Greetings from British Columbia Canada.Wow! Just about as complex as it could get. Extremely impressive to keep that below 50kg too. I would think the cranking and tilting and steering is simply asking too much of a two armed rider especially whilst also leg pedalling too. I'd think the effort would be exhausting and soon uncomfortable with no part of the body in any at rest pose. A lot of moving parts there and quite a number of control cables so relatively high maintenance. I note at the end the author suggests quite a bit of simplification such as removal of all the leg and arm drive train and use of hub motors and a pedalled generator (undoubtedly a legal issue or at least a grey area in many countries).
A massively impressive proof of concept prototype. The designer / builder has aimed high and largely hit the mark but like the author appears to allude to it would seem to overload the rider with too many tasks to do. I suspect that once beyond the shortest of rides actually enjoying the experience would prove elusive.
An excellent find Paul.
Greetings EmielI have seen similar constructions but then simpler than this one.
Very interesting to see what he did.
For a bike it is way to much, but as a project it is fun to make.
Hi again.Arm power is in my opinion only useful as you can't use your legs.
Drymer made a better tilting trike/vello than this design.
They have it with and without a cover.
Not that complex and it rides more like an upright bike. It isn't something I want, but I find that design better then an arm and leg powered velomobile.
Thanks for the explanation why you went this way.To stormbird, Popshot, and Emiel
Thank you for your interest and thoughtful comments.
I am currently looking for info regarding the Series Hybrid Drive -vs- Parallel Hybrid options as the current lack of a limp-home feature on the SHD is a concern, and of course I am also looking for any tips/advice on constructing my prototype, like more appropriate material(s) to replace items such as the section of the downhill ski for the leaf spring suspension, materials for improving the aero -shape of the shell while reducing the total weight of the cabin. Lots of stuff to look into.
Thanks again. Cheers
Greetings Popshot.Can a pedal generator-hub motor arrangement actually put any meaningful charge into a battery under real world conditions? I've not done the calculations but just at a first thought it doesn't seem like it would add a huge amount of range. I can see a usefullness in such an arrangement if it can satisfy local laws to be classed as a pedalled vehicle however. Will the likely variability of the charge rate be an issue for battery health? at a stop you'd be charging the battery at a decent enough rate but moving you'd be draining the battery - obviously dependent on the pedallers prowess and size of the motor. I'm not a battery expert but such a stop start charge doesn't seem ideal.
Yes, interesting but also confusing to me.It is how the ratracer does it, but I don't know how they build it.
It is an interesting trike/car.
I think that they raise the voltage. So instead of charging, they put the power from pedaling next to the battery. Like if you have a 10cell you get 12cell all you pedal.Yes, interesting but also confusing to me.
It appears to function similar to Bike2 but with significantly more battery power (4.5 vs .25 kilowatts ) What I don't understand is the promotional claim that pedaling amplifies the power to go faster. They use the analogy of a guitar amplifier. Does pedaling amplify (as in multiply ) or does pedaling add to the power?
Greetings HughI took a look at the B.C. e bike regulations as stated on a commercial vendors site in your province. They state to be classified as an e bike nothing over 500 watts. And the bike must be equipped with pedals for manual propulsion. To me that seems to indicate a mechanical (ie chain or belt) drive system between the pedals and wheel. Similar rules apply here in Manitoba. I know many people have experimented with systems where the pedals power a generator system to drive an electric motor. I haven't read of any real success stories though. I'm like you in one regard, with no real knowledge of electrical or electronic systems but I do have a small number of e assist trikes/bikes. My latest is a delta with pedal power transmitted to one rear wheel via a jackshaft and a 500 watt geared hub motor on the other rear wheel. It's loosely based on the Loderunner plans. As a aside one older bike rider stops in a few times every year to see what kind of e bikes I've been building. he took the delta for a quick ride around my home and when he came back wanted to have a similar trike and mount a small 4 stroke generator on the bike to keep the battery charge up and greatly extend his range. I'm pretty sure he will never build anything though and I for sure don't want a gas motor running behind me as I pedal.