“GRUPAS” BUSINESS AND SPORTS

As a rule, the design of velomobiles produced by homebrew are applications. That is, if the velomobile is designed for sports, speed runs, then all of its design features correspond exactly to this, and it is unlikely such a machine will be able to exploit an older person for the daily commute. And, on the contrary, completely eliminated the sports participation of household malogruzovaja-workers. This distinction is understandable, since for velomobiles of different types of completely different design principles, design loads and as a result design components and parts, design. But as it turned out, “harnessed to a cart horse and quivering DOE” is still possible. Confirmation of this — I have made velomobile “Grupas”.

It was developed mainly for business trips in the city. Special attention was paid to the maximum use of ready-made, purchased parts, and also to the facilitation of the whole structure. The excellent running characteristics are achieved through the use of wheels of large diameter, long elastic frame and sleeve from a sports bike with a sequential gearbox. On the chassis of the velomobile in front of the established platform-a box with length up to 1200 mm, allowing you to transport quite bulky and massive cargo or a couch for children. But this purely domestic use of the recumbent does not limit his sports activities, since the design of the laid a “racing” modification. To do this, the driver is lying on the couch-seat, and the control is overlapping the front wheel. It is a double use of the machine was prompted by her title: “Grupas” is “utility speed” recumbent.

Fig. 1. Recumbent “Grupas” (sports version).

On the layout “Grupas” is made on a three-wheeled design with a driven rear wheel. The basic design frame. She has a T-shaped form; collected from dural tubes with Ø 35 mm with a wall thickness of 1.5 mm and the rear of the frame sport bike. Pipe joint made by using reinforcing inserts and welding. On the frame fixed brackets of the seat-lounger. The seat itself is made of foam cushions covered with a cover of thick fabric. The case is sewn with thick nylon thread to the frame of pipes from the cot, attached to the plywood base. To save weight, the plywood can be replaced with mesh.

R and p. 2. The design of the velomobile

R and S. 2. The design of the velomobile “Grupas” (cargo version):

1 — frame (dural tube Ø 35х1 5 mm; bottom bracket and rear fork from a sports bike), 2 — exterior (plywood of 3 mm thickness, Reiki 20×20 mm), 3 — bracket-to-subframe (dural area 3х25х25 mm), 4 — steering column 5 — punch, 6 — bolt M8, 7 — a Pitman arm 8 is longitudinal steering rod (pole Ø 15 mm), 9 — lever (steel plate thickness of 1.5 mm), 10 — tie rod (pole Ø 15 mm) 11 — nut M8 (2 PCs), 12 — swivel (left, right – mirroring), 13 — bolt M8 mounting rotary unit to the steering rod (2 PCs), 14 — drive shaft front wheel (2 PCs.)

Fig. 3. Swivel node (on the left):

1 — cross member of the frame of the recumbent, 2 — M6 bolt, 3 — bolt M10, 4 — key (steel), 5 — knuckle (steel 1,5 mm), 6 — steering wheel handle, 7 — castellated nut M10 8 split pin safety.

Fig. 4. Driveshaft front (steel).

As already noted, the recumbent has a dual control system: for trucks and sport variants. In the first case, when the driver is on the seat of a Bicycle type, the control is a conventional Bicycle wheel installed in the rear of the machine. As billets for rods, ski poles are used. In the sport version (with the position of the rider lying down) recumbent is controlled by the “split” rudder handle which is welded directly to the rotary nodes of the front wheels. These nodes, left and right, have a mirror design and consist of a steel notched shaft and steering knuckle. The fist has a box-like shape and to facilitate weight is made of steel sheet material thickness of 1.5 mm. Joints boil continuous seams.

The drivetrain is completely borrowed from the production sport bike. The tick-borne type brake installed on the rear wheel. Wheel — standard bike; however, for the cargo version it is advisable to use them off road model or with twice the number of spokes. The rear wheel is closed on the one hand, the aerodynamic cone.

If necessary, drive on city streets the car is easy to equip the model system vallecrosia with headlights, turn indicators and brake light.

I believe that this recumbent because of its simplicity (it can be done in a few evenings) and versatility can be recommended and the citizens, and rural residents, and owners of country gardens.

Technical characteristics of the velomobile “Grupas”

Length, mm: 2320

Width, mm: 1020

Height (sports version), mm: 900

Load capacity, kg: 150

Weight, kg: 13

Speed (sports version), km/h: up to 80

The speed of traffic, km/h: 18-30

A. MURAVLEV, Kolomna

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