Conventional electric FF

Ive just shortened the wheelbase on my electric ff test mule, over 600mm to make a leg supported FF test mule, so its now the same wheelbase as Royces voyager, thanks Royce, I cant say if its optimum anything, but its a start. The vid ive posted shows you can get your feet up readily enough, and I can maneuver quite easily at walking pace, but as it is, its a recipe for a snapped leg, but seems worth pursuing further, will keep you posted. yours Dave https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKCbd4bAuJk

AttachmentSize
feet down FF 025.jpg2.7 MB

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Tricky!

You're entering the world of enclosed, leg-supported FFs here. Quite a lot of work has been done by various people, chielfy to demonstrate how difficult it is. I think it;s currently still moot as to whether it's possible to arrange a big enough opening, to avoid broken legs and so on, while closing off the resulting hole in a fashion that will Always open.

People do open cockpit FFs in order to avoid these issues - but at the same time it is a fascinating challenge and an successful enclosure should bring big ergonomic, aerodynamic and safety benefits. Worth exploring! It's the last step before outrigger wheels...

I regtret that I haven't made much progress in this direction myself, although it's the obvious step on from the open cockpit Voyager option - plus E-power of course. I've got a basic CAD layout of a foot opening door that uses a parrallogram linkage to maximise the opening and minimise the 'door open' increase in width. I think it's still marginal as to whether there's enough leg space. Entry/exit is intended to be over a low sill, just above the door in the open position, with an upper cocpkit enclosure that hinges up and completes the cockpit in the down position. If you like I'll send you a copy of this CAD for evalutation - you need to be able to read DWG files.

Hi Everybody hi Royce, I was

Hi Everybody hi Royce, I was sure it was impractical as it was , but I just couldn’t resist, having a spin round the yard, and as you say, if you can overcome these issues, it has a lot of advantages . Thanks for the offer of your CAD files on this aspect, you have my e/mail, and you can never get to much information. If you can keep the weight down, and bomb bay doors can be fitted successfully, it seems the easiest option, but I also considered a substantial split front bumper, that can also deploy down as outriggers, ive even considered mounting the top, rear suspension damper mounting point, onto a fully extended hydraulic ram, so at slow speed you shorten/retract the ram, and the entire back end suspension retracts (nearly) completely inside the bodywork, (as you would still need to maintain drive) and have 2 auxiliary wheels mounted in the rear underneath say pannier shaped bodywork to then ride on. I also love the idea of a plenum chamber taking a positive pressure at 20mph plus to dare I say, a larger version/adaptation of those curly whirly Christmas cracker toys you blow through, to expand into the footwell, ie a (Bourden tube), ie 2 off? 4off coming in from each edge, and as a failsafe if they did misbehave, you could still stick your foot through, virtually impossible to adapt to my needs, even using a more sensible option of a small fan for the puff, very probably another non starter, but if you don’t think out of the box, all you get is a box. All I know, is I am now cutting metal, going forward, and although its all scrap, I am happy with the progress ive made, as ive picked up some useful info, but ime stopping for now to start on the oven, as I need the bubble first, to form the rest of the body around it, as without a decent shaped canopy, it will be more difficult to get the aero right, and for me It won’t look right either, ive done hundreds of flat panel sketches ie Stealth fighter type bodywork, far easier, especially the glass front screen, but I never quite got it right, will it be right anyway? Who can say, but hope to find out sooner than later. Keep you posted Yours Dave

Cedric's always had 'bomb bay' leg openings!

Just a reminder that Cedric Lynch's electric streamliner has always had 'bomb bay' type push-open flaps for his legs, ever since he built it in 1992! Having ridden it, I can say that they are easy to cope with although of course, it helps that the machine is very light. There are 30 photos of it here: http://www.bikeweb.com/image/tid/57
PNB