My build in progress

M

Mhatayas

Hi folks ! I seen a video on YouTube
Of a tadpole style trike with a cab over it ,
Screenshot-20240402-194756-2.png
I thought it was so cool and wanted to build something similar. Imagine one of these with full suspension and fat tires with a mid drive electric motor !

Right away I knew I'd have trouble figuring out suspension and steering on my own. So thanks to atomic zombie for the ideas , have helped me a lot so far on the build. the suspension works great , even when steering it compresses to one side , and the rear and front suspension works in conjunction with eachother!

Most materials are salvaged and scrounged, I only got into welding recently and bought my own welder (best investment ever!)

Ive been riding bike my whole life and the last 5 years ebikes , to work everyday, my main transportation. How much better would it have been if i could have stayed dry in the rain ? Lol.

I took it for a test run today and it was really fun to ride . Still a nice bit of work to do yet , then I'm gonna add some coroplast to cover it in , and plexiglass for the window . I am going to take it for another run Tommorow and probably do a bit more work to it , eventually it'll shape up to be something great (it already is imo)
 
Hi and well done so far. Lke the 'model T' look. As most of us find you may well decide that this will be your prototype and you'll go on to build a more refined version as you find the shortcomings of this one. I imagine the pedals position could be a problem you'll want to put right next time. One thing I would suggest is to make absolutely certain those welds between your front crossmember and headtube are really strong. There will be a lot of side force on those points when you corner. Brad's Hammerhead design is a good example of how to make that joint strong. He uses two tubes and they are welded at the top and at the bottom of that tube to make sure the leverage it will get on corners won't break this important joint. Hard to see clearly but I would look to see if you could maybe weld triangular fillets of some kind here to spread the load along the whole length of that headtube. Just my 2cents worth! As you say all the welds should be as good as you can get them so any flexing doesn't break them apart.
I'd be interested to know what motor you have used. I don't recognise it but the video is not very clear so I may have missed something.
Again well done so far and I hope you'll keep us updated on your build and how it develops.

John
 
jonrev said:
Hi and well done so far. Lke the 'model T' look. As most of us find you may well decide that this will be your prototype and you'll go on to build a more refined version as you find the shortcomings of this one. I imagine the pedals position could be a problem you'll want to put right next time. One thing I would suggest is to make absolutely certain those welds between your front crossmember and headtube are really strong. There will be a lot of side force on those points when you corner. Brad's Hammerhead design is a good example of how to make that joint strong. He uses two tubes and they are welded at the top and at the bottom of that tube to make sure the leverage it will get on corners won't break this important joint. Hard to see clearly but I would look to see if you could maybe weld triangular fillets of some kind here to spread the load along the whole length of that headtube. Just my 2cents worth! As you say all the welds should be as good as you can get them so any flexing doesn't break them apart.
I'd be interested to know what motor you have used. I don't recognise it but the video is not very clear so I may have missed something.
Again well done so far and I hope you'll keep us updated on your build and how it develops.

John
Click to expand...
Hey there and thanks for the reply! The motor is a 1500w bafang bbshd. I'm upgrading it to a 4000w eventually with a hv kit though, kind of a poor bloke ATM

Yeah I'm a beginner welder and some of the welds don't do justice, one thing I'm keeping an eye out for to upgrade is the pivot point for the suspension, down by the BB shell .. this one was from a crappy bike and has a bit of side play (which really isn't a problem I don't think) but I'd like it to have a bit more rigidity. I have the nose done now , it'll have a little storage compartment, waiting on a half link bmx chain now to get the drive chain as beefy as possible. Here's a small update picture https://i.postimg.cc/7ZS4nCB7/received-989573362799776.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Click for DIY Plans!
Back
Top