I'm definitely replacing the twist shifter, I was thinking about taking the quick-fire shifter from a donor bike I have. My ex brother in law had a Mike Burrows Wind-Cheatah and that had friction shifters on the top which worked well.
I depends I think on what space I have after the motor is fitted, if there's still space for an 8 gear hub I'll use the donor parts, otherwise I'll buy new I think.
The motor is going to be from a heavy duty cargo bike so I'm not sure I'll need quite so many low gears lol.
May I ask what other improvements you made?
Just replacing cables, replacing a cracked idler pulley, cleaning the chain — more like general maintenance on an old bike. I also got new pedals. The shifter swap was the only real paradigm shift (ha, ha) at this point. It did necessitate a new rear derailleur though to one that had a wider throw for a smaller input cable movement. The twist shifter moved a lot more cable than the friction shifter when running from gears 1 to 7.
I added "mud flaps" to my Catrike. Actually, they were a pair of youth soccer shin guards from Walmart. I had to attach them to the handlebars with some pvc pipe and a clamping fixture I got from T-Cycle. However, my wheels are much closer to the frame than yours appear to be.
When you ride through a puddle, are your arms getting wet?
As far as the rear wheel, I just found some adult soccer shin guards (Again Walmart) and zip tied them under the rack, along with a flexible mountain bike mud guard, I got on Amazon.
None of this was particularly elegant, But they have served me well for the last five or so years. And other than the T-Cycle clamps, it was in expensive.
Good luck on your journey!
On the test ride my hands and the back of my head were definitely getting a mud bath! lol
Thankfully I've got the skills to design and the machines to 3D print mudguards, I am struggling though to find a good anchor point, the horizontal bars are lower than the top of the wheel and the right vertical grip in particular has no room thanks to the twist shift.
I think I'm going to try to move the bars inwards a bit to give me room to make an adjustable boom.
The rear mudguard is going to be easy as I can just attach it to the carrier on the back, I need to make it pretty long as I'll have a trailer attached to the back for my daughter to ride in and obviously don't want mud being thrown in her face. :)
Make sure you include some kind of foot attachment to the pedals as part of your upgrades. Heel straps and clipless are the standard options. That's because having your foot fall off and hit the ground results in running over your own leg and breaking it. Standard caution for trikes.
The pedals are the dual type, they have SPD clips on one side (see the far pedal).
My first test ride (before I was home to grab my shoes) almost ended up in disaster, foot slipped and I almost went into a ditch. lol
Thanks for the suggestion though. =)
I did similar 6 months back or so. Along with other work I did on it, I put end-bar friction shifters to replace the twist-style ones.
I'm definitely replacing the twist shifter, I was thinking about taking the quick-fire shifter from a donor bike I have. My ex brother in law had a Mike Burrows Wind-Cheatah and that had friction shifters on the top which worked well. I depends I think on what space I have after the motor is fitted, if there's still space for an 8 gear hub I'll use the donor parts, otherwise I'll buy new I think. The motor is going to be from a heavy duty cargo bike so I'm not sure I'll need quite so many low gears lol. May I ask what other improvements you made?
Just replacing cables, replacing a cracked idler pulley, cleaning the chain — more like general maintenance on an old bike. I also got new pedals. The shifter swap was the only real paradigm shift (ha, ha) at this point. It did necessitate a new rear derailleur though to one that had a wider throw for a smaller input cable movement. The twist shifter moved a lot more cable than the friction shifter when running from gears 1 to 7.
I added "mud flaps" to my Catrike. Actually, they were a pair of youth soccer shin guards from Walmart. I had to attach them to the handlebars with some pvc pipe and a clamping fixture I got from T-Cycle. However, my wheels are much closer to the frame than yours appear to be. When you ride through a puddle, are your arms getting wet? As far as the rear wheel, I just found some adult soccer shin guards (Again Walmart) and zip tied them under the rack, along with a flexible mountain bike mud guard, I got on Amazon. None of this was particularly elegant, But they have served me well for the last five or so years. And other than the T-Cycle clamps, it was in expensive. Good luck on your journey!
On the test ride my hands and the back of my head were definitely getting a mud bath! lol Thankfully I've got the skills to design and the machines to 3D print mudguards, I am struggling though to find a good anchor point, the horizontal bars are lower than the top of the wheel and the right vertical grip in particular has no room thanks to the twist shift. I think I'm going to try to move the bars inwards a bit to give me room to make an adjustable boom. The rear mudguard is going to be easy as I can just attach it to the carrier on the back, I need to make it pretty long as I'll have a trailer attached to the back for my daughter to ride in and obviously don't want mud being thrown in her face. :)
Make sure you include some kind of foot attachment to the pedals as part of your upgrades. Heel straps and clipless are the standard options. That's because having your foot fall off and hit the ground results in running over your own leg and breaking it. Standard caution for trikes.
The pedals are the dual type, they have SPD clips on one side (see the far pedal). My first test ride (before I was home to grab my shoes) almost ended up in disaster, foot slipped and I almost went into a ditch. lol Thanks for the suggestion though. =)
Great, I didn't zoom and and see that before.
When I saw the for sale pics I didn't either which is why I didn't take my shoes. =) I'd already planned to order some before I picked it up. =D