Building a Quadricycle...

[irw]

Righty-ho. After a bit of time back at the drawing board, I've decided on a couple of changes, and have now started constructing

Pictures so far:

From the front:

From the back:

Close up of the first front fork:

Exact bottom bracket position is still yet to be decided. It's either going to be above or below the bar you can see it sitting on in the photos, but I'll decide properly once the frame is all bolted and the seats go in! The seats, by the way, will have probably 2-3" of movement in them.
Front brakes will be mounted to the front forks, and rear-brake positioning is yet to be decided.

Ian

 

[Armegatron]

Righty-ho. After a bit of time back at the drawing board, I've decided on a couple of changes, and have now started constructing

Pictures so far:

From the front:

From the back:

Close up of the first front fork:

Exact bottom bracket position is still yet to be decided. It's either going to be above or below the bar you can see it sitting on in the photos, but I'll decide properly once the frame is all bolted and the seats go in! The seats, by the way, will have probably 2-3" of movement in them.
Front brakes will be mounted to the front forks, and rear-brake positioning is yet to be decided.

Ian

I cant see any pics

 

[irw]

I cant see any pics

Hmm...They're showing up on both of my computers...!

 

[arallsopp]

Shows on mine mate. Think it might be just you.

 

[irw]

Construction has now moved to my garage:

The main two length-ways tubes looking from what will be the back of the quad (these are upside down in this picture):

All four length-ways beams with all of their brackets attached, and laid out in approximate positions, looking from what will be the front:

And again, but looking from the back:

As you can see, I've been busy grinding, drilling and bolting my right angle brackets which will join the tubing that runs the length with that which runs the across the width.

Hopefully by the time I go to work at 6pm tomorrow the main chassis will be almost completely assembled

 

[Captain]

This is looking awesome. I'm always interested in how people make bikes, trikes, quads, buggies, karts etc... from scratch.
I hope to see many more photo's of this build as it keeps going.
Is there any issue using multiple sets of v-brakes per wheel? Would this increase breaking power or would it take so much more effort that the effect is negligible? how heavy is this thing going to be anyway?

 

[irw]

Thanks for the kind words Captain!
I'm not sure on the multiple sets of brakes per wheel thing- I was planning on having one set per wheel and operating them with dual-pull levers.

In terms of weight, I don't have an exact figure yet, as I originally said, I've not done too much metalwork before, and never any bike building, so it's a bit of a question mark until it's finished! I don't have any means of weighing it, but to give a general idea, the state it's in at the moment (main chassis) is a comfortable lift for me, so probably around 20Kg so far.

I've not quite got as much done over the past few days as I had hoped to, but here are the latest pics:

Working out rear wheel support spacing in the living room:

I'm glad I did this, as the measurements I originally drew on the computer turned out to be incorrect- in that I'd set the spacing at 170mm (ever so slightly shorter than the axel :s)

Looking from the front of the bike towards the back, the latest additions are the two cross pieces towards the rear:

The remaining right angle brackets that you can see about 2/3 of the way back are for the seat supports to bolt onto.

A close up of the new bits, looking from above the back of the bike:

And finally an overall view of the chassis from below, up against the garage wall:

 

[irw]

Ritey Ho- Sorry I've not updated in a while, it's been a busy few weeks at work, but it's also been a busy few weeks in the garage!

The main chassis is now complete, and the quad has four wheels

19th March

1. First rear wheel being positioned and bolted in:

2. Due to the route the chain will take, it is imperitive that the back wheels are in line with the lengthways tube in front of them:

3. The second rear wheel supports being positioned and bolted on:

4. Both bolted on and spinning freely. You can just about make out the slots that the axels slip into:

5. An overall view from the front, with the chassis now the right way up:

6. And a view from the rear:

More pictures from the last two days coming very shortly!

 

[02GF74]

interesting project.

is that all from alumimuim? what grade is it? And you are bolting/riveting it together?

Are you an engineer so have analysed your design or kinda building on a gut feel for what will be strong eough? (I have no idea whetehr what you are building will keep in one piece or not do you?).

Incidentally, did you not consider using 2 bike frames mounted side by side?

 

[irw]

interesting project.

is that all from alumimuim? what grade is it? And you are bolting/riveting it together?

Are you an engineer so have analysed your design or kinda building on a gut feel for what will be strong eough? (I have no idea whetehr what you are building will keep in one piece or not do you?).

Incidentally, did you not consider using 2 bike frames mounted side by side?

Pretty much all of it is aluminium, the bolts and what I suppose you could call the front wheel kingpins are steel. It is all bolted together, as I did not think pop riveting would be suitable, and as I mentioned in a previous post, I am not confident with Ali welding.

I'm not an engineer (I'm a theatre technician!), but a lot of my work involves carpentry (see the 'set design' section of http://www.irwdesign.com/portfolio.php), and calculating/guesstimating static and dynamic loads.

Although I have CADed up the majority of the design, it is changing as I go along, I am erring on the side of caution and over engineering most bits. For example, the choice for the main chassis tubing was 3"x1" 10SWG, 3"x1" 16SWG or 2"x1" 10SWG. I decided to go for the 3"x1" 10SWG, but am now of the opinion that the 16SWG, or the 2"x1" would probably have done the job.

At the moment, I am confident that the chassis is overly strong, and the main possible point of failure is the cheap MTB wheels I have scavenged from a pair of donor bikes. (Which somebody on here did warn me about!)

In other words, everything I'm building should stay in one piece, but the wheels might collapse, at which point I will go and buy some better ones!

I very briefly though about the two bike frames side by side during the course of my reasearch, but then dismissed the idea, as it would end up looking like a dodgy something-or-other that I cobbled together. (No offence intended to anyone who does this, it's just not my style!)

I hope that answers some of your questions, on with the photos from the last two days!

1. Working out the length of the threaded rod 'kingpin':

2. Look! A Trike!

3.How the kingpin works, and how the front wheels are attached on:

4. A view from the rear with the nearside front wheel attached:

5. A Quad! (Not sure about the cycle bit yet though!)

6. A view from the rear of with all four wheels attached:

7. Pilot's eye view- and it didn't collapse when the stoker sat down either!

8. A closeup view of how the front wheels attach on:

9. A shot of where the steering tie rod will attach.

Thats all for now. The next jobs on my list (in order of priority) are:

• Seats (as I can't work out ergonomic positions for steering/pedals until these are made)
• Steering
• Drive/Braking
• Lighting

All comments welcome!

Ian

E2A: I forgot to mention current weight: If I stand in the right place, I can still just about lift it, so I think we're probably somewhere between 35Kg and 45Kg at the moment. If anyone has any tips on weighing, please let me know!

 

[snailracer]

Steel + Aluminium + rain do not mix.

 

[irw]

Steel + Aluminium + rain do not mix.

Hmm, care to elaborate?

The steel bits are all zinc plated, and if neccessary, I will paint the chassis with a suitable paint to help prevent corrosion.

 

[mickle]

http://cyclorama.net/viewCategory.php?id=27&page=1

 

[irw]

http://cyclorama.net/viewCategory.php?id=27&page=1

Thanks for that Mickle, a very interesting read!

 

[snailracer]

Hmm, care to elaborate?

The steel bits are all zinc plated, and if neccessary, I will paint the chassis with a suitable paint to help prevent corrosion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion

As long as you have zinc plating and/or paint, you should be OK. Very thin tubing may need special attention.