As some of my readers may have divined, I am deeply interested in getting a practical streamliner. I want it to be useful for commuting, long ride such as randoneurring or the stp, and hpv racing in the super-street class.
The idea is that I start with a tilting trike such as the one above. Then I work with Coroplast and make a shell for it. Garrie Hill has already done this for his trike, the model of his shell is below:
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| From RandomPictures |
Then I clean up the surface, paint it, mount it and end up with a nice red streamliner. Something like Lonnie's below but made of coroplast and a different shape. But I do love the red with silver striping.
I am thinking of using PVC piping for internal struts to mount the rear especially since the tilting wheels means I have to allow for them to move. A front strut coming off the BB will provide the mounting location for the fairing as well as a place to mount a front light. I will also have a strut pointing straight up to brace the fairing. I will probably talk to terracycle and replace the stock idlers as well. I will want to raise the seat a bit and I am thinking that I could use side mount drum brakes on the rear wheels and then wire them up to one brake lever. I would move the tilt lock down under the seat and put the rear brake lever on the left side. The front brake would be on the right. I will cut the fairing into pieces so it can be removed and reattached. I am currently thinking a front section, two cockpit sections (top and bottom) and a rear section. With the trike separable, that means I could separate the entire thing into 5 pieces for travel or transport. I would paint the fairing red, and put silver reflective stripes on the sides similar to Lonnie's streamliner. I will also put numbers on the fairing for race events and organized rides such as the STP.
Currently this plan is all potential and no actualized in any way. But if all goes well, I may end up with the trike in 2010.
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5 comments:
That is exciting. I think building up a bike is fun in itself. Your venture is WILD! I'm excited just to follow what you are doing. Thanks for sharing. --jikm
Thanks Jim,
I am pretty excited about the project. I am still on the fence on whether I will use Coroplast long term. I may make the first shell out of coroplast for speed and then make a second shell out of Zotefoam like John Tetz's projects, about this time last year I found John Tetz's stuff online. I posted pictures up here
I've thought about PVC as mockup material for the safety cage in my project. One thing I thought about with the smaller diameter stuff was possibly constructing parts, then filling the tubing full of liquid expanding foam for extra regidity. Don't know if it's be more trouble than it's worth, but it's a thought.
...or one day, with the "BIG" promotion, to have Garry take your form and make a carbon fiber shell for you. I'll follow your work...
Jim
I have been offered the chance to buy a varna shell as well. One of the local HPV crowd who met me at HPC PIR 2009. It is a massive temptation but I want to walk before running.
Regaring Garrie Hill, he is also building a shell around a Munzo TT trike. He already has the carbon shell nearly finished. His plan is to go 55mph in BM2010. Details here with pictures.
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