[azstew]

72YO hot rodders. I've built and raced about every class in NHRA. Gas, alky, nitro, NA, supercharged, turbo, nitrous in years gone by.
Time to get with the new game.
I have the stuff coming for my 3 wheel bike.(48v 1000w front hub motor) but I'm already thinking about my next toy.
I want to do a reverse trike. 10-16KW 144v car type hub motor, single side swing arm, mono air bag, 10"wide 17 or 18 inch wheel, and a 28-30 " tire.
Any recommendations as to what motor might fit the bill? It will probably be an aliexpress one that I'll order,as they are more in my price range for now. Any help/hints would be greatly appreciated.

 

[remy_martian]

Would be a lot cooler with two hub motors up front...

 

[azstew]

Thanks. But 2 fat tires up front and a skinny rear is not the look I'm going for. Burnouts wouldn't be as cool either. <g>
Think stubby rear engine dragster look.

 

[remy_martian]

Cool?

lol

Torque vectoring the two fronts would be a lot cooler and would not have that grampa-on-a-bike vibe going for it 😂

 

[azstew]

Not my style.

 

[azstew]

 

[brian_]

Of course the builder should build whatever the builder likes, but hub motors (which are generally not something most of us would suggest for any road vehicle bigger than a light motorcycle) do have the advantage of being able to drive the two-wheeled end of a trike without a differential or axle shafts getting in the way of packaging in the vehicle. One-wheel-drive trikes always have a conflict between putting the load on the single wheel for drive traction, or on the two wheeled-axle for better handling; hub motors can combine lots of drive traction with a better distribution of loads between wheels... but the look is not "big and little tires" like some people are looking for.

I find the Scorpion P6 amusing, because it has a pushrod suspension (a design generally used to keep suspension components out of the airstream) sitting out in the airstream. The general layout and style could certainly be fun, with an engine or as an EV.

 

[Solarsail]

Good luck with a 10 - 16 kW hub motor. I would think they are hard to find. Harder would be a PMAC controller between 10 kW and 20 kW. You may be better off with two (front) hub motors and two controllers. More traction. Torque vectoring. You can keep the back tire look heavy, and the front ones look thin like the photo. The hub motor in front should not impact the style, and will look like brakes. If you put reverse power in the front, would you still need brakes?

 

[brian_]

I guess I had just skipped past the power rating without paying too much attention. With only 10 to 16 kW output and the weight of a trike, it doesn't matter much what wheel or wheels are driven, since it won't have enough power for traction to be a concern. The Scorpion P6 (red trike in the photo) has a 126 HP motorcycle engine, which is a different situation.

 

[brian_]

If you put reverse power in the front, would you still need brakes?

Yes, absolutely. I don't think any sane regulatory agency would allow operation on the street at normal speeds without brakes on every wheel, aside from any regenerative braking (or reverse motor torque).

 

[remy_martian]

Not enough power to even chirp the tires.

If you want to go chainless, I would get a shaft drive rear end out of something like a Moto Guzzi and couple a beefy electric motor to the driveshaft.

 

[azstew]

I bought a Voilamart 26" 48v 1000w front for my trike $190 on Ebay. Waiting on battery from Aliexpress 48v 28aH $100

 

[azstew]

Oops. Wrong thread. Sorry