American Deluxe hybrid trike

[silverbear]

I got a package in the mail recently from Curtis Fox containing two mtb forks (24" & 26") in the old 1" diameter and today took the time to fit the 26er to the hybrid trike. The lack of a front brake setup on the old Golden Motor electric wheel has had me stymied on how to get a front brake plus have a suspension fork. It was Curtis who suggested the solution or I never would have thought of it... just don't know much about mountain bikes and was under the impression that they all used a 1 1/8" head tube. Not all, as it turns out.

This is a perfect solution giving both a suspension fork and a decent front brake. Along with the intended disc brake on the rear axle the trike should have good stopping power. Thank you, Curtis!

This has been a strange summer with no Motorbicycling Summer Camp For Boys Who Never Grew Up. Steve has been laid up with a bum knee which is finally on the mend and I've been busy with making the transition to an apartment in town (Ely) where I'll spend my winters from now on. Besides moving belongings I've been setting up my man cave which has three motorbikes in the living room and will have a work bench in the bedroom. I consider the bikes (34 Elgin Velocipede, 51 Schwinn "kindalikeawhizzer", and the Indian Hiawatha Tri-car) as rolling art, so they can be worked on as I want they are also on display for extended creative staring and also safely stored away. I have to be selective about parts and tools since it is an efficiency apartment and room is limited, so I have pick and choose what to work on this winter.

The hybrid trike needs to be squeezed in to the bedroom now that the front fork problem is solved. It will be some time before the 63 Schwinn American Deluxe frame can be reworked to accommodate the differential axle and gas engine (next summer at the soonest), but I can work out the electric side of the hybrid equation with the bike as a two wheeler and be that much further along with the build when the frame is reworked.

I'm pleased that the fatty tire (cyclops 2.35 X 26) fits without a problem and the threaded head tube is long enough that I don't have to cut down the extra long Schwinn head tube. Perfect. Pretty soon I'll paint the fork to match the rest of the bike and come snow time I can start tinkering in earnest. As Arnold said, "I'll be back".
SB

 

[curtisfox]

You are welcome,sure glad it fit. Yep over collected to your benafit,still have a couple. That sure looks good on there .................Curt

 

[Intrepid Wheelwoman]

I'm glad you were able to solve the fork problem Silverbear. Good to hear too that your move to the apartment in town is going well.

Once again there you are preparing for Winter and I'm looking forward to our Summer so I can get into my workshop again.

 

[silverbear]

Still summer here, Anne, but good to get projects lined up for what fasteddy calls "the long, cold dark" of winter as it does help make it less dreary. Got the MTB fork painted and swapped out the stopping hardware from a local dump find MTB fork. The brake parts from Curt's were rusty while this one's are cast aluminum with no rust. Looking good. Will order new pads and the fork will be ready. This trike build is a slow go, but will be fine commute machine for the ride from town to the lake (12 miles). Lining things up for trike trailer for the dog and cargo. At some point there will be a paved bike trail through the forest which will make for a beautiful, safe ride.
SB

 

[silverbear]

This build is active again with a goal of having it on the road next summer. One good thing about a build which goes inactive for awhile is that it gives you time to do lots of creative staring and adjusting plans. The recent change to a mountain bike fork and solving the front brake problem has given the trike a more active status.

Much thought has gone into the battery problem and I've decided to use SLA batteries for the foreseeable future in spite of their being heavy. Fortunately for me forum members have been kind enough to offer their old, but serviceable ones to me when they upgraded to lighter and more powerful batteries of a different chemistry. I still have three 12V 12AH batteries which have not been charged in several years, but from what I've read it is unlikely that they will be much good now. So with the offer of freebies the matter is settled and the build can go forward. Two major hurdles are passed.

The really big one is the actual conversion from bike to trike. The original plan was to bend and weld a new rear section, but with bike camp shut down this summer with Fasteddy (my welder) being laid up with a bum knee the trike is still a bike. I don't trust my own own inept welding with frame work, having no death wish. I figured I'd go ahead with the electrical part and test it out as a two wheeler this coming winter and moved it to the front burner (first in line). I saw a photo of a cruiser with a banana seat, liked it and found a crusty one in me pile of donor parts, cleaned it up of rust, painted it and upholstered it in Naugahyde with new foam underneath. Don't like the upholstery job and will redo it later. I think I can affix the electrical speed controller to the under side of the seat and both tuck it out of sight and protect it from moisture at the same time. Made up a drop stand for it so that I could work on it and did a lot of staring over cups of coffee, thinking about the bike to trike conversion.

One day at the lake I noticed some old boat dock framing left over from making a boat dock at the lake. My brother and I had bought this aluminum framing at a local township auction which had come from a public dock at a park. It had been made from what was onceuponatime football bleachers and recycled by the township. We, in turn, recycled their old dock into our new dock with a whole lot of dock material left over. So now the bleachers recycled to public dock recycled to private dock is now going to be recycled one last time into a bike to trike conversion. Some photos follow which will bring us up to date. Yesterday I cut 30" off of the dock leftovers and now have materials for the conversion... I think.
SB

 

[silverbear]

Crusty banana seat, now pealed.
SB

 

[silverbear]

And with a new peel. While the dog and I were riding one day I happened to look off into the woods and saw the old dock material in a suddenly new way. I caught a brain wave, road it to shore and wondered if I could make the trike rear end in a totally different way...
SB

 

[silverbear]

Upon closer inspection I could see the trike rear end in my mind's eye. Relatively light weight, yet very strong, this has real possibilities!
SB

 

[silverbear]

Using the side grinder with cutoff wheel I removed 30" worth of the aluminum dock. Taken apart it yielded a lot of material with which to make the trike rear end. For the next week or so I'm house and pet sitting for a friend at the lake so will use his garage to lay out materials and bike for some serious staring and then cutting, drilling and assembling. There has to be a way to make this work. Hopefully by week's end the bike will be a trike with axle and wheels in place.
SB

 

[moto-klasika]

Hello Silver,
Beside two cute dogs, I saw interesting friction drive to rear wheel (attached photo). I saw similar solutions on central mounted engine some time ago and Anne explained to me that it is system as yours...

I am wondering if such system is efficient:

1. What is interaction between free-wheel with short spokes and wheel's tyre?
   
2. Good traction?
   
3. Good or bad for tyre?
   

Could be possible solution for simple motorization of my HPV-quadricycle...

Ciao,
Zoran
​

 

[silverbear]

Hauled the bike from the apartment in town to my neighbor's garage on Eagles Nest Lake,twelve miles from town. I'm using the bike hauler trailer Fasteddy helped me make from a cut down boat trailer as a mobile work bench. The simple copper drop stand I've been using as a way to support the project in two wheel mode is in the up position. I took a couple of pictures of it as it is the prototype one I made years ago and have made a number of them since. If you don't weld it is quick and easy to solder one together from 1/2" copper water pipe and fittings. The close up shows the upper portion where a bolt holds it to the dropouts. It is made double wall for greater strength by using a coupling and cap.
SB

 

[silverbear]

The drop stand and temporary rear wheel are removed, the front wheel tied off to keep the bike from falling over and a plastic bucket supports the frame at the dropout. Engine and axle are propped up.
This gives me a much better idea of approximately how long the wheelbase will be, how the engine will sit and pretty much what it is going to look like.
SB

 

[silverbear]

And a few more angles...

Batteries will go between the dropouts and seat post.

Tomorrow I'll start cutting and fitting the dock panels, figuring things out as I go.
SB

 

[silverbear]

Hello Silver,
Beside two cute dogs, I saw interesting friction drive to rear wheel (attached photo). I saw similar solutions on central mounted engine some time ago and Anne explained to me that it is system as yours...

I am wondering if such system is efficient:

1. What is interaction between free-wheel with short spokes and wheel's tyre?
   
2. Good traction?
   
3. Good or bad for tyre?
   

Could be possible solution for simple motorization of my HPV-quadricycle...

Ciao,
Zoran
​

Zoran,
http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=58705
Here is a link to the build for that friction drive. I don't want to take credit for someone else's bright ideas. I borrowed heavily from the work done by Cannonball 2 who advised me on my build. It is my version of his good work.
The thread says 99cc, but I ended up using a 79cc engine which has been entirely adequate. The drive roller is a 3 speed Sturmey Archer internally geared hub from an old English bike which has worked very well at extending the power of the engine. I recently discovered that I was not getting full throttle due to the rinky dink way I had made a throttle linkage. In low gear the bike moves along at pretty much a brisk walking speed. Second gear would be like pedaling pretty fast and I'm guessing that high gear is now hitting mid thirties on a flat run. That's with trailer and dog. I was surprised to discover how fast it is. I may change a pulley at some time to lower the top end and give more torque on steep hills. This has been my ride this summer and I've put on a lot of miles. It has been reliable and fun, easy to start and would make a good commuter for someone using it to ride to work.

The thing you have an arrow pointing to is a tail light I made. Aaniimoosh The Wonder dog is in the trailer and her little buddy Bree wants to go for a ride, too. I am a dog chauffeur.
SB

 

[Intrepid Wheelwoman]

Good to see progress being made on your trike Silverbear
Once the weather finally settles down here I'm looking forward to getting back to my own trike projects.

 

[silverbear]

Hi Anne,
I'll look forward to seeing your work progress as well. The photos you recently posted on the "rat catcher" were inspiring enough to make me think about making some sort of van cab/body for this trike. The two pet carriers pictured below are possible starting point for making such over the engine/rear axle. The wire version has a footprint of 2'x3' and the enclosed one is a bit bigger. Probably the enclosed one is the better candidate for the cab and the wire one could replace the aging fabric "body" on the wonder dog's trailer.

But first things first. I'm hoping that over the next week or so I can have a three wheeled rolling chassis and then over the course of the winter refine it into a runner for next summer. A body of some sort can come later.
SB

 

[moto-klasika]

Zoran,
http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=58705
Here is a link to the build for that friction drive. I don't want to take credit for someone else's bright ideas. I borrowed heavily from the work done by Cannonball 2 who advised me on my build. It is my version of his good work.
The thread says 99cc, but I ended up using a 79cc engine which has been entirely adequate. The drive roller is a 3 speed Sturmey Archer internally geared hub from an old English bike which has worked very well at extending the power of the engine. I recently discovered that I was not getting full throttle due to the rinky dink way I had made a throttle linkage. In low gear the bike moves along at pretty much a brisk walking speed. Second gear would be like pedaling pretty fast and I'm guessing that high gear is now hitting mid thirties on a flat run. That's with trailer and dog. I was surprised to discover how fast it is. I may change a pulley at some time to lower the top end and give more torque on steep hills. This has been my ride this summer and I've put on a lot of miles. It has been reliable and fun, easy to start and would make a good commuter for someone using it to ride to work.

The thing you have an arrow pointing to is a tail light I made. Aaniimoosh The Wonder dog is in the trailer and her little buddy Bree wants to go for a ride, too. I am a dog chauffeur.
SB

----------------------------------

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Silver,[/FONT]
​

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Thank you on explanations, but even more on input to excellent thread, that was leading me to a few other with similar final friction drives! Maybe friction drive isn't the most effective, but for sure that it is the simplest and probably the cheapest...[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Stormy Archer's hubs could be rare here – but some other brands could be found. My stepson bought American-style classic bicycle with such 3-speed gearbox-hub (Chinese replica) and my neighbor Berisha got from a friend one bicycle with such 3-speed hub! Therefore – they could be found, but probably not cheap.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Problem is that here in Europe everything with gasoline engine should be registered as moped or motorcycle! Therefore – electric-power must be the solution (silent and invisible, too?). But – the friction drive could be the same?[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Another problem is that my wife is much heavier than your two cute dogs – and she wouldn't be glad to be driven in such a trailer, as some overgrown baby (such trailers are popular here in Bern for transport children to kindergarten)...[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]We shall see – before that I have to test my quadricycle with pedal-power only and in the same time to read all posts on that theme...[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Ciao,[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Zoran[/FONT]
​

 

[silverbear]

Making progress; drilling, bolting, fitting and staring as I figure what to do next. The large drilled holes were already there from when this salvaged material was a dock. Lots of new holes are for smaller bolts.

Coming next are a couple of modifications in order to make things fit well enough to bolt down. First I'll drill mounting holes for where the new platform will bolt to the bike dropouts. This will move the platform back about 3 1/2". The engine needs to come forward more so that it tucks in closer to the seat post and gives more room for the axle which also needs to move forward about 3 1/2". As can be seen in the rear photo the differential is not located midway on the axle so the left part of the panel will need to be cut out some so the differential housing can sit lower, allowing the axle to sit on the platform, held in place by four pillow blocks. I'll need to replace one 3/4" pillow block to the one I have which is not slotted where it will be bolted to the platform. Curt, do you have another 3/4" pillow block? Slots will allow moving the axle fore and aft a bit to adjust the final drive chain.

After these modifications the platform can be bolted to the bike frame and the axle bolted to the platform... which will make it a rolling chassis on three wheels. A milestone! I know the way I'm doing things is different from what a competent welder would do, but I think it will work okay and in the end that is what matters to me. I guess we'll find out whether or not it is adequate. If it is I wonder if a rear assembly could be made from marine plywood to make a bike into a trike. But what do I know?
SB

 

[BarelyAWake]

Lookin' real good silver, it's comin' along quite nicely

I was momentary cornfuddled by the 'Atco' references as I saw what appeared to be a 'Villiers' engine... after a mo of some clicky research it seems to me Atco made lawnmowers with Villiers engines, would this be correct?

 

[silverbear]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7FqzW9AoF8

Thanks Barely,
Above is a link to a 1948 Atco mower very much like mine before I removed mower blades and roller assembly. These were made from the early 1920's into the 1950's virtually unchanged. With my black gas tank and low serial number I believe it is from the 1920's or 1930's. Runs very smoothly, like the one on this video. The engine, a Villiars "midget" is 98CCs and a cast iron 2 stroke.

Using this old engine within the mower housing has made the build more complicated, but allows me to utilize the dog clutch and the rear shaft which has become my final drive "jackshaft" was originally inside the roller which made the mower self propelled. Besides, I like it.
SB