Wolf Gearing

[John Lewis]

Hello all,
I'm now at the point where I need to consider the gearing. A forum search hasn't thrown up much. So my question is what are you using and how do you find it?

I'm not exactly a strong rider. On our LoGo trikes we have a range from 13 to 120 gear inches. Well I'd never push 120 on the level but it's nice for 50+ mph down hill. On the other hand our low of 13 is often not low enough on some of our steep hills. Trike weighs 20kg about 44 lbs.

On my two wheel bents I have a higher low gear about 25 GI I think from memory. They are lighter than the trike 15kg ish 33 lbs. I can manage hills on them but its really hard (yes, I know it's supposed to be!:)) and I walk the steep ones.

I don't think the wolf will walk well somehow unless I radically alter the trail.

What have your completed Wolves weighed? It will also affect the climb and is another factor in the equation. I guess they will be somewhat more than my trike.

Hope this may start some discussion.

John Lewis

[SirJoey]

Mine came in at a whopping 65 pounds, but she's loaded with at least 10 pounds of accessories, including the luggage rack built from heavy-gauge angle iron.
My guess is, stripped down to just the actual trike, mine would prolly be around 50-55 pounds.

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/7131/sirjoeysigmedij1.gif

[John Lewis]

Mine came in at a whopping 65 pounds, but she's loaded with at least 10 pounds of accessories, including the luggage rack built from heavy-gauge angle iron.
My guess is, stripped down to just the actual trike, mine would prolly be around 50-55 pounds.

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/7131/sirjoeysigmedij1.gif

Well that's not too bad 55 lbs is about 25 kg. Not a real lot more than 20kg or 55lb vs 44lb. Even better if weight down to 50lb about 22.7 kg.

I'm thinking I need a low bailout gear. A mid drive would work but adds more weight and complexity so I don't want to do that. Except for cost a dual drive would be the go. think that's what it's called. fits the BB and you tap with your heel to change ratios.

Have you sorted out your welder problem yet?

John Lewis

[Sparky]

my quad has mountain bike gears. 21 speed. i think i have plenty enough gearing to conquer anything.

course, i also have 20" drive wheels, so that lowers my ratios considerably.


i still feel that a 3 gear front crankset will solve your problems. and you can get those with 52 tooth high gears for the downhills. :)

[TheKid]

13 gear inches is quite low. I can't see getting any lower without a mid drive system, like the ones on Lightfoot trikes. They go down to 9 gear inches. At any rate, even with 20" wheels, a 22 tooth chainring and a 34 tooth cog, you'd get 12 gear inches. At 9 gear inches, you could walk faster. If you encounter a hill that you can't make at 13 gear inches, you might be better off making some sort of handle you could clip on the bars so you could walk the trike up the hill. I had a heavy quad, and found that adding a mid drive going to a freewheel on each axle helped immensely going up hills. Two wheels pushing the quad uphill lessened the load.
I kept in low on both axles when going straight up hills, and shifted only the left wheel into the next lowest gear all other times, except when making uphill left turns, when I'd shift the right wheel into the next lowest gear. That allowed the inside wheel to freewheel. I only used the two speeds on the rear axles, and shifted the 7 speed mid drive in the usual manner.

http://www.lightfootcycles.com/greenway.htm

[SirJoey]

Have you sorted out your welder problem yet?

Yeah, finally. Thanx. Posted an update about it in the thread I started, "Welder based delays".

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/7131/sirjoeysigmedij1.gif

[John Lewis]

Yeah, finally. Thanx. Posted an update about it in the thread I started, "Welder based delays".

http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/7131/sirjoeysigmedij1.gif

Glad it's sorted. Went off to read. Must say I'd not thought of rust as a problem. Thought the wire might have been treated to prevent that. Guess you could change to stainless :D

Hope to hear some more build reports soon.

John Lewis

[greenevegiebeast]

Talk about gearing Questions My "OVERKILL" Tadpole weighs about 75 lbs I weigh 400 lbs. I need a granny gear to get this beast moving.I had to build her heavy to handel me in all my glory.:D