trike ideas

[EVan]

Hi guys,
Friends of mine without a car have shown an interest in an electric cycle of some sort. They ideally want to carry two people (one or both pedaling), plus cargo, possibly a child.

They have some distance to travel on country and town roads and want a higher speed and assist for hills. No problem there, I've learned enough to spec a powerful system.

But the hard part is what sort of vehicle to use that will end up reasonably safe and comfortable. There is the bakfiets trike with two wheels at the front and a cargo box between. Or an industrial trike with two wheels at the back. Or side-by-side seating? Big pedal-rickshaw like a bike taxi?

I'm just not sure how stable and safe any of these things are at speed (say 25-30mph). Anyone have experience and examples?

 

[dogman dan]

When I had a schwinn trike up and running I found it pretty unsafe above 15 mph. Something about the adult trike made it impossible to steer well above 15 mph. So at 25 mph, you have great difficulty swerving even a few inches to avoid a pothole or broken glass. Of course corners had to be taken slow, but I'm talking about straight line riding. I think its a frame geometry thing, I don't hear guys with tadpole trikes making that complaint. I've noticed the same thing with golf carts. The old delta trike ones were pretty sketchy compared to the 4 wheel ones common today.

Sounds to me like the ideal vehicle for them might be more like a low speed vehicle, like the street legal golf carts. But a rickshaw would work fine at lower speeds. The best solution, though fairly expensive would be two bikes I think. Maybe one a mundo or big dummy, and the other a normal bike. If you think about it, the size battery you need to run a bike with three people won't be much different than two batteries on two bikes.

So one cargo bike with a clyte 5304 and one regular bike with a 9c 2807? Then the two wheel bikes can go 25-30 mph no problems.

 

[ebent]

The 2 wheels up front are known as a tadpole configuration and 2 in the back is known as a delta configuration. In mot set-ups, the tadpole has the best and safest ride. I ride a tadpole trike. With 2 riders the big quetion is how good or bad is the center of gravity. When I first motorized i had 2 boxes of lithium mounted on the rear rack just above the axle. No problem going straight but my CG was way off and I had to crawl on turns to keep from rolling. I moved the boxes one box forward and one box down by installing them on the chain stays. It now handles like a go cart.

No configuration is riskless when you add power. The more power the more common sense is required. Each configuration, trike or two wheels, has various safety considerations. Power, CG, visability, rider skill, road conditions, weather and on and on. When you have a 2 person vehicle the human error risk factors go up. Whatever they get they need to ramp up slowly as to understand the machine and each other takes time.

My trike has a top end of 30 mph. It does fine at that speed. My real top end that I am willing to touch from time to time is about 25. I don't like to take any machine and run it at full capacity. I'm sure it it harder on the battery. Maybe the motor. No handle issues at speed.

ebent

 

[coln72]

There is a two person tadpole trike being built at work at the moment. Both people pedal and sit one behind the other. Assistance is provided by a 35cc Honda. As it is the school holidays now (yes I teach), getting pics may be a problem

 

[docnjoj]

Here is one that may be going across the country.

http://www.ffrtrikes.com/projects

otherDoc

 

[EVan]

Thanks for your comments everyone. Confirms my suspicions so far.

I agree that the recumbent style trike is going to be more stable, but unfortunately it's ruled out as an option, too low to mix with the traffic around here (well, you'd have to be brave).

dogman: yes, I'm already trying to talk them into two powered bikes instead!

ebent: cool trike!

 

[ebent]

EVan,
There is an answer for being too low to be seen. A colorful flag. I'm sure it works. On occasion I might forget to bring the flag. The response from traffic is obvious. If too low is your concern then I say it is a non issue with an appropriate flag.

ebent

 

[spinningmagnets]

There's low, and then there's LOW. I like a lower seating and I ride a semi-recumbent. The seat places my eyes at the eye level of the average car driver. Just a preference...

 

[torker]

A flag will make a good difference. Or 2 of them. Over here they make a machine called a Rhoads Car but I have no experience with them. http://www.rhoadescar.com/rcar/index.shtml

 

[ebent]

Choosing rider configuration. Riders side by side is the most social ride unless your pissed at each other. Riding tandem allows you more access being narrower. Trikes for singles are wide enough and cause some restrictions as to where you can safely go. If you jump it up to double wide for 2 riders, the number of safe pleasant ride opportunites continues to decline. So it matters where you are going to ride. Less traffic double wide, more traffic tandem. At least that would be my choice. Or 2 trikes....

ebent