The Bent Zombie Tribrid Tadpole Trike

[Willy P.]

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

I am absolutely in love...... I cant think of anything to say other than its awesome and I cant wait to hear how she rides

 

[effacient]

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

Factory Five Builders Yeah right. I hope that you can still do it correctly. The tensioning problems will get rid of.

 

[BarelyAWake]

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

Thanks ya'll

I'll admit I'm gettin' a touch impatient to ride the thing myself... there is however still a long way to go w/a ton of pesky lil details to attend to *sigh*

Still... given this;

usta look like this;

I'm pretty psyched TBH, I really can't figure what I like more anyway - ridin' them or buildin' them... gaw, I'm sucha addict

 

[silverbear]

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

Pretty amazing what you've accomplished. I think I know something of what you feel when you stand there with a cup of coffee in hand, roaming your eyes over the whole thing, the individual parts, and see in your mind's eye what isn't yet there... and the sense of "I made that" brings a bit of smile. It is strange this shifting for me of the pleasure in riding to the pleasure in building. When I started it was all about riding, now it's about half and half. When I go to town with the Panther strapped on the back of the Jeep and come out of a store to find several older guys standing there looking at it... feels real good, man. If you thought it was bad with your Rollfast, just wait till you try to get away from 7-11 without talking to somebody about that amazing tadpole.
SB

 

[The_Aleman]

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

A rig like that, he has 2 hands free to ninja distract everyone with cards

Possibly makes one wonder if he should hook that Magic Pie motor to a pedaling throttle! lol

 

[BarelyAWake]

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

Thanks silver - the "bit of a smile" is ofc sometimes offset by the "bit of a grr-arrgh" as I try an' shake the owie outa my smacked up thumb, realizing my brilliant solution actually only works in the forth dimension >.< lol - then I jus' take a step back, read up on the forum for a lil while & have another cuppa. I blame coffee and this forum for both the best an' worst of my work ofc heh

Interesting ya should mention the buncha guys checkin' out yer Panther (well deserved the attention is too!)... yesterday afternoon after work I came rippin' down my lil bike path and skiddin' to a halt right at the entrance to my shop, brainz all filled w/whirlie bits and doodads-to-be, I opened the sliding glass door to find my shop filled w/folks an' a buddy of mine happily trying to explain the abomination, the unholy conglomeration of whateveritisis laid out on the bench to his Pop & a coupla performance marine techs he works with...

A bit surprised, I hastily stammered "it ain't near done ofc" to answer the questions they hadn't asked yet - they all loled and said many very flattering things, deeply flattering TBH as my friend's ol'man has been a shipbuilder at Bath Iron Works for decades (mil spec welding) and the preformance techs are... well... preformance techs.

It was pretty ossum heh, and more than a lil reassuring as if anyone was gonna find fault and be quick to point it out, it'd be those guys lol *whew*



Aleman, ya might be more right than ya kno lol, the electric hub's controller has cruise control (which I prolly won't use as CC creeps me out), but another interesting feature it's got is a "pedaling throttle" of sorts and one I can't wait to check out - double tap the cruise control button and apparently the controller switches to pedelec mode, "assisting" w/o the use of the throttle & reducing that assistance as ya go faster, cutting out altogether once you reach a certain speed or hit the brakes... well... that's the definition of "pedelec" anyway - I really don't kno the specifics with this particular hub motor (I jus' found out about it lol) but I cant wait to find out heh, it's jus' what I was hoping for to help integrate the hub into the tribrid concept... I really hope it's got programmable parameters (percentage of assistance @ speed etc.) - it prolly is as everythin' else seems to be tweakable, but I gotta ask some folks 'bout that to be sure.

I do kno the silly thing won't make me a cup o'cawfee tho... or even play ring tones for that matter... ah well, can't have everythin'

 

[BarelyAWake]

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

YAY I found a long cage rear derailleur! A bit scruffy it's true - but hey, I'll take it lol, ofc removing it from the crusty ol' bike carcass it was attached to required the use of tools normally reserved for the occasional temper tantrum *innocent look*

Anyhoo - as there was nuffin' a bit o'wire brushin' and a squirt of paint wouldn't fix as all I wanted from it was the cage itself, I happily proceeded to finish makin' it's mount. The factory fasteners for that lil chunk were pop rivets, as I'm not such a big fan of those I grabbed a coupla wee lil bolts & nuts... and got to wonderin'... which is sometimes decidedly dangerous lol

As I was at work anyway I decided I might as well look & much to my astonishment, we actually had tiny lil metric allen head fasteners that might be jus' perfect for the job! So I grabbed the tap set & threaded the mount & sure 'nuff it all went together like I did it on purpose heh - the pedal chain derailleur will now be easily removable should (when) it needs service or repair.

Jus' temp painted & clamped in place till I get a chance to weld the mount, it worked out to be the perfect length to line up w/the chain tube (still haven't gotten that yet) and has enough throw to take up the slack of all three front chain rings. The back up plan was to reduce the number of front chain rings to two or even jus' the one if chain slack proved to be too much of a problem, but I'm very happy to be able to keep all three as the pedal assist speed range is gonna be... kinda extreme. I figure it'll prolly need some help at really low speeds as the motors might be busticated, OOG/OOB (outa gas/outa batt lol) while I try and lug a trailer up a lil path or w/e & ofc I'd love to be able to pedal at cruise speed as well. I've not been able to do that w/my other builds as they're geared jus' too low and it's always bugged me a lil... not quite enough to change the gearing, but it bugged me jus' the same heh

 

[mbuna420]

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

looking nice

 

[BarelyAWake]

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

Thankee mbuna, it's gettin' there


...and now we're back to the eternal waitin' on the blasted brown truck for more goodies and dealieyos - I ordered a buncha bits, some desperately needful... some not so much, but will save me some effort and/or they're jus' plain spiffier;

Teflon Chain Tubing - 100cm $19.00
120W Adjustable DC Step-up Converter In 12V Out 48V $35.00
DC to DC step down converter in 48V out 12V $21.49
Domino starter button + on/off switch $33.00
Trail Tech handlebar 3 position switch + kill button $24.00
12v Wiring Harness E Start II $34.99
MRX Comp Shifter Set, 6-Speed Rear, Microfriction Front $16.99
Shimano Alivio M412 Top Swing Dual Pull Multi Clamp Front Derailleur $20.99
Inland 16.75 x 12.25" Leather Notebook Case 2x $34.00

Yarp... there's a pair of laptop bags tacked on to the end of the list like the afterthought they are lol - a lil early to be thinkin' about panniers/saddlebags/whateveryawannacallsem, but yah... $17ea for "leather" lappy cases? Sure, why not I figure I'll give 'em a shot - heck, it's not like my lappys couldn't use 'em lol

 

[mbuna420]

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

and you are welcome barley, I need to get the bolts for my new wheel so I can go for a ride again it has been to long, ur rig is making me mighty jealous out

 

[BarelyAWake]

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

hmm... seems I work on this thread in much the same manner in which I tinker on the taddy itself lol - sporadically as my pesky "IRL" permits & w/a "urm... where was I & whut the heck am I doing anyway"

heh *shrug* w/e - urm... where was I?

Right! New trinkets! Yes, most of them have arrived, the one that hasn't yet is coming from Singapore, so it's understandable that there may be some delay (the 12-48v converter)... which in all honesty I'm not 100% sure how to use yet as it's part of the "experimental" hybrid charging system... probably. The theory is to use it to help maintain charge in the 48v battery banks by utilizing the output from the ICE's regulator rectifier - what I don't know is what the output after the converter may be until I hook it up, so I've no idea if it'll be too much and require some sort of mysterious limiting controller to prevent overcharge or not enough to worry about - I do know that the thing is somewhat adjustable... but I'm a bit outta my league and will hafta consult folks more knowledgeable than I.

Bit of a moot point at this stage however as it's far from ready to run in any case lol - the first pic below shows just 2/3rds of the spaghetti system I need to install... somewhere heh

Amongst the shiny toys that arrived were the much needed twist shifters & switches for the ICE, the electric hub having been supplied with it's own ofc. Until I had all of the buttons & whatnot here, I could only guess what the arrangement would be like, even if I had enough room for all of the controls for all three motive systems... it is a bit much to ask of just the two hand grips I know lol *shrug* gotta figure it out tho, there's jus' no alternative location - I don't wanna hafta be groping around for a switch in the middle of a turn after all.

Like so much of this build it wasn't as simple as it seemed it outa be, first as I chose to hide away the thumb ethrottle w/its lil lights (charge indicator) but more importantly it's on/off headlight/taillight switch - I decided to hack apart the extra twist ethrottle that was supplied w/the hub kit and use it's cut down base as another switch assembly. This provided me with four separate button assemblies that hadta go somewhere - and that "somewhere" involved a seemingly infinite number of alternate combinations lol So, I spent most of Saturday arranging & rearranging the controls around until I felt I found the one that was both the most ergonomic & aesthetic as could be expected, easy to reach and with the simply asinine number of cables and wires under some semblance of control - it would hardly do to have 'em snag on something after all, the last pic shows I managed to get them all bundled neatly as they come off the handlebars, tho obviously I've not done anything to route them any more than that yet - that ofc needs to wait till I finish a ton of other "little" details... but, it's gettin thar whoohoo!

Currently the control arrangement is as follows;

Right hand;
Trigger ethrottle, front brakes, front derailleur, horn, cruise control/pedalic (emotor), ICE master on/off, ICE start

Left hand;
ICE trigger throttle, rear brake, rear derailleur, blinkers, ICE kill switch, battery charge indicator, main lights

Yea... as ya may have noticed, I've got the derailleurs & brakes "reversed" from the traditional bicycle configuration - this is a personal choice that I may change later if it turns out I'm not comfy w/it *shrug* The reasoning? I think I'd prefer if my right hand maintained control of the steering & primary braking whilst my admittedly stupid left hand dealt with the tasks of shifting & ICE throttle... well... we'll see ofc lol

 

[The_Aleman]

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

Nothing wrong with setting stuff unconventional, IMHO. maybe I'm biased being that I based my last build around trigger controls. But, there's something to be said about making your controls complicated enough so that no one wants to ride your MaB

Ask my brother Kline's Kustoms and BiMoPed. My daily rider nicknamed "OCD" is complicated and tricky. They tried and failed to and now are too scared to ride my bike. My handlebars are so far from the seat Baird looked like he was an Ewok on something from a failed remake sequel of Star Wars when he was sitting on my bike. Of course I'm a big scowling ugly Abobo-from-Double-Dragon-looking guy too, maybe that doesn't make people comfortable either. Don't you dare mess up my stuff! Really, I don't like to ride people's bikes and I prefer they not ride mine as well. But there's something to be said about complicated controls. If it requires no finesse I'm simply not interested!

I commend your triggers, and ofc things must be set the way _you_ want them to. Being complicated for the savages is bonus points IMHO!

(if I come to Maine will you let me cruise it? lol) You made me <3 taddies, honestly

 

[silverbear]

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

My appreciation an admiration grows. Just spent some time going through the build progression at the photo site. Man, there's a lot going on with that machine... so many aspects and details to coordinate into a functioning whole. Incredible.
I'm interested in your trigger throttle control and thinking I may have to try that. Seems that Art Rightus is giving the right wrist some grief on long rides. I'll have to page back sometime to see where you got yours. I hope you can get it all together before the season ends for the year. I know there is still much to do in the details and with a pesky job to distract you from your passion it is difficult. Of course we all want you to hurry up so we can see a video. But we can wait as you make things right and then remake things more right and remake again. This bike may never be totally 'done' and that's a nice thing, actually.
SB

 

[BarelyAWake]

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

Thankee Ale... it's always been interesting to me how "complicated" some folks seem to think even the one "extra" lever on my humble Schwinn is (HT clutch ofc), how many folks that tell me I outa get a dual pull brake lever for it to reduce the "clutter"... *shrug* to each their own ofc - but I really like having independent brake control heh, I've I dual pull on my ol' 40's Rollfast, but that was for aesthetics, TBH I'm not terribly impressed w/it... but that's my "lazy cruiser" heh

A comparatively stubby friend of mine was disappointed that the taddy's pedals are a bit of a stretch for him even with the pedal boom fully retracted... my reply was ofc "dude - I built the thing fer me, yer lucky I made it adjustable at all, get some platform shoes er sumfin lol, not my fault yer a foot and a half shorter than me gurlimon" ..his reply was ofc a bannable offense on this forum heh

As for "test rides" for visiting friends, that's actually far simpler than it may seem - as I'm not the trusting sort they'd ofc be limited to tootling around the empty lot near my house (not as lame as it sounds, it's oft used as a race track lol) and for the uninitiated it's a simple matter of ignoring all of the shifting & ICE controls and just pulling the trigger throttle for the electric hub motor... remembering to squeeze the brakes when needful ofc - but that's it *shrug* Where it gets "tricky" isn't even using both the ICE and the ehub, it's getting the most out of 'em... and naturally, that's something even I've not figured out yet YAY




Silver, as always thank you for your appreciations! Ya may have found the link by now - but if you've not: WPS CAST ALUMINUM FINGER THROTTLES from Western Power Sports Watercraft - I would like to mention that you may wish to check out what your particular carby needs for throttle pull, you may be able to get away with using the shorty brake levers from a BMX or w/e (tho they've a hair less pull) - which would not only provide a far greater selection of styles to choose from, but may allow you to save a few bucks while yer at it, also the cable adjusters aren't included w/the ones I got & they're not a bicycle standard (different thread pitch)... $30 just for a trigger throttle isn't so bad ofc, tho I hadta get two of them an' I was a lil grumpy about the almost $70 lol *shrug* I like 'em tho, I like them a lot actually - for this partic build heh

 

[BarelyAWake]

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

A bit less exciting perhaps but still defo needful is I also got my new front derailleur and teflon chain return tube as well - the chain tube was the perfect length and was no more bother to install than a coupla zip ties & finally having the proper front derailleur means I can finally trim down the excessive stub of what used ta be a seat post when I get a mo.

Make no mistake however - these pics are very deceptive, there's still a LOT to be done with much of what's in the pics only rigged up to see if it works... to give you an idea, here's a partial "to do" list, stuff I actually know I still need to do lol;

Weld cable stop front derailleur
Cut down front derailleur mount
Pedal boom adjustment lock
Brake noodles, front brake calipers
Shock mount nylon shims
Lathe new brass A arm bushings
Drill steering plate pivot for castellated nut
Recenter lower seat mount
Battery tray mounts
Return spring ethrottle
Weld handlebars
Trim linkages/final alignment
Trim handlebar cross bolt & nyloc
Final weld upper rear shock mount
Gusset rear stay pivot
Fabricate rear rotor spacer plate
Fabricate rear caliper mount
Fabricate torque arms for hub motor
Trim jackshaft, cut keys & spacers
Rear derailleur mounting
Relocate foremost power idler
Fabricate rearmost power idler
Weld idler mounts
Replace fuel tank mount bushings
Routing electrical harnesses w/looms
ICE fuel system & remote choke control


...aaaand, not only does that list neglect the things I've no doubt forgotten, naturally even after all that's done - I get to rip it all back down to bare chassis, sandblast, prime & paint whoohoo!!1!

I love this hobby lol

 

[BarelyAWake]

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

Just spent some time going through the build progression at the photo site. Man, there's a lot going on with that machine...

This reminded me that I've not posted the link to the taddy's build album in a while - if anyone's curious, there's a couple few pics here (close to 400 actually... I've no ider how that happened heh), not all of which I bothered to post in this thread ofc: tad build photo album

 

[Willy P.]

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

its so hard for me to tare down for paint... it usually takes me a few weeks of riding before you can get me to get off it again

 

[BarelyAWake]

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

Yeah I can totally understand & sympathize lol... yet... I live so close to the nice, salty ocean that sometimes I live in it (depending on tides & storm surges ofc) & it does it's best to remind me that paint isn't just fer looks heh - I've taken to pre-painting parts w/elcheapo rattle can even b'fore I weld them as I've learned it's a heck of a lot easier to clean cheap paint off than surface rust

Funny how quick paint will dry on a fresh weld... hey, it's a "baked on" finish tho right?

 

[Alaskavan]

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

Hi Barely,
Thanks for reminding me about the existance of this Forum. You're doin some great work. It's taken me most of this evening to scan through the build log. Well done.

 

[BarelyAWake]

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

Thank you Alaskavan, good to see ya