Why shouldn't I???

Joined
Jan 10, 2023
Messages
11
I've been thinking and looking at the various AZ designs (dangerous, I know)... The Tri-Cruiser uses two front wheels on forks and might adapt well to my idea.

What if I connected the head tubes either on the side of the forks, or had one leg of each fork go through the head tube?

Fork Steering

I'm sure this will play havoc with the Ackerman calculations and probably subject the trike to brake steering.

Otherwise, would this be unreasonable? Has anyone tried this? Thoughts???
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
2,384
Location
Wakefield, UK
Why? To pass a fork through the headtube it has to go through the inner tube or there's nowhere for the headset bearings to run against. I doubt most forks would do that. To weld the headtube arrangement to the side of a fork you will be welding the inner to the fork and the outer to the chassis or vise versa. Given there isn't a lot of inner tube to weld you'll need 4 forks to start with as you'll scrap 2 to get enough inner. Ackerman is not a function of the pivot but the steering arms and position of the steering joints.

To me full forks on a recumbent look very Heath Robinson.
 
Joined
Feb 10, 2022
Messages
159
Location
Norfolk UK
I think it's the centre point steering which would be spoiled if you did this rather than ackerman.
I saw a similar idea somwhere on the 'net a while ago. It had headtubes welded to front fork inner legs but it looked really horrible and amateurish and was probably awful to steer and very flimsy to boot.The only real plus is that you don't need to source wheels with sturdy axles but in every other way it is less satisfactory in my opinion.
Brad's design using the complete head tube steering is automatically both strong and includes the correct steering angles. It is certainly simple but really not a very sleek design and as popshot says it does look less professional. Having said that if you use 20" or smaller wheels you could lessen the visual impact of the front and certainly if you're intending some kind of Velo bodywork it could well be made to look good.
When I first thought about building a trike I was intending to go with the tri-cruiser but am very pleased I chose to go with a delta in the end.
All the best with whatever build you decide on and let us know how you get on.

John
 
Joined
Jan 10, 2023
Messages
11
Why? To pass a fork through the headtube it has to go through the inner tube or there's nowhere for the headset bearings to run against. I doubt most forks would do that. To weld the headtube arrangement to the side of a fork you will be welding the inner to the fork and the outer to the chassis or vise versa. Given there isn't a lot of inner tube to weld you'll need 4 forks to start with as you'll scrap 2 to get enough inner. Ackerman is not a function of the pivot but the steering arms and position of the steering joints.

To me full forks on a recumbent look very Heath Robinson.
The forks are definitely the root of the issue. I thought about reinforcing the inner tube somehow, but that will probably be a lost cause. Still going to toss the idea around for a bit, but the con's are outweighing the pro's every time I find a solution.

You have given me a lot to think about and I GREATLY appreciate it!
 
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