nightmare on rhino drive part 2

deacon

deacon

minor bike philosopher
After the slipping incident last Sunday, I added a bunch of air to the drive wheel. That in turn created more tension on the drive. The bike has pulled a lot better but today was the first time I got to test it on real water. I'm talkin' real water here folks.

I took off to test charging times on sla batteries to compare to the new nimh if they ever show up. So I went to the park. I pretty much know how far that ride is. I was going to see how long it took per hour to charge the sla so I could compare that to the new batteries.

The story is I came to a flooded road. Broken water main I think. First I crossed the stream a half inch deep or so about a yard wide the bike didn't miss a beat. So when I came to the mini lake I decided to hit the throttle and roll through it. Then I figured I would check the length of time it took for the wheel to get dry enough to pull again.

I hit the water with the bike pulling. It pulled until my shoes was submerged and it kept pulling all the way through. It never missed a beat and it did not improve as the wheel got dry. That tells me there was no loss of friction at any point. I can ride the bike in the rain If I need to in order to get home. I was absolutely thrilled.

So far my fair evaluation of the bike scale of 1 to 10 ten being perfect.

Looks.....3

cost of build .....9

ease of build....8

performance of drive.....9 up from 7 because of the slip last week.

wear and tear on tire...hard to say I started with old tires from a thrift store bike. There is more wear than I would have put on pedaling but the used tire is still functional several months later. I do need to change it soon but not immediately.

now I wish I had something to measure the energy usage against.
 
Awesome report. I never had any slipping problems with the old Bike Bug I had. I had around 500 miles on that when I sold it, and there was no real wear on the tire. It is a 2.25 cruiser tire, and I still have the bike (engineless).
 
I have been running whatever is laying around the shop. Most of them are knobbys I could never run with any other friction drive, With those small spindles, the bike was like a giant vibrator and not in a good way.
 
I think after that successful jaunt on your bike n' friction drive you can now rename this thread...

Happiness on rino drive :D
 
Deacon, that is good to hear. Several years ago I built a friction drive that worked well in the dry, but had rather dismal performance in the wet. Living in a rain forest, it was back to the drawing board. I still liked the idea of friction drive because of the simplicity involved. I went so far as to purchase a small pneumatic hand truck tire (6 inch OD) with the idea of building something like you have using a pneumatic roller, but never finished it. After reading your report, I may have to try again. Thanks

Denny
 
I was sooooo happy about the results I have been smiling ever since. I never, never want to ride in the rain, but there were days with clouds and damp roads that I did want to go to the mall to walk, or down to the store for a bag of cookies but was afraid too.

Since I have the bike running the way it should have all along, I should rename it Lincoln since it frees me. I feel like the man who said give me a long enough lever and I'll lift the world. Give me a big enough battery and I can go anywhere, anytime.

Okay new name for the thread "Sunshines or Rhino Drive."

Next challenge the battery problem. I have high hopes for the 36v 12ah battery pack made from nimh batteries, if they ever arrive.
 
I used to make drives like that direct from the motor but I never found one that was satisfactory.
 
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