Today, I had to say goodbye to my Pythonjetrike. After almost six years,
thousands of kilometers and tons of trailer loads, it's life has come to an end.
During it's years I repaired and upgraded it a few times, but lately (due to
the stiffer dyneema cord) the 8mm bolts for the rear swing arms snapped twice.
So I wanted to make a dual 8mm rod end setup to fix this problem for the
future. BUT, when turning the trike upside down, I discoverd a big crack in the
frame near the pivot point (steering). This section has just violently been
ripped apart. Never seen that before, but a 40x10mm rectangle tube of 2mm wall
thickness is ripped open around a weld and the corners of this tube are
splitting in two halves (so it's not only a weakened weld zone).
Of course, I could fix this with rewelding the cracks and reinforce this
section, but I realised it is the overall design of the trike for it's intended
use that is lacking. And a fix will only displace problems.
As far as I can see the main problem with this design are the huge forces that
are translated through the swing arms of the tilting trike. It might be ok if
it were only a trike, but together with a big trailer, it's simply too much. By
seeing the damage it has done to my cords, swing arms and now the frame, I
estimate forces of 500-1000kg.
The front part always held well and I am considering to sell it if there's
interest. See http://cycle.free-creativity.com/ for my 2-wheeled Python.
I have made a new design a few years ago, but never came to build it. But it's
desperately needed now. If I only had the time...
For now, I say goodbye :'-(
Patrick
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