LocostUSA.com

So i have been saving up to build a bike engine tadpole and went to my first auction over the weekend to see what kind of bikes i could pickup and put a bid in on a 07 Hayabusa w/8k miles that will end on January 7th in hopes of scoring it.. the only concern i have is that the bike did not have a key, so i have to figure out how hard it would be to get a new key for it as i was unable to hear it start due to this... I set my max bid at $1,200. I did noticed that there was a TON of not sport bikes that sold at auction for like $250-500 range with very very low miles... a few that ended the day i went was an 2012 Suzuki V-Strom 1000cc for $500, 2009 Suzuki V-Strom 650cc for $250, 2011 Kawasaki Concours 1400cc $425... are these bikes not desirable for a tadpole setup?

Here is my first attempt at framing out my ideas into solidworks for the very first time, purchased the program this morning..i am still working on it.. i wanted to do a side view with the vertical portion of the frame.. but i just could not get it to draw a line on the other axis.. so i need to do some research on this...

First off, I presume that you've already explored the numerous trike-related threads here in the non-traditional build section....which is probably where this thread belongs. Another good resource is the reversetrike.proboards.com forum...although not nearly as much activity, it still might have some good information. Many of the best projects over there are folks that also post here. An excellent rear engine/rear drive example is here.

Youtube is your friend for learning to do the frame design in Solidworks. Check out the ASTM Formula SAE tutorials from Solidworks. Solidworks is great (I've been using it professionally for 20 years) but for a one-off, occasional use, Google sketch-up seems to be pretty useful. But seeing as you've already bought a seat, rock on with it!

Be aware of trike vehicle design peculiarities. An oldie but a goodie that I always post is from the RQRiley paper on three wheel vehicle dynamics. TL/DR is that you need to be aware of where the center of gravity is both up and down and fore/aft. Wider, lower, weight centered or toward the front is good.



The v-twins probably are not as popular because of space concerns with a rear drive/rear engine set up like I presume you're planning. That V-strom 1000 is EXACTLY what I'm looking for however! I would love to find one for that price.

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-Keith

While possibly complicating the build, a Concourse 1400 might have been pretty awesome too.

Keeping the track wide and the CoG low will be helpful, since the CoG will be further rearward than ideal. In your sketch it looks like your ball joint sits rather far forward relative to the center of the wheel, and the rear leg of the front control arm loads into the middle of an unsupported length of tube. For the side view, I believe you should just need to leave this XZ plane sketch and start another sketch in the XY plane.

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-Justin

"Orville Wright did not have a pilots license." - Gordon MacKenzie

I figured i get more help in the frame section of the forum on just designing the frame....or should i go ahead and create a build post and throw it in there?

So after reading the 2 replys i had on the posting and the couple of PM's i received.. I redid the frame in 3D and did the weldman tool, but i couldn't get the roll bar to build in tube.. kept saying failed to trim or cut the item... ill have to look into that..

I also couldn't find anything smaller than 2inch pipe so i did the pictures im going to post in 2" pipe only as that was all i had access to through the weldman tool..

I make tubular structures all day long at work but they are never plain, straight structural tubes so I had never used SW Weldments until I started working on a Locost frame. The SW tutorials definitely help. I had to set up my own directory with appropriate 1x1, 1x2, 1 1/4", etc tubes. Playing with the trimming and alignment tools is also an art. I haven't figured out if you can use Weldments to do a curved section. I did my rollbar with a standard swept section IIRC.

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-Keith

Start your build log when you start doing physical stuff in the material world--such as buying steel or building your build table. The thinking-about-it phase is an important step and it can take a while, but traditionally it's not considered a build until there's something tangible. However, I'll be the first to say that if you bought SolidWorks on Monday and you have a recognizable 3D frame on Tuesday, you're a quick study, and I'll pay attention to your project and look forward to moving it to the Non-Traditional Build Logs when the time comes (soon I hope).

BTW, where was this bike auction?

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Locost builder and adventurer, and founder (but no longer owner) of Kinetic Vehicles

I have been tossing around the way i wanted go about this build for a while and been saving up the funds so i was not doing this on a week to week basis hoping for more funds to complete it.. I was kinda in a toss up between an EV powertrain and a Bike engine powertrain after falling in love with the instant torque of the EV..., but after lots and lots of readings and studying i decided that for what i was looking for the extra cost of going the EV route and complexity along with limited range turned me back toward the bike engine side, because some of those guys have like $20,000+ into their bike builds with only around 100 mile range.. I am not looking to build this for any sort of professional racing event.. i am more so looking to enjoy this at the track on group events where its more of anyone can try out their car kinda of deal and use it for daily driving to and from work on the nicer days here in Florida.. Overall i miss motorcycles and wanted something that was more like a motorcycle and less like a car, thus not going the traditional 4 wheel lotus route...

The auction was in Tampa, Fl... i was not looking for one to go to, but i mentioned it to a friend who works at a used car lot and he talked to his boss and invited me to the auction.. surprisingly they allow alot of the cars and such to be bidded on without a license, there was only a handful that required a license to bid on them.. Currently i am still leading the auction on the Busa engine @ $675 and the guy that kept bidding gave up it seems after about 8 $25 dollar bids to see how high my max bid was the other day.. so hopely no one else bids on it and i can take home a pretty decent busa bike for the build.. the busa was not in an actual car accident from what i was told, it was layed down while going around a corner and bounced off a tree.. there was this black peace sticking out wide on both sides that seems to have saved the engine.. the swing arm seemed to be tweaked sum as the rear was angled just a tad..but then again its not the origional because its looks much longer and looked homemade... the muffler was flattened nearly flat.. which appears to be the located that it smacked the tree...i am going to assume that it stull runs as i didnt seen any cracks or damage to the engine and the radiator was still full of coolant...

Sorry for the lack of update, i have been going through the tutorials of Solidworks to get a better understandings of this software to make some adjustments to the frame the way i want correctly as i am thinking of possibly going the laser cut route, local metal shop told me if i wanted all my metal precut with all of the angles for welded surfaces that it would $7 a pipe, which i find to be a decent deal if i just have the complicated ones cut...

As of right now i am still leading the bid on the Hayabusa bike, someone bidded the other night $25 dollars more, but my max bid level put me back as the high bidder and no action since... There is another Hayabusa that will end in Feb if i dont get this one that i can bid on, but i expect it go much higher dollar.. its an 2012 model with only 1,073 miles on the motor.

You can download more weldment profiles and create custom ones. see here
http://cadimensions.com/blog/?p=1619#st ... KcJdB.dpbs

i have a ton of experience with weldments doing my chassis (and use to teach advance solidworks) so post up or pm me if you have any questions.

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My build: http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtop ... 18&t=13096


You can build the most awesome thing in the world but at some point, an 80yr old man in a crx is probably going kick your butt on the track... don't ask me how I know.

Cool! Thanks. Note that under the "Tube (square)" and "Tube (rectangular)" settings, it will only give you choices of HUGE sections suitable for building bridges. But under the "AL Tube (square) etc" you get Locost size appropriate choices.

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-Keith

Hello guys, i just wanted to post up that this project was not ditched, life took a new turn.. got into a bad motorcycle accident and broke my legs.. so i was out of commission for a while.. i am still going through recovery, but i hope to be back to my normal self and start on this project.. The engine i bidded on at the auction ended up not going my way either, so i am still looking for an engine. I may try the EV route, as i have gained a huge interest into EV powered rigs and recently traded in my stick shift car in for an EV...

Wow! I didn't know those Volts were that big.

It looks to be bigger than a semi!!

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.