Wheelchairman

$180 in Aussie dollars . Wasn't alot 2 years ago- I was doing OK at the time, but now I'm investing in education so I'm just a typical bum about now . I know some of my friends are talented enough and have the facilities to build their own chainrings, and they do a very good job of it ..... but not me, I can't use a lathe or other effectively to save my life

Wheelchairman

UPDATE:

Well the last week has been a drag, waiting for my rims to come through the mail and then get them spoked has been agonisingly slow . On the plus side I've been able to basically complete every other aspect of the trike while I wait for said wheels.
The 9 speed indexed thumbshifter has been mounted and all gears are tuned and ready to go. And that completes the rear of the trike. The front end is where all the action is at;


As you can see the linkages have been built and mounted on the kingpins. I don't have access to a lathe so, equipped with a half-arsed mindset, I simply put the aluminium solid in the bench vice and preceded to punch a hole into each end with my trusty power drill . It worked fantasticly! I then tapped each hole to suit a 6mm thread.
Also in the above you can see my steering handles are painted and cut to fit. The nut was tightened up fully and then I cut the leftover bolt off. I've done similar things to all my bolts, in an effort to cut measly grams......hey! a gram's a gram, and many grams = MANY grams


Altough I can't hook my front brakes up til I get my wheels I decided to save some time and get them started. The way I'd like the setup is that the pair of wheels brake together via the one brake lever. To do this I've used quite an established "home build" method. The cavity that the lugs (found on each cable) sit in inside the lever hood now has a steel rod running through it. On each side is a hole for each cable to go through. Now moving on to the adjuster barrel. The ring mounted between the hood and the barrel has been discarded and replaced with a flat bar of metal, also with 2 holes for cables. The outer cable will sit below the flat bar. I'll make sure to take a follow up photo of the brake lever when the cables are on.

That's it for now. I'm pretty much ready to put the wheels on and mount brakes. Then it's a matter of tidying and fine tuning everything else.

Chow.

Michael

East Hill

How many hours does it take you to do something like this--up to this point, say?

East Hill

Sianelle 

I wonder if it would be possible to see a photo of the kingpin jig?

I've seen this design of kingpin-stubaxle used in several 'how-to' descriptions and I was curious to know how durable it is and whether there is an adequate margin of safety in the design.

Wheelchairman

It's hard to say. I've been working on this for close to 4 months, yet I've hardly been rushing it. I might build for 30minutes a weeknight, or 5 hours on a saturday- depends on what part I'm up to, mood etc. It can be surprisenbly quick if you want it to; In the past my friends have built up to 3 in a weekend . Logistics are a nightmare though. You need a bunch of parts, tools and materials. When it's all together you simply assign a job to each person (one person builds kingpins all day, one cuts material 4 frame, one machines parts all day, one welds frame etc) and watch it all come together. If I was gonna have a wild stab I might say I've spent 300 odd hours on this project. If I had proper facilities it'd be much less.

Afraid I can't help you with the kingpin jig. I don't have it anymore. Even if I did I dought I'd post it. It wasn't my creation and I'm sure the person I borrowed it off wouldn't be happy with "his baby" making an appearence online .
I've never used a jig til this project. Usually I'd build a jig for my bolts, containing the camber angle the wheels sit at, zapp the bolts together, then build ackerman arms onto the bolts in another jig containing the ackerman angle. Dodgy and time consuming, yet as accurate as the jigs you built.

As for this design, I've never seen a properly welded setup fail, EVER. However, I'm sure a poorly setup or poorly designed kingpin could break, but even then it's a remote chance.

East Hill

Even at half the hours, it would still be a labour of love, then!

It really is fascinating to watch people build the AltBikes.

East Hill

Dr.Deltron

Yeah, but no one would address your chainring as Sir!

Dr.Deltron

Sort of like this trike...an absolutely amazing amount of machining involed in this unit. And there are NO welds!

It's also not very "user friendly", being rear steer and all. But it DOES have Posi-Traction. (BOTH rear wheels drive)

Keep up the good work WheelChairman!

East Hill

What is this machine?

East Hill

Dr.Deltron

The Brand name is Thebis, made in Canada. From what I've heard, they were made from '90-'93 and about 20 or 30 were made. The main tubes are magnesium and the rest is machined aluminum. Everything clamps together using custom machined clamps. It's only a guesstimate, but there HAS to be hundreds of hours devoted to all the machine work. And having been a machinist, I am in awe of the amount of work involved in making this machine. I think it sold new for about $3,500. And even in early '90's dollars, that seems CHEAP, considering the work involved.

I actually got it for free, though.

I checked my email at about 8:30 one evening and found a post from the Sacramento recumbent club saying the owner no longer wanted it. He was willing to pass it on to another recumbent enthusiast if anyone was interested.
So by 9 pm, I was on the road North, for a 3 1/2 hour drive to go get it!

The story is still a source of amusement for my wife & me. I went upstairs at 8:40 and my wife thought "Oh, you're off the computer early and coming to bed". "No, sorry honey. I'm off to Sacramento to get another trike!" "Of course you are! Why did I think otherwise?"

That might have caused a riff in most marriages, but my wife has known me since she was 12 & I was 13.
So she knows things like that come with the territory.
We were "engaged" for 22 years before we actually GOT married, so we make it work. Including a midnight drive to get another trike for free. She knows I don't pass up a good deal when I see one.

Sorry, I've gone off topic...

Currently the ThePiss* is being reworked. When I got it, the seat had been mounted upside down and the driveline had been altered. I got the seat switched back around, but the drive line still needs some work.
Someday, after you're riding your custom mixte, I'll get back to THAT project.


*It was nicknamed ThePiss due to the fact that when I got it, it was covered in bobcat pee!
YES, the previous owner has a "pet" bobcat!
When I arrived around 1 am and we went in the house to see the rig, he warned me that I may get jumped by his "cat". Being a "cat person" I wasn't too concerned. Then I see that I'm being sized up by an actual BOBCAT! He didn't take too kindly to my "Here kitty, kitty, kitty". He took a swipe at my outstretched hand!
Good thing he had been declawed! But still a solid strike to my hand.

So,...that's the story. Thanks for letting me share. Sorry to derail WCM's thread.

East Hill

^^^^
An excellent story, too. I especially enjoyed the bobcat bit . I don't think WCM will mind too much, this is after all an AltBike forum, and it does tie in with the theme!

East Hill

Wheelchairman

@Dr Deltron LMAO Great story about the bobcat! I knew you spent time cleaning the seat of "cat piss" but I didn't realise it was a BOBcat .

UPDATE:

Here's the finished product!


I'll run through what I had to do in this last week to get to this stage.

• I realised after some calculations that my ackerman arm came out too far and would interfere with my wheels. I couldn't move the rod-end points back, because this would put the tie-rod in the path of the chain. I made the decision to cut the ackermans off and remount them on the rear of the kingpins. It was quite a fiddley exercise, but they came together quite well in the end. I was confident it was gonna work because there is a clear area above the chain and below the seat for my tie rod to go. No probs in the end, and happy to report it steers quite well. It's funny how things can just work out the way you (don't) plan them to . Here's a pick of the "revised" setup, plus the business end of the brakes, described below;
  
  
• With the kingpins sorted I could work on my wheels. I finally got my wheels on Wednesday last week. I mounted my tyres (Primo Champ 2's) but wern't satisfied with the wall thickness, plus the fact that they were stopping me from getting the proper contact patch set up (not enough kingpin inclination to throw the wheels away from the frame accordenly). I decided to order some Primo Comets, which had a larger wall. I got them on Thursday. They went on without a hitch. I spaced my wheels out to align with the contact patch, welded the spacer to the kingpin, then welded brake mounts to each spacer. The brakes then screw onto the brake mounts and I kinda have brakes for the 1st time! Here's a pic of the drum brakes;
  
  
• I spent a whole Sunday afternoon tuning my brakes. I've never tuned such brakes before, but it turned out that after some hit and miss attempts, it was actually quite easy. I also eliminated some noises coming from various spots on the trike and discovered that it corners so well that I slide off the seat quite easily . I layed some foam down (contact bonded to the seat) and now I'm using a lot less energy trying to stay on the seat.

You can pretty much call this trike finished, yet I want to keep improving it. Don't be surprised if you see more tiny updates in the future.

Chow.

Michael

2bdfrnt

What tires are those?

Wheelchairman

Rear is a Tioga Comp-Pool. Bullet proof tyre with great rolling resistance. The fronts are Primo Comets. I got them from Greenspeed, who I believe are the only guys in Australia to stock them.

Are you still with Kingswood? How's the EBT looking for them this year? Gonna be an awesome race! Can't wait!

Sianelle 

Those front hubs are soooooooo sexy.

countersTrike

Looks great! It probably turns right or left "RIGHT NOW!!" I had that problem with mine- but now I have an excellent excuse for having a seat belt! I also used 2-inch open cell foam; but that seat belt sure helps.

About the noise; can not help. I just turn up the volume

countersTrike

teamcompi

Its looking great, its been a couple of weeks....how are things going?

Wheelchairman

Yes, I get that all the time from various people

Yes it is an agile little beast. The foam has taken 90% of the effort out of it, yet I'd hate to see how far I slide off when it's smothered in sweat . Regarding the seatbelt. Be careful. I don't know how stable your trike is, but I know that in a rollover I'd rather roll out of the trike then be stuck in the seat. The road makes for a wonderful cheese grater

Ignorance is bliss!
I sorted most of it. Chainring bolts were to long, so I spaced them with modified washers. Right hand rim had started unlacing itself after some heavy cornering, resulting in some horrible creaking. Spokes were tightened and hey presto! Also discovered that chain slaps a support bar closest to drop out when in lowest gear. A strip of electrical tape has deadened the sound. I'd hardly use the gear anyway. It's now as quiet as a......quiet....thing......or something.....'sigh'

I havent experienced any failiers of any sort, which is surpriseing. Much of the work has been in eliminating noises (as explained above). The performance of the trike has been consistant from day one. It was refined, but now it sounds refined . One thing I'm missing is a drink bottle holder. Might put one on in the next couple of days.

smilin buddha

Very nice. I appreciate the talent it took to do this. I have none of it But I can dream.

HAMMER MAN

hey that's pretty cool

graywolf

I appreciate your posting all this. I would love a tadpole, but I neither have money nor weld. So I get to look at the nifty rides guys like you build. Beautiful machine.

Wheelchairman

Merry Christmas Y'all!

East Hill

Merry Christmas to you!

What a nice photo, we get to see both you AND the finished trike .

East Hill

Sianelle 

Yes it's great being able to put a face to this thread at last. Though seeing you beside your trike, - wow, - talk about flying low Piloting your trike must be an absolute thrill, - only if it was me I'd be scared of getting run over and squashed flat by an SUV or something.

Ooooo I almost forgot, - Merry Christmas!

Wheelchairman

I figured my last pic of the complete trike didn't do it justice so I decided to take another with a reference point (me) and a better angle so you can see just how low it is. I ride it about 3 hours per week at this stage, mostly on walking tracks and 1 hour a week on the local velodrome .

Hope everyone had a merry christmas