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The Golden Rule of Trike Design
_My investigation into the “golden rule of tricycle design” (having 66% of the weight on the front axle and 33% on the rear) showed that this was more restrictive than necessary, and that following a set of three design guidelines would better and allow greater innovation. These are: The centre...
Steering Wheel
Recumbent tricycle steering is normally one of four types: Direct steering - essentially a half-handlebar, directly connected to each front wheel pivot, with a bar connecting the wheels to keep the steering angle consistent side-to-side. Yoke steering - a thinner version of bicycle handlebars. Often the bar position is not...
Tricycle Stability
Atomic Duck has an unusual layout for a recumbent trike. The long wheelbase with the front axle line in front of the pedals is not normally chosen for this type of vehicle; normally the pedals are the at the very front of the vehicle, with the wheels behind, at the...
What does an Atomic Duck look like?
If you’ve been following along with the Design Influences posts, you might like to know what all that influencing has led to. Well here it is. If you haven’t been following along, this is the result of a fairly radical rethinking of the how to aproach velomobile design. This includes:...
Design Influences (part 3)
The instrument panel of the Supermarine Spitfire HF Mk IXe at the 2010 Andrews AFB open house. Source, Flickr user Mr. T in DC Spitfire HF Mk IXe Cockpit The third in the trio of posts showing the design infuences of the Atomic Duck. This week focusing on the interior...
Design Influences (part 2)
Spitfire and Hurricane Aircraft Spitfire P7350 (front) flies alongside Hurricane LF363 (back). The aircraft are part of the famous Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) of historic RAF aircraft from the Second World War. Creative Commons licensed. Source, Flickr user Defence Images Following on from last week’s automotive influences, here...
Design Influences (part 1)
Cadwell Nashes A group of Fraser Nashes coming up the Mountain, Cadwell Park, 2001. Creative Commons Licensed. Source, Flickr user pdcawley Frazer-Nash As a bit of a petrolhead, I’ve liked the 20’s Fraser-Nashes for a long time, especially because or their reputation for oversteer when driven quickly. Without a differential,...
What's a Velomobile?
A gathering of velomobiles in the Netherlands, 2008 Creative Commons Licensed Image. Source: Flickr user wim harwig 1945 Mochet Velocar Charles Mochet invented popularised both the velomobile and recumbent bicycle in the early 20th century. His velocars, are the forerunners of all modern velomobiles. Most commercially available velomobiles are very...
Posting to Twitter using OAuth
Not to worry Velomobilers, I’ve got a post about design influences of the Atomic Duck ready for next week and designing continues. This week just finishes off a set of posts about the upgrades I’ve been making to TweetUpdater. OAuth is really not as simple as basic authentication. No more...
New Project: TweetUpdater
I’m still a Design Engineer, but now I’m also a WordPress plugin Developer! Twitter will stop accepting basic authentication (username+password) for its API fully on 31st August 2010, with reduced service from 16th August. The TwitterUpdater plugin I altered to automatically tweet about new posts uses basic authenication, and will...
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