Spartan Trike Project

[captainamerica]

215 wide tires would probably fit, I will check when I get home. The problem for me is lack of rear weight, the car is approx 60/40 front to rear, which makes each tire carry 300-400lbs which is what I wanted but it can lose the rear end real quick, I have yet to have an issue with this while I am driving normally though.

[Deleted]

I just read the whole thread in the last couple days, how do you like the reclined seating position? would you have preferred it more upright? I find it uncomfortable sitting reclined in my car, but I think it's due to the steering wheel being too far away. I want design my trike as low as possible

[captainamerica]

I just read the whole thread in the last couple days, how do you like the reclined seating position? would you have preferred it more upright? I find it uncomfortable sitting reclined in my car, but I think it's due to the steering wheel being too far away. I want design my trike as low as possible.

-Carrotchariot

Its hard to tell but its actually a very upright position, when I am sitting in it I feel very similar to sitting in my RAV4. Maybe a bit more reclined but with the pedals moved forward and the steering wheel closer it doesn't feel like you are reaching for the wheel at all. The RAV doesn't really fit me because I can't sit in the proper reclined position with the seat all the way back and still reach the wheel, if there was more play in the column it would be much nicer so I just bang my knees against the cluster and get one with it, similar to what I do in the trike. My new chassis design has the driver in the same position but about 1" lower (sitting between the frame rails), and the cluster is about 1/2" higher so my knees should have more then enough room. Getting back to your original question, I find my trike to be very natural and comfortable position even with little 3/4 foam pads, it fits like a glove with the expanding foam seat but it pushes me to far up vertically to sit on the foam so its really uncomfortable trying to get my knees not to bang the cluster at every bump which is why I have opted not to use it for myself.

-Andrew

[Deleted]

Did you post the seating area dimensions? I did see some dimensions of the frame, but I would like a good baseline to go from for seating. reclination angle, seat width, steering and dash height, etc. Thanks man I love the build so far!

[captainamerica]

Carrotchariot,

Apologies about the wait, I stared at your question every few days for the last two weeks and never got around to answering it. So for all those interested including yourself I am posting some numbers from my new chassis which is based on my current chassis, with fixes where I thought they needed to be. Be aware, these numbers are for someone who is 6'4" to fit nicely in, if you are 5'5", you legs will be straight reaching for the pedals. Because I am currently going to try and start a side business creating these I purposely tried not give out everything, but for those willing to do a little math and eyeballing it should be enough to get you in the right direction.






Sneak Peek of the latest and greatest, which I continue to chip away at week after week.




-Andrew

[bryce]

Would you be willing to share your complete solid model? would love to check out all you layout.
Thanks

[captainamerica]

Bryce,

I will take a look at doing this, maybe as an IGES file. The biggest issue is the file size, the whole vehicle folder is around 700mb. I may just drop the setup sketches, not sure if they will work outside of solidworks though. What CAD program are you using?

Andrew

[storx]

Hello there, i am very very impressed with your build man!!, i have been looking for a forum that had builds like this with this much details to build my own.. i have been in love with the Scorpion P6 for a few years now ever since getting a chance to test drive one at a motorcycle show here in Florida, but they wanted 48k for theirs back then and i hear now they are up in the 50k's after everything is said and done.. so i want to build my own just like you.. I am very interested in understanding your CAD drawling's so i can match your frame setup as i think its pretty much perfect for what i am interested in. I read that you were unsure on how to post it online, there is an easy way around that actually.. if you want to that is.. you can either use your OWN google account or make another free account for just the project and use its 15GB free google drive for the files.. All you would have to do is download google drive to your computer and login to the account you want to post it on and place all the files in the PUBLIC folder with read only rights.. then copy the URL link to that public folder and post it up and everyone can see your CAD stuff and download it anytime for free.. I use this method for picture storage for car shows that i shoot at.. i have MULTIPLE google accounts to have more than 15GB of space to share and have all their different drives stored on my PC under virtual drives... so i am up to like 180GB of free google drive space...

This is the bike i was talking about.. 



I am thinking of building your frame out of Carbon Fiber since i have been playing around with it on my bicycle build and its been completely reliable with no signs of failure, i took my speed bike that was 41lbs and copied the frame out of carbon fiber and the new weight was reduced down to 23lbs. 

[captainamerica]

Storx,

I am looking into the google drive option currently at your suggestion. Need to get a good feel for it and for rights access to it before I start dropping all my work into it but it looks promising. The more I think about this the more I think I am going to release my work for free and create a company around supplying the parts to people who can't or don't want to build pieces themselves so that it can be a mix. As for the scorpion, I have definitely seen it (and driven it) I don't think you could get far in building a trike without looking around at what else is out there. I actually went to their shop a year ago and met the owner, Mark, and drove their test vehicle around the industrial complex they are located in. I was impressed with their design and fabrication work, I wouldn't say its over priced but you have to want it. I was just nearing the rolling chassis stage at that point and had never driven a trike before, the experience definitely motivated me to get a move on it. I would highly suggest not making a tube frame chassis from carbon, the loads seen in a vehicle chassis are far more significant then in a bike obviously, and more importantly its your life if you get hit by something made of steel (IE another vehicle), look into carbon monocoques. Steel can be made surprisingly light if done correctly (new chassis is just over 100lbs in CAD). Good luck with that though, I would be interested in seeing the result.

Andrew

As for the drawing releases and cad files, I plan to release files as .DXF, .PDF, or .SLDPRT files depending on what they are. I am still working towards the new chassis that is shown above and coming up with the tubing drawings so as of this current moment the first things I would probable let out are the uprights, spindles, engine and the base sketch for the chassis. Everything I design is meant to be built with very little shop knowledge, basic metal working welding, lathe and mill work will be required as well as access to a CNC waterjet and CNC laser/plasma cutter companies. I am trying to keep the overall parts price around 15k or less, shooting for 12k really but their is a reality to this. The build can be done with any 2003-2008 GSXR 600/750/1000, with an emphasis on the 07/08 GSXR 1000 because it comes with a hydraulic clutch which makes swapping to pedals easier. I will probably start a new thread with updates so people don't have to jump through my trike forum, admin advice on location of this thread would be appreciated in case I head this way.

Anyone using CAD out there, I would like to poll the field as to who is using what around here, PM me if you have time and let me know. Thanks.

[storx]

If you have not figured it out yet, this is a new way i came across on the forums that uses echo command to switch between all your google drive accounts that you setup a few times a second, basically it allows you to log in to multiple google drive accounts using the actual Google software, making the uploading and downloading much much faster and more responsive.. it took me a while to get it figured out at first but i figured it out eventually and got all my accounts online and showed up as a different drive on my computer.

Step 1: Close all instances of Google Drive running on your computer and then download and install this application. After the application is installed, add C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Drive to your Windows Environment Variable. You can refer to this article to see how it’s done.


Step 2: Having done that, open Notepad and copy paste the following line. Don’t forget to replace username@ domain.com with your Google username. Make note this is just your username, you are not putting your password in anything but the actual google drive software.


@echo OFF
SET USERNAME=username@ domain.com
SET USERPROFILE=%~dp0%USERNAME%
SET USERPROFILE=%~dp0%USERNAME%
MD “%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming”>nul
MD “%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Application Data”>nul
MD “%USERPROFILE%\Application Data”>nul
MD “%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data”>nul
MD “%USERPROFILE%\My Documents”>nul
MD “%USERPROFILE%\Documents”>nul
START googledrivesync



Save the file as Account 1.bat to your desktop or another folder where you would like to sync the files. Don’t forget to select All Files as type in Notepad while saving the batch file.

Step 3: Now run the batch file and wait for another instance of Google Drive to Start. The second instance of the application will ask you to sign in to a new account. Proceed normally, just remember to change the sync folder to the new folder that’s created using the batch files in the advanced option.







That’s all, you will now see two instances of Google Drive syncing side by side. The next time you want to sync files on the secondary account, run the batch file of that particular account. To add additional subsequent accounts, just make a new batch file, run it and configure the application just like before... I currently have 16 instances of Google Drive open in the bottom corner of my computer with all there drives available for me to access... I keep my main open all the time and when i add something to one of the others (Additional Storage) i just run the batch file and what it does is for a few seconds turns off the current connection and redirects it to the other account and when your done uploading just batch file back to your main and your main stays up all the time.. The benefit of this method over the previous method i had been using for a long time was that it no longer requires you to have multiple virtual windows instances open hogging some of your computers processing power.. the new way takes all of that away and leaves you with the normal google drive software only..

[captainamerica]

Storx,

I appreciate the tutorial on this but it seems above what I am trying to do from a technical aspect. I setup the folder tonight and have dropped a few things in it including a semi new chassis for people to look at, once I am happy with my final design I will drop the final updated chassis for others to view.

All,

If you (anyone on here) are interested in access to my CAD models and drawings, please PM me with a Gmail account and summary about yourself (where you are located, age, education) and your goals and so on for me to review I will give you a link to access the folder. At some point this will contain everything you need to have to build a similar trike to my own, preferably without the need to actually have a CAD program, just need all the DXFs and the documentation of how to put it together correctly. I cannot vouch for the perfectness of my reverse engineered parts, such as the engine, so those using CAD, use these at your own risk. You will need Google Drive to access the files, its free from Google.

Liability Comment Here: Be Advised
I may think of myself in high regard as a designer but I cannot vouch for the quality of the products that you make with my designs so if you ask for a link you are implying consent that you are using my designs at your own risk. I also obviously reserve the right to remove access to this information if I feel that you are abusing it in some way or using it for personal monetary gain.

Andrew

[Deleted]

Wow, all I can say is that I really like the looks, and set up of this design. I am attempting to build a home built trike, powered by a Kawasaki ZX14 engine. I am starting from scratch, at the moment, and it should look something like the picture enclosed. The major difference with mine, however, is that I am basically seated with my legs over the top of the engine.... not as stable for sure, but I want to keep it as short as possible, so it can be used for off road, and trail use also.

[etard]

Your legs OVER the motor!!??

I hope you have a good chiropractor...

[albertus]

Love this project. It just keeps on getting better with each bit added. Solid job on this one, Andrew.

Your trike build is being featured in the BikeBuilds.net directory here: captainamerica’s Spartan Trike build.
We’re currently displaying only a reduced-size photo (similar to what you’d find in Google Images).
We'd like to ask for your permission to publish the original full-size image with your build listing.

If anyone would like to have a build of their own listed, just shoot me a PM with a link to the build thread and we’ll take care of the rest.
If you wish to add your build personally, please feel free to peruse our Submit feature. No registrations required.

Al

[captainamerica]

Al,

Sure you can use whatever is on here, free of charge I usually knock down the res to keep the file size smaller but I think its still larger then what most people use at that point, if you need something bigger then what you see here feel free to PM me and I will email you what your looking for. Personally I think the picture that I use as my personal tag on here with all the color is the best one even if its a bit dated (a year at this point). That was the only one not taken by me, it was used for an article on a motorcycle enthusiast website. I will attach it to the first post in full size so you can grab it easily.

Andrew

[DaveJ98092]

I am following your build and love the drawings but I just checked Solidworks Student and it is $150 USD/100 British Pounds/120 Euros for a 1 year license. As a person that has never tried CAD, I can not afford to spent that much and find that I can not use it.

[albertus]

Cool! Image updated. Thank you very much Andrew!

Al

[Menirz]

Davej98002,

In order to get yourself acquainted with CAD software in general, I recommend you check out Autodesk Inventor - they offer it free to students. Conceptually it is identical to solidworks, the only differences being the UI and button interface (as well as likely a few of the more advanced functions). There is also a way for it to open solidworks files, so you may be able to even use his files with it.

Hopefully that helps you some.

[nedkelly]

Hey Andrew

I was out yesterday in the trike chasing down a Kawasaki 900 motor bike, a place here in Aus called the Reffton Spur. He is a good rider with his Knee pads scraping the road in the corners, I pushed the Trike as hard as I could and was able to equal him at times and also out corner him at times, in the straights he pulled away only very slightly and again I was up his backside in the corners.

My question to you, when you push your machine hard do you find if your doing a very fast sharp right hand corner that the right wheel leaves the road by almost one foot and the same for the left hand front wheel when doing a left fast corner?

This is happening to me but only when pushing the limits, the trike still feels stable when this happens but I was a bit in shock when it happened for the first time. 

After that it seemed ok and almost normal, I lost no grip and the corners where super fast, I cannot tell you the speeds due to no time to look at the speedo only time to look where I wanted the trike to point, at a guess the sharp corner speeds were a minimum 80kms to 110kmh, in the straights I had a quick look at the speedo around 150kmh but only very short straights.

Is this normal for a 3 wheeled machine or do I have a problem??

Paul K. 

[Liteway]

You have a problem. I haven't seen a detailed shot of your front end, but you either lack an anti-roll bar or its insufficient.

With your inside front lifting 1 ft off the ground, you are not so far from going all the way over. You should not challenge the nee draggers until you have body roll under control.