Everso

Is the motor front or rear wheel?

There would be no need to gear up for extra speed - in fact the reverse. I would be more likly to gear down for hill climbing. If I can do 10 mph up the big hills in my area I am going to call this project a success. I have been in touch with the guy that runs the uk cyclone site and explained my issues with the triple crank/freewheel and asked for advice. Interestingly enough in the reply to my first e-mail he did mention fitting a cyclone motor behind the seat on a KMX so I have asked for more information on that. Another thing I am considering is to regard this at a short term solution and take the triple crank off to fit a single freewheel one. This would get it going ok but would make hills just about imposible without a motor so I woluld be very dependant on things going ok and there being enough charge, not a situation I like the idea of. Very complicated this electric trike stuff. Everso EDIT Just heard back from him. Apprently cyclone now do a triple free wheel. So it looks like it is gong to be possible. The only issue may be the chain lenght is a bit short for a triple change. Might come down to setting it up inline with the senter ring and only use power when in that gear. He did also say that there have been trice classics set up with a chain wheel on the left. This does not have the freewheel so drives your feet round and apprently is not too bad. Thinking about that option - given that the motor is supposed to stop when you do not pedal it might be an god idea form a stealth point of view. as that would leave all gears intact it would be possible to select the large front crank (small on the back to gear as low there) and the feet should not have to travel too much any way. I have asked a few more questions and am waiting for an anwser.

The quest continues - and I came across this. bicycle engine kit installation this is for a petrol engine kit. It sits in the frame and drive a toothed wheel attached to the real wheel - non drive side - in a similar style to a Currie. Now I am not intersted in putting a stinking, noisy illegal 2 stroke that close to me but .. that real wheel cog seems very heavy duty and available very cheaply as a spare part. I was wondering if I could fit one of those and drive it with an electric motor mounted behind the seat. Think that would work? It would be very neat if I could get it to go. No messing with existing drive chain - all tucked out the way minimal length for the wires to run. If you think it could work - any ideas what motor would be suitable? I am handy with mechanics and electrics and not at all afraid to mess on with things so it does not have to be a "ready to go" kit. Everso

It kind of looked that way to me. My current trice only has 2 front hub brakes and the back is just a parking brake. I never felt that I was short on stopping power so 2 disk brakes should do just fine. The next cow pat in my path to electric heaven is that it looks like it is a 32 spoke wheel as standard. This means changing to a different wheel or getting hold of a 32 spoke adapter. Form what I have read so far these are hard to find nowadays. In my way of looking at things in a simple way ... is is possible to fasten the adapter that should go through the sopkes onto the disk brake? I have access to a friendly welder - or good old fashaned nut and bolt. This should be at least as strong as through the spokes. After all the disk is designed to stop the whole bike on serious hills so should be able to pull it up them as well. I'm off to google - see if I anyone has had a go at that. Everso.

Flecc - yeha what you said. The electro drive would not be my first choice. There are limitations and I am going to have to live with them until the savings (£6 per day) kick in and I can do better. The cobra will cost me £50 per month so I need to commute 9 times per month to pay for it. If I am able to do more than that (hopefully possible with the help it gives) that will go into a jar to save up for something better. The cyclescheme lasts for a year and after that I will no longer be paying that £50 per month. I figure when I have a decent amount (maybe 18 months or so) I will be back here asking for recomendations on a dream set up that will last me for ever. Until then - I make do with what I can aford or find cheap on e-bay to fix up. I have already been in touch with electro drive and am hoping to get a delivery date from them. I will report back when I hear any thing. Oh - one more thing - does any one know if the currie can be attached to a wheel with a disk brake? The cobra has one but from experence with my current trike (2 front hub brakes only) I know that the rear brake can be removed without any risk. If it comes to it I wil just take the disk off and leave it in a box until I get something else and refit it. Everso

I remember it well. I strongly suspect there is a difference between a 10 year old on a £300 kmx and a fat mid 40s bloater on a £1,000 plus commute to work. I remember seeing the videos when it first came out. I think that more than anything else at the time made me wish I was a kid again. They looked so much fun. I was waiting for someone to fit a big roll cage to one so they could roll the thing - have it bounce back onto it wheels and just drive on. That would have been so cool but if didn't seem to happen. I had great hopes that those cheap KMXs would get kids out and riding again but they didn't seem to catch on that well. Everso

Well it was on my list as an option. Given the advice from more experienced people here I am thinking the Currie wins. When money permits a better drive the Currie can be moved to my old trike making them both assisted. Leaves me one as a spare incase of mechanical problems. I have allways wanted to make a velomobile shell and I could do this with a second assisted trike. This is looking good. Thank you for you help and putting up with my constant questions. Everso

Not stuid at all. There are several wheel tilting trikes on the market. In general they tend to be heavy, expensive and complex. At the speeds a trike can go (I have hit 50 MPH downhill) they can generaly corner ok with enough leaning out the side. I have not heard of a trike falling over on a corner - though I am sure some have. Remember these things are very low - unlike a scooter - and harder to tip over. Everso

Ah - got you - that sadly makes sence. So I am thnking it is between 3 options then. 1) small chain round the inner front cog. Sounds simple and with limited potential for chain slipping. Disadvantages are losing the inner ring to pedal with and no freewheeling. 2) those kits from e-bay If a genuine 1000W it does sound that pure brute force would pul it up the hill - especialy with help. 3) a Currie electro drive. I know it has it's issues but it seems cheap and after I have paid for the trike (the loan lasts for 1 year) I can then use the savings to get something better and more long lived. I am able to change spokes so even if this option entailed swapping the odd spoke every month or so - I can live with that for a year. It might even be possible to use parts of it (batteries - controller etc) to drive a more expensive hub motor with internal gearing and cut down on the cost of an upgrade. This whole electric assist thing is certainly as complicated as I thought it was. Glad it is a few weeks before the trike arrives as it looks like a hell of a lot of investigation is still needed. Everso.

If it's not a silly question - why does it have to go on the lower chain run? If you look at picture 3 here KMX Karts » Cobra it looks to me like the motor could be mounted on the top chain run just behind the chain guide wheel/pully (not sure of the propper name). It would then pull the chain over the rear cogs and still provide the assist that way. The pully thing would also act as a nice guide sprocket to keep things nicly alinged. Everso

I was afraid of that .... so how about this... Set it up so a small chain goes from motor and round the inner small front cog. The front gears could then be set up to only operate on the 2 larger front cogs. This would take it from a 24 speed to a 16 speed and lose the low end - but low end is what the motor is for. Or - look at mounting the motor behind the seat - that should leave plenty of chain lengh for every gear to be happy. BTW - thanks for all your help with this. I know bikes/trikes well enough but this whole assist thing is new to me. I am hoping that I can get it easy enough to ride that my wife (recovering form a motorbkie accident) can ride it while I ride my trice classic and we are evenly matched. Everso

Yeha - I did see that install picture. It looks prety easy to do. The only problem I can see is that the chain path does not have much space to allow for side to side movement as it moves from chainring to chainring. Mayby something like setting up so it was a straight line when on one particular cog (say the largest to reduce leg speed) and only applying poser when on that cog. Do you see that working or am I missing something here?

Ohh - now that looks good. Would it be possible to fit it without the freewheeling front cog? I realise that means the legs would always have to turn but the model I am getting has triple front cog and I did not see one on their site. If they did sell one there is also the cost thing ... Everso

I would also be interested if you can recomend any kits that drive the chain and thereby get advantages of using the trike gears. Information on these seems to be hard to come by. Everso

Not an option as it works on the front wheel - will not go on a trike

Hi, I joined here as I am soon going to be getting a KMX Cyclone (thank you cyclescheme) to commute to work. This is a 15 mile each way thing so I am looking for a little help with the hills. I did use to do this journey a year or so ago on my trice classic but since then I have had a knee operation and fallen terribly out of condition. All up weight (me, trike, luggage and assist) will be something like the 300lb weight limit. Now I have seen plenty of kits on e-bay like these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1000W-48V-ELECTRIC-BICYCLE-E-BIKE-RETROFIT-KITS_W0QQitemZ170317882229QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_SportGoods_CyclAcces_RL?hash=item27a7bca375&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1688|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50 I am wondering are they any good? Money is a little tight - at least until the savings I make kick in so I need something that will do the job but if it only lasts a year or so - so be it. I can replace it with something more long term. I am ok with electrics and have been taking bikes apart since I was a small kid so something that needs help along the way is ok. I have also looked at the Currie electro drive as that seems a decent price as well. I am only after help with the hills - speed is not an issue as I can shift it ok on the flat myself, after all I do want some exercise. If it crawls up a hill at only 5mph - that would be fine. So - does anyone know anything about these kits on a trike or the currie electro drive also on a trike. Look forward to hearing from you guys. Everso