Anyone doing anything current with Three Wheelers?

I find them curious but have never had my hands on one for too long.

I esp like the potential (light duty) hauling capabilities and the
possibilities for augmented power (batteries, internal combustion,
etc)

Standard frames are rigid but I've always wanted to investigate the
possibilities of a pivoting center section; one that rotates down the
long axis to help with keeping the back wheels planted while the
driver and front wheel heel over during cornering.

berk

On 1/11/2010 8:22 PM, TBerk wrote:
I find them curious but have never had my hands on one for too long.

I esp like the potential (light duty) hauling capabilities and the
possibilities for augmented power (batteries, internal combustion,
etc)

Standard frames are rigid but I've always wanted to investigate the
possibilities of a pivoting center section; one that rotates down the
long axis to help with keeping the back wheels planted while the
driver and front wheel heel over during cornering.

berk

What you want is typically called a "lean-steer trike" by homebuilders.
The seat, front wheel and pedals are a single unit, that pivot on an
inclined head tube. Stationary handles on the sides reach back to the
rear end, to allow steering.

Commercial manufacturers call it----well, most of them don't call them
anything, because (other than a couple low-speed exceptions) they don't
build them. Such a design is rather convenient for a few reasons, but it
is not positively stable and it is greatly susceptible to bump-steer so
it becomes dangerous at high speeds and/or over uneven terrain.

Note that I am /not/ saying that everyone who ever built one has had a
terrible wreck on it. Just that the high-speed handling of these trikes
has a long-established habit of going VERY bad VERY suddenly. The usual
story involves going through a higher-speed turn and one rear wheel
hitting a small bump, and the trike flips over entirely, VERY fast.

The Trailmate Fun Cycle is one (rare) commercially-made version of this
design. Note that the gearing severely limits its top speed, although
you can see the potential for building one with "real" gears:
http://www.trailmate.com/productFunCycle.cfm
There's tadpole recumbent trikes out there that use 20"/406mm wheels all
around, so you'd just need to go buy whatever chainrings they use.

The front-wheel-drive Flevo-trikes are another example. I don't know if
they ever built these commercially or not, but a lot of people did build
them DIY.
~

In article ,
DougC wrote:

On 1/11/2010 8:22 PM, TBerk wrote:
I find them curious but have never had my hands on one for too long.

I esp like the potential (light duty) hauling capabilities and the
possibilities for augmented power (batteries, internal combustion,
etc)

Standard frames are rigid but I've always wanted to investigate the
possibilities of a pivoting center section; one that rotates down the
long axis to help with keeping the back wheels planted while the
driver and front wheel heel over during cornering.

berk

What you want is typically called a "lean-steer trike" by homebuilders.
The seat, front wheel and pedals are a single unit, that pivot on an
inclined head tube. Stationary handles on the sides reach back to the
rear end, to allow steering.

Commercial manufacturers call it----well, most of them don't call them
anything, because (other than a couple low-speed exceptions) they don't
build them. Such a design is rather convenient for a few reasons, but it
is not positively stable and it is greatly susceptible to bump-steer so
it becomes dangerous at high speeds and/or over uneven terrain.

Note that I am /not/ saying that everyone who ever built one has had a
terrible wreck on it. Just that the high-speed handling of these trikes
has a long-established habit of going VERY bad VERY suddenly. The usual
story involves going through a higher-speed turn and one rear wheel
hitting a small bump, and the trike flips over entirely, VERY fast.

The Trailmate Fun Cycle is one (rare) commercially-made version of this
design. Note that the gearing severely limits its top speed, although
you can see the potential for building one with "real" gears:
http://www.trailmate.com/productFunCycle.cfm
There's tadpole recumbent trikes out there that use 20"/406mm wheels all
around, so you'd just need to go buy whatever chainrings they use.

The front-wheel-drive Flevo-trikes are another example. I don't know if
they ever built these commercially or not, but a lot of people did build
them DIY.
~

Would you say that it corners well except when it does not?

--
Michael Press