With work on my cyclecar held up while I search out more parts I thought I'd go ahead and get the Stirling trike into at least a rolling and pedal-able condition in the meantime. I first proposed the whole idea here ......http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=34913&page=161 ......Only I thought it would be more useful to give this project a thread of its own.
The basic trike was purchased some time ago while I was still living in the Big Smoke and it's been hanging around my workshop ever since. I did start on turning it into a solo lowrider/cafe racer sort of thing by taking off the trike axle and installing a Villiers engine, but while everyone who saw it thought it was cute it was near impossible for me at my age to tuck all 5ft 10inches of my skinny self around the thing without risking doing myself a mischief. So it languished and got called names everytime I nearly fell over it.
Putting the trike axle back onto it was definitely the way to go, but it was my daughter's influence as a keen electric vehicle tinkerer that made me decide to put the Villiers engine back on the shelf. Though with me being me I felt I needed some species of engine with a nice flywheel fitted to the trike or else I'd be left feeling all glum about the project.
Essentially the trike is going to be propelled by a 24 volt DC electric motor and the Stirling engine will be used to charge the batteries.
Being a velocar type I've decided that the trike will be getting a lightweight bodyshell too. As I am very much into recycling I'm going to be using a redundant clothes hanger wardrobe frame thingy as the main source of material for the body frame. As a rule I've found that tricycles, - especially the traditional type of tricycle, - are treated far more like a vehicle by other road users than they do a bicycle. With a bodyshell of vintage design on the trike I think I should have very few problems at all
I've ordered some brazing rod and a pair of new welding glasses which will be here next week so once they arrive the fun will begin
The basic trike was purchased some time ago while I was still living in the Big Smoke and it's been hanging around my workshop ever since. I did start on turning it into a solo lowrider/cafe racer sort of thing by taking off the trike axle and installing a Villiers engine, but while everyone who saw it thought it was cute it was near impossible for me at my age to tuck all 5ft 10inches of my skinny self around the thing without risking doing myself a mischief. So it languished and got called names everytime I nearly fell over it.
Putting the trike axle back onto it was definitely the way to go, but it was my daughter's influence as a keen electric vehicle tinkerer that made me decide to put the Villiers engine back on the shelf. Though with me being me I felt I needed some species of engine with a nice flywheel fitted to the trike or else I'd be left feeling all glum about the project.
Essentially the trike is going to be propelled by a 24 volt DC electric motor and the Stirling engine will be used to charge the batteries.
Being a velocar type I've decided that the trike will be getting a lightweight bodyshell too. As I am very much into recycling I'm going to be using a redundant clothes hanger wardrobe frame thingy as the main source of material for the body frame. As a rule I've found that tricycles, - especially the traditional type of tricycle, - are treated far more like a vehicle by other road users than they do a bicycle. With a bodyshell of vintage design on the trike I think I should have very few problems at all
I've ordered some brazing rod and a pair of new welding glasses which will be here next week so once they arrive the fun will begin