[python] Re: 500 km
- From: Rhisiart Gwilym <Rhisiart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: python@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2006 08:36:36 +0100
Thaank you, brother Mark. Hallelujah! Anyone else want to stand up
here tonight and confess their computer abuse?
olaf
Siwmae eto i bawb,
From the 20th century comes this croaky old voice, saying "Bike
computer? Is there such a thing? Scandalous impiety! Oh what's the
world coming to!"
Much more to the point as the northern weather gets into its winter
wetness, is there such a thing as really effective cycling
waterproofs, even in this century ? Or do I just have to design a
full Leitra-style fairing onto my current Python project?
I discovered a while back a home-bent-builder who had had good
success making fairings from flexible closed-cell foam of about 1cm
thickness. I think he said he actually used hikers' sleeping mats,
the sort that are flexible enough to roll up tight. He said they
don't drum, they have good dent-and-springback qualities when
impacted, and they're very light. Now I can't find the net site
again. Anyone have any knowledge of where it is, or any experience
with foam farings? A Deutscher guy I think.
This all-weather riding thing isn't just a casual question for me:
I'm plotting to go completely car-free, like that canny Dansker guy
who developed the Leitra, and since the winter weather in Cymru is as
daunting as it is in Danmark, I think I need a really good fairing
design. Or genuinely keep-dry waterproofs, if they exist.
I should say that I'm arranging for my Python to run as either a bike
or a trike, by simply changing over the back (trailer) end on the
front (tractor) end. And I'm still wondering whether the
quick-release arrangement should be rigid, or whether I should
include another horizontal-axis articulation bearing there so that I
can bank over the whole front end going into bends, like a bike. Erik
Wannee has a Flevo trike with this arrangement, so I guess it's
feasible. He also has practical trial-and-error experience of where
to place this articulation (as low to the ground as possible) for
stability.
The faring, if I go that route, would just be a narrow tear-drop
shape enclosing the main frame, and leaving the two rear wheels in
the trike configuration outside, as the Leitra does.
I know about cross-wind considerations on faired bikes, but I reckon
it's worth a try.
Another question: since people are now thinking about possible
Flethon/Pyvo hybrids, isn't a positive-trail or neutral-trail frame
going to get rid of the nervousness about jack-knifing that people
feel when going fast on a long-negative-trail Python? Or is there
something wrong with that idea that I've not understood? I understand
about the self-centring effect of negative-trail plus angled
articulation axis
Finally, has anyone else had the insight that all centre-steer,
front-wheel-drive bikes/trikes are actually a sort of multi-geared
unicycle, but always hauling a one-wheel or two-wheel trailer, and
with the rider's centre of gravity offset backwards from directly
over the contact patch, unlike a pure uni? In fact, for most
centre-steers the rider sits on the trailer, except for Hans-Ulrich
Reimers' 'Kalle' bike, (see Erik's discussion of rear-wheel-steer
bikes) where I guess you could say he sits on the handlebars. The
next picture in that section of Erik's site -- Duane Flatmo's bike --
is also pretty suggestive of a unicycle with trailer. Does any of
this offer any insights to anyone that might be useful to Python --
or Pyvo -- development?
Cofion, Rhisiart.
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