The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike

[killercanuck]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

Tidy vs Taddy... tough call. The ol' "I might need that soon" gremlin start whispering in your ear? Better get to it before he starts hiding stuff, heh heh.

 

[killercanuck]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

"A clean shop is a sure sign of a cluttered mind"

Yoink! Love that, sigg'y bound!

And its your Kitchen too Dan, for making 5 alarm chili that peels the paint off the cubordds, remind'r of that, and when you wake up, put some ice on the head wound... lols

 

[BarelyAWake]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

I quote Charles Bukowski; "Show me a man who lives alone and has a perpetually clean kitchen, and eight times out of nine I'll show you a man with detestable spiritual qualities."

That quote rings w/truth... or an exemplary rationalization... either way I'll take it lol as I seem to have both a cluttered shop & mind (soz Steve)

One of the consequences of switching to 36v instead of the originally planned 48 is I've both 48 to 12v & 12 to 48v power converters that are now no longer applicable... so in the interest of simplicity, I've temporally shelved any attempt at efficient cross-charging and just got a wee lil inverter to plug the LiFePO4 charger into - it's a cheat & wasteful it's true, but also really easy & convenient *shrug* even if/when I sort out the 36v thing (converters) or decide I need to upgrade back to 48v it'll still be a handy thing to have I figure;

Wagan 2402-5 Smart AC 200W Inverter;


...and another pesky lil thing I've neglected for too long is a center stand - I gave thought to stea... erm *cough* "borrowing" the super-rugged stand off'n a friend's 70's Puch moped parked (& leaking b'dangit) in my shop - then realized he'd have far more to gain "borrowing" my stuff then me his, so I jus' went ahead and ordered a second one of these, the first being usurped by Mongo the ebike, as so many other taddy bits have;

Acclaim Double Black Kickstand;


While a nice "clean" (no exposed springs etc) stand & rugged enough for the job, it like most isn't strong enough for me to kick start the ICE and/or put my full weight on it with the weight of the taddy too - but I don't need to do either of those things (auto clutched and electric start, kick is just a backup) and it'd be easy enough to modify if I decide I wanna... and it's a LOT lighter than the Puch's steel one w/o the consequences lol

Tidy vs Taddy... tough call. The ol' "I might need that soon" gremlin start whispering in your ear? Better get to it before he starts hiding stuff, heh heh.

Starts hiding stuff? I've no idea where anything is, I jus' flail about & hope for the best lol, the whispering voices will hafta fend for themselves amongst the chaotic cacophony already there

 

[BarelyAWake]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

It's getting progressively more & more difficult to take any meaningful pics of the progress as it seems most of the time I've spent of late has been diggin' through my old notes - trying to catch up with what I was doing just one short season ago lol, for example I'd made detailed schematics of the lighting & accessories harness & had any number of copies jus' laying about, but the schematic I needed to continue was no more than an identifier for the twenty pin pedal boom connector, jotted down in haste on the back of one of my notebooks & for the life of me I couldn't remember where it was...

...after way too long searching I did finally find it & psyched to continue on I grabbed a multimeter, continuity tester, soldering gun & torch and thus armed, joyfully dived into sorting out the mess of wires I dared call a harness to be. Yet before I could even burn a finger I discovered I'd wasted my time & much unnecessary frustration by hunting for stuff I didn't need - as a far more dutiful previous me had very carefully labeled every single wire to be found with tiny tags of masking tape & a fine point sharpie.

Well alrighty then, apparently I'm smarter than me... or at least I was lol

Anyhoo, once that momentary panic settled down to mere embarrassment things progressed quite nicely, in a slight haze of resin smoke wires joined together with ease (I do so love that smell) and I achieved another "milestone" that being completing the relayed main power supplies for both the 36 & 12v systems, activated via keyed switch, powered by the onboard 12v SLA - which now done, means I can move on to sorting out the snarled mess of electrical components and their connectors, senders & switches, the last "major" task this project awaits! There's still a buncha "minor" ones, but the harness is the hurdle I've feared heh

Another very short lil vid, again prolly not terribly exciting for anyone other'n me... but I will admit I did spend some time just switching the relay bank on & off again listening to the clicking sound & watching the dash light up w/a mayhaps disproportionate glee;

http://youtu.be/hkwQ6d-Z1J4

I did however manage a few other things as well, such as sorting out the right hand side "battery" tray (misnamed as it's a batt tray no longer ofc) and dropping of the rear wheel w/the hub motor & new rim to be built.

Here's summore pics jus' for the heck of it - note the almost terrifying mess of wires in the third pic, which isn't actually nearly as terrifying as it may seem at a glance as they're almost all just for the assorted sending units the Vapor dash requires, all of which are overly long and will be trimmed down to fit, better too much than not enough I figure lol;

 

[BarelyAWake]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

"We interrupt this somewhat sporadically updated monolog to bring you this important announcement!"

Well, not that important really unless you're nuts enough to want to build your own fully suspended tadpole, hybrid, tribrid or otherwise lol

This is exactly the donor vehicle I would very strongly recommend getting if you're so inclined as it's an inexpensive import, so inexpensive it costs nearly the same as purchasing just the horizontal four stroke alone (far less than an actual Honda) - yet comes with nearly everything needed to custom build your own chassis as well as a true dual A-arm front suspension, even the spindles & brakes look as if they'd be easy enough to re-purpose, as well as the electrical harness, switches & whatnot... which while seemingly cheap enough by themselves, adds up faster than I'd care to admit lol

Note that this one happens to be 100cc, whereas I'd reco the 49cc - but I would assume they're available in either displacement, the mounting & peripherals are the same in any case & usually fully cross compatible with the Honda XR50R, CRF50F, XR70R, CRF70F & similar product line such as their Lifan clones & no-name knockoffs like what's pictured.

Interestingly - this may well be one of the few examples of where "cheap" works to your advantage, the tubing so light as I'd be concerned utilizing it on a 100cc four-wheeler, jumping, racing about & crashing it as they tend to be... but to be cut up and re-used for the far lighter duty demands of a motorized tadpole trike, particularly as you'd be examining & redoing welds as you go... well, as I mentioned this was exactly what I was looking for but failed to find - at the time everything I saw available was single A-arm (causing oddities in alignment & tracking under compression) and/or so heavy as to be useless for a bicycle/tricycle.

So, while far too late for my madness - I thought I'd post up it's plates (manufacturer etc) on the off chance it could help someone else, just in case someone also wants a fully suspended tadpole, for less effort and far less cost than a scratch build, then buying each & every part separately *shrug*





"We now continue this somewhat sporadically updated monolog, or not as the case may be - depending entirely on the whims of fortune, fate & the demands of the so-called 'real life' lol"

 

[Dan]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

"We interrupt this somewhat sporadically updated monolog to bring you this important announcement!"

LOL, love it BA.

The regularly published, at odd intervals, thread. One of the very, very few things I look forward to this time of year, is this thread and updates.

The very day you post a vid of her up and running, I am gonna send you a bunch of unrelated parts just so you start another.

 

[killercanuck]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

The very day you post a vid of her up and running, I am gonna send you a bunch of unrelated parts just so you start another.

Nooo, let him finish one at a time, Moondog already set Taddy back 6 mo, heh heh, ffs Dan!

 

[Dan]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

LOL Killer

my bad.

Side note and OT, Happy arrived today.

 

[BarelyAWake]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

Thanks guys

Killer - I'm assuming you mean "Mongo the ebike" is responsible for settin' back the taddy project? If so that's true... and yet in a way not true as I've learned so much about what are some basic components for the taddy, so although I was indeed workin' & playin' with another project - it's all been very valuable & directly related R&D... and it wouldn't be fair to Mongo, as I'm the one slackin' lol

Dan, glad I could give ya something to read during this slower, yet oddly sometimes stressful time of year - I wish I could say I've more tangible progress to report aside from some clicky research & daydre... erm "complication contemplations" ...fortunately I'm finally getting past this blasted illness so I can again make sense of things, unfortunately my new wheel still isn't finished (wrong spokes, try again) and I need it to test some wiring intricacies.

Well, I don't really "need" it I s'pose but there's nothing like a new shiny to inspire motivation lol

 

[BarelyAWake]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

...speaking of "motivation" & whatnot, I thought I'd mention just how close the taddy is to being operational - and the strange things I do to deliberately prevent it's premature "completion", the fact I'm prolonging this project on purpose as well as the whims of the so-called "real life" lol

Although December again, the weather is (was) beautiful, warm and dry and not the cold & gray I've come to expect. Time and again I found myself in my shop lookin' at the taddy and thinkin' to meself "I could simply add a key to that shaft, cable tie those wires, connect a fuel line and a coupla other wires and vroom about... hmm... hmmmmm...) all in all maybe an hour at most of quickie work-arounds and good-enoughs and the taddy would be on the streets.

So what did I do? I pulled the rear wheel & sent it off to be rebuilt - knowing full well by the time it was finished the weather would (and has) gone to crap, the roads would be covered with rock salt & calcium chloride and I'd defo not want to expose the poor half nekkid taddy to such nastiness, that it wouldn't be till a distant spring that the roads would be clean, dry & safe enough for the temptation to again become so unbearable.

Why? Because I know me - once a project hits the streets it transforms from a fun "project in progress" to annoying "maintenance and repair" regardless of how "finished" it may actually be. If it needs no further work, I'm playing - if it needs further work I'm annoyed because I'd rather be playing & play anyway. After all, that's how the poor Rollfast never got it's stripes (incomplete paint job).

Weird I s'pose, but with this particular build & builder, I figure it's best to be patient as it is a touch more complected, even perhaps more than it needs be. I enjoy both building and riding, but loathe being "forced" to do both simultaneously lol

S'long as I don't accidentally start another project before this one is road-worthy, I think it's safe heh

 

[Dan]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

So very glad to read your feeling better BA.

"Mongo the ebike" LOL! That is gonna be a parody. Have to find a song that goes to.

Ayup. "New and shiny" does seem to get ya to the work bench. Does me anyway.

 

[Dan]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

Har! One of the "tags" for this thread is "Awesomesauce"! That it just too funny.

"Awesomesauce" is now the secrete word of the day for December 22, 2012.

Please say it to random strangers and staff at stores and banks as you shop.

 

[killercanuck]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

lol, didn't know about awesomesauce? It's above Nutella on the "awesome scale"

yea, Mongo needs a tune! "Mongo the eBike had a very good day, taking the Zombies shop time away..." *killer banjo riff* "Riding as far as his batteries could... wishing he'd go's far as a gas bike would"

 

[Yggdrasil]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

Glad to see the project is still ticking along. Amazing build!

 

[Yggdrasil]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

PS all it needs now is a batmobile meets velomobile fiberglass body

 

[BarelyAWake]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

Thanks Yggdrasil Tho I'm 'fraid it still needs more than a velobatmobile shell, it's gettin' there heh

These past coupla weeks a bit more hectic than usual, I've spent most of my time derping around w/some new 'puter shinys instead of the various bike projects... so many toys, so little time.

In any case, I did get my new wheel built & picked it up yesterday & I grabbed a new, heavier duty cassette & chain for the thing while I was at it, a DNP Epoch Freewheel 7spd 11-28 w/a SRAM PC-850 chain, better to swap out the cassette now than later when it gets really torqued on there I figure.

The Alex DX32 26" 36H Black all laced up & ready, it's a bit of a beast & altogether weighs just about 20lbs by itself (obv mostly hub) - the last pic has a regular mountain bike rim behind it for scale;

 

[BarelyAWake]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

So, the time had come for the taddy to no longer be "put on a pedestal" so to speak, it needs be on the floor for the final assemblies. So I installed tie-downs to raise the project, to clean & disassemble the project table & then lower it to the floor... I'll spare you the woes of a filthy shop, but I'll admit it was more of a bother to clean then it shoulda been lol

While the taddy isn't that heavy at all, it's cumbersome to lift. With two people it's no problem, but waking a friend at 3am when the tinkerin' urge hits is a pretty good way to strain a friendship heh, besides it outa be handy for the occasional flood too I figure;





It seems so little settin' on the floor

 

[BarelyAWake]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

I've done a buncha assorted lil things in the meantime, most insignificant & some more experimentation... I'm still fiddling around with the upper seat mount trying for "perfect" (which is no doubt a myth), did some more electric system trials, finally attached the seat cover, but in all honesty as it's on the floor now, I might have spent a disproportionate amount of time jus' settin on the thing & chuckling... and attending to some ergonomics such as the above (amazing how 1/2" will change a seat frm awesome to eergh), handle bar & pedal boom position etc. ...ok, mebbe a lot of just makin' vroomie noises & leaning into those hard turns lol

Now that the rear wheel & cassette is finalized, I did get around to modifying a rear derailleur to fit, I'm hesitant to say "finalized" though it should do fine - but it is a junk derailleur, tho a new shimano it's a stock take off from a box store bike, as they tend to refuse to index properly I'll replace it when it irritates me enough.

I stuck poor, filthy Mongo in the background of the last coupla pics for scale as although the taddy is obv settin on a 4x8' sheet of plywood, it's still kinda hard to figure scale w/o a reference;

 

[silverbear]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

Oh boy! Looks like it is a few feet closer to making an escape outside... maybe by spring or early summer. I'm so used to seeing pictures of it in your basement it will be a shock to see it with trees and such for background. Eventually we are going to want to see a vid of it in action being ridden by our fearless super moderator wearing full regalia of flowing hero cape, mask, tights and colorful boots Taddyman Rides Like The Wind or maybe just Taddyman Breaks Wind! It will be a classic video...
SB

 

[fasteddy]

Re: The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike (build phase)

Wow, On the ground and nearly ready. How many times did you live this moment over the builds life time.
Also in my opinion a real friend would be up at 3am helping you.

Looking wonderful Sir.

Steve.