a 50cc or electric mini car project?

[Alaskavan]

TerraTrike Zoomer, stretched 18" to acomodate engine. Lifan engine with internal CVT running to a sproket on a left-hand freewheel (so the engine and the pedals are totally independent). Rear wheel custom built by The Wheelmaster. Speed - cruises at 30 -40mph all day long, even with a passenger and loaded trailer (I rode it from Seattle to Ocean Park WA a few years ago). Cost - I spent about $3,000 on it, but could do it again for about $2,000.

Suspension would be nice.

[SanctaRosa]

Amazing! What a thoroughly practical trike I really like that, - in fact I wouldn't mind having a go at gathering together several old bicycles from under the house and seeing if I could build something similar

[Christopher Jordan]

Originally Posted by Alaskavan

TerraTrike Zoomer, stretched 18" to acomodate engine.

Suspension would be nice.

That is excellent! I thought stretching frame length would affect steering more, but people here have done the same thing as you (on an old sociable tandem trike frame). It is almost 9 feet long and a small gas motor was bolted on.

I built mine from 2004 to 2005; but it has a plain very shrouded factory trike frame with the fairing lowered and stretched and a hub motor.

I also miss suspension. Maybe someday!! Congrats!!

[todayican]

If 30 is the goal, piece of cake, like Alaskavan said, stretch a proven design (look at atomiczombie's designs) like the one in the pic.
drive one side of the wheel with the pedals, and the other with a 50cc lifan

If the budget were, say 3k (4 tops for the first one) one could easily do REALLY nice trike, with fiberglass body and canopy.

I could build such a beast at $30 an hour plus parts

[SanctaRosa]

I've just found this link for the 'Electrathon' and I thought it might be of interest.....

HS-1 Construction Instructions

[Grant-53]

The Bicycleman.com sells electric motor kits and a wide variety of recumbents. Fairings by Zzipper or Muller are available to fit recumbents and upright bikes. These are starting points off the shelf. Another possiblity is to stretch the frame on a 50cc ATV and add a cab. The Blue Sky racer is a great chassis but still a little low slung for traffic.

[SanctaRosa]

Some of those little 50cc ATVs would be a good source of parts for a Velomobile type vehicle. Stretching one out and fitting a cab? - now there's a thought

[Bicycle Bob]

I found this old thread while trying to look up the weight of a go kart, and possible street conversions. I'm still looking for recent examples.
However, germane to the OP's question, I have a strong interest in cars that weigh less than they carry. I built a velomobile that successfully integrated the suspension into the frame https://www.compositesworld.com/colu...mobile-history and then got interested in doing one with an engine to get 400 MPG. This is not likely to happen without a building partner who is also expert at getting permits to use it. There's a minimum seat height for trikes here.
Anyway, I have a dandy engine if someone can put it to good use. It is from a Honda Quad, with 125 CC horizontal cylinder, reverse, and electric start. 75 lbs.

[freebeard]

I picked up at #83 where they're talking about the Bug-E in 2008. In the interval, we have Arcimoto cranking out 6 FUV a day. My VW panel van weighed as much as a Beetle (1750lb?) and had 3/4 ton [rated] axles.

The motor I have is a Lexus axle, 95lb and 68HP. There's nothing to do with it absent the controller and 400V worth of battery. It's comparable to the FUV [twin-motor] drivetrain but with an open differential.