Chain Drive 1

Okay, so I mounted a chain on the frame with idlers.  Only one gear on the front (the smallest one).  Only gear on the back (also the smallest one).  Took some photos.  Then rolled it out to the flat road out front, then took off riding down the street, turned right into the driveway, and rode down behind the shop.  It moves out pretty good.  I won't really know how well it will actually perform, until I get shifters, shifter cables, brake levers,  and brake cables on it.

In order to clear the tie-rod under the frame, I had to make this adapter.

This didn't turn out very focused ... bottom view of the trike.  I have a 3" idler roller (v-belt pulley) on the rear.  And a 2-5/8" idler roller (v-belt pulley) on the front. 

A view of the steering (trike upside down).  Front chain idler (2-5/8").  Brakes mounted.

Steering turned all the way to the right.  I can achieve these steering angles while riding (without the wheel hitting my leg).

Steering turned all the way to the left.

A view from the front (trike right-side up).  Clip on pedals are a must! (Crank Brothers Candy 2)

Here it is just before I took off riding.  Next addition is the return chain tube, some means to keep the drive chain from popping out of the idler rollers (it kept coming out of the front one), and brake levers & cables.

3 years later - Warrior Trike

I'm finally working again on the warrior trike.  I had to make an adjustment in the right front arm.  The bottom of the right front wheel was too far in.  After that, had to work on the steering and brake support mounts.

This is a view with the frame standing vertical so you can look at the steering from the bottom.

These are the paper and wood mockups that I made before making the metal brake-support mounts.

Trying out the wooden support and adjusting it to sit flush ... before using to model the metal support.

From the bottom view, this is the brake on the left ... after it was cut off and re-welded on the first time.  I had to cut it off, adjust position, and re-weld a 2nd time so the disc wasn't hitting the brake with those high points.

From the bottom view, this is the brake on the right.  It was re-welded twice as well ... for proper disc placement.  I'll take a final photo of them later.

A rolling frame with foam on the wooden seat.  No chain, brake levers, or cables.  So, next up is the drive train (chain, derailleur, idler pulleys ...).

Done! _ Braking Solved ...

Finally solved the braking problem with the trike ...

$50 plus shipping & handling

gives you this Avid BB7 disc brake ...

which will skid the rear wheel (much to grandson's delight).

That other disc brake just wasn't stopping anything.

At last! I am done with the headache of this project.

Now I can get back to working on the Mach-2 ...

and making the jig for a Bentech SWB recumbent.

I still have the tubing for another Lowracer & another DeltaWolf.

Disk Brake Frame Bracket

Okay ... the disc brake assembly bolts to that plate (see blog further down this page) ... the plate is screwed down onto these two tabs.

Of course, I couldn't mark where the tabs go without having the rotor disc mounted ... so I could get the correct spacing from the frame ... and the correct angle to fit the brake unit around the rotor.  Anyway, I positioned it ... looked at it carefully ... marked it with a sharpie ... took the axle off the frame ... held the brake unit (with tabs) in place ... tacked each tab ... took the brake unit off ... and finished welding the tabs in place.  Spent lots of time "truing" the rotor unit in hopes that it will rotate without side-to-side wobble.  

Disc Brake Bracket

Overhead view of the brake unit ...
in the lower part of the foto ...
diagonally left and up from the maroon knob ...
you see a slot (or part of one) that the rotor disc fits into.
This unit clamps the rotor disc between 2 pads
to force the axle to stop.

This is the disc brake unit off my EZ-Speedster ...
Needed to adapt it so that I can mount it on the DW trike.
I discovered that when properly positioned, I couldn't reach these allen head screws. So, I built this little 90 degree bracket which can be screwed to 2 other tabs that are welded to the frame. This allows me to place this unit vertically down over the disc rotor
and screw it in place.
The fun part will be getting it all to work together ...
without the rotor wobbling too much ...

Brake Thingies

These are new brake pads ... 

some of the caliper brakes had the "C" pads

and the "V" brakes have the "V" pads.

I'll try whatever to see if they work.

The "V" brake that I added to the Speedster recumbent ...

had "C" pads on it ... 

and didn't seem to stop the wheel very well.

So, I changed to "V" pads ... now it works wonderfully.

(can't say the same about the caliper brakes ... )

(the ones on the trike ...)

This shows a disc brake rotor with an adapter on top of it.

I made the adapter to attach the rotor to the trike axle.

I just have to find nuts for the bolts ...

Here's a closer view of the adapter ... 

a 5/8" collar tack-welded to ...

and chunk of electrical box cover.

More on Brake Brackets

Here's a view in the sunshine

A look at a bracket ...
The bracket is only 6" long ... so it's very sturdy.
we leaned 230 lbs on the end of this bracket ...
and we weren't seeing much flex.

Here's what the brackets look like from a front quarter view.
If I had mounted them so they were horizontal ...
they would have been longer ... and I would have triangulated them.