Silly thought

junglepig

junglepig

Member
If a motorized bicycle is allowed to be powered by a 50 cc engine in one's state, then surely a tandem bike should be allowed to be powered by two 50 cc engines, or a single 100cc engine...

Sorry, I was just browsing bikes on local marketplace and saw a nice tandem for sale, and I thought 50cc just wouldn't move me and my wife terribly well.

Out of curiosity, does anyone live in or know of a state that has special rules for tandem motorized bicycles?
 
junglepig said:
If a motorized bicycle is allowed to be powered by a 50 cc engine in one's state, then surely a tandem bike should be allowed to be powered by two 50 cc engines, or a single 100cc engine...

Sorry, I was just browsing bikes on local marketplace and saw a nice tandem for sale, and I thought 50cc just wouldn't move me and my wife terribly well.

Out of curiosity, does anyone live in or know of a state that has special rules for tandem motorized bicycles?
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New York has special rules for tandem motorized bicycles.
 
If you plot ahead for the future, I recommend doing it in a known way. Velosolex is easy to find, so you roller drive like this Berini engine. Alternatively, lash a China Girl in place like the second one.


Tandem.JPG


9a09e68cd2c4c94dd4715c137388275a.jpg
 
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Ludwig II said:
If you plot ahead for the future, I recommend doing it in a known way. Velosolex is easy to find, so you roller drive like this Berini engine. Alternatively, lash a China Girl in place like the second one.


Tandem.JPG


9a09e68cd2c4c94dd4715c137388275a.jpg
Click to expand...
I'm going to search out a tandem frame locally with the thought of finally building an electric, double hub electric or gas/lectrichybredated?
 
junglepig said:
That will be a challenge for your pup to ride on :)
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Labs are quite clever, typical Canadians, they thrive wherever planted. Tandem riding should be easy with the install of a quick detach puppy carrier/load basket installed in place of the rear saddle. At times even clever Canadians require a bit of assistance!
Rick C.
 
Live life to the fullest. Get a sneaky, underhanded, cunning, devious and fanatically loyal border collie and lab cross. After she passed in 1982 I never had another dog because there wasn't one that could be that much fun.

Steve.
 
indian22 said:
I'm going to search out a tandem frame locally with the thought of finally building an electric, double hub electric or gas/lectrichybredated?
Click to expand...

Why not consider an economy optimised 4 stroke with high efficiency generator only supplying the batteries? The batteries then wouldn't need to be that big, just occupying the place in the energy chain of very big flywheels?
 
That's a good path to consider Ludwig if the little 4 stroke is single purpose charger an extra drive train is eliminated along with the gas throttle. Noise, pollution & fuel use would be minimal. As you pointed out battery weight & size should be more manageable as would the weight and bulk of a small motor & gas storage. Do most controllers allow use of running power and charging of lithium batteries simultaneously?

Rick C.
 
I've heard that lithium batteries don't like to be worked and charged at the same time, yet laptops etc. seem to do fine in this work/charge setting. Leads me to doubt that there is much of a problem, but the controller may be an issue. If you find an answer I would appreciate any insights.

We might need to continue this in another thread. Apologies if we jacked this one. Rick C.
 
indian22 said:
I've heard that lithium batteries don't like to be worked and charged at the same time, yet laptops etc. seem to do fine in this work/charge setting. Leads me to doubt that there is much of a problem, but the controller may be an issue. If you find an answer I would appreciate any insights.

We might need to continue this in another thread. Apologies if we jacked this one. Rick C.
Click to expand...

Laptop batteries (and all li-ion cells) do suffer though from being kept at a "full" charge of 4.2V all the time. If you're designing your own system, I'd set a lower upper limit on the charge voltage to greatly extend the life of the cells. If you won't be cycling them so much as using them like big caps, keep them under about 4.0 V. Also, consider using big caps :-) instead of batteries.
 
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