all sweaty. And when I was 100% pedal-powered I thought 12-14 mph average was just fine. But add a motor and the lust to mash the thumb lever takes over. Weird. I can see now how easily I could get hooked on the pursuit of more speed/power/bigger motor/more batteries if I'm not careful.
BTW, for perspective my trike weighs 41 pounds before motor & battery. Guessing they add another 20 pounds. Me fully clothed for cold weather about 275, plus add a few more pounds for tools, switch, controller, CA, headlight & battery system. Probably brings the total to around 340 pounds or so.
MT
docnjoj
1 GW
http://www.americruiser.com/ Sid is a prince of a gentleman and provides parts when u need them at reasonable prices. Mine is over 6 years old an I have done 2 major rebuilds and 4 minor rebuilds because I like to! The original is extremely well designed and reasonable in price. It is aircraft alloy and bolted together so modifications are simple. I weigh 230 and it has never broken, even with hard use! Great trike!
otherDoc
otherDoc
paultrafalgar
10 kW
Freddyflatfoot said:
Maybe we need a hugely loud Masserati engine noise, proportional to throttle setting piped into our lugholes to convince us that we're going faster than we are!
kmxtornado
10 kW
I know this is an old thread, but I'm surprised there haven't been more contributions to this topic. I've been in and out of the forum and have definitely come across some bent trike e-projects worthy of participating in this thread.
chvidgov.bc.ca
10 kW
Just before Christmas I aquired an Actionbent T1 Mesh seat tadpole trike, found here... http://www.actionbent.com/tadpoletrikem.html
I've got a Nine Continent 2805 rear hub motor on the back, with single or dual (in parallel) Ping batteries, 48V 15 Ahr. The trike will cruise in the
high twenties (mph) with around 100 miles of range with the dual packs, if I pedal consistently and easily, averaging around 14 watt hours per mile.
Last weekend I went 59 miles on the trike from Victoria to East Sooke Park on a multi-use path, the Galloping Goose. It can cruise at over
thirty miles per hour on a long flat stretch.
The motor was tricky to install as the dropouts (rear) were alloy, not very deep, and the O.L.D. was 131mm, which required removing mm on each
axle of the 9C to shoehorn it in there with the necessary inner washer. I use two opposed torque arms on each side, to pull the motor up into the dropout,
and immobilize it in both directions. It was a bit tricky to set it all up, but now that it is done, the bike is great. I had to play with the tie rod a fair bit
to dial in the toe-in settings. The trike is a good buy, all alloy frame, with dual disks, and was 1200 Cdn. landed in Victoria, from Redmond Washington.
Possibly one of the cheapest high quality trikes out there, and a great candidate for conversion. The Axiom Journey rack fit well, and I replace the existing
stems to make the handlebars more adjustable and added a Terracycle Sport idler on the chainline. The new idler plugged right into the old idler mount.
I've had the trike up to 43 mph on a steepish but short downhill run of several hundred metres, so it is quite fast, with a rear 26" Big Apple tire,
and front Primo Comet tires (406). I'm using Axiom Dutch Shopper panniers which are great for hauling groceries or camping gear in some of my kayaking dry bags.
I've got a DealExtreme flashlight on the a Minoura Spacegrip on the boom. The trike has the Veloamp from ebikes.ca, with paired Westmarine waterproof six inch
speakers, developing 50 watts per channel - awesome sound, and running off the packs - the amp has a wide input voltage range.
I've got an ideal diode from Nick in England on this site, to parallel the two packs or just use one.
The trike comes with friction shifters instead of indexed - I like the flexibility of the friction shifters. I'm using
a 12 mosfet BMSbattery Universal controller with a standalone CA for speedometer and monitoring energy consumption. Running sensorless, which has
been good - no Halls.
I also have a Sun EZ-sport recumbent, electrified with a Crystalyte 405 but I find myself riding the trike more these days, due to the extra fun factor with the trike.
It is just a bit faster and I like the G forces on turns, which necessitates leaning to the side of turning. The mesh seat is cool in summer, and I've strapped
on a Thermarest on top of the seat, for winter riding, which is nice and warm. All in all, I'm very happy with my new ride.
I've got a Nine Continent 2805 rear hub motor on the back, with single or dual (in parallel) Ping batteries, 48V 15 Ahr. The trike will cruise in the
high twenties (mph) with around 100 miles of range with the dual packs, if I pedal consistently and easily, averaging around 14 watt hours per mile.
Last weekend I went 59 miles on the trike from Victoria to East Sooke Park on a multi-use path, the Galloping Goose. It can cruise at over
thirty miles per hour on a long flat stretch.
The motor was tricky to install as the dropouts (rear) were alloy, not very deep, and the O.L.D. was 131mm, which required removing mm on each
axle of the 9C to shoehorn it in there with the necessary inner washer. I use two opposed torque arms on each side, to pull the motor up into the dropout,
and immobilize it in both directions. It was a bit tricky to set it all up, but now that it is done, the bike is great. I had to play with the tie rod a fair bit
to dial in the toe-in settings. The trike is a good buy, all alloy frame, with dual disks, and was 1200 Cdn. landed in Victoria, from Redmond Washington.
Possibly one of the cheapest high quality trikes out there, and a great candidate for conversion. The Axiom Journey rack fit well, and I replace the existing
stems to make the handlebars more adjustable and added a Terracycle Sport idler on the chainline. The new idler plugged right into the old idler mount.
I've had the trike up to 43 mph on a steepish but short downhill run of several hundred metres, so it is quite fast, with a rear 26" Big Apple tire,
and front Primo Comet tires (406). I'm using Axiom Dutch Shopper panniers which are great for hauling groceries or camping gear in some of my kayaking dry bags.
I've got a DealExtreme flashlight on the a Minoura Spacegrip on the boom. The trike has the Veloamp from ebikes.ca, with paired Westmarine waterproof six inch
speakers, developing 50 watts per channel - awesome sound, and running off the packs - the amp has a wide input voltage range.
I've got an ideal diode from Nick in England on this site, to parallel the two packs or just use one.
The trike comes with friction shifters instead of indexed - I like the flexibility of the friction shifters. I'm using
a 12 mosfet BMSbattery Universal controller with a standalone CA for speedometer and monitoring energy consumption. Running sensorless, which has
been good - no Halls.
I also have a Sun EZ-sport recumbent, electrified with a Crystalyte 405 but I find myself riding the trike more these days, due to the extra fun factor with the trike.
It is just a bit faster and I like the G forces on turns, which necessitates leaning to the side of turning. The mesh seat is cool in summer, and I've strapped
on a Thermarest on top of the seat, for winter riding, which is nice and warm. All in all, I'm very happy with my new ride.
