Warrior Flag3

Today I got a couple of photos of the flag in action ... as my neighbor rode it up and down the street.  I'm still amazed that I can turn a 360˚ circle inside of the 16 feet width of the narrow road out front.

Here we are seeing the flag from the front as Dan rides towards me.

Here is Dan riding away from me.  The flag position looks pretty good to me ... out there, but not obtrusive enough to warrant a citation.

Warrior Flag 2

Based on advice in the AtomicZombie forum, I shortened my bracket and pulled the flag in closer to the body of the trike.  From the front of the trike, you can see that the flag tip is the width of the trike when making a left turn.  I also had to tighten up the left axle bolt, and the under-seat steering unit.  Less slop in my steering and front end now.  Don and I rode our trikes together yesterday on a short 2 mile circuit.  Racing downhill back towards the shop was a lot of fun!

This is looking straight down the center of the trike (no rear wheel sticking out to either side).

Side-by-side rear photos for comparison.  Do a vertical line up from the left front tire and look at the difference in the amount of pole visible before it hits the base of the flag.  I definitely brought it in.  But still feel comfortable with the "protection" that it affords.

Warrior Flag

I've been test riding.  As a result, I have made some minor modifications.  1) You will notice that the angle of the upper portion of the seat tube has been changed to better mount a rack or rear engine.  2) The brake levers have been rotated more to the rear of the bars.  Just more comfortable for braking and keeping my hands out of the wheels.  3) I needed a flag so that cars and trucks will pay attention to me and not attempt to crowd me when they pass.

Side view showing the flag.  My flag pole was missing a flag, and since no one will see much of the vest from the rear if I was wearing it ... I decided to tape it to the pole and use it as a flag.

You'll notice that the flag pole bottom bracket attaches to the idler pulley bolt at the base.  And I made a bracket that attaches to the seat bolt at the top of the seat.  It has a 2-1/2" length of 1/2" tubing that the pole passes through.  That controls the angle of the flag and secures it in a fairly rigid position.

From the rear, you'll notice that the flag pole extends a foot or more to the side of my left front tire.  I have found from experience that this tends to keep cars and trucks from crowding you on the roadway as they go past.  Due to there being no nifty bicycle trails around here ... I ride a lot of roads.  With this arrangement (I tried it on the main road today), if there is oncoming traffic ... the vehicles behind you will slow way down and wait to pass.  Opposing traffic on a narrow 2-lane road with no shoulders, will also slow way down and stay to the far edge of the roadway while going past.

The trike seems to roll easily without apparent mechanical drag (brakes, wheels, etc.)  The flag didn't provide significant drag either ... although any flag will provide some drag.  The smaller hills that I've pedaled up could be easily spun up (spinning).  I have a small gear on the front and a mega-tooth gear 42(?) on the rear.  I'll try spinning up a steep hill tomorrow and see how it goes.  I've stayed out of the smallest gears on the rear ... unless there is a tailwind or a good down-slope, it is just too stiff pedaling.  Although it does go FAST!

Riding Warrior

Here's where I'm at ... It's not really finished "done".  But the shifters, and brakes are all on there and functional.  The seat foam isn't glued on yet ... I just set the 3 pieces on there and sit down on it and ride.  I rode it up and down the street a bunch of times.  The angle on the seat-back post needs to be adjusted and trimmed.  A couple other little tweaks need to be made.  But that is what test riding is all about.  My neighbor got on it and rode it.  He didn't tip over, break anything, or injure himself.  He was very pleased with the speed and handling. 

Right side view

Left side view

3/4 view from front

I'll probably continue riding and tweaking it this next week.  I need a water bottle cage on the front boom.  I haven't got any, but fenders would be nice ... it's particularly annoying with the back wheel throwing dirt into my hair.  I need a rack or something on the back.  A flag poking up, back, and slightly outward would be very handy.  Car drivers tend to drive around the tip of flags so they don't damage their cars.  So I want it to stick out to the side far enough that they go around me and don't clip my left front wheel.

Chain Drive 2

Busy today taking brake levers and shifters off of handlebar units.  I put the tube on the non-drive portion of the chain.  And having done that, I had to go out and test ride it on the street again.  There are definite speed limitations when you can only use the small gear on the front.  With no brakes, leaning into a turn, slapping the bars as far as they will go in one direction -- I am amazed at how tight a turn it will make!!!  Severe fun! 

There it is with the rollers for the drive chain and the tube for the back chain.  I figured I could use the tube holders to function as chain keepers ... so the drive chain doesn't pop out of the pulleys.  In this configuration I have the back chain directly below the drive chain.  We'll see how it works.  If there are any problems yet unknown, I may have to move it parallel to and slightly below the drive chain.

Here's the front roller with the tube holder ...

Here's the rear roller with the tube holder which is tacked to the bottom of the frame.

Today if you look down under the seat, you can see the evidence of the chain tube.
FYI - It is 24" between the tips of my handlebars. Has anyone crossed their brake lines?  I'm thinking of it because there would be less tight turns and concerns with the cables.  The tires on the front wheels are airless.  That makes a bit more noise and drag ... but would probably last longer than normal tires, if the trike was motorized.

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.