A year in the life of an E-trike

[voyager]

Hi Folks
With about 3 weeks before the first Birthday of the Voyager e-trike , Things have started to slow down the wet and windy weather does nothing for the aches and pains of a retired OAP but active cyclist . Some of the bits I have ordered are destine to arrive next week .

One of The Cree headlamps I only fitted last week has lost its lens already after about 5 miles of use, so you can imagine I am a little pee'd off and have ordered another set these will have a dab of nail varnish to stop it happening again .

Next week it will be a wheel build for the other trike assuming the hub arrives . and see if anything else will fall off between now and then

regards emma

 

[Scoosh]

As long as the bits are only falling off the trike …

I love the casual, almost nonchalant way you mention "a wheel build …" - something most of us would baulk at doing and would be asking for advice/info from CC !

 

[voyager]

I love the casual, almost nonchalant way you mention "a wheel build …" - something most of us would baulk at doing and would be asking for advice/info from CC !

Hi Scoosh

Forty odd years ago I need a wheel build doing ( pair of sprints ) and a racing bikie offered to do it for me for fifteen bob ( 75pence in todays money or 2 gallons of fuel back then )

Or
for a pound He would teach me to build the wheels myself and true them , That was the start of it and I have built my wheels and time trialled on them That was many moons ago , Turning pedals in anger now I am a pleasure Triker and by hobby a bike / trike builder and I still find it relaxing to build my own wheels - Remember you cannot get 20" wheels with disc brakes and 14mm spindles , ( don't prove me wrong ) and its cheaper to get Chinese e-hubs delivered than complete wheels . Most of the rims I use are ex bmx that have been recycled and that in itself saves an OAP some pennies .

regards emma

 

[Scoosh]

Sounds like the best £1 you ever spent !

 

[voyager]

At the time l didn't think so
On reflection over the decades, if l ever met him again . A big thank you would be in order. I never realised at the time how many wheels l would ever build over a lifetime.
Thanks Steve where ever you are

Regards Emma

 

[voyager]

Hi Folks
I have been going through the older photos on my computer and This was taken about 14 months ago it was the voyageur bike , the easy to build recumbent bike from Atomic Zombie , It used the rear end off a suspension MTB and the front end off a BMX , A real simple bike to build but a handful to store ,
It was this that became the voyager e-trike with a little help from an angle grinder and a mig welder .
More details can be found in the AZ newsletter of February 2014 .
Once mastered I was surprised how smooth it was to ride but it did need a lot of space to manoeuvre and at 9 foot long a garage to store it in .

It was never painted as the decision to turn it into a trike happened so very soon after I had mastered it and before the gravel rash had healed .
Apart from removing the front , The seat rake was reduced and the suspension angle of the rear triangle were reset lower to get the trike to sit much lower down .
The trike was lowered so much that the front part of the main boom was inclined to give enough clearance to eliminate heel strike .

regards emma

 

[neil earley]

Me as a kid was no good with a mechano set!! wish I was as good as you building things well done and cant wait to see your next build.

 

[voyager]

Hi Folks

I have replaced the Cree front lamps that fell apart and I modified the rear lamps on the voyager , I fitted a bar across the rack and now I have two rear lamps rather than the original single rear lamp .The hardware I sprayed black to blend in with the rack .
The rear wheel , disc brake , and battery have been fitted on the blue 20/20 trike and the pannier rack and bags fitted on the red 20/20
That only leaves the handlebars and cables to sort at the weekend .
I have managed a few more miles today and the trike is still running well in just over a week it will be a year old ,
Although I might seem to have gone quiet at the moment i am planning the next project and gathering the parts .
But that will be in another thread when it starts to get interesting

here is the original photo and the photo as it approaches its first birthday

and now

Regards emma

 

[voyager]

Hi Folks

We have come to the end of the year of the e-trike The voyager is a year old today , it has covered well over 1000 miles and given many more smiles during the year along with the design and development of the 20/20 e-trikes that have proved more " manageable " for transporting . The voyager is still by far my favourite trike and despite a few short comings due to the lack of knowledge of e-bike bits 18 months ago when I ordered the rear wheel it has been a fun and reliable ride ( and still is ) out of a score of 100 its would get over 90 but if I were to upgrade it then it would get a few little changes , but on the whole it turned out well .
The red 20/20 e-trike is almost 6 months old and has been a great development project going from a 20/24 " wheel trike ( still to big too fit happily in the boot ) down to the 20/20 this small change in design has made it a lot easier to transport in and on the roof of the car .
From the original weight of the SLA battery voyager at just under 60kg down to under 40kgs with the lithium pack and getting the weight of the 20/20 e-trikes with batteries down to under 35 kgs ready to go with higher specification equipment has been part of the fun .

Over the past year my fitness and health has improved ( I am still having problems but that is the way life is and things happen and I have to take the bad days with the good .As long as the good days exceed the bad ones its a bonus )

As for the " bent legs " that everyone talks about I think there has been so many muscles that have been spurred into life and some DF ones that don't get the use in the sitting position but it does not matter in the long run .

lt has been a really good time in building and fine tuning the trikes , and I have learnt a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the experience and have made a load of new friends along the way , I hope this thread gave you an insight into the good time that l have had along my journey in search of the near perfect e-trike .

Hope you have enjoyed the thread and thanks for all the "likes" it has received along the way

I will continue to add to the other 2 threads of the 20/20 e-trikes and the transportable as it is developed
and start another thread if the voyager has any upgrades but at present none are planned ..

regards emma