Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
What speed are the tires rated for?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by arcosine
Bicycle tires are not speed rated.
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The manufacturer rates the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires at 50 km/h continuous.
https://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour-reader/marathon-plus
I currently have Schwalbe Marathon Greenguards installed that are rated for 25 km/h, but they are due for replacement and I will be using the Marathon Plus.
Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
Bicycle highway speeds or automobile highway speeds?
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I'll be able to top out around 60 mph, but I won't be doing it very often, given the risks associated with pushing to the limits a vehicle whose parts are not DOT rated. Most of my use case will be around 30 mph, with a bit of 40-45 mph cruising on occasion.
The idea I have in mind is a vehicle that can perform like a pedal-powered velomobile with the motor completely disabled. I'm hoping I get the aerodynamics good enough that under pedal-only, I can reach 40 mph on flat ground. With the motor enabled, the long term goal is to perform like a sports car, while getting the equivalent of thousands of miles per gallon. My current KMX frame will get me part of the way there, but not entirely. With the parts I have and parts I plan to get, it will perform like a slow to normal car from 0-30 mph. It has served well as a learning experience and is soon to be a functional proof of concept. It will be very usable at city traffic speeds and over long distances on back roads and bike trails.
In the long run, I will be building another vehicle capable of holding highway speeds with stability and with components rated for it. Perhaps go with 16" light-duty moped rims all around with some Mitas MC2 low rolling resistance tires rated for 100 km/h. But I'm going to need a custom frame for that, with stronger wheel hubs, thicker axles, stronger spindles, longer wheelbase, hydraulic brakes, roll cage, ect. I'm confident I can keep such a vehicle under 100 lbs, but it will take careful attention to detail, and I need to learn how to weld titanium. At its core, it will still be a bicycle, albeit a heavy one, and I want it to be ridable like a velomobile(faster than a normal bicycle) with the motor disabled. This vehicle may end up capable of reaching triple digit speeds and doing 0-60 mph in like 4 seconds using the electric drive system(possibly 2 motors in a FWD config or even 3 motors in an AWD config), at least that's the theory. Got to build this first prototype first!