FWD

[Moosh:)]

Can anyone explain how the Zox bikes can front wheel steer and have front wheel drive? I guess that
idler wheel cuts down the racket of misaligning roller chain. I wonder what the losses would be.

 

[Dave Larrington]

Moosh wrote:
> Can anyone explain how the Zox bikes can front wheel steer and have front wheel drive? I guess
> that idler wheel cuts down the racket of misaligning roller chain. I wonder what the losses
> would be.

Modern derailleur chain is pretty flexible stuff, hence turning a driven front wheel is not a big
problem. Moreover, you don't actually need to turn the bars through a vast angle when riding, so in
practice ZOXen And Their Ilk are very little different from a RWD recumbent bike to ride.

Those wherein the pedals and front wheel move as a unit are, however, Another Matter Entirely...

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

 

[David Damerell]

Moosh <[email protected]> wrote:
>Can anyone explain how the Zox bikes can front wheel steer and have front wheel drive?

The all-wheel-drive bike (also a useless gimmick, I suspect) passes the drive via a shaft up the
downtube and down the headtube. The fork crown and headtube are not conventionally constructed;
instead a relatively small piece of metal outside the headtube connects the fork crown to the
handlebars. Of course this must be monstrously solid to combat the tendency of the handlebars to
bend backwards towards the saddle.
--
David Damerell <[email protected]> Distortion Field!

 

[Moosh:)]

On 13 May 2003 13:43:37 +0100 (BST), David Damerell <[email protected]> wrote:

>Moosh <[email protected]> wrote:
>>Can anyone explain how the Zox bikes can front wheel steer and have front wheel drive?
>
>The all-wheel-drive bike (also a useless gimmick, I suspect) passes the drive via a shaft up the
>downtube and down the headtube. The fork crown and headtube are not conventionally constructed;
>instead a relatively small piece of metal outside the headtube connects the fork crown to the
>handlebars. Of course this must be monstrously solid to combat the tendency of the handlebars to
>bend backwards towards the saddle.

By shaft, I guess you mean a rotating drive shaft? This usually means some form of right angle
conversion via gearing. This is very lossy -- the huge advantage of shortish, aligned chain drive is
the excellent mechanical efficiency.

 

[David Damerell]

Moosh <[email protected]> wrote:
><[email protected]> wrote:
>>The all-wheel-drive bike (also a useless gimmick, I suspect) passes the drive via a shaft up the
>>downtube and down the headtube.
>By shaft, I guess you mean a rotating drive shaft? This usually means some form of right angle
>conversion via gearing. This is very lossy -- the huge advantage of shortish, aligned chain drive
>is the excellent mechanical efficiency.

Yes, indeed; this is one of many reasons why I suspect the AWD bike is a useless gimmick.
--
David Damerell <[email protected]> Distortion Field!

 

[Alan Braggins]

In article <5sD*[email protected]>, David Damerell wrote:
>Moosh <[email protected]> wrote:
>>Can anyone explain how the Zox bikes can front wheel steer and have front wheel drive?
>
>The all-wheel-drive bike (also a useless gimmick, I suspect) passes the drive via a shaft up the
>downtube and down the headtube.

The Zoxes (at least all the ones shown on http://www.zoxbikes.com) are chain drive front wheel drive
(not all wheel drive) recumbents.

http://www.stitesdesign.com/hpv_chameleon_fwd.htm has an alternative design that doesn't twist
chains (or at least did, it doesn't resolve for me right now, but it's in Google's cache).

 

[Dave Larrington]

Alan Braggins wrote:

> The Zoxes (at least all the ones shown on http://www.zoxbikes.com) are chain drive front wheel
> drive (not all wheel drive) recumbents.

<pedantic_git> The ZOX Duo is all wheel drive, but that's a tandem... </pedantic_git>

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

 

[Alan Braggins]

In article <[email protected]>, Dave Larrington wrote:
>Alan Braggins wrote:
>
>> The Zoxes (at least all the ones shown on http://www.zoxbikes.com) are chain drive front wheel
>> drive (not all wheel drive) recumbents.
>
><pedantic_git> The ZOX Duo is all wheel drive, but that's a tandem... </pedantic_git>

Damn, so it is, how did I miss that? (By only looking at where the front pedals were connected to, I
guess). It still doesn't "drive via a shaft up the downtube and down the headtube" like the gimmicky
all-wheel-drive bike David described though.

 

[Thomas Letherby]

In message <[email protected]>, Alan Braggins
<[email protected]> writes
>In article <[email protected]>, Dave Larrington wrote:
>>Alan Braggins wrote:
>>
>>> The Zoxes (at least all the ones shown on http://www.zoxbikes.com) are chain drive front wheel
>>> drive (not all wheel drive) recumbents.
>>
>><pedantic_git> The ZOX Duo is all wheel drive, but that's a tandem... </pedantic_git>
>
>Damn, so it is, how did I miss that? (By only looking at where the front pedals were connected to,
>I guess). It still doesn't "drive via a shaft up the downtube and down the headtube" like the
>gimmicky all-wheel-drive bike David described though.

Http://www.spicercycles.com/2wd.html

Would these be the ones? IIRC, one of the American MTB mags (Mountain Bike Action I think) rather
liked the Spicer drive for soft sandy conditions.

--
Thomas Letherby Remove NOSPAM to reply.