Tr1ke build, In the Netherlands by Erik #4

[erik]

The tR1ke is working fine now!
Clutch,brake and gear shifter do work flawless. Throttle lever works as desired and throttle pedal control is pretty good now. I managed to set the fuel.air mixture screws in the bottom of the carbs a bit richer which definately helps in the low rpm range and is close to stutterless from 20kmh and up. May have to tweak this a bit more.
The throttle lever I placed on the bulkhead has one dowside (if it could be referred as a downside). it does cut off the top rpm range a bit and reduces acceleration to have no wheel spin at full paddle press down but it still accelerates as stink if not faster as it did on the first testdrive. Top end speed of the stock sprocket setting is about 170kmh now which feels like entering an tornado which isn't very durable to maintain this speed.
When I opt to change the sprockets to a different gearing the bottom rpm range should be a bit easier to control and the lever setting could be set more agressive as desired. Not sure if I am in favour for a spinning wheel too often so I guess it's good for the time being.

I did think this was a rubbernecking vehicle but I guess the color sheme of my version makesit a bit less unnoticed as expected. Not complaining at all cause kids and grannies love this colors which proves it's timeless and very likely not to get boored in a long time.

At full speed it is as solid as a rock. May have to soften the front springs a bit because it doesn't like putholes at all. Cornering seems to be as fast as a motorcycle on road conditions which amazed me quite a bit.

The misses cannot deal with the hooligan. i took her out for a drive and got home within a mile. She feels it's like a rollercoaster on a straight track. haven't exeeded 70kmh on this drive so I guess she needs to get used to it for many short(est) trips if it ever gets this far.

At the pump I did find it quite a hassle to remove all keys and nav, gloves and helmet before entering the building to pay. Need to get used to this LOL! and yes it did draw a crowd

[erik]

Hmmm. Low rpm range is pretty much settled by adjusting fuel/air mixture. Only driving away the engine tends to run down below idle down do 1200rpm. From 20+kmh it's party all the way without wheelspin. Need to fine tune the 2000-4000rpm range and I'm thinking of a manual operated idle lever. If the driving away is controlled as desired the throttle lever movement can be increased to free all horses.

Any thoughts?

[andy7b]

Now it's all legal to drive I reckon go and use it a bit before you go mad with updates :-) the pulling away does get easier once you get used to it.
Andy

[erik]

Yeah I tought that was the way to go until I noticed the tR1ke pulls away close to 50% below idle rpm . An Idle lever would increase clutch plates lifespan and doesn't make a poor impression when the engine stalls at a crossing or stop sign IMO. Feels like a race car pulling away syndrome: stalling or launching. Should be an evening work if I figured out an acceptable lever.

[Deleted]

I always have at least one stall per outing, it all looks a bit over complicated on the throttle arrangement. Just a straight through cable works fine? I pull away with very low revs, maybe 1800 to 2000 rpm, not thrapping away at 6000, its just a case of getting use to it, its totally different sensation to a bike.

Glad to see it on the road though.

[Deleted]

"Driving away needs to get used to with stock gearing. Other than that everything works like a charm!"


I would say that you were trying to set off in 2nd from the drive, no massive amounts of revs are needed in first, my vehicle is on all stock chain and sprockets, and pulls away fine. Also noting that you seem to be sat above the roll line of the rollbar, not that I think you will roll it, but if you did, you would be in trouble as you seem to be sat higher than the rollbar?

Or maybe its just the camera angle?

[erik]

In the vid the air/fuel mixture bolt at the bottom of the carbs were not set at the original specs. It is now but it feels it lacks the torque to drive away at this low rpm range. I am in the process of making the additional idle lever. i noticed I'd only be in need for 1-1.5mm throttle cable pull to achieve 4-5000rpm which makes building the lever quite a challenge.

I haven't payed attention to the bar height. You could be right about this. I'm 1.76m and I have about 2" of foam in the seat. There isn't a thing I could change about this. Too bad most brittisch kits have been designed for brittisch exlusively. I found the Exo to be space restricted as well.

pics will be posted when it works properly.
br erik

[erik]

Apr 23, 2014 18:10:40 GMT erik said:

Ok. Found the sprocket ratios edwin and kevin are using:
mevowners.proboards.com/thread/1044/tr1ke-build-netherlands-2?page=23

Edwin:
Standard and old ratio: 43:16 = 2.6875
New ratio: 47:15 = 3.1333

With this new ration the top speed goes down from theoretical 270 km/h to 230 km/h.
(For our Imperial oriented readers: 170 mph to 146 mph.)
However I believe it will ease the clutch and first gears.


Kevin:
Surely you will use your speedohealer now
With a 15/46 I set mine at -21.2 and it reads the same as my tom tom up to 140mph


Can both of you give some comment on these ratios wether they are good for road use or better for track use. I haven't set my tr1ke for track use and my personal preference is road use.

Thanks in advance,
Erik

found at the Atomic forum:
Ratio is 3.38/1 which is pretty perfect and will 133 mph at 13,000 rpm on 195-50/15 tyres.

Spot on in our opinion.

RTR

Read more: mevowners.proboards.com/thread/4383/toms-atomic#ixzz313t9MSxr


That's 212kmh at a lot of rpm but it's nice to see there is some more reference info. Might be of use later.

The idle lever works as a charm. Need to tidy her up a bit but the basic operation is superb. I can rev her up to 5000rpm on the lever and continue driving on the pedal with no interruption. I'll make a short vid of it in daylight soon.

br,
Erik

[Deleted]

Personally. Unless you need faster acceleration, mine does 0-75 in about 3.5 secs on standard sprockets and chain, then you need your head looking at. Playing with gearing to get a faster set off limits top speed and so on. I don't need to know ratios. My trike is standard apart from it's exhaust. Standard as in reliable. The trike sets off very low revs in 1st. Cruises fine at 40MPH in 6th, will tow my trailer fine without any need to slip the clutch.

Personally speaking, playing with gearing is just complicating an already working design.

For road use, the standard setup works fine.

[erik]

I agree the stock ratio isn't bad at all but the 1st gear wouldn't hurt to be shorter. Last week I went a tad over 100mph and it feels like driving through a tornado which makes me wonder why I'd fancy a higher top end speed if I'm not too keen for track gearing anyway. yes the downside is the acceleration will increase quite a bit (remember I have reduced top rpm on the pedal throw to tune her a bit down for the time being until low rpm controlability is settled and i'm quite pleased it doesn't spin as snot like the first miles I made before the mods.) increasing the ratio should inprove the pull away control like Edwin mentioned earlier.
I'm notb to keen about throwing money on sprockets and chains if it isn't needed but i do think this is part of the fine tuning which will reduce the clutch plates wear as well. At the end of the line I believe it is worth reconsidering to change the ratio. And my chains and sprockets show signs of wear anyway...

too bad the weather is very poor at this moment. i'll post a vid of the idle lever in action when weather permits.

br,
Erik

[erik]

Rain over here, no vid...

Idle lever;


idle lever cable connected to throttle lever.

[Deleted]

Come on Erik, join the men and embrace the brutality of 147 Horses of power instead of the most complicated accelerator affair you have set up here ?

It's not that bad, and only takes a little bit of getting use to, I mean, even Rik is using full power and he has 1 leg ?

[erik]

Hehe, The top quick-link on the lever has already been moved all the way tot the right so no restrictions on the ponys :-) Controllability at lowest rpm range up to 4500rpm is a breeze now.

Had to change a broken clutch cable a few days ago and had a coolant leak on the original clamps of the wide coolant hose behind the exhaust pipes. The small stainless clamps are questionalbe and changed them for wider steel versions which are much stronger. I am about to make a testdrive right now and see how it'll do.
Other than this the tr1ke should be 100% now. I'm happy I had only a few small issues to adress after MVSA.

br,
Erik

[Deleted]

I got rid of some of the rear Silicone hoses. These were my issue for leaking. It's been spot on since

[erik]

An accident occured yesterday when I took my tR1ke for a ride and at 15mph she went sideways on a roundabout. It didn't occur to me roundabouts have very worn tarmac which makes it very slippery. The rear wheel has a ditch and the front wheel isn't straight anymore. I think both could get reworked but I hope I might be able to order a new front wheel which might be a cheaper option (and better). There is a good chance these rims are not available anymore and may have to look at new front rims. The choice may be very limmited because the fenders do dictate an 38mm offset now.