ICE Sprint shakes front lights to bits

[CamTriker]

I've had an ICE Sprint 26 of a while now. It's developed a rather annoying habit of shaking its front lights, which are mounted on the front derailleur post to bits. So far it's broken a B+M IXON IQ, Exposure Joystick, & Cateye EL-120. Has anyone had similar problems with trikes & know of a solution?

 

[BlackPanther]

My previous trike, an Ice Trice never damaged any lights. It only had rear elastomer suspension, but I did change the front tyres (Duranos), first for Marathon Racers, later for Tryker tyres. Both made a massive difference over the 'slick', high pressure, teeth rattling Duranos, and I couldn't recommend the Tryker tyres highly enough. I later fitted a Windwrap XT fairing to the Trice, and had my lights on this, but I did a couple of months/1,200 miles with no light damage issues with the comfier tyres.

I've also had no probs with the Catrike 700, although again I swapped the original tyres (Kojaks) for M Racer fronts, M+ rear.

If comfier tyres don't make a sufficient difference, then maybe some innertube wrapped around the post before mounting the lights would reduce the harsh vibrations?

 

[starhawk]

Odd! I have a Trice Q and have upgraded the front suspension from none to present, and the front end are now smooth as silk If I had your problem I would take a closer look at the front wheels, are there any play there? if not what about the steering arrangement?

 

[ufkacbln]

I use a Spacegrip on both the Gekko and Catrike Expedition, it seems to "damp" vibration.

An HD Hero directly mounted vibrates , but mounted on the Spacegrip is acceptable

 

[byegad]

Slack in the steering heads? Slack at the ball joints? Buckled wheels? Tyres on square? Tracking correctly? If all these are correct I'd be amazed. One or more of them will be the cause.

 

[Tigerbiten]

What tyres are you running ??
What pressure are you running them at ??
Is the tyre bead sitting on the rims correctly ??

I've done over 20k miles in 3 years on my trike and never shaken anything to death yet.
I run superemes/racers/marathon tyres at around 60-70 psi.
That's the hardest pressure I can run them at without getting bad road buzz through them.

 

[CamTriker]

Slack in the steering heads? - No
Slack at the ball joints? - Small amount, the EL-120 was killed off within 5 months of getting the trike from new when there was no slack on the ball joints
Buckled wheels? - No
Tyres on square? - Yes
Tracking correctly? - Yes
If all these are correct I'd be amazed. One or more of them will be the cause.

I have a pair of Joysticks mounted on the mudguard mounting bracket which where fine for about 9 months. After losing the B+M I moved one of the joysticks to the boom & within 6 weeks it started to flicker over rough road. Once repaired it was moved back to the Mudguard & since then, well over a year now it's been fine. It's twin has been faultless as well.2

What tyres are you running ?? - Big Apple 50-406 on the front, Kojak 50-559 or Intense Mk2 55-559
What pressure are you running them at ?? - 55-60 psi front 45-55psi rear
Is the tyre bead sitting on the rims correctly ?? - Yes

I've done over 20k miles in 3 years on my trike and never shaken anything to death yet.
I run superemes/racers/marathon tyres at around 60-70 psi.
That's the hardest pressure I can run them at without getting bad road buzz through them.

 

[byegad]

Well something's wrong. I've had the same light on the front of the QNT for nearly 6 years and it's perfectly OK. Similarly the light on my Trail has been there a year and a half and again is fine. The light I had mounted on my Kett's front fork for over 2 years suffered no issues.

So... Something is wrong with your trike.

 

[CamTriker]

Could it be the roads I ride on? One of the roads I regularly ride on is steep for the area, I'll be touching 45mph going down hill. This road has concreet sections with joints every 15m, every time you hit a joint the front of trike gets a sharp jolt unless the tyre pressure is very low. To me this jolt isn't a problem for me, but could it be for the lights hung way out on the boom?

 

[byegad]

I run on chip and seal with really big chips and 45mph is slower than my maximums down hill.

 

[starhawk]

Could it be the roads I ride on? One of the roads I regularly ride on is steep for the area, I'll be touching 45mph going down hill. This road has concreet sections with joints every 15m, every time you hit a joint the front of trike gets a sharp jolt unless the tyre pressure is very low. To me this jolt isn't a problem for me, but could it be for the lights hung way out on the boom?

Maybe you are hitting the resonance frequency with these joints? that would be quite shaky

 

[CopperBrompton]

I'm also puzzled. No problem with vibration on my Q, and I ride plenty of rough roads and have hit faster speeds downhill. Something has to be wrong with the setup somewhere.