Trike

Divide and Conquer the Road: Independent steering and lean functions

Here we are showing the independent steering and lean functionality of the custom trikes. When the vehicle is stationary, turning the steering wheel to a lock position does not change vehicle lean position.

When throttle is added, the adult trike will lean automatically to the current appropriate lean position. Here the rear wheel track is inside the inside front wheel track. This will vary with speed and steering radius. Twice in a neighborhood corner, the rear wheel track has been so far inside that the outside front wheel lifted off the road surface. Repeating this has never been tried.

The king pin and shock relationship can be seen as well. The kingpin is the shock shaft. The production trike has two shocks per wheel. This is mainly done for structural strength of the front beam assembly and for separation of the steering and suppression casters. Each shock has two ports. Lower one for filling with oil. The second is for air exhaust during filling. In the application, there are four shock ports per wheel. There are at least five (5) ways these ports can be piped. Exterior flow control/check valves can be utilized in a manual or auto adjustment.

What is fun about the way the three wheel vehicle trike conquers a corner is that one has the familiar automotive type control yet it feels more like a small airplane. The driver mostly feels compression. Visual is the main cornering clue. It is unknown what the maximum cornering speed indicator would be. It may be just common sense or the po-po.

Chassis responding to steering inputs

This is a close-up of the chassis starting its lean function and through a U-turn. No special steering action needed.

A problem in the early testing was any kind of backlash or looseness in any mechanical pivot was detrimental. The lean control could not distinguish between a corner and a sloppy mechanical connection. Everything was eventually switched to sealed ball bearings and tapered roller bearings to adjust/control the backlash. This included a near zero backlash steering wheel. Road grit would make bronze bushings sloppy within days and it took many weeks to figure this out each time. Once these tasks were completed, the lean control behavior improved and was easier to drive smoothly. Separating lean control issues from the trike’s functionality issues was time consuming to understand.

Now the trike has a solid lean response to steering inputs. It seems like one functionality after a few corners. If you turn-in too early, you will have all three wheels in your neighbor’s grass. Now, my neighbor’s sharp 90 degree corner has a magnolia tree with its low branches. Patience is a good thing.

Wheels on the Bus

This is the first and only time the trike has done this. Started to add some throttle and got dizzy. Had to quit.

This video shows 4 revolutions. I had 6 in my brain. The turning radius is getting smaller each revolution. Steering wheel was at or near lock. The decrease in radius is due to the increasing lean encouraged by the throttle increase. The trike can achieve full lean at very low speeds. It has been done when leaving a parking space. I was being a showoff and it was fun.

If we turn the Lean Control System off near the vertical position, the chassis pivot will self-lock. When the trike is driven in this way, the chassis will always have some lean to the outside of a corner. A vertical kingpin centered on the wheel patch would help, but drive ability would suffer.

Starting to whip

Don’t like the throttle action, but the lean, steering and throttle relationships are showing.

The driver can feel the compression when the trike starts to dig in. Steering radius can get tight with this wheel base. We will explore this action much more with the production models. We would like to know when the trike will start losing traction. Wildman suggested installing a radio control system to test the higher functionality. It may be best to inform the driver. Safety is good. Whippoorwill!

Good day for a photo shoot

These photos were not searchable with our first and only website attempt. So we made a video. Then we hired a marketing company that developed our brand and this website. We are pleased.

Five photos make up this scroll. These are shown for layout clarity and for people who may not care to stare at drawings. The production design has a few changes to improve structural strength and reduce component count but the functionality is the same. The first prototype was a single seater. A friend suggested a two seater would be easy to sell. Tandem seating was employed to keep the weight lower. As with a two wheel vehicle, a passenger can create stability problems. Side by side arrangement would require a high ground clearance for a full lean. A single occupant would need to move to the center to balance weight distribution. A single seater has less things to worry about.

The trike design attempts to use only the things required, to navigate a corner in a hurry and the ability to stop. Luxury items are lightweight and superficial. We want the focus to be on the joy of driving. Harnessing and controlling the power of the motorcycle engine with three wheels for the average driver to experience is the point. The Patent chassis design is scalable. Various power sources can be employed.

By the Storyboard

The animation shows the chassis pivot functionality and the last page tells a story.

We made a storyboard version for the website. Someone added some animation and did not stop. The process was fun. The animation was left in to show the leaning simplicity. The last page is a recreation of something that got me in trouble. When I was young I had finished repairing my motorcycle on a very cold and late Saturday night. This is what the testing looked like in my father’s shop. No damage was reported.

Getting the motorcycle to run has always been a source of encouragement.