Moving right along, working on some of the cosmetic items since it was raining all weekend. Hopefully next weekend I can do my final test drive and the steering and alignment will be spot on. If so then I’ll get the rest of my cosmetic things done and finally start tearing the whole thing down to get ready for powder coating!
The weather is starting to turn to crap so it’s going to be a long winter for me in anticipation of the summer months when I can start riding. It’s probably a good thing though so that I can take my time finishing it so I don’t rush.
Also this weekend I did some measuring and calculations for my center of gravity weight distribution and overall weight so here are the stats;
(Wet) Trike weight without driver and passenger:
Total: 1252
Front weight: 747
Rear weight: 505
Front-to-rear weight distribution: 60% front, 40% rear
That may seem heavy to you guys but think about it… a production built T-Rex, built by a company that has the money for the expensive lightweight aluminum materials and high-tech fabrication equipment, the T-Rex is sitting at about 900lbs DRY. I had a welder, a 2-car garage, and a dewalt angle grinder… Just to help you keep things in perspective. AND I might add, I’m not trying to build the lightest fastest trike on the face of the planet, just something fun.
I also weighed the trike with a driver and then again with a driver AND passenger and the weight distribution stays the same at 60/40, which is exciting but also surprising because I expected the center of gravity to shift toward the rear significantly when occupied but it didn’t! That is a good thing because too much weight in the rear will cause a nasty over steer tendency which could be dangerous. Ether way I’m actually still trying to do whatever I can to shift even more weight toward the front. 60/40 is optimal from what I’ve researched but I think I would still like to shoot for about 70/30 if possible.
So I found some material to stretch over the front skeleton and I think it turned out pretty sweet!
I also finally started cutting the inside panels, it’s really starting to change the look too.
Here I started to experiment with how I’m going to cover the support bars in the back as well as to cover up all the ugly wiring and create a bit of a storage area behind the seats. Not exactly sure if this is how I’ll do it yet but just trying to visualize a few things...
The weather is starting to turn to crap so it’s going to be a long winter for me in anticipation of the summer months when I can start riding. It’s probably a good thing though so that I can take my time finishing it so I don’t rush.
Also this weekend I did some measuring and calculations for my center of gravity weight distribution and overall weight so here are the stats;
(Wet) Trike weight without driver and passenger:
Total: 1252
Front weight: 747
Rear weight: 505
Front-to-rear weight distribution: 60% front, 40% rear
That may seem heavy to you guys but think about it… a production built T-Rex, built by a company that has the money for the expensive lightweight aluminum materials and high-tech fabrication equipment, the T-Rex is sitting at about 900lbs DRY. I had a welder, a 2-car garage, and a dewalt angle grinder… Just to help you keep things in perspective. AND I might add, I’m not trying to build the lightest fastest trike on the face of the planet, just something fun.
I also weighed the trike with a driver and then again with a driver AND passenger and the weight distribution stays the same at 60/40, which is exciting but also surprising because I expected the center of gravity to shift toward the rear significantly when occupied but it didn’t! That is a good thing because too much weight in the rear will cause a nasty over steer tendency which could be dangerous. Ether way I’m actually still trying to do whatever I can to shift even more weight toward the front. 60/40 is optimal from what I’ve researched but I think I would still like to shoot for about 70/30 if possible.
So I found some material to stretch over the front skeleton and I think it turned out pretty sweet!
I also finally started cutting the inside panels, it’s really starting to change the look too.
Here I started to experiment with how I’m going to cover the support bars in the back as well as to cover up all the ugly wiring and create a bit of a storage area behind the seats. Not exactly sure if this is how I’ll do it yet but just trying to visualize a few things...
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