Experimenter

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
16,828
6,478
Last edited:

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
16,828
6,478

anotherkiwi

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 26, 2015
7,845
5,786
The European Union

anotherkiwi

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 26, 2015
7,845
5,786
The European Union
@kiwi

http://facit-homes.com/clients/celia-diana

I thought you may be interested, their design and build system may be relevant to your boat building.
OK I see what you mean now. This system is widely used in Scandinavia and Northern America, I have drawn the plans for a couple of houses built in a similar way. http://www.metsawood.com/uk/products engineered wood is a more classic way for making the panels onsite it only takes a couple of people and a forklift to assemble and lift a wall.
 

Simon Rafferty

Pedelecer
Feb 26, 2016
39
19
57
Horsham
Well, I've mostly built it!
WP_20160319_001.jpg

WP_20160319_002.jpg

WP_20160319_003.jpg

WP_20160319_004.jpg
It's shown up a few 'issues' - but nothing un-solvable.

The biggest one is that the pedals are way too close to the ground to the extent that the tips will clip the road while cornering.

The torsional stiffness isn't as good as I hoped - but I can see where it's flexing & I can weld in a couple of stiffeners to fix that.

The saddle sticks up a long way when folded. I think I hoped the post attached to the saddle would be longer so the tube it slides into could be shorter. However, there is probably more overlap than it needs, so I'll cut another 100mm off the tube which will help a bit.

I think I'm going to extend the rear chain-stays by 200mm and crank them down a bit to raise the pedals by 100mm. This will not change the folded length. I'll extend the steering tube (or actually move the spacer above the bearing to the bottom so the bike sits at the same angle.

This will improve the torsional stiffness as the handlebars will have less leverage.

It feels a little odd sitting on it. It's not a bad posture - but more upright than I'm used to.

I'm going to test it with a simple twist throttle as I've not finished the torque sensing controller yet - so hopefully by tomorrow I should be mobile (if not quite legal enough for the road as the chain sprockets have not been cut yet - so the pedals don't do much.
 
  • Like
Reactions: trex

Simon Rafferty

Pedelecer
Feb 26, 2016
39
19
57
Horsham
Bit of an update:
Luke Riding.jpg
This is a chap at work trying it out. It needs a bit more torsional stiffness, but it's not too bad. I work at Pinewood Studios and the site is huge. It's clocked up a good few miles, ridden by several different people - and I've been pleasantly surprised how many people have said they'd buy one!

The pedal torque sensor needs a bit of work. It kind of works but there is not enough resolution between not pedaling and pedaling hard to make the power transition smoothly. I'm not out of ideas yet though!

The gear ratio is about right - it's practicable to pedal at 15mph, though at low speed, you really need the motors help.

Range appears to be about 7 miles which I think is OK for this kind of bike.

All up weight is 11kg - which is fair.

Si
 
  • Like
Reactions: Steve UKLSRA