Sooner or later if we ride any kind of a cycle with pneumatic tires we are likely to get a flat tire. Many of us have been fixing flats since childhood so we can handle flats when they happen. However, some riders have never done so and don’t know how and are intimidated by such a challenge. In today’s world there is help as close as our computers/smartphones/tablets. There are quite a lot of tutorials available in the way of videos where things are not only explained, but they are shown making it even easier to understand. Here is one such video which is pretty comprehensive:
One cardinal rule is never use a sharp object such as a screwdriver as a tire lever. Doing so is just asking for problems as one can easily puncture an inner tube. This young person in THIS VIDEO uses two of them.
If you find you have a damaged tire that you are concerned about continuing on riding on there may be hope for it. HERE is an article I wrote on dealing with such tires.
HERE is an article I wrote on rear wheel removal and reinstallation.
One tip I would share here which makes a whole lot of sense, but is seldom mentioned in instructional videos is to use the punctured inner tube to discover the location in the tire where the puncture occurred. Simply carefully remove the inner tube from the tire paying careful attention to its exact positioning in the tire so that you can later place it upon the outside of the tire the same as it came out. Pump the punctured inner tube back up with air to discover the location of the leak. Once you know where the leak in the tube is at you can determine where to look in the tire for the cause of the leak. The cause may or may not be there, but if it is still there it is most important to remove it before installing the new inner tube. Otherwise it will just cause the new inner tube to fail also. Be very careful running your fingers around inside of the tire attempting to locate the cause of the flat as you could get cut or otherwise injured.
When I watch most instructional videos I usually find at least one thing they cover which I take issue with and don’t agree on. That’s okay, I guess. They can do whatever they want and I will do the task the way I want. That is just the way things are in this ol’ world we live in. I guess the most important thing is that we “git ‘er dun” so that we can …
Matt Shumaker used a KMX Typhoon tadpole trike modifiying it considerably, especially the frame, to create this powerful monster. There is no doubt about it … he achieved his goal in making a strong frame.
He lowered the frame 3/4 of an inch and also widened the frame 5 inches and lengthened it 3 inches to accommodate the motor and increase the handling of the trike. With two 15 hp (11,000 watt) motors powering it these modifications are a very good idea. Matt says it will accelerate from zero to forty in 4.5 seconds! That would indeed be exhilarating.
It sounds like a jet airplane going by. He says he has about $6,000 invested in it plus about 200 hours of time. He values it at about $9000. It is all wheel drive with motors for the front wheels and motors for the rear wheel. The trike does have pedals in case they are needed. The trike weighs about 90 pounds so pedaling it isn’t something one would want to do if they didn’t have to. Matt reports that the range is about 35 – 45* miles on a charge which is a whole lot more than my 80 mile rated BionX battery gets. I am only getting about 20 miles using 80 % of a full charge on my BionX unit … not very impressive. Of course, this is a massive battery in comparison to what I have. (* one place I read 35 if it is babied and another place I read 45 with no remark about babying it.)
With all that power and speed it requires some hefty brakes. He used 203mm Hope 4 piston hydraulic brakes.
Matt reports that he sold this trike for $7500 with only one motor as he removed one.
