Rick Wianecki's Leaning Trike Project

Several years ago instead of building a new recumbent street low racer Rick decided to build a
recumbent tricycle, not any tricycle but a leaning one. Not a lean steer but one with independent lean
and steering. It would be a street trike with a short wheelbase and as narrow of a track width as
possible. The seating position would be more upright than laid back. Standard bicycle 21-speed drive
train was used with an intermediate step up instead of larger chain rings to get acceptable
performance with the 406-rear wheel.

This drawing shows the general arrangement of

the trike. The basic dimensions are 36-inch
wheelbase and 22-inch wide track. Seat is fully
adjustable with a high back, 16 inches wide with
breathable open mesh. Rear suspension uses an
elastomer and a 406 wheel. Front wheels are 305.

You can click on these plans for a larger image.

This drawing shows the lean limits of the design.

Actually the final vehicle has a maximum lean of
38 degrees but the bump stops are set to limit the
lean to 30 degrees. During normal riding one does
not ever contact the stops.

You can click on these plans for a larger image.

This drawing is one of several that were developed

to help determine the steering geometry. Ideally
while cornering all three wheels should pivot at the
same point

You can click on these plans for a larger image.

 Trike Design Trike Construction Hub Centered Wheels

Trike Construction
2/11/02
These are the top and bottom arms. The arms
connect to the main frame and rotate in nylon
bushings on stainless steel on pivots. The bottom
arm has threaded inserts to accept rubber bump
stops that are used to limit the lean.

These are the left and right uprights. The uprights

are the main attachment point for the wheels and
brakes, and steering components. The uprights
are connected to the top and bottom arms with
modified rod ends to allow leaning and turning.

Note: the reinforced bent tubes for the cantilever

brake mounts.

The rear suspension swing arm is fabricated from

1.5 inch oval tubing with vertical dropouts.
These are the parts that make up the leaning and
rear swing arm pivots. Nylon bushings pivot on
stainless steel tubes. There are bronze thrust
washers placed on each end to take any
longitudinal force.

The main frame being painted. Note all the

attachment points for the front arms, rear swing
arm and steering stem. Bottom bracket is fixed
and adjustments are made with a sliding seat. The
vehicle was designed to fit Rick. So the
adjustments in the seat are to fine-tune the setup.

To begin assembly after painting, the bottom arm

is mounted to the frame. Then the left and right
uprights are attached. The top arm is added. In
this picture one can better see where the handle
bar stem will attach to the frame.
 Close up shot of the flip-it stem mounted (before
painting). The stem is a modified Flex stem that
was purchased for $5.00 closeout at Bike
Nashbar. Standard headset bearings are used
with a modified 1 inch threaded steerer tube.

This is a homemade tube bender. I have dies for

¾ and ½ inch tubing. Picture shows bending the ¾
inch .035 DOM steel tubing used to build the seat
and the u-shaped rear seat support.

To control or stop the lean a mechanical disk

brake is mounted to the main frame and
connected to the left brake lever. A stainless steel
bar is mounted to the lower arm and slides
between the brake pads. To hold the trike upright
one justs applies some pressure to the left brake
liver and the disk brake grabs and holds the trike
in that position. This is only used at stops and in
very low speed situations to assist balancing.

You can click on this image for a larger view.

This is the front brake balancer setup on the
vehicle. The right brake lever works both front
brakes. So that both brakes are applied equally a
balancer bar arrangement is used to equalize the
cable force.

You can click on this image for a larger view.

Partially assembled and doing the final fit up of the

seat.

You can click on this image for a larger view.

Side view of the trike showing the rack that has

been integrated into the seat.

Rear view showing the gear step-up and rear

suspension.
Front view with the trike leaned over.

Now that I have had some time to live with and

ride the trike it is time for some upgrades and
modifications. One of the design compromises that
was made was with the steering geometry. On
fixed trikes the kingpin is angled so the centerline
of the pivot intersects with the contact patch of the
wheel. On this trike this only works for one angle
of lean.
I have been working on building a pair of hub-
centered wheels. These wheels will have a deep
carbon dish attached to 305 aluminum rims. The
dish will be attached to custom machined
aluminum hubs that will allow for the use of front
disk brakes.

8/29/09
Here's a picture of the brake handle activated tilt
lock on Rick's trike, after Rick modified it to
increased the lever arm. This makes the brake
hold the bike upright better.

These web pages chronicle the design, construction and evolution of Rick Wianecki's leaning trike.
The design of this trike allows it to be ridden like a normal bicycle, and in fact, while moving, it feels
and leans through corners just like a normal bicycle. A locking mechanism is used to lock the bike into
an upright position when stopped. This type of vehicle would be ideal for faired commuter Velomobile.
Rick's trike uses some of the concepts brought to light by Wayne Soohoo's leaning trike, though Rick
has re-thought and simplified the lean and lock mechanisms.
Trike Design Trike Construction Hub Centered Wheels

Hub Centered Wheels

This drawing shows the design of the new front
wheels. These hub centered wheels will overcome
the compromises inherent with using kingpin
steering geometry with leaning offset wheels.
Using these hub centered wheels should greatly
reduce the scrubbing and toe misalignments which
occur when the trike is leaned over in a corner,
which will improve the handling and speed of the
vehicle.

You can click on these plans for a larger image.

Freshly machined hubs. Hubs were turned from a

solid 4-inch diameter 6061 T6 round. I have a 3-in-
one machine and it took almost 20 hours to make
the hubs. Phil Wood wheel chair bearings are
press fit in.
 The disk brakes will be the Avid mechanical type.
The carbon dishes need to be fabricated next.
Once the new wheels are finished both front
uprights will need to be modified to accept the new
wheels.

Hub under construction - 4 inch aluminum billet in

lathe.

3/26/02
Garrie Hill created a male mold for the offset disk
wheels, and then vacuum bagged several layers of
carbon fiber over it to create the disk. This picture
shows the disk wheel in the vacuum bag after
layup.
This picture shows the disk after the first 6 layers
of carbon fiber were applied, the epoxy cured, and
the vacuum bag was removed.

Garrie used a light dusting of 3M Super 78 spray

adhesive to get the layers of carbon fiber to lay
down and stick together while he was laying them
up on the mold.

This picture shows the disk wheel after it was

trimmed up. The slots cut into the edge of the disk
are to allow it to compress slightly when it is press
fit into the rim.

This picture shows the inside of the disk wheel.

Since the spray adhesive does not stick to the
mold release agent, it was able to be removed
easily from the mold.
 An arbor press is used to press the wheel disk into
the rim. Epoxy was applied to the wheel disk
before pressing it in to glue it in place.

The wheel disk, after being pressed and glued

onto the rim.

4/14/01
Rick drove down to visit Garrie and they got some
further progress on Rick's carbon wheels for his
leaning trike. Enclosed is a JPEG showing the
holesmilled in for mounting the hub.

The wheels shouldn't have to be trued for a long,

long, long time. These things look SO COOL
spinning in the sunlight! Rick and Garrie also
discussed Rick's plans for carbon fenders.
5/4/02
After getting the wheels back to Michigan a
mandrel was fabricated to mount the wheels in the
lathe and smooth out the otter edges of the carbon
and to remove any splinters caused by the
notching of the carbon dish.

Note: a shopvac is strategically placed to suck up

the dust and debris.

After the wheels and hubs were reassembled it

was discovered that the disk brake caliper would
not clear the valve stem. This caused some minor
heartburn while a fix was developed.

7/20/02
Several solutions were explored including
remaking the hubs to use drum brakes but in the
end the decision was to use smaller disks. I e-
mailed Garrie Hill a drawing and he fabricated 2-4”
diameter stainless disks for me.
 11/15/02
After several months the new uprights were finally
fabricated. Because of the location of the disk
break caliper the steering tie rod will have to be
redesigned and relocated.

12/26/02
After Christmas I had several days off and decided I would try to finish the installation of the new
wheels. The old uprights with cantilever brakes were removed and the new hub assemblies were
installed. The clearances were tight and each hub required special thickness spacers to get everything
aligned.

Once the hubs and wheels were assembled there

is just enough clearance inside the dished wheel
for the brake cable to clear the valve stem.
New steering tie rods were fabricated. The single
tie rod replaced a tie rod and a control rod

The new steering is designed with Ackerman

compensation at the center instead of at the
wheels.

Here is the finished trike is waiting for the snow to

melt off the roads to give the vehicle a try. The
original trike had a front track width of 25”, the
new wheels have reduced the track to 23”. Riding
it around the garage the steering effort with the
new wheels and steering has been reduced by
almost half.
 So the last project I want to do on the trike is to
make some fenders for the front wheels. Several
disks of particleboard have been cut, glued
together and automotive type body filler is used to
get the final profile.

After sanding, filling, primering, sanding, filling,

primering, several coats of an automotive enamel
paint have been applied to the pattern. Next step
will be to wax and apply carbon cloth to make the
desired fenders. I will not be making a female mold
but will use the “HILL” method of lightly gluing the
dry carbon cloth to the male plug and then
applying the epoxy resin.

1/22/03
Wax on wax off about 8 times to prepare the male
plug. I used Kanaba mold release wax. The total
process took the better part of a day.
Getting ready to do the lay-up. Two pieces of 6oz.
Cloth were cut to a size that is less the ½ the
diameter of the mold. Dexter Frekote mold release
film was sprayed on the waxed plug before the
carbon cloth was applied. The Carbon cloth was
applied to the plug dry using a light coat of contact
spray adhesive.

Epoxy resin with hardener is applied to the dry

carbon cloth and worked into the cloth with a short
bristle brush and a plastic squeegee. Excess resin
is removed with the squeegee and the pattern is
placed in a warm spot to let the resin cure over
night.

The next day the rough fender is removed from the

plug. If enough coats of wax were applied and
there were no missed spots with the mold release
the plug should give up the part without too much
difficulty.

Trimming fixtures were made to trim the fender to

the desired shape.
 The above steps were repeated a second time to
produce a second fender. Aluminum brackets
were fabricated and attached to the fenders with
pop rivets. A thin layer of fiberglass cloth was
epoxied on before the brackets were attached to
help prevent any galvanic corrosion to the
aluminum.

The fenders attach to the uprights and should do a

fine job of keeping moisture and debris off of the
rider.

This concluded the work on this vehicle, there may

be some minor adjustment required after I put
some miles on the vehicle but over all I am very
satisfied with the out come on this project. The
trike handles exceptionally well and is a blast to
ride. The only thing that I may still do is to attach a
fender to the rear wheel.