Could run two in parallel?A closer look at the two first links above shows the black box battery can only provide 25A, so it's not usable, regardless of it's other specs.
Could run two in parallel?A closer look at the two first links above shows the black box battery can only provide 25A, so it's not usable, regardless of it's other specs.
Could run two in parallel?A closer look at the two first links above shows the black box battery can only provide 25A, so it's not usable, regardless of it's other specs.
BTW, this is awesome!!! The red on at the end is super cool!Ok, so, first Dogman did the sensible thing, and laid out the basics of the frontend on the driveway, drawing it up an dmeasuring it out, copying and modifying as needed from the ReBike (whose geometry seems to work great at low speeds and is low and long and easy to reproduce with stuff I have here).
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Once he'd got it laid out, he cut the metal for it out of scrap I had here, and between us we got it welded up. Then we needed a headtube that would fit a threadless fork (cuz I have at least 3 of those, and it's easier to do remote steering setups on them, and other stuff, whcih I thought I would end up doing with this due to the distance from seat to steerer).
I found a bike Randall (local friend) had given me for parts/etc a few years ago, which I'd used bits off here and there, that had the right size headtube to accept the races off the alloy Mongoose Hatchet frame from Bill that goes with the crappy 29er Elements fork that's on the trike (for now, until I get something better, or fix the Manitou Skareb fork).
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When I cut the headtube off teh frame, I left a good several inches of downtube to be inserted into the big square tube that forms the downtube of the trike's frontend, as it is a perfect fit, and should make the whole thing stronger there (as opposed to just fishmouthing the square tube to go right up to a bare headtube). I also left teh whole toptube, so that it oculd either be bent downward to make a triangulation, or left straight to go back to the top of teh remote steering pivot tube, or whatever. it's still uncut and unused, and will probably get shortened a lot and the area used as a controller space. That was all then welded to the main frame.
After some issues with fork height vs design, we went with the crappy element fork cuz it's taller (29er vs 26) but I may go back to a 26 later. Not sure. I also have a slightly better 700c fork that i might be able to get to work for rim brakes on here, but it's not a threadless type, complicationg steering setup, and it's also alloy so will probably break with an x5304 in there.
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I have a lot better 26" manitou skareb fork, but I have to make a tube with dropouts on it to go over the bottom fo each fork leg, cuz I broke the droputs on it in the x5304 offground testing.It's also alloy.
I have a not-great suntour 26" fork, too, used to be on CrazyBike2, but it's wearing out and feels loose in the bushings around the fork legs. Buut it has rim bosses for brakes, and so it would simplify that part.
For now, the steel element fork will stay, and i'll have to add rim brake bosses to it. it's steel so they can be welded right on.
Have to add those cuz there's no disc mounts on x5304 I have, and no other brakes yet. Had used a promax 160mm disc on a regular bike wheel but since the easiest way to add the motor to the trike is a front hub....
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Brake handles...presently there is a locking lever taken from DayGlo Avenger (which hasn't been used in years, so it's getting cannibalized for this project, too), and a WuXing lever from Dogman, both on the right side. WX is used for ebrake handle, and will also run a mechanical brake if needed (but not disc cuz it's the wrong mechanical advantage). Locking lever did run the disc fine (correct MA), and will run the rim brakes so I can physically lock the wheel so the trike doesn't roll off on slopes.
I didn't have a long enough cable for the brakes, so I "tied" two together by adding cable stops to teh steering tiller tube, and running housing up to those on each side, and no housing between, and using the pinch bolt off a junk bmx brake, drilled out for two cables, to clamp them together betwen the stops. It works ok so far, but i'll wanna get some fresh cables that are long enough before I really trust this thing.
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There's a dual brake lever from AussieJester a few years back that will run the rear brakes.
Those will be a pair off a kid's BMX. Calipers, but better than most I've had off that type. Dunno how well they work yet, as I ahve to add mounts for them. Dogman already cut and fishmouthed a crossbar for them to bolt to on each wheel, but some mods to the bars those go on need to be made to ensure the kennel or cargo does not interfere with brake operation.
Cargo area: I got rid of the whole rack and only kept most of the frame around each wheel, and the front crossbar. This is to make the most of the volume back there, and to put that closest to teh ground I can, so COG stays low to improve anti-tipping.
I added square tubing (as seen in OP of thread) to extend the cargo area out past the rear wheel some distance, to give a big volume without *too* much risck of wheelieing the trike with a big load back there.
Basicallly this carg oarea has about as much space as the original kid's trailer I started with, that Hachi's trailer (mkII) had been sometimes (or intended to; I forget) bolted to, and that I used for Tiny's kennel trailer (mkII) as well.
It still needs fenders around hte wheels so that cargo can't rub on them, desing for those is shown in OP, minus the coroplast that will get cut and bent and tied around them.
Also still needs a ball hitch to pull the trailer if it has to. (like if I wanna take both dogs somewhere, I can get or make another kennel to go on the trailer, and use the existing one on the trike, or vice-versa). But that hitch will have to go on an extension out around a foot from the existng backend, cuz otherwise it'll be inside the kennel.
Steering...have no handelbars or stems lng enough to reach the bars from the seat, so I made a tiller out of a piece fo toptube or downtube off antoher old bike that already had donated it's seattube to the delta tripper's hadnelbar pivot tube, which i left intact in case I need it for remote steering. The tiller has the dt's old bars on it, so that they are positioned like CB2's for ride comfort. But when i need to steer more than a little i'll have tost op pedalling and leave my legs even so my knees clear the swinging bars. I'm ok with tah for a more comfy regular position. would be better with remote steering butthis si simlper and quciker so that's what we get for now.
I couldn't bend the tiller bar so Dogman had to do that for me.
I was gonna use the black suntour forks but didn't hae a star washer in it to screw the top down into, and the whilte elment forks do, so thye got used.
sorry if this is disjointed i keep dozing off writing it. more later.
I don't know what a "red on" is?BTW, this is awesome!!! The red on at the end is super cool!
I've been keeping an eye on the whole keel area at and around the bedrail reinforcement addition, and have not yet seen any issues. Doesn't mean there won't be any, but so far it's ok, since the above in October 2023, so a year and a half of 5-day-a-week commuting plus the various weekend grocery/etc trips.Re: Infamous 'bed rails'... They contain excess carbon and an inconsistent variety of undesireable elements. (A.K.A junk steel). Welding the stuff frequently causes embrittlment (cracking) in the HAZ. If you spoil drill bits attempting create a fresh hole in it, then I'd strongly discourage using the stuff on anything your life depended on. As always, it's entirely your call.


I considered that previously, but if that were the case, I would expect it to happen much more regularly rather than just every so often. It happens so infrequyently that i forget to keep checking the skewer, until the day I finallly find it loose. :/The next morning... What about thermals? If the bike sits outside, that might be enough to make the lever come undone.
Cut a strip of inner tube heavy duty rubber band and tie it up. I'd bet it won't happen again.
Since something is causing the skewer to loosen (tension decreasing on the skewer; whcih probably doesn't have anything directly to do with the lever itself) all that will do is keep the lever in place so I can't see that it has loosened.
That's why I leave the lever in the up position so it's obvious in a preflight glance at things taht it's wrong.
I'd still feel it when I started riding, but since at that point I'm moving and if something went wrong to allow the wheel to come out of the fork because of the loose skewer, I'd then have the fork plowing into the road and destroying the trike and possibly killing me depending on exactly what happens, I'd rather just not do that.
The lever itself won't just come loose and flop unless the tension on the skewer has decreased, and securing the lever even with a hose clamp won't stop whatever is causing the tension to decrease.
If it was just that the lever was being pulled out then the band or a clamp would certainly work, but that can't be what is happening, unless someone is coming into my yard past the dogs and opening hte noisy shed doors without anyone hearing it and the dogs not hearing it and not barking furiously and chasing them (and probably causing them to yell and run away...wouldn't *you* run from a 150lb+ dog running toward you, the intruder in their yard?), then they get past the trike inside the shed to it's front end in the dark (no lights in there unless I connect them at the house first) then loosen the lever then out the doors, close teh noisy doors back to exactly the way I left them, get past the dogs and out of the yard.... No, it's not being pulled open by someone messing with it.... (I mean, I could put a camera out there to be sure, but really, I think by this time I'd've noticed something at the time it was happening :lol: ).
I still don't know what causes the decrease in tension to the point that the lever suddenly releases while just sitting there after a ride, when I don't have any wiggle or other issues during any ride leading up to it.And always only at home, not at the other end of my commute sitting there at work.
I already did replace the skewer (from the aluminum open-cam type to this one), but the problem persists. While it could still be the skewer, it's possible that it is something else, and that's why I'm inviting ideas.![]()
Could it be that it's a two step process? It gets part way loosened while riding, then the temperature differentials during storage loosen it further until the lever opens?The thing that is so wierd is when it happens...I would expect it to come loose *while riding*, and specificaly when the most sideloading occurs, but it never happens then, just when sitting there parked.
Yeah, generally speaking there's one reason why a skewer would open - lost tension.The other thing I can think of is the axle locknuts getting smooshed (if aluminum) or the dropout faces becoming indented.
"....over the years?"I have had this front QR come loose a number of times now over the years.
Axle hardware is all steel too (hub itself is aluminum though). Dropouts are steel, though cheap (crappy suspension fork lowers) There are indents from the ridges in the hub locknuts, but they "look" the same as the last time I took it off some time back to change the tire. I didn't take pics then so nothing to compare to except my unwarrantied memories.The other thing I can think of is the axle locknuts getting smooshed (if aluminum) or the dropout faces becoming indented.
I've had it on the PFC for a long time (noted somewhere above on this page).Could it be that it's a two step process? It gets part way loosened while riding, then the temperature differentials during storage loosen it further until the lever opens?
Hope by now you've added front skewer inspection to your "Pre-Flight Checklist!"
That's something that happened with a different hub, and is why I changed to this hub--the bearing cups in the hub failed (but that one didn't have a skewer issue, it was just the sudden cup failure).Yeah, generally speaking there's one reason why a skewer would open - lost tension.
And since it's an opposed system, it can be broken down into either (or both!):
* skewer elongating
* the hub (well everything it clamps on) shortening
- both of the above of course meant relative to each other, not absolutely.
If a new skewer didn't fix it, if the dropouts and the fork material seem fine, the only logical conclusion is that the hub's locknut edge to locknut edge is shrinking.
Will they fit? I didn't want to use QR on a previous hub on this trike, but was stuck with it because none of the regular front bike wheel axles I had from any wheel (some quite ancient, all the way up to stuff that might even be from this century :lol: ) would work; I don't remember why they didn't fit it but they didn't.@amberwolf , How about swapping the hollow QR axle for a solid one? I've got some solid front axles that I can send you.
Don't know why that didn't occur to me to check"....over the years?"
Do you have a dial or digital measuring caliper handy? I'd urge you to pull the front wheel and measure across the jam-nuts of the axle - If less than 100mm, disassemble the hub and closely inspect the hub, bearings, and the axle.
Measure first... before you disassemble. If you can't get your caliper to fit between the spokes, just grab a known good fork and confirm 100mm between the inside of the dropouts. Then drop your wheel in and see if there's any side-to--side slack.I'll try that later today when I go out to open up the hub to check the cones/cups/bearings.
Yes, it is, see the text in the post with the images (quoted below):Is this QR skewer bent a bit (meaning it doesn't have consistent clamping force)?
In the pics you can see the skewer itself is slightly bent at the threaded end. The nut still threads on normally all the way from the outer end down to the end of the threaded area, isn't loose but it rolls on easily for teh whole length.
It's possible the bend itself could cause the issue, but I would expect it to be like a spoke--wehn tensioned, it wouldn't matter...but it would take a lot of tension to straighten something this thick, so...dunno. Still gonna check everything else too.
I don't know what caused the bend; it shouldn't be possible for wheel loading to do that since the axle takes that along the dropouts. Maybe it's always been bent and I just never noticed before.
I just edited my previous post to mention: Maybe fork legs have a "play" between them a bit too much? Just guessing.Yes, it is, see the text in the post with the images (quoted below):
I don't know what "wandering around" means.Edit: I'd check for why it's bent, rather than believing this loosening is caused by the bent. Maybe fork legs are "wandering" around?