Designing/Building Semi-enclosed reverse trike with dual front motors. Tips?

[friggerand]

After having had soo much fun with my ebike, I've been thinking of a way to prolong the virtually free transportation that it offers and keep my car parked as long as I can. So my thoughts turned to a reverse trike design which would allow me to have a windshield and roofline to protect the rider from cold winds and rain/light snow.

So my idea is to turn a bike into a reverse trike...simple enough...sort of
Then having bodywork that covers the whole front end that leads up into a raked windshield and roof that overhangs. The roof will not proceed to the back of the bike, leaving the entry from the side the same as a normal bicycle and the sides will be open save from a small wraparaound section...again to protect from the wind, etc. The back end of the bike is all business...just a normal bicycle. It will have full lighting, turn signals, nice paintjob on the body/roof etc.
The front wheels will be 20" Golden hub motors, one on each front wheel. They will have separate controllers and separate battery packs, all mounted under the bodywork (accessable by a latch of some sort), but I want both controllers to lead to only one throttle.

            Any ideas on this? Is there a way for me to make a "heavy duty"                       
            version of the throttle?

I'd imagine that a stock thottle wouldn't be able to handle two separate controllers running two separate motors. Am I wrong? Can I simply wire both controllers into one throttle?

Ant help would be appreciated. If the end result is anything like my vision, this could end up as year round insurance/gas free transportation. I can even envision an electric heater on board which I remember from when my friend's windows got smashed that a heater hitting you then flying out open windows is still better than no heat at all

[myelectricbike]

The only foreseeable problem with the throttle is max sink current imposed by the contollers on the linear Hall sensor in the throttle. However, an enclosed etadpole is probably the most explored alternate transportaion design. I was just looking as a matter of fact at a YouTube video of an etadpole with a short chain drive on the rear wheel going through the snow. To remain qualified as a bike you can take on the public streets in the US you also need functioning pedals, a speed limit of 20 mph and a power limit of 750 watts (1 hp) total motor capacity and enough hay to feed your horse!

[Dave]

Is there a reason you wouldn't want to use a single motor on the rear wheel?

I'm planning a project like yours and considered -- briefly -- using two front motors, but decided that it would be a bit of overkill. The top speed wouldn't be improved by pairing the motors; the only thing to be gained would be acceleration to top speed. I finally decided to go with a 26" rear wheel kit so that it could potentially be swapped between the tadpole and a standard bike.

[myelectricbike]

That's pretty much my reasoning and choice as well, especially since the hub motor axles are not cantilevered.

[bald1]

Hi all! This is exactly what I want to do, but I want to build a three wheeled vehicle that _will_ require a motorbike license but _not_ a car license. I want to put a motor in each wheel and make a carbon fiber enclosed cockpit similar to the XR-3 Hybrid at www.rqriley.com. Does anyone know if three Golden wheel motors would be enough to get up to highway speeds in the US? It is very hard to find _any_ information on these motors. I want the batteries to be LiIon but to be honest, the whole watts/volts/amps electric thing always befuddles me! Help! Thanks in advance!

[Mel in HI]

bald1, I don't think the motors themselves are going to be the problem.  The controller is going to be the limiting factor in how fast the bike will go.  Note a previous reply basically dealing with the same question. 

[erdurbin]

There is no way you will be reaching highway speeds with a golden motor unless you are talking 15mph school zones. Even with 3 motors, you will just have better acceleration and more torque. I have a 26" mountain bike with lithium batteries and can only do about 19-20mph on the flat. Downhill I can get about 23-25mph.

[rlt]

........You can reverse engineer the Golden motor quite nicely in your home work shop to accommodate a higher RPM and power at not that much additional expense so long as your workshop is already well outfitted. 

MEB:  Can you elaborate on that at all?  Or point me to a link that would get me started in the right direction?  Thanks!

[rlt]

I hate to hijack friggerand's  thread,
But yes, I have a lathe, and while my access to materials like 8 inch pipe is not as good as it used to be, I can get it.
I'm probably more interested in increasing torque than RPM  (both would be nice  though )
Thanks

[rlt]

OK, Thanks!  That gives me a place to start...  assuming I even get a reply from Dray on my inquiry.

[rlt]

You can reach Dray through his web site. www.ampedbikes.com

Apparently not.  No answer.  Nor has he come back here.

Oh well; on to dealing with people that actually WANT to do business, and have a better quality product.  Saving a few bucks isn't worth it.

[cerewa]

regarding the trike design, you should look in to what other people have done with velomobiles.

to read about some of the commercially-produced designs, check this out:
http://www.bentrideronline.com/Buyer's%20Guide/velomobileguide.htm

Some velomobile owners bought their machines as kits to keep the costs low.