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

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I fear that your options may be limited.
I suspect you are only making these glaring "schoolboy-errors" in order to lift our spirits in the Winter's gloom, and give us all a good chuckle. ;)

It's a bit like "Well if I wanted to go there........ I wouldn't start from here".
 
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I fear that your options may be limited.
Much like my mind ...


I suspect you are only making these glaring "schoolboy-errors" in order to lift our spirits in the Winter's gloom, and give us all a good chuckle. ;)
The error came about because the model did not have the seat back support on it , so it was not obvious the way it was being slotted on.

Oh dear. Can you unbolt the hubs, place the wooden assembly on and then re-bolt them thru the ply?.
During the building I suspect this thing will be on and off the trike a couple of thousand times , and cannot be left on the trike whilst it is in use until it is waterproof ?

The fairing will have to be removed every time I want to take the trike in the car and so I feel 3 bolts made captive and just fastened underneath can be lived with for the few times a year it goes in the car.
However taking the wheels off to achieve this would be a royal PITA.
 
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The fairing will have to be removed every time I want to take the trike in the car and so I feel 3 bolts made captive and just fastened underneath can be lived with for the few times a year it goes in the car.
However taking the wheels off to achieve this would be a royal PITA.
I can see how that would be a real nuisance. The angled slots was the perfect solution for easy "on/off" but hard to seal against water ingress I would think.
Can you not put a hard box inside the frame verticals and clip on mudguards on the side walls of that on stand-offs?
 
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I can see how that would be a real nuisance. The angled slots was the perfect solution for easy "on/off" but hard to seal against water ingress I would think.
Yes water ingress is the main problem , especially as the ' hole ' created will be inside the wheel arch with high pressure dirty water everywhere .

The idea is to inset the wheel arches inside the body work , mainly for looks , however it also gives me much more area inside above the wheel arches [ another 8" across the fairing ] so it would be possible to also inset a box shaped to clear the wheel towers and big enough for it to slide on. A much easier solution to water proof.



It would maybe take take 3" off per side at the bottom of the fairing , if I accept the only important load is the camping gear then the longest object will be the tent so as long as somewhere inside there is enough length for that then we can pack the rest around it....

Only way to find out is to plough on with the build , made hard when your fingers are crossed !
 
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It would maybe take take 3" off per side at the bottom of the fairing , if I accept the only important load is the camping gear then the longest object will be the tent so as long as somewhere inside there is enough length for that then we can pack the rest around it....

Only way to find out is to plough on with the build , made hard when your fingers are crossed !
As being "trailer free" is a major aim(?), it is clearly worth investing in the effort to find a solution that works well enough for you.
I think the "Kellogs" cardboard might suffer water damage though. ;)
I had thought perhaps to look at an approach that secured the tent & Sleeping stuff behind the seat & in line with the angle of the rear spar strapped at that angle to see if they would fit.
 
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ok onward and ever rearwards ?

I built this apparatus of torture , well for plywood it is :LOL: , a former as I figured it was time well spent as I would be making 2 , 4 , 6 or maybe more of these ?

20" + wiggle room and the wheel arch is currently 4" wide . why well we will see later on...



Uses wedges rather than clamps as :-
a) I don't have enough big clamps
b) clamps make it to heavy to take indoors for the glue to cure
c) insufficient depth on the inside for the clamps to grip securely

So one out one to go..





Pictured untrimmed.

Not bad for a first attempt and with such poor wood , it usable.



and on the trike , it has yet to be trimmed for length and 4" wide ...

Well it is currently standing behind the post that supports the wheel so 4" of width are needed to shield the tyre

If I bring the mudguard closer to the back of the wheel I will need to cut a big hole and find some way of spacing it away from the brake components , I reckon it could come outwards about 1" [ the wheel post is 1.25" ] that would give me 2" more inside at floor level and take 1" off the outside width. However it will make the build trickier.


The other thing that is to hard to get my head around is that some of the wheel arch will be outside the rear fairing like here at the front.
The piece that forms the front [ following the seat back brace ] will of course be behind the seat and so the arch inner faces will be visible in this view.

So reducing it by 1" may look better and the extra 1" inside will give me more space for my elbows on the outside.

Need to make the other one and try them both...
 
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Problems with proposed fairing ?
problem 1:-



As can be seen here the rear wall up against the seat back is at quite a steep angle ?
That acute corner will be hard to glue in and hard to paint and anything small getting in there will be hard to retrieve it will be 15" from centre of rear wheel and 25" from rear of fairing ?
Ideas

a) add a vertical wall 5" high and finish the floor there , it would leave 2 cavities under the acute angle but the slope behind the seat back would continue to the frame so air would be deflected over them

b) add another wall about 6" further back to the one nearest the seat but finish it 8" or so below top and split it into 3 compartments , the tent could sit in one and a couple of other dry sack could contain say all cooking gear & food and most clothes ? this would make them easy to get to and stop them getting buried. This depends whether there is enough access to get tent in and out and shape of top [ see below ]

problem 2

the rear of the trike has a periphery frame that protects the load from ground strikes should I miss judge something and drop from height ?


the frame does not extend beyond the rear wheels.
it was though the rear fairing would stick out about 8" beyond that and have a flat floor ?



Thin and unprotected plywood will not last long if the weight of the trike drops on it ?
a) could make another extension to the rear frame [ or at least replace the existing one ] with something that extends out that far , then more weight and no where to brace it from ?
b) slope the rear of the back up ? harder/more work lots angles tricky , could look like this ?

c) maybe there will be enough room without the 8" extension , however it looks very bob tailed as it is without stopping at the rear wheels ?

problem 3

as the rear seat back piece gets higher if completely cuts off access to the rear load area ?

a) well I could rise up vertically once past the seat back that would give me more height and more loading area ?


this would then allow a level cut all the way around for the top lip/lip seal and allow the lid to hinge forward over the seat minimising the risk of it opening if not latched properly and allow me to stand at the rear and admire my handwork ;)

b) as it was to be ?



and as a hatch quite hard to seal against water ingree ?



the model is being built with two different sides as I try out these ideas.

Next up cut the wooden floor 55cm wide and look at the vertical wall idea [ which would shorten the floor ] it then wants gluing to the wheel arches to make one unit ..

till nest time
 
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It looks like you are navigating the challenges OK Paul.
Now about the "Go-Faster" pin-striping, when does that happen? ;)
 
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Well the bar was set rather high in 2006 with this coroplast shell on a Ice S trike ?

Lee Wakefields Red Zeppelin ?





Bit of a long way to go thought...

I feel another model coming along as ideas are changing and crystallising ;)
 
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Ok so no substitute for real life mocking up ?



This is both wheel arches with a floor about 22" wide and 20" long , I have added a 5" wall down at the narrow end ? and a piece stuck in along side the rear seat support to see where the front slope will end up.

Whilst that looks like oodles of space till you add a 20 litre pannier ?



Camping load is 2 of these @ 20 litres + 2 @ 15 litres + the tent as you can see there is not enough space for all this load ?

However this fairing will be above the wheel arches and above the back of the seat so there will be lots more volume above where the pannier sat previously ?

The 5" wall at the back will lose almost no space inside however it will be easier to build and use ?



At the front it makes little difference ?



So next I will add some wood corners and joint a plywood rear wall to the base and then add some wood corners to attach the wheel arches , I will screw the arches initially to stop it becoming to unwieldy.

The floor will stop at the end of the wheel arches as the rear end shape has not been decided , it should be easy enough to extend the floor once I have finalised the design ?
 
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IIRC from previous posts you have an issue with street furniture in your normal area of activity. Have you given any thought to protecting the leading edge of the woodwork from wood/bollard etc interfaces? Some sort of bumper out from the main chassis to just beyond the edge of the wood and slightly forward of it would seem prudent. That woodwork is, of a necessity, quite dainty.
 
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IIRC from previous posts you have an issue with street furniture in your normal area of activity. Have you given any thought to protecting the leading edge of the woodwork from wood/bollard etc interfaces? Some sort of bumper out from the main chassis to just beyond the edge of the wood and slightly forward of it would seem prudent. That woodwork is, of a necessity, quite dainty.
Ah not thought of that , I was just conscious of getting the centre of the wheel further out than the top lip as in the last picture.

Obviously not able to make the front area replaceable should it get pranged , as you say an outrigger off the chassis would ward off some of the collisions.

To be honest I was also considering tank or side stick steering ? to stop my arms moving with the front end so making a front fairing easier to build ?

Something like this , but sort of inside out so they pivot out from the main frame under the front of the seat , the two forward going arms could connect directly to the front end near where my hands do now ?



then maybe they could be body guards as well ?
 
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So long as anything hitting the bottom of the stick can't force the stick back enough to hit the woodwork that should be fine. It's always good to get more than one function out of any weight you need to add.
 
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Well this has gone more pear shaped than a pear !



Using some clamps and lengths of wood I was able to assemble the base with 5" wall under rear seat mount and both wheel arches.

You can see a big opening in the right hand vertical wheel arch that allows the fairing to be wiggled over the protruding [ and intensely irritating wheel axle nuts ] however that ain't the problem.

Due to the angle of the seat back mount the fairing HAS to be taken out at an angle and NOT vertically however you cannot move it backwards at an angle because the wheel arch themselves foul on the tyres . bummer

However I have reservations about it's shear size ?



Cos when I am on it I am not as wide as the wheel arches ?



Using a pair of 8mm bolts to squeeze plates around the main frame is great for adjustment but is useless if you want to remove and refix the seat on a regular basis.

So either adjust the trike in someway or build it different fairing ?

Maybe I don't need the wheel arches at all ?
 
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I was waiting for you to make the on/off discovery (I did not want to say anything, for fear of getting an ear-bashing, and in case you had a "baldric" up your sleeve).

On a separate topic (and to soften the blow of your latest "it won't work" discovery).... Ian will check the size of the ring-roller dies for me tomorrow. He thinks there is a 1 & 1/2" (38mm) which sounds good for your purpose.
Allegedly I can borrow for as long as we need it. OK?
 
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How about butchering a 2 door car front seat tipping mechanism. They clamp the seat very well and allow the seat to pivot forward. Most cars just tip the seat back forward but some older ones tip the whole seat. I would think either could be adapted with enough butchery. Failing that some simple sort of catch such as a car bonnet one to latch the rear and again pivot at the front. You'd loose any rear solid mount so would have to design the catch to provide some lateral restraint too or it'll likely be wobbly.
 
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Ok the oversized fly in the ointment is this sub-frame holding the seat to the main frame :-



The two tabs have 8mm holes in them and are placed over the 1.25" main frame and clamped with 2 x 8mm bolts and lock nuts.

Somethink like this.



So happy to abandon sub-frame as it is heavy and probably over kill for the loads ....

However how do I make seat mounts easy to remove from trike frame with say 2 x 8mm fixings , so seat can be removed before fairing ?
 
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