Revamping one of my deltas

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Apr 16, 2017
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When the delta I'm modifying had the fat tires and the blue coro bodywork it was quite heavy. That weight made the one wheel drive tendencies almost unnoticeable. It was possible to ride a straight line with 1 finger on the handlebar. Hill's I can't comment on since the only hill's around here are overpasses but again the weight would prob be a factor. My hope is that the human power on the left wheel which can freewheel when no pedaling is taking place and the geared hub motor on the right wheel which also will freewheel will offer a differential effect for corners and 2wd in a straight line. As I said time will tell.
 
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Well I finally got enough progress to try the trike in the back lane. As prev stated the left rear wheel is pedal powered and the right has a 500 watt hub motor. It works well, no twitchiness detected when pedaling and having the hub motor cut in. It will still need quite a bit of sorting out but all in all I'm quite pleased.
post a picture
The biggest flaw is the rim brakes are absolute crap compared to the disc's Im used to, easy enough to add them to the rear though.
 
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Regarding the seat, the plans for the seat rails came from the recycled recumbent on the BROL site. They downloaded to full size templates, I had to buy a 1/2 and 3/4" conduit bender and it did take a bit of practice. The fabric came from a friend who stripped it off a "gravity" chair.
 

SirJoey

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My cozy little nook in the corner!
Regarding the seat, the plans for the seat rails came from the recycled recumbent on the BROL site. They downloaded to full size templates, I had to buy a 1/2 and 3/4" conduit bender and it did take a bit of practice. The fabric came from a friend who stripped it off a "gravity" chair.
Fantastic! Nice work on the curvatures! Looks like it would be super comfy!
Great job of re-purposing & recycling, too! What a great idea using the zero-G stuff! :)
***
 
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We had a snow day here yesterday so I added rear fenders and built an enclosure behind the seat plus adjusted the rim brakes, now they are a lot better, I may just stick with them for awhile. Also today the 12th went for a 10 1/2 km ride for a better test and all is good. The hub motor is somewhat noisy but i can live with that. The seat does a very good job of smoothing out the bad bumps, you don't get any transferred to your back. As for speed the middle ring up front, low gear in back with power level one gave a speed of 15 kph. Bumped it up to level 2 and 20 kph. This is with me pedaling as well. Once it gets a few km's to ensure all mechanicals are good I will see if my wife can be persuaded to try it.
 
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Hugh

Sounds like a great shakedown ride.

Is a new body in the pipeline as well ?

Paul
 
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Paul the frame for the old body and it's roof are sitting on the deck. But I have not decided whether or not to use them. If they were reused the lines would be radically changed. Keeping the over head roof and where it ends by the steering a gentle curve down to the front. Leaving the sides open and only covering the head and body with the roof. No windscreen or a minimal windscreen. The previous full coro body while offering great wind and rain protection was far too hot to sit in and pedal
 
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I took the revamped trike for a another good test run the other day. Once again the trike ran very well, the 2wd system is completely unnoticeable as far as adverse effects. This was with a friend who has built himself a pedal only quad cycle with a coro body. He is in good shape, his quad is made of aluminum bolted together and is very light and quite streamlined. He is able to pedal at speeds of 30 plus kph for long distances so I was forced to use the throttle on the trike a lot to stay even with him. The trike and I for that matter much prefer a speed of 17 to 19 kph. The power display it has shows at those speeds the motor will draw between 25 watts and zero watts once I've established a smooth routine. We had a late March snow here so the framework for the body from the fat tire version was brought into the garage. The front section from the roof edge forward was removed. Brackets are being fabricated to mount the roof assmbly to the body using bolts to make it convertible. Two braces will be run from the leading edge of the roof down to the headset area and a piece of clear lexan will be added as a windshield. It won't be full length down to the headset, instead just long enough to provide wind protection for the handlebars up. The sides, rear and bottom left open. This because my observations of the full body style while nice when raining was just way too hot and stuffy. Pictures to follow in a few days when it gets completed.
 
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Nice to hear it is working well .......

However ?

This was with a friend who has built himself a pedal only quad cycle with a coro body. He is in good shape, his quad is made of aluminum bolted together and is very light and quite streamlined.
You can't post this and then NOT have some pictures of it !!!
 
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This because my observations of the full body style while nice when raining was just way too hot and stuffy.
It's observations such as this that caused a pause on my own covered trike. I'm now settled on just a windscreen with a tent like top for when it does rain.
 
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I looked for an old picture of my friends quad but no success, however when I next meet with him I will get a couple pictures. It is done in yellow coro and has flat sides. The front has a curve downwards just past his feet and the rear ends just past his shoulder and then is thin plywood and has a small trunk. Wheels are - I think 20" front and 24" rear. I did find a picture of it without the body on.
 
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I looked for an old picture of my friends quad but no success, however when I next meet with him I will get a couple pictures. It is done in yellow coro and has flat sides. The front has a curve downwards just past his feet and the rear ends just past his shoulder and then is thin plywood and has a small trunk. Wheels are - I think 20" front and 24" rear. I did find a picture of it without the body on.
Nice , I can see why it's light very minimalist aluminium usage !

Looks to be using a steering damper as well ? does it need that ?

Paul
 
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Yes the steering damper is needed, I believe it's a motorcycle piece. Without it the steering was twitchy. He get's a lot of attention, especially from kids young and old with the body on. A fellow retiree originally trained in Switzerland as a millwright, Always does nice work
 
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Hugh

obviously he can outrun you he is wearing Kojak's , you will catch him when he gets a puncture :D


paul
 
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I added the open concept roof. The windscreen is still to be added. It will come from the roof just down far enough to protect face and hands. It is just bolted on so prob about 15 minutes needed to remove it. The windscreen will be added Sunday then a test ride. The roof is the same color as the other coro parts.

 
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Hugh

Looks good , can I ask ?

What's the seat height and rear track ?

Paul
 
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Ok here's the measurements you asked for. The track width is 27", Total width including the axle nuts is 33". The blue box the seat sit's on is 18" the seat height is 21"
 
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Hugh

Thanks.

I am hoping to get to a 20" sear from the current 8" , how tippy do you find it ?

Paul
 
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