My Electric Tricycle

[1eye]

Went 8 kilometers today. Pedaled some of the time.

http://sullivanweb.me/MyTrike/309.jpg

and

http://sullivanweb.me/MyTrike/310.jpg

This is at the Kanata beaver pond, currently being ravaged by developers.

My pirate T-shirt says, "Pillage before plunder, what a blunder. Plunder before pillage, mission fulfillage."

[David1949]

Neat trike! I've thought of getting a trike but the price kind of discouraged me. Where's the motor and battery? If you want to take it somewhere how do you transport it?

[ElliotB]

Nice! Can you post some images of the motors/batteries? Was this bought with the electric option or converted by you?

I had been looking into a recumbent bike a few years ago but could not find one, and ended up getting a 'hybrid' trike from The Surrey Company. It is an excellent bike and has held up well, but was kind of pricey.

For anyone interested:

http://www.internationalsurreyco.com/fo ... -tricycle/


Just saw the current price and now it is very pricey, but it represents a good value because of its superior design and construction. But frankly at its current price, I don't know if I would buy one. It is also quite heavy though, several hundred pounds I believe. Which makes maneuvering it when not driving it a bit of a pain. This bike is as solid as a rock!

[1eye]

It is heavy but that's because it has a motor, made of rare earth magnets and copper coils! Mine is set to max 25 kilometers per hour, and has 500 watts of available power. That means it is street legal with no car license. The battery is on the rear carrier and the motor is in the rear wheel. Really, it is the rear wheel. You can electrify anything if you put a 1 wheeled rear wagon behind the bike. That is the very simplest way to do it. The rear wagon can carry the battery, your lunch, etc. Mine has a Cycle Analyst computer which is under my legs.

The trike, twelve years ago, was too expensive. If you PM me I'll tell you about the electrification cost.

[1eye]

Neat trike! I've thought of getting a trike but the price kind of discouraged me. Where's the motor and battery? If you want to take it somewhere how do you transport it?

In a minivan with the back seat out. Mine fits 2 bikes that way, one with quick release wheels.

[1eye]

Today we went 1.75 hours. Not sure if I believe the odometer yet, so I won''t say how far that was. But at least, my wife was tired out, and my 23 year old son thinks I might not be too slow to ride with. That is a milestone. The duration was long, but I still didn't need lifting to get out of the dang thing. It was very hot, noonday sun, and I probably have some sunburn but I had the do-rag and neck coolers on, so I survived quite well anyway. Quite a day for me, followed by a good nap back at home. In case you were wondering, I did pedal, on the downhill and the flat, and moderate uphills, but not so hard I got winded. Had about 1/3 of the battery left. It holds 14 Ampere-hours but I still don't know my maximum distance range.

We went on suburban streets, up to 80 kph roads, no paths. The faster roads had hardly any traffic, so I wasn't worried. All the falls I have had, have taught me never to risk anything on the road. I always signal turns and stops, stop at every stop sign or traffic light. Can not afford to be conspicuous or dangerous, whatsoever, so riding a trike I am as cautious as if I was driving a car. Haven't got the lights installed yet.

You can't see it on the pictures, but I have real clips on my pedals, and clips on the soles of my sandals. If not for that, my left leg might fall off, and that could really hurt. I never used my big hill-climbing gear on the back cluster, because I don't think the chain is long enough. Pix of the motor coming soon.

[1eye]

According to strava, our route was 14.7 kilometers. Still about 2x what I normally would ride on the bike path to the train bridge.

[1eye]

Yesterday 18.6 km. Nice to have a motor!

[1eye]

Did 20k yesterday-- 10 out, 10 back. Went to Andrew Haydon park and got to smell everybody else's barbeque. All we brought was water... Perfect weather.

Picture of motor, controller, and top of battery bag:

http://sullivanweb.me/more-images/IMG_2 ... 52_HDR.jpg

Me on trail.

http://sullivanweb.me/more-images/IMG_2 ... 434341.jpg

You can see my cooler around my neck.

[ElliotB]

Nice ride and you took a nice long ride!

It is so warm here in South Florida that I can only ride early in the morning and early in the evening.

[1eye]

18.7 km this morning. Went down to the Connaught Range, near Shirley's Bay, where they shoot guns of all sizes and ammunition. Fortunately the bike path did not go close enough to be dangerous to your ears or the rest of you. It is right near the Ottawa river. Lots of sailors and other fun-seekers. The air was so clear you could see the Gatineau mountains very well.

Tried to minimize my motor use and get more exercise. Hard when the hill gets too steep. The motor is very heavy. But it came with a big rear hill-climbing gear, as big as a small chainwheel. So if I geared right down I could still manage it. Not worth it as my wife would have to wait for me.

Too warm days require use of the neck thingy with water-absorbing crystals inside it. I can get you one or more if you PM me. The wind does the rest, if you can go fast enough.

[centenarian100]

1eye: Wow! Very nice! Outstanding!

[1eye]

1eye: Wow! Very nice! Outstanding!

Thanks. What field am I out standing in?