DIY Friction Drive Experiment

lowracer

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Charleston, SC
I've been wanting to make a super-simple friction drive for some time now & think I may be onto something here that could work well on both a hardtail or a full suspension by allowing the engine mount to swing. It is attached to the set tube. Its basically a front wheel hub mounted in a 31.8 steerer stem attached to the seatpost with a 27.2 to 28.6 shim. Take a look at the pics....I'll probably run another arm off the non-drive side for balance & added strength. The clutch driver is a 1/2" Staton double bearing unit that I also use for V-Belt drive pulleys. I may use bungee cords & mount a brake lever & cable to lift the unit for coasting or pedaling without friction.
-Lowracer-
 

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I've been thinking about it some more after posting these pics & will definitely add the opposite side 'L' arm & connect the 2 with some cross bracing & 2 alloy legs instead of the bungee/cable idea. I'm probably putting the Stage 7 pocket bike engine on it & it will need to be as sturdy as possible to handle the power.
-Lowracer
 
Well since its an expirament I hope you dont mind my 2 cents.
Looking at it and some ideas I have for a shaft drive tranny maybe you could try to use a 1 inch drive swivle socket type assembly to top mount the clutch plate and run a vertical shaft motor.
Looks pretty good for starten out. keep going thats what its all about.
I really like thinking about stuff like this so my wife does too. See thinks if the clutch bell housing is reversed and use a gear or something for the drive the weight will be evenly distributed.
I think its good this stuff goes on because eventually someone who doesnt care about money so much will come up with a winner and revolutionize the industry.
Congrats
 
Last edited:
loquin,
I thought about using bungee to pull the arm into the tire, but will use an aluminum support bar & quick release instead. There is no spring in the attachment point. Its a bicycle hub with all the spokes removed so it can pivot if it needed to on a full suspension type bike (this one doesn't need to pivot much).
-Lowracer-
 
Quick release is probably a better idea than spring tension. I built sumpin
similar with a spring; bucked like a green colt every time I hit a pothole cuz
of spring bounce. Finally reversed it with a spring to hold the roller off the
tire with a lever that hooked and unhooked easily to hold it down on the tire.
 
Quick release is probably a better idea than spring tension. I built sumpin
similar with a spring; bucked like a green colt every time I hit a pothole cuz
of spring bounce. Finally reversed it with a spring to hold the roller off the
tire with a lever that hooked and unhooked easily to hold it down on the tire.
 
rawly old,
I did go with a bolt & nut to lock it down tight against the tire.
Worked ok, but ate the heck out of the rear tire on the 1st few rides even after I filed down the sharp points on the roller & had good pressure on the tire (pocketbike engine has a have power spike around 6000 & pulls hard like that all the way up to 11000 rpm's).
Since I've switched that friction setup over to a rear v-belt drive, then added another front engine w/front v-belt drive for a dual engine machine (see pics). After a few weeks of senseless overpowered motoring, I removed the rear engine/drive altogether. It now sits in the garage as a front engine vbelt driven rig. I plan on removing the engine from the bike & building a lightweight aluminum push trailer with the same pocket bike engine/vbelt drivetrain...(see pics)
stay tuned
-Lowracer-
 

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Lowracer,
Funny u should mention that, I too have just converted an old fric-drive
to a v-belt with a 20" bike rim for a sheave. Geez, it works GREAT! My
gx35 would only do 23 mph with a 7/8" fric roller on the flat. Same
engine with the belt, 33 mph. Woohoo!
 
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