motorized unicycle build

fundreamer1 said:
WOW! That looks awesome, maybe your next one could be one of these? LOL!
One-wheel-Two-riders-01.jpg
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Motorize a tandem unicycle?!?!? That assumes that the builder can find someone just as crazy as he is, AND weighs about the same, to sit on the other seat. This might be why you don't see too many of those.laff
 
OK, I decided to try a steerable nosewheel for training myself to ride this thing. Guess i'll hafta call it a Wheellie bike.
I rode it a little on tarmac at about 5 mph. The idea was to get a slow stable speed established,then ease the nosewheel up to wheelie mode.
It wheelied easily but I don't have the tailskid installed yet so I stopped that experiment.

The wheelbase is so short that steering is real twitchy when you let the nosewheel back down, and I think I'll try a fixed nosewheel when I add the skid or tailwheel.

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How absurd! I love it! :D great job. I was wondering when I'd see one of these, I was literally just searching motorized unicycle on google images LOL Ride safely :)
 
nice after ya get the back one on you should be able to get pretty good speeds wonder if it can have both stabilizer wheels a couple inches off the ground and steer by leaning like a unicycle looks good though oh and now ya just need a little seat for cruising. i would love to see a vid of your next ride attempt
 
mbuna420 said:
nice after ya get the back one on you should be able to get pretty good speeds wonder if it can have both stabilizer wheels a couple inches off the ground and steer by leaning like a unicycle looks good though oh and now ya just need a little seat for cruising. i would love to see a vid of your next ride attempt
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Yea that's the plan, to be able to balance on the center wheel and steer by leaning or using jerk twists, same as a regular unicycle.

No, I'm not gonna do a video until I get past tripping and stumbling stage :~)
 
OK, I added an adjustable tailwheel to my projet. Is it now a trike??
The more stuff I add the less cool it looks. Changed main wheel to one with more and bigger spokes,and a better tire.

Drove it around some, right at dark again before it was ready. Used up all the adjustment getting the tailwheel a little lower. still need to lower it some more maybe. Prolly be OK with more practice.
Wheelied it a little to let it go back on the tailwheel to see how it works. More stable on the tailwheel than the nosewheel,just can't turn.

Nosewheel a little twitchy, easy to overcontrol. Goes into oscilating wobble at about 12 mph, due prolly to short wheelbase and not much rake angle.
's ok, I don't wanna go faster than that anyway.
Gonna change the 1 3/8 friction wheel(holesaw with teeth removed) to a 1" to have more throttle control at slower speed.
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I think That I will unweld some stuff next weekend, and strectch the wheelbase and increase rake.
I shoulda thought about it more before assembly. I should have made the wheelbase as long as I could with what I had to work with. Easier to cut off stuff to shorten it, rather than fabbing to lengthen it.
Same thing with the tailwheel. I should have set up closer to the ground, and trimmed the strut until it felt right.
I'm gonna play with it like it is for now, and do the mods next weekend.
 
msrfan said:
Is the rear wheel a caster or rigid? It might turn better if it swiveled. Just guessing.
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The rear wheel is fixed. I thought about using a swivel, but the only time I plan on using the wheel is for recovery from errors in balance,at faster speeds. I opted for the strait line stability of a fixed tailwheel ,same application as a wheelie bar on a motorcycle.

Thanks for the input.
 
Ok here's the latest mods to my unicycle. I have re-named it a wheelie trainer bike. I extended the wheelbase and changed to a 12" front wheel and added a seat to help me to control this thing(seat of the pants flying LOL)
Now it handles pretty good. It's easy to get it into wheelie mode. I need to raise the wheelie bar some more and practice.
I also need to figure out some brakes for this thing. Sure havin fun experimenting.

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Yea that's why I said that I renamed it the "Wheelie Trainer Bike" in my first post :~)

I figure that if I can learn to wheele good, then it won't be too hard to transiton to a unicycle, I'll build another 1 wheeler for this motor when I think I can ride it.
 
I must say it is one of the strangest looking builds i have seen in my years Wayne, Do you think with practice there will be enough responsive throttle control to get some long distance 'wheelies' a happening? Any chance of a lil video when you have done some more tinkering/adjusting and got some more practice in, i would be interested in watching you tame this beats hehe...best of luck, i would highly recommend a helmet too ...safety first your head ain't as hard as the ground it will hit if you go arse over tit ;-)
 
KiM said:
I must say it is one of the strangest looking builds i have seen in my years Wayne, Do you think with practice there will be enough responsive throttle control to get some long distance 'wheelies' a happening? Any chance of a lil video when you have done some more tinkering/adjusting and got some more practice in, i would be interested in watching you tame this beats hehe...best of luck, i would highly recommend a helmet too ...safety first your head ain't as hard as the ground it will hit if you go arse over tit ;-)
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Second that. Please, please, please be careful on that thing. Especially after you put brakes on it. Having to execute a panic stop could end up a lot like running down a hill and tripping on a root (personal experience). First you get a flying lesson, then you get a physics lesson (gravity) then you get a first-aid lesson.
 
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