Recumbent - "The Hoff" Project

Hi all. Thought Id share my latest project, "The Hoff". The hoff meaning David Hasslehoff....i kno it sounds stupid but theres alot of laughing potential. :D
I had a mainframe sitting around and a half built seat. Its 2 weeks 3 days to the race and so far ive been working flat-out for the past 5 days, ressurecting "The Hoff" to where it should b.

Anyways, heres the seat i built, some time ago. I built a wooden jig with angles in both vert' and hori' directions and pulled this out eventully. The carbon-fibre tube is paddle-shaft and is very strong, and very expensive ;) . Try $96 per metre :o . The funny thing is I got 5metres of it for....10c!! It was a gift off a school i helped out by building a trike for em. Just shows its not wat u know but who u know :)
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Heres the rear wheel. Shimano Sora hub (8speed), with an Epoch 8-speed cassette attached (11-23). A cheap double-walled rim and stainless spokes (36) ties it together. Tyres im running are Tioga Comp-Pools. This years model only goes to 60psi :( . Been testing em on my trainer (wheelchair) at 70psi and they are fine :) (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10106046ii.jpg)

Heres the tie-rod i'll b using. It was a wing support off a salvaged Cessna aircraft ad i got 3 of em for $30....with those monster rose-joints on em too- they're surly worth $30 for each one. Bargain ;)


A pic of the seat in its earliest stage of attachment. A piece of foam and a bit of tape :p . The seat is stuck to the foam (and the foam to the spine) with 50/50 microfibre/q-cell. If ya'll dont know wat that is, its bascially fibreglass shavings (each particle 20x smaller then a single human hair) which u mix with resin and let set. It has no real strength but can secure anything down in preperation for the real deal. Q-cell is really just in there to make it easier to sand when dry. Also in the pic is my roller mount and the carbon-fibre wrapped boomtube. Makes it a hell of alot stiffer I can tell you :D (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10110121oe.jpg)

Frame's looking half decent in this pic. Seat stays are microfibred into place and thats 'bout it. As u can see, the seat is very close to the rear wheel- Maximum traction ;)
[URL=http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10110090gi.jpg]

Hav to continue this. To muh pics for one post :(

Got the frame out of the jig (once the aforementioned was wrapped in carbonfibre) and placed it on some dodgy, dodgy kingpins. Rear wheelclears nicly and lowest point of "The Hoff" is the cross-member @ 40mm from the ground. Sounds a little too low i know, but considering the track is specially built, consistent hotmix, then theres no chance of bottoming out on the road....unless a flat tyre occurs :o . I guess i could add spacers to the kingpins or something...
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Heres the "bobsled handles" attached. I needed a seat bottom and the handles yet didnt want 2 waste time so i made em as one piece wit the help of a pipe bender. I'll cut em to size when I'm certain of the track. The "bobsled handles" allow the front of the canopy (also know as a fairing in your parts) to be held up and allow the wheelarches to be mounted- hell, everything an anything to be mounted, they are that important.
(http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10110133ao.jpg)

Got the rear roll-hoop mounted in this pic. Its about level with my waist at this height. If regulations wern't in, I could drop this another 150mm lower. The rule states that there must be 150mm between the top of the helmet to the lowest part of the rollhoop rollbar . 150mm = 6" .
Also seen in this pic is the chainring, which is a 57 teeth and a dodgy chain. Think i'll hav to add 5 links to it, the derailleur is a bit tight ;)


Finally, a pic of the drivetrain. Its weird that the chains passes through the bottom of each roller- just shows how low it is :D
[URL=http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10110183zo.jpg] (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10110165em.jpg)

Well thats it for now. I'll keep updating my progress till Im done. Any feedback or questions @ this stage.... didnt think so :)

Cool! So, what race is this for, again?

Ahhh that would be the Wonthaggi 24hr held on 24-26th of Feb. 1.4km long circuit, all hotmix.
Here it is; http://www.wonthaggisc.vic.edu.au/hpv/hpvtrack.html

I wouldn't be caught dead riding that thing.

I wouldn't be caught dead riding that thing.
Now THAT is funny! :)

I guess Michael Knight is still dedicated to rolling with K.I.T.T. only.

Wait a minute, am I really that old???

Well i guess i'll see you at the Murry bridge 24 then. We havnt even started building our 2006 trike yet. Are you entered yet??

Better get in quick.
So is this based on the BYR trike or are you an ex member.

I need to know what were up against.

We are very much entered for Murry Bridge, but with a school-based community team rather then BYR. I was hoping that BYR wouldnt turn up to MB (more chance of winning :D ) yet it seems they already hav an entry in for it and will decide whether or not to go by the state of their trikes after Wonthaggi.

So is this based on the BYR trike or are you an ex member. I've never been a member of BYR yet those guys taught me everything I know to this day as we were (mostly) in the same Human Powered Vehicle class (yes, we hav a class devoted to it :) ). In turn, they've been influenced heavily by the design used by my old school which has been very successful- 4 wins in the Energy Breakthrough over 6 years- plus 3 distance records ;) . "The Hoff" is closest in design to BYR03, as it uses the same diameter tubing, skeleton construction and canopy/fairing materials.

I need to know what were up against.
BYR O3 is light and lower then you'd remember- its running on 16's and is faster then eva :o . BYR04 hasnt evolved much but has a new in and outtake that pushes air in and out very fast and very efficently. THey also hav new paintjobs....not that thats important :lol: Easily sitting on 70km/h around the veledrome when i was circulating there. Thats wat we're up agaisnt ;) .

Finished my kingpins yesterday. All tapped and very strong- 11 days to the race and no skeleton or canopy attached yet :o . It'll happen though :D

Handle bolts fully attached:
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Early stages of the seat. Made a cardboard template which i traced around to get this.
(http://img130.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10111042yu.jpg)

The seat which has now been scluptered around the seat. Its very very comfy and feels like a great position for power etc. I could sleep in it :love: . Sorry about mess in my garage...I cleaned it up eventully ;)


Microfibered the seatbelt mounts on (wrapped in green tape) . As u might have guessed, its a fourpoint racing harness.
[URL=http://img104.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10111089zt.jpg] (http://img104.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10111079vc.jpg)

Til next time ;)

Does it talk yet? Do you have a red LED to flash across the front?

I think you need a technical adviser dude.

It doesnt talk yet, but the horn will go on at a later stage ;) .

Been working hard of late. Got "The Hoff" running pretty well, yet Ive gotta alter the topmost part of the seat so it doesnt flex as much, to encourage better power-down. Also, i gotta get different parts for the drum brakes as the current hit the frame and dont come back, resulting in the brakes rubbing etc.

Skeleton is now almost there, with 4-5 bits that need to b mounted;

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(http://img228.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10111139lq.jpg)

[URL=http://img137.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10111194py.jpg]

Only 6 and a half days till the race- hope I make it :)

Well, its 2 days till "The Hoff" must be ready to go on a trailer, and so far so good. Thanx to the added hands of my team-mates in this past week, a lot of progress has been had. The trike is now running at its best in every sense, and the skeleton was finished tonight, ready for a canopy to be mounted :D

Heres some pics, Its a rounded nose because it'll eventully wear a kevlar nose-cone;

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This pic's a bit blurry, so soz' . The seat was fixed at the back and "The Hoff" performs all the better for it. Power-down is very sudden and its only lifted a wheel once :o . So far, with no canopy/fairing attached, myself and my team-mates hav clocked 50km/h easily. I can imagine it topping out (considering the gears, 57, 11) at 65km/h.

(http://img142.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10111314qu.jpg)

Finally, the rear. Higest part sits 80mm off the ground whilst lowest is 60mm. Made the rear section after the roll-bar sit very high so as to decrease turbulance at the rear. Mounted drink-bottle holder in the pictured position to keep the weight low-down. Also, a full drink bottle can act as ballest for "The Hoff" around the most "rollable" corner, which is a right-hand, off cambered hairpin coming off a long straight.

[URL=http://img142.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10111334vc.jpg]

It's taking shape

It's taking shape

Hope your namesake does well in the race. Say, didn't your name used to be Classic1? Or was that someone else?

Hope your namesake does well in the race. Say, didn't your name used to be Classic1? Or was that someone else?

Has some butthole been pretending to be me? That Classic1 handle sounds like a really lame radio station. 'All the boring hits of the 70's'. What an idiot.

I'm 'The Hoff', the original and the best.

Has some butthole been pretending to be me? That Classic1 handle sounds like a really lame radio station. 'All the boring hits of the 70's'. What an idiot.

I'm 'The Hoff', the original and the best.

This guy inferred he was you. That was over on the Foo threads. He said he is now a lifeguard in Australia. Stacey was so excited she offered to have his baby. :eek:

So, Wheelchairman, how did the race go?

Hi all, sorry i was late- probably only just recovered :) .

Here is wat the Hoff looked like on the Thursday morning.
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By the afternoon i had the canopy on and most of it cleaned up, then it was painted by my friend and stickers were put on etc. It was still in need of attention when we packed it on the ute the next morning but easily finished none the less.

So, Friday Morn'. We packed and left with the Hoff on the back. We did 80km/h all the way there because after that the Hoff started to lift off like a kite! The trip took over 5hours with a couple of stops along the way. vvvvvvv
(http://img504.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10111341id.jpg)

When we arrived we set up camp then finished the areas of "The Hoff" that would allow us to pass through scruttineering. That took us a couple of hours but it was worth it- we passed through scruttineering quite easily, with the only prob being out rear light which needed to be lowered 200mm. After that we set up pits (the crappiest pit there IMO :D ) then completed "The Hoff" by 10pm. Heres wat it looked like by this stage...altough this was taken the next morn- still the same ;)


SAturday came along- RACE DAY!!! Qualifying came along and we qualified 10th out of 68 entrys. Here we are right after it, and we are pretty happy. From left, 'Tony on the ground, Stu' , Matty, Allan, Myself, James, "Rice" and Tom
(http://img50.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10111566iv.jpg)

We lined up for the race, but not before putting some fresher wheels and tyres on. It was a big mistake :( . The race was started via a rolling start. I tried keeping up with everyone but i just couildnt- hell, i was being overtaken by female teams that were nowher near as quick in qual' . It was very frustrating, embarrassing and tiring :mad: . I pulled into pits, hopped out in disgust and suggested we remeasure our steering. It turned out we were running 18mm of toe-in!!! :o .
We fixed that then the 2nd rider went out, while I *****ed and carried on about wasting my time on a piece of crap such as The Hoff. THe 2nd rider came in a little later, complaining it was hard to ride too- still! We brought it in and went over everthing. Someone grabbed the right-side hub and it burnt their hands. It turned out our "fresh hubs" were a little too fresh and were causing the right drum to lock on. We tried fixing it but didnt hav spare circlips etc needed to readjust the clamping power of the brakes. In the end, we simply undid the cable and ran the remaining 23hours with no brakes bar a slight amount of rear.
By this stage we were in 63rd out of 68 entrys and we were pretty pissed off. It started raining and "The Hoff" showed its true colours, being the fastest through the hairpin sections for some time. Before the rain halted 6 hours later, we were in 28th with one rollover to slow us down. Our dream run (finally had a dream run) came to an end at 2am, when Allan approaced a hairpin to fast, rolled "The Hoff" 3 times over....then smashed into the water-filled barriers on the side of the track. He was abused by the marshall on the corner and went back to pits. Many things broke but we had enough race-tape to hold it :p .
That accident cost us 7 positions and we went down to 35th. The rain was good on the track for us, yet not in our pits. Our battery charger (which batteries kept our halogens going) got wet and was actully sapping power out of the batteries. With no batteries left, we got the tin cutters out and cut a dirty big hole in the kevlar nose-cone, then taped a torch into it. It allowed us to keep riding, yet in reality it did nothing for us. The torch faced up in the air thus did nothing. Heres a pic. THe other hole is so we could see through the fogged up windscreen, during the rainy period.
[URL=http://img164.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10111824ep.jpg]

With five hours to go, we got back into 33rd position and had a great dual with a local team for this poistion, being 5 seconds a lap behind or in front for the rest of the race. I know i myself copped a lot of nudging and slipstreaming from em, so i though it only right that i T-boned em gently into a barrier in my last stint :) :) . We passed the line in 33rd, happy to hav got through it all yet slightly disappointed that we didnt prepare ourselves better. We were ewpecting top 20 but couldnt do it . Still it was a good effort to have a trike built from scratch in 4 weeks, for $770 at a weight of 30kgs (boy did we feel that :( )


Predictably, Bendigo Youth Racing won agaisnt Trisled, by 2 and a half laps. THis time though it was BYR03 that took the honour (over the superior 04 version, which rolled 11 times on te same corner, in the wet :o ) and a new distance record (by 20+ laps) for the track. THey were uncatchable.

Well, Im sure when i rebuild "The Hoff" I'll repost in this thread, but that could be months away. Any feedback???

so what was your top speed (in mph)

Top Speed was 52.9km/h. Im sure someone on here knows that in MPH- I sure dont.
That top speed was recorded around the footy oval, which was banked and slightly down-hill towards the end. Surprisenly, Korumburra Road, which on the map is a very long straight, was the hardest part of the track. It was all uphill and was a real killer. If u didnt get a fast run off the corner before it, then u were in for a painful 30ish seconds :( .
Our best lap-time was 2'22.???, The best lap recorded was a 2'03, set on the 1st lap by.....u guessed it- BYR
Heres the map again so youse know wat im on about.
http://www.wonthaggisc.vic.edu.au/hpv/hpvtrack.html

Well done.