Drift Trike - Brakes and Throttle Designation

[Mudstomper]

I am setting up my trike to have front and rear brakes on the handle bars and a throttle on the foot.

My reason is because it's nice to have throttle separate from the braking hand. Especially for drifting.

But if anyone has a drift trike I'd love to see what setup you have and the pro's and con's.

Also, I'm having a hard time finding a foot throttle mechanism. I want something cooler than a spring. What foot throttle setup does everyone else use?

 

[Brianator]

First off, I don't have a drift trike but I do have ideas. In the All Terrain Lawn Tractor world brake levers are commonly used for throttles, a ATV thumb throttle could be made to work also and that would give it a speed limiting screw in case you wanted to let a newbie ride it (i suppose you could make your own also if using a brake lever). If you can cut/weld/grind/paint then all you need is an old set of 7/8" (22mm) handlebars to get all the material you need! Avoid twist throttles, there's a reason manufacturers don't put them on anything with more than 2 wheels....

 

[WunTon]

I'll cross post this from my response to you in my build thread so there is another opinion/thought/point of view here as well for discussion sake!

I am still running my twist throttle for now because it seems to be working well after making a few return spring adjustments and getting it dialed in bit I will at some point be switching to the thumb throttle. The biggest downfall for me with the twist is when drifting to the left and the right handle bar is pointing almost straight forward during counter steer it makes it very difficult to control the throttle then. With the thumb throttle I feel like that will mostly be eliminated. I have material and plans to add foot pegs as soon as I finish up my garage cabinet build project that I'm working on currently and will add a rear foot brake on the right peg. For me coming from 20 years of motorcycle riding having the rear brake at the right foot just feels more natural and I have the muscle memory built up so that I don't even think about it and just know that's where my rear brake is. I can't confirm since I don't have mine set up yet but I imagine having the rear brake at either foot would be a bit easier to manipulate vs trying to squeeze it with your hand. Hydraulic brakes will help with that but this is just what makes sense in my head. As for the throttle being at the foot I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work like that at all. Most drift trikes are rather rough riding due to rolling on hard unforgiving plastic so maybe there my be some throttle bouncing issues if you are on a really rough road or something but I imagine that would be minimal. I think it's all just a matter of personal preference and what's most comfortable to the rider at the end of the day.

 

[Mudstomper]

Thanks Brionator! I'll consider that but there's something about the feel of a foot throttle that says, "I'm racing"! A thumb throttle doesn't have the same "feel" although quads are a lot of fun.

---------- Post added at 11:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:01 PM ----------

Thanks WunTon!

I talked to another friend who rides bike and he said the same. But I think you're right it comes down with what makes sense to yourself personally. Good point about the throttle during the turn. I decided today I'll go with a foot throttle. I saw quite a few options online but I decided to build my own. I think I came up with something cool but we'll see.

Thanks again for your input. There sure are a lot of decisions to make building your own cart.

 

[Mudstomper]

The frame is finally ready for paint...

Some shots of the frame.

I went with 1/16" tubing. I added gussets to the edges and some re-enforcing where I thought it needed it.

The frame weighs 34 lbs.

 

[Mudstomper]

Custom Brake

So I bought a 1" sleeve to go on to my axle. Then I used a 5" hole saw to cut a disc out of some scrap metal plating (maybe 3/16").

Then I used another hole saw to cut the middle out. I drilled 6 holes into that which lined up to the brake rotor.

After I welded it together...

I painted the whole piece yellow and bolted it onto the Shimano brake rotor.

 

[Brianator]

I meant rigging them up for foot throttle control so you know, that's why I mentioned finding and old handlebar and welding it on.