Support for Warrior Trike

K

Kimifa

Hi guys, greetings from the UK!

I've just bought myself a second hand Warrior trike (absolute bargain) and so far I'm very happy with it, it just needs some little tweaks to make it perfect. I wanted to ask a question about the rear brakes. On my trike, the rear brake rotor seems to sit VERY close to the frame. As in, only 1/2mm. It doesn't seem to be actually rubbing on the frame but is this common to the design or is it something else? Is the axle not spaced properly? Was the frame not welded properly? Hopefully someone can share some information.

Thanks,
Kieran
 
The rear brake should ONLY be used as a parking brake , please tell me it has front brakes as well.

Pictures would help.

Paul
 
stormbird said:
The rear brake should ONLY be used as a parking brake , please tell me it has front brakes as well.

Pictures would help.

Paul
Click to expand...
Thanks Paul.

It does indeed have front brakes. The right lever actuates both of the front brakes while the left just does the back. It only has a normal lever though, it doesn't have a pin or anything for it to function as a parking brake.

The other thing that makes it harder is that the rear wheel doesn't seem to sit centrally in the rear "fork" even though it is fully inserted into the drop outs. This first photo is with the wheel fully inserted:

https://imgur.com/a/9OOQfm7

I've put some paper behind it so you can see there seems to be little/no clearance. This next image is with the wheel slightly pushed over so that it does sit centrally.

https://imgur.com/a/OKsog3l

Hopefully the images work, I haven't used a forum for a while!
 
undertoad said:
Wow, that is close!
Click to expand...
Probably my first words when I noticed it :ROFLMAO:

I don't have the DIY plans so I don't know what differences this build might have but I had a thought:

There is currently a 160mm rotor on the back. If I was to swap this out for a 140mm, this would in theory give me more of a gap. Just so long as the caliper could be adjusted to work with a smaller rotor? Any ideas?
 
Ok I am not a tadpole man however I will have a crack ?

First up the gap is probably not going to be a problem if there is clearance.

Some people use a friction gear lever for the 'rear parking brake ' then you can have a lever for each front brake.
That has the advantage of less ' pressure ' needed to get both front brakes on and if you lock up one wheel you can easy of that lever without losing all braking ?

Not sitting central may not be an issue if it is down the centre line of the trike so not causing drag/crabbing when ridden ?

Are you familiar with toe in/out for the front wheels ?
I would first check that the toe in/out is correct once you have established that check that the centre line of the rear wheel agrees with the centre line of the trike when the above is done ?

How does it ride ? brake steer ? bump steer ? might be nicer with less nobbley tyres.

Paul

ps if it is already built the plans will not help you much , and we can answer most questions !
 
Pictures not working on mobile for me. Imgur seems to be doing that everywhere. They probably work on desktop but I'm at work so can't check.

The big issues with a rear brake are:-
1. As you brake hard the trike wants to rotate around the front axles and do a stoppie. This takes all the weight off the rear meaning you are likely to lock it. If this happens in a corner then when you slam on the rear locks and overtakes the front. Fun if you are intending to do it. Much less so if not.

2. Having a rear means one hand has to pull both fronts. This means two things. Firstly the effort is doubled because each caliper is designed for the force one hand can provide. Secondly the balance must be perfect or the braking will be uneven.

Having just front brakes means one hand per lever and allows deliberate unequal braking. This means you can deliberately pull the inside a little more than the outside to tighten the line in a corner you've gone into a bit too fast. As has been said get a friction gear lever for the rear and use it for parking only. A small disc to chassis gap can close up under trike loadings. The wheel was never designed to be side loaded. Check the paint. If it's been scuffed by the disc then it's too close. If the paint is fine then the gap is ok.
 
stormbird said:
Ok I am not a tadpole man however I will have a crack ?

First up the gap is probably not going to be a problem if there is clearance.

Some people use a friction gear lever for the 'rear parking brake ' then you can have a lever for each front brake.
That has the advantage of less ' pressure ' needed to get both front brakes on and if you lock up one wheel you can easy of that lever without losing all braking ?

Not sitting central may not be an issue if it is down the centre line of the trike so not causing drag/crabbing when ridden ?

Are you familiar with toe in/out for the front wheels ?
I would first check that the toe in/out is correct once you have established that check that the centre line of the rear wheel agrees with the centre line of the trike when the above is done ?

How does it ride ? brake steer ? bump steer ? might be nicer with less nobbley tyres.

Paul

ps if it is already built the plans will not help you much , and we can answer most questions !
Click to expand...
Didn't realise about toe in/out, I'll check that first.
It does pull slightly to one side when braking because one of the discs is slightly bent and I couldn't get it as good as the other but it does seem to ride fine otherwise. I am planning on replacing that knobbly tire 👍

Popshot said:
Pictures not working on mobile for me. Imgur seems to be doing that everywhere. They probably work on desktop but I'm at work so can't check.

The big issues with a rear brake are:-
1. As you brake hard the trike wants to rotate around the front axles and do a stoppie. This takes all the weight off the rear meaning you are likely to lock it. If this happens in a corner then when you slam on the rear locks and overtakes the front. Fun if you are intending to do it. Much less so if not.

2. Having a rear means one hand has to pull both fronts. This means two things. Firstly the effort is doubled because each caliper is designed for the force one hand can provide. Secondly the balance must be perfect or the braking will be uneven.

Having just front brakes means one hand per lever and allows deliberate unequal braking. This means you can deliberately pull the inside a little more than the outside to tighten the line in a corner you've gone into a bit too fast. As has been said get a friction gear lever for the rear and use it for parking only. A small disc to chassis gap can close up under trike loadings. The wheel was never designed to be side loaded. Check the paint. If it's been scuffed by the disc then it's too close. If the paint is fine then the gap is ok.
Click to expand...
Thanks for explaining a bit more about the braking, that makes sense. The paint has been scuffed so it definitely is too close. Any ideas on how to solve that?

Alternatively, if the rear brake is mostly useless anyway, couldn't I just remove it entirely and put a parking brake on the front?
 
There's a few options.

1. Smaller disc but you'll need to move the caliper too. An adapter is unlikely to work so you may have to fabricate another mount and weld it on.

2. Make some clearance with a washer or two inside the dropout. The chassis should spring enough to cope. You will need to shim the caliper over by the same amount. Probably the best option. There are slight consequences of doing this in that the chassis will open equally both sides so if you put 3mm of washer in the wheel will move 1.5mm to the right. Probably no issue but just check the chain run won't foul and you have enough tyre clearance.

3. Make some clearance with a dent in the chassis.

4. Do without. Once you've changed to one brake per lever at the front it can only be used for parking and you may have little use for one. I never found much use for one but others will be different.
 
Greets!

Do you have a few full shots of the full trike? Would be cool to share it on the FB page. There is a real story behind this one, and it's great to see it find a new home.

Cheers,
Brad
 
Popshot said:
There's a few options.

1. Smaller disc but you'll need to move the caliper too. An adapter is unlikely to work so you may have to fabricate another mount and weld it on.

2. Make some clearance with a washer or two inside the dropout. The chassis should spring enough to cope. You will need to shim the caliper over by the same amount. Probably the best option. There are slight consequences of doing this in that the chassis will open equally both sides so if you put 3mm of washer in the wheel will move 1.5mm to the right. Probably no issue but just check the chain run won't foul and you have enough tyre clearance.

3. Make some clearance with a dent in the chassis.

4. Do without. Once you've changed to one brake per lever at the front it can only be used for parking and you may have little use for one. I never found much use for one but others will be different.
Click to expand...
Awesome, thanks for the help. I disconnect the rear brake today, removed the disc (clearance no longer a problem 😂) and rerouted the cables so each lever now does one of the front brakes. Just need to get them adjusted now!
 
I've not read all the posts, (I don't usually).
But I have four trikes, all tadpole as the Warrior. None has a rear brake. You don't need one on the rear wheel.
If you want a parking brake, just put an elasticated band on one of the front levers. My Carbon trike has this. It holds.
Another trike has a plungers on the levers that holds the levers in when depressed, on the Aero trike.
Removing the rear disc brake will sort the small gap problem, as it is redundant.
 
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