My life with Python trikes Mk1 , Mk1.5 , Mk2 ?

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Square peg in a round hole? :unsure:

.... I will get my coat.
 
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Flevo update ? NO

Well another hour of my life I won't get back...

I cannot fit a 406 wheel the rim is outside the adjustment of the Magura brakes so they can't be used.

I thought I had found the problem with the original wheel the cassette side axle cone was screwed in that tight it stopped the axle turning in the wheel , cracked it I thought .....

Except there is no lock-nut on that side and no flats on the cone to lock against ? WHAT !!! [ Look at post #859 ]



The left hand end of this axle the cone being the big bit with splines ?

So freed it off struggled to get the wheel back in , tightened it all up spun the wheel a couple of times and guess what LOCKED UP AGAIN !

I'm out of here.

Paul
 
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That is certainly a complex and weird front wheel and hub assembly. If t'were mine I'd bin it and insert a friendlier 406 with disc and casette, modify your own rear to get some rear brakes and more 406s on and weld a caliper mount up front. My own experiences with igh is such that I'll keep away in future and stick to simple freewheels and casettes. If you want to try a nuvinci I can send you mine down to lace into a 406 rim but just like what you've got I wasn't at all convinced it was working well. You could be swapping one pile of crap for another. A more normal set-up would likely work best and some effort to sort it fully and properly now will likely be the better option.
 
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Ok Flevo progress of sorts :-

First the bad news ?



The big black part with no flats for a locknut is bust !


The splined part is missing from mine , hence it winding in so far it locks the wheel up.

The good news ?

I have ridden it , usual Zombie style no brakes and stuck in high gear.
I realised I was much more likely to stop because I was loosing balance than want to brake so I walked around to the green which has a slight slope and did a circuit , I could not get back up as the gearing is much to high.
Currently it has 2 sets bars fixed and steering , I actually had one hand on both , as it is hard to ride in a straight line because the gearing is much to high, when riding any sort of MBB/Python/Flevo you need really low gears and spinning to set off , stops the tremendous force being converted into steering input.

So next up decide which wheel to use and sort out a gear change.

I may put a Shimano Nexus 7 in as I have 1 with roller brake and one without , if I start with the roller brake I can cable them both up and get riding it , then when I get brakes on the back I can swap to the non roller as I don't need a parking brake.

big grin Paul
 
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Just a observation,

You have a narrow lock nut inside the dome nut, is there a second look nut on the brake side?

Because, I noticed that on the archive picture #859 there is only one lock nut and it's fitted on the brake side.

Does it make a different?
 
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Pegasus

Yes nothing missing , just a broken part.

I think this part should just bottom out when screwed in onto a non rotating part inside the freewheel of the cassette.
Because of the missing part it gets driven around so far in till it locks the whole hub up.

Paul
 
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Ok slight progress ....

I have a Nexus 7 installed with roller brake , had to spring the fork legs open and add a small plate for the reaction arm for the brake oddly it bolted to the same place the Sach's used for 25+years spooky.
Derailleur is still needed alas as the fork axle slots are parallel to the fork legs , meaning you need some slack chain to get the chain off the front ring to get enough slack in it for the wheel to drop backwards and down , might have been better if that slot was at 90' to the fork centre line then a bit of chain tube could have avoided having to have the derailleur [ especially as I have to find a much longer stop screw to wind it to the middle of the imaginary cassette - still chain line looks good now and moves backwards easily ]

So next up cabling then we can have a play.

Paul
 
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Emiel

Odd a very strange mix of good stuff and ' why do that stuff ' ?

Why no gears ?
Looks like it is not strong enough and the rear wheels are canting inwards ?
There appears to be at least 2 different versions looking at the other video
is there an elastomer controlling seat tilt ?

May be the heavy person ' broke ' it ?

I had though of only tilting the seat on my prototype , to little time to test these things though.....

Paul
 
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The bars have a dual use despite there being no pivots in them. Because of their height and width and the leverage that gives, they can be used for controlling tilt as well as steering. You are right about two different versions. One has an elastomer but on the other the seat is free to tilt and is kept up only by slight friction. This is presumably possible due to the leverage of the bars. The sliding adjustment is a nice touch. It looks like easily the neatest solution to tilting a python trike. A bit of camber on the non-tilting rear wheels will help stop tyre scrub in corners as the outer wheel loads up.
 
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I looked only ad the tilting part. I found the tilting interesting, because it stays level and still can be tilted. It looked ad something where you are looking for.

I didn't really look ad the system, because the video isn't that great for that. So I don't know how it exactly works.
 
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I just looked ad the other video where they build it togheter.
Wow that construction is terrible and I now understand what you mean with the rest of the frame.

The tilting system is interesting. It is like the mosquito, but then the seat is mounted to the lower part and the top part is mouted to the frame. That way they get that the seat stays up, when placed up.
Now I am interested to see if that small mosquito system will also work as you mount the front part to the seat, so that the front part tilts with the seat.

Going straight and keeping balance is probably no problem. I think that you need the handlebars to get back level again, because only the seat tilts.

The rest of the frame is just crazy.
 
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Moving forward , about the same speed as a glacier ?

Flevo failed miserably to put a new cable in the Shimano 7 speed shifter , though I was doing it wrong however Google confirms it should have worked , oh well did get the brake connected and working just needs a bit of cable tension.

Tilter I cleaned up the plates holding the cut outs apart and cut 4 side plates to be welded on.

Dropped my gas cylinder off at the suppliers , will pick it up again tomorrow when filled [ seems Covid has caused a shortage of cylinders so he has non prefilled in stock - bizarre ]

Time for bed said Zebedee



all for now Paul
 
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OK a couple of tentative Flevo jaunts from the bottom of the drive , continued frustration with the Nexus 7 means only lowest gear available [ however about twice as fast as I want to go 😁 ]

So an improvement as not wheeling it around to do a loop on the grass ?

Like my tilter it is a fight between being able to foot steer but wanting to use bars on the steering part , however cannot ride it in that mode as still need bars on the fixed part for balance - more miles needed on both me thinks.

It has a odd quirk , on both trikes there is a bar/hand hold on the front to manouver lift the front wheel and pull it , on the Python/hybrid if you move the hand hold left or right it pivots and allows you to get it around corners etc.
The Flevo does NOT do that , it seems to try and tilt without there being any turning from it's centre joint at all ? is that the steering damper ?

The Flevo digs in on corners [ usually causing you to come a cropper - foot down etc ] I seems to get around a 90' corner then instead of being able to straighten it up it digs in viciously , I suspect it is caused by wheel flop something my chopper also exhibited needing a good heave on the bars to right it ?

All for now peeps...
 
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It has a odd quirk , on both trikes there is a bar/hand hold on the front to manouver lift the front wheel and pull it , on the Python/hybrid if you move the hand hold left or right it pivots and allows you to get it around corners etc.
The Flevo does NOT do that , it seems to try and tilt without there being any turning from it's centre joint at all ? is that the steering damper ?
This is definitely the damper , if I raise the front wheel off the deck I cannot turn the steering pivot at all with my hands....

The Flevo digs in on corners [ usually causing you to come a cropper - foot down etc ] I seems to get around a 90' corner then instead of being able to straighten it up it digs in viciously , I suspect it is caused by wheel flop something my chopper also exhibited needing a good heave on the bars to right it ?
So maybe not wheel flop at all ? maybe it is over tilting and I cannot correct it or fast enough ?
I think I may add more tilt damping similar to my Python tilter , should be easy enough.

All for now peeps...

ps broken Flevo for sale
 
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So new front end mocked up in position with main part horizontal [ the eventual goal ]



You can just about see that it raises the top of the pivot from 9" to 13.5"
That will also then raise the rear end of the main boom so it is level with the rear axle and not <>4" below it



So also raising the seat approx 4" to 16" one behind has a seat approx 11.5" original was approximately 8" - we are moving in the right direction (y):)

Only fly in ointment is I have now altered the pivot angle and it is way out , so next up cut that free and may have to look at welding pivot across end of tubes instead of inside where it currently sits to gain tyre clearance ?

all for now Paul
 
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Flevo update

So yesterday was a can we improve this in anyway ?

I started by looking at the tilt damper I noticed it is de-laminating from the 2 steel end plates which I would have though reduced it's damping abilities ?
Having bought a very expensive set from Holland I changed it out and there is a small improvement.

I had realised that I seem to have more problems turning left than I do right ? now that could be exacerbated by the fact the stand is on the left side so the trike leans to the left when parked ? this has the effect of always putting the tilt damper and the steering damper under strain causing them to be weaker in that direction over the years ?

Next time it is apart I will turn the steering damper through 180' and see what effect it has.

So more practice and more though needed , I really need a recumbent fan nearby to have a go ? maybe I am doing great and are nearly there ? or am I a novice ?

Paul
 
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Just made a left turn from the chosen path ? will it be a fruitful journey or a lonely cul-de-sac ?

DannyC and I in one of our many conversations both remarked that we had never seen a tilting trike where only the seat tilted ?

So being the only person in the western hemisphere with a meccano python trike I really ought to try it before committing to another Python/Flevo hybrid ?

Advantages ?

Well we hope by decoupling the weight of the steering front part from the tilting part it will stop ' unwanted ' tilting caused by steering inputs
Make righting easier as there will be less weight/inertia
means bars can be on the steering part



So this shows the old Mk1 spine sat alongside the tilter [ copper brown colour ]



the plan is to transfer the yellow front end to it and the bolt on rear wheels to it so giving a seat less Python

Before that happens I will drill 2 holes for the lower mounts of the 2 elastomer,s shown above and transfer them over

Then I will have to replace the upper part with a piece long enough to mount the seat on , that will also have 2 elastomer mounts.

This is not the prettiest nor lightest/neatest way of doing it just the quickest way to try it.

I will not bother with the rod end bearing as I don't think I will need it.

any thoughts on riding it ?

Paul
 
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Take a look at your life-insurance policie(s), and kiss the family good-bye? HTH :p
When this is done I will have 2 tilters AND a Flevo trike , obviously to many to test myself , so I will box one up and send it to you !
Then you can also right a comprehensive ride report ?
Which do you fancy the most ?

Paul
 
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