[The Toecutter]

Originally Posted by Bicycle Bob

How do the open wheels help with the doorway?

My doorway is 30" wide and has three steps to the ground. My trike from wheel to wheel(measured from the outside end of each wheel) is just under 39". Without a body, to get it into and out of my residence, I have to pick it up, rotate it 90 degrees, fit the front and front wheels through the door, step through the door holding the trike, then rotate it 90 degrees back to fit the seat and back through and finish stepping through, careful not to trip and fall. The easiest method is to pick the trike up by the front of the frame near the boom section with my right hand, and by the seat frame with my left hand. It's currently close to 50 lbs, although I haven't weighed it.

I designed the body so that I could continue picking the trike up the same way. I would take the lid piece off(shown in the side and top view of the drawing), and stand in the doorway holding the trike, with my body wedged in the empty space between the doorway frame and the space that would otherwise be occupied by the absent lid piece while the trike is rotated 90 degrees to the side.

A body wide enough to enclose the wheels while ALSO fitting the Aerodynamic Streamlining Template on this site, would fit the front through just fine, but I wouldn't be able to get the rear through while standing in the doorway. It would be too wide. The stairs are also a hazard and I don't think I would be able to get the trike through standing 2 feet from the doorway.

Thus, open wheels were a design criterion. Were this a narrow Ice Trice or similar, it would be a totally different design because of the narrowed width.

The second time I built a Coroplast body, I used mostly "Fine Flute" grade, which is lighter, and built Coroplast box beams for structure, with a few wooden blocks to take the mounting screws and some little bits of fiberglass in tricky spots.
For covering curved seams in Coroplast almost invisibly, I recommend 3M #190. It will stretch like electrical tape, but then not shrink back.

Thanks. I might try that.

I'm using the 4mm coroplast due to its strength.

Originally Posted by Ecky

Some thoughts on your drawing:

-The upward taper at bottom of the nose may be worse than having a sharp edge - it encourages more air under the velomobile.

Maybe. I put it in the design for purposes of safety. If I fit a curb head on or get a rough patch of road, or a speedbump at too high of a speed, I don't want the body to be ripped apart. If you were to draw a line from the ground at the center of the front tire contact patch at a 16 degree angle from the ground to the front, you will have the modified front section.

-The taper in the rear may be too rapid.

Someone I know who is an aeronautical engineering/physics major told me that as well. It fits Phil Knox's streamlining template perfectly though. Tuft testing will tell me in the end when I get around to it.