Has anyone ever thought of making an Electrathon street legal? I know here in Florida for a moped it is vairly inline with Electrathon, small motors, 3 or less wheels, pedals to power. But I know Electrathon is much bigger in the NW, have any of you looked into making it legal to drive on public roads? Or has anyone succeeded in doing it?
We used to have one. We called it 'the pet'. It had a motorcycle license plate/ registration. Three wheels, one in front two in back (obviously). Had a back seat too, fit two small 10 year olds (tightly). My dad used to take me to school in it. Completely enclosed, with a body made of coroplast But technically met electrathon rules, i think it participated in one or two races. I'd have to look at my parent's house for pictures. I know it raced in Da Vanci days in the late 90's/early 2000s. It may have had pedals at one point too (obviously not while racing).
It was actually in a commercial in Canada for many years. (Pretty random...)
Its really not that hard. Though it is also not particularly safe, probably, depending where you are driving considering how low to the ground and small most electrathons are. One would be better off building a unique trike electric vehicle more road worthy.
I am trying to do this. The main problem I face is rolling resistance. BMX wheels and tires are unlikely to be registerable. I need to determine which existing motorcycle wheels have the least weight, rolling resistance and aerodynamic drag. Not an easy task considering hardly anyone cares about weight, rolling resistance or drag of motorcycle tyres.
I built a street legal but not electrathon legal 3 wheeler. I called it an Electrathon on steroids. Of course it had 2 wheels in front and a fairly heavy metal full protection cage frame with fiberglass body, glass windshield, and traveled at 60 mph. It was about 3' tall 5' wide and 8' long so felt a little safer in traffic. It was a 48 volt system with full lights, turn signals, inside lights, small defroster, wiper, stereo, etc. It had two motors with a jack shaft so I could start on one motor up to ~30 mph then switch over to the other higher geared motor for the ~25 to 60 range. I used Tomos Moped wheels with an emergency/parking brake on the rear one and two hand brakes on the front. The car obviously was about 2 times the weight of an electrathon so the brakes were very marginable so made me nervous to take out on the road on the test runs so was going to figure out better brakes. Just as I was putting the removable top, finishing the 12 vot wiring, etc. on it we bought a Think EV so never drove it around much or even got it licensed which was probably a good thing.
It was fun to drive and it moved well. It was also a lot of fun to design and make, but with the brakes questionable I was too nervous to go on more than a couple of short trips in the area. I could see someone pulling out in front of me and it not being able to stop.
I built a street legal but not electrathon legal 3 wheeler. I called it an Electrathon on steroids. Of course it had 2 wheels in front and a fairly heavy metal full protection cage frame with fiberglass body, glass windshield, and traveled at 60 mph. It was about 3' tall 5' wide and 8' long so felt a little safer in traffic. It was a 48 volt system with full lights, turn signals, inside lights, small defroster, wiper, stereo, etc. It had two motors with a jack shaft so I could start on one motor up to ~30 mph then switch over to the other higher geared motor for the ~25 to 60 range. I used Tomos Moped wheels with an emergency/parking brake on the rear one and two hand brakes on the front. The car obviously was about 2 times the weight of an electrathon so the brakes were very marginable so made me nervous to take out on the road on the test runs so was going to figure out better brakes. Just as I was putting the removable top, finishing the 12 vot wiring, etc. on it we bought a Think EV so never drove it around much or even got it licensed which was probably a good thing.
It was fun to drive and it moved well. It was also a lot of fun to design and make, but with the brakes questionable I was too nervous to go on more than a couple of short trips in the area. I could see someone pulling out in front of me and it not being able to stop.
That's very interesting, I've been looking into this sort of thing and been learning a lot. I've even found some wheel options.
