Dumb question

I look at three wheelers like windcheater and greenspeed and especially tandems and all those yards
of chain. A man could do hisself a power of mischief if this all came unstuck at speed.

Has anyone ever tried a three-wheeler with two at the front but rear wheel steering? Have to be a
bit careful, but I reckon you could get used to it. Much better engineering if it is manageable.

Moosh

 

"Moosh" wrote

> I look at three wheelers like windcheater and greenspeed and especially tandems and all those
> yards of chain. A man could do hisself a power of mischief if this all came unstuck at speed.
>
> Has anyone ever tried a three-wheeler with two at the front but rear wheel steering? Have to be a
> bit careful, but I reckon you could get used to it. Much better engineering if it is manageable.

2-wheelers at http://www.wannee.nl/hpv/abt/e-index.htm and
http://www.wannee.nl/hpv/abt/e-abt-deel2.htm 3-wheelers at http://www.wannee.nl/hpv/abt/e-abd.htm

Some strange-looking stuff there!

 

been tried a few times with tadpoles but it never caught on. Last try was called the Sidewinder.
-------------------------
"MasterBlaster" <Nobody'[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Moosh" wrote
>
> > I look at three wheelers like windcheater and greenspeed and especially tandems and all those
> > yards of chain. A man could do hisself a power of mischief if this all came unstuck at speed.
> >
> > Has anyone ever tried a three-wheeler with two at the front but rear wheel steering? Have to be
> > a bit careful, but I reckon you could get used to it. Much better engineering if it is
> > manageable.
>
> 2-wheelers at http://www.wannee.nl/hpv/abt/e-index.htm and
> http://www.wannee.nl/hpv/abt/e-abt-deel2.htm 3-wheelers at http://www.wannee.nl/hpv/abt/e-abd.htm
>
> Some strange-looking stuff there!

 

Rear wheel steering doesn't seem to work very well.

How about a Russian S-327 with a short cain to drive the two front wheels which also steer....
http://www.eland.org.uk/s327.html

 

"Moosh" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> I look at three wheelers like windcheater and greenspeed and especially tandems and all those
> yards of chain. A man could do hisself a power of mischief if this all came unstuck at speed.
>
> Has anyone ever tried a three-wheeler with two at the front but rear wheel steering? Have to be a
> bit careful, but I reckon you could get used to it. Much better engineering if it is manageable.
>
>
> Moosh

You're describing a Sidewinder: http://www.sidewindercycle.com/ There's a short review at
http://www.ihpva.org/pipermail/trikes/2002-December/022264.html

I've had exactly one failure of my chain in tens of thousands of miles of riding, which necessitated
a roadside repair, nothing worse. Given the difficulty of engineering a two-wheel drive axle and
rear wheel steering (many have tried, few have succeeded), I'll stick with driving the rear wheel,
thank you.

Jeff

 

Didja' ever try to drive a fork lift truck at speed? Not real fun! "Jeff Wills"
<[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> "Moosh" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > I look at three wheelers like windcheater and greenspeed and especially tandems and all those
> > yards of chain. A man could do hisself a power of mischief if this all came unstuck at speed.
> >
> > Has anyone ever tried a three-wheeler with two at the front but rear wheel steering? Have to be
> > a bit careful, but I reckon you could get used to it. Much better engineering if it is
> > manageable.
> >
> >
> > Moosh
>
> You're describing a Sidewinder: http://www.sidewindercycle.com/ There's a short review at
> http://www.ihpva.org/pipermail/trikes/2002-December/022264.html
>
> I've had exactly one failure of my chain in tens of thousands of miles of riding, which
> necessitated a roadside repair, nothing worse. Given the difficulty of engineering a two-wheel
> drive axle and rear wheel steering (many have tried, few have succeeded), I'll stick with driving
> the rear wheel, thank you.
>
> Jeff

 

On Mon, 12 May 2003 11:32:44 -0500, "harv" <harv*no_spam*@spininternet.com> wrote:

>Didja' ever try to drive a fork lift truck at speed? Not real fun!

Wasn't Thrust 2 rear-wheel steered? I think that was controllable above walking pace...

Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony. http://www.chapmancentral.com (BT ADSL and
dynamic DNS permitting)
NOTE: BT Openworld have now blocked port 25 (without notice), so old mail addresses may no longer
work. Apologies.

 

On Mon, 12 May 2003 11:32:44 -0500, "harv" <harv*no_spam*@spininternet.com> wrote:

>Didja' ever try to drive a fork lift truck at speed? Not real fun!

Ayup. But it has been designed for slow speed high manoeverability.

Driving a car in reverse at speed needs a lot of care, but if it is set up for rear wheel steer....

Moosh

 

On 12 May 2003 09:07:42 -0700, [email protected] (Jeff Wills) wrote:

>"Moosh" <[email protected].biz.au> wrote in message
>news:<[email protected]>...
>> I look at three wheelers like windcheater and greenspeed and especially tandems and all those
>> yards of chain. A man could do hisself a power of mischief if this all came unstuck at speed.
>>
>> Has anyone ever tried a three-wheeler with two at the front but rear wheel steering? Have to be a
>> bit careful, but I reckon you could get used to it. Much better engineering if it is manageable.
>>
>>
>> Moosh
>
>You're describing a Sidewinder: http://www.sidewindercycle.com/ There's a short review at
>http://www.ihpva.org/pipermail/trikes/2002-December/022264.html
>
>I've had exactly one failure of my chain in tens of thousands of miles of riding, which
>necessitated a roadside repair, nothing worse. Given the difficulty of engineering a two-wheel
>drive axle and rear wheel steering (many have tried, few have succeeded), I'll stick with driving
>the rear wheel, thank you.

I was really joking about the chain catastrophe. I just feel that all that chain might be
unnecessary. Nevertheless, I will probably come back full circle to the pedals at the extreme
opposite end to the drive wheel with the peddler appearing to be taking a kip in the middle

My thoughts at the minute are of a pair of "deckchairs" side-by-side with a non-steering wheel and
peddle assembly in front of each (perhaps the bottom bracket and fork and wheel with chainwheels/
sprockets from two cannibalised bikes?

Between the two seats, a steering joy stick (tiller) linked to a lever on the single rear wheel
which could be the front forks and wheel and headstock from one of the above cannibalised bikes.

BTW, the brakes on the front wheel are going to have to apply equally or you will have some
unintended directional decisions This can be done with the judicious use of compensating levers,
I believe. (The word for this arrangement escapes me for the moment)

Then there's the problem of the captain peddling harder than the stoker and the tendency for this to
send the velocipede in circles. Perhaps a linkage between the two front wheels mit ratchet so we
don't wear out the lubbers on corners?

Moosh

 

On Mon, 12 May 2003 19:40:39 +0100, "Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email protected]> wrote:

>On Mon, 12 May 2003 11:32:44 -0500, "harv" <harv*no_spam*@spininternet.com> wrote:
>
>>Didja' ever try to drive a fork lift truck at speed? Not real fun!
>
>Wasn't Thrust 2 rear-wheel steered? I think that was controllable above walking pace...

Anyone got a link to a THRUST photo?

 

"Moosh" skrev

> >Wasn't Thrust 2 rear-wheel steered? I think that was controllable above walking pace...
>
> Anyone got a link to a THRUST photo?

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Andy_Graves/SSC_pics.htm

(official page seems to have vanished)

AFAIK the Thrust is best described as a tadpole with the two rear wheels fairly close together. And
they weren't excactly doing slalom runs with it.

M

 

On Mon, 12 May 2003 19:40:39 +0100, Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:

> Wasn't Thrust 2 rear-wheel steered? I think that was controllable above walking pace...

... up to Mach 1.02 -- yes.

If you ever see a lecture offered by Ron Ayres go to it! He shows footage not only of the Thrust
SSC, but also of the Mini modifed to tadpole configuration & rear-wheel steering.

So who will be the first cyclist to produce the power output of two R-R Speys, and pedal to Mach 1?

Mike

 

Mike Causer wrote:
> On Mon, 12 May 2003 19:40:39 +0100, Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
>
>> Wasn't Thrust 2 rear-wheel steered? I think that was controllable above walking pace...
>
> ... up to Mach 1.02 -- yes.

After the record runs, though, Andy Green went on record as saying that RWS should henceforth be
confined to forklifts...

Dave Larrington - http://legslarry.crosswinds.net/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================

 

On Tue, 13 May 2003 12:23:57 +0100, "Dave Larrington" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Mike Causer wrote:
>> On Mon, 12 May 2003 19:40:39 +0100, Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
>>
>>> Wasn't Thrust 2 rear-wheel steered? I think that was controllable above walking pace...
>>
>> ... up to Mach 1.02 -- yes.
>
>After the record runs, though, Andy Green went on record as saying that RWS should henceforth be
>confined to forklifts...

Or Honda motor cars?

Funny how if it has problems at mach speed, it must be relegated to crawling speed.