least effort least throw clutch?

Go measure the actual force required on a Beetle clutch pedal; I don't think you'll find a pressure plate needing less. Now try to translate the pedal travel into something hand-operated. I don't think so...

The Beetle autostick models used a vacuum assist diaphragm which could be the ticket. Instead of its complicated electric solenoid valve, maybe you could have a hand-control valve bleed off vacuum .

Speedy Jim

It's a trike. You have both feet up, so just use a foot-clutch. Besides, you will probably be shifting with the left hand.

Jan

Buncha jokers we are today .

Ok, Ok. I'll give up on the foot-operated progressive shift converter I was toying with. Conventional it is.

Walt

I was just talking to someone about this today. I didn't get to products that actually do this. With my 72 transaxle, I wanted the shop to swap the stock clutch arm with one from a later bus that is longer (about an inch longer for greater leverage). He said he couldn't do it as the mount is a bit larger and won't fit. Darn clutch, I fear, is going to kill me in stop&go, but it waits to be seen after the engine swap.

So does anyone actually make a hydraulic clutch kit for a bug? Changing actuator diameter is changing the leverage..

Not that I know I need one. I think the clutch springs are rated @ 1700 pounds, but not sure..

You can get the slave cylinders almost anywhere. They run in the $50-$80 range, and are usually used on sand rails and the like with special pedal/master cylinder setups. The trick for you would be getting the master cylinder and pedal mouted in your rig. I'm also looking into diaphragm pressure plates, which are supposed to require less pressure and have a shorter throw than other clutch setups. For me, I don't think I could get the pressure/throw down low enough for it to work with the little handlebar-mounted master cylinders they make for motorcycles.

Cheers, Walt

Hey, these guys are doing an aparently hand-operated clutch...on a VW powered motorcycle, no less. I'd never heard of the Amazonas. The clutch seens to be about the only thing on the bike the author of the article wasn't unhappy with...

"The VW gearbox is fitted with Amazonas' own single-plate cable-operated diaphragm clutch that is reasonably light to use, though the same can't be said for the VW gearbox, converted to foot change by means of a mechanical linkage that can only be termed crude, and operated by a left-side Italian-type rocking pedal that requires you to remove your foot from the board to use it. Being a car box, it naturally comes with reverse gear, handy in -a sidecar, which you select by means of a special hand lever on the right side, of the bike after obviously coming to a rest first."

hmm.. what if..

What if the slave cylinder fed the front of a power assist vacuum diaphragm which drove another master that then fed the slave mounted on the tranny?

Try a small power assist can like from a small honda or toyota. Looking at the slave cylinder on my Honda VF700S, it doesn't look like it would fit, but some sort of bracket thingy..

But wait! Here's what you want:

If you engine doesn't make enough vacuum:

Thanks David; that would work. There comes a point where adding complexity to the design gives diminishing returns, but the remote assist unit, combined with a diaphragm clutch plate and a motorcycle master cylinder might just give a silky-smooth hand-operated clutch.

One gripe I've always had with VW trikes is the awkward hand shift sequence. First, there's no ideal place to put the shift lever where it's accessible, but not in the way. Second, motorcycle handlebars don't offer the same degree of control as a steering wheel when you constantly have to pull one hand off the bars to shift gears. Third, your stance on a motorcycle is not convenient for all the coordinated monkey-motion of clutching and shifting, so most trikes just put a buggy seat and huge running boards so you're basically sitting in them like you would in a car. It looks goofy IMO. There's a gazillion trikes like that out there, and I have no desire to build one. If you could set up the trike controls exactly like a motorcycle's it would (again, IMO) be much better.

So now all I have to do is come up with a way to convert the shifting motion of the VW tranny to a progressive setup that can be operated by foot. It's been done (see my post on the Amazonis motorcycle), but evidently not done well. I don't think the problem is insurmountable. Time to hit the drawing board...

Cheers, Walt

This trike thing is just silly. Why don't you go to a motorcycle group and to a trike mailing list to get the real information. I see no sense at all in a Trike unless one is physically disadvantaged.

...as soon as anyone climbs on a trike they are physically disadvantaged. ;-) the only thing I could see using a trike for would be carrying the keg and pulling the pig roaster ;-) I have carried beer balls on my bikes (what the hell ever happend to beer balls...they were the perfect sunny afternoon solution to having a couple of friends over), but would not want to attempt anything larger. Riding a bike year round in New York you learn that many things *can* be carried if you want to bad enough...but alas...some cannot. Gorw up...lose the training wheels and ride. =-) As for shifting...why not just use an auto-majickl transmixer on that pig and be done with it?

...Gareth

Ever tried to carry an armload of loose LP records on a bike? :) It's a hoot.

Trikes are for kids.

I managed to carry a case of beer, 24 glass bottles on my lap.. on a bike.. several miles home through the city even.. lol... balanced the whole thing on top of the gas tank..

Jan

Heh. Yeah; I know how many 'real' bikers feel about trikes. The funny part is that most of them are totally blind to the contradiction. They're fiercely proud of their biker's lifestyle as an expression their freedom, individuality and so forth, but trikers, they're different and personally offensive and so must be ridiculed and suppressed. I've heard it before. You'll have to do a lot better than that before you'll bother me.

I will grant you that 95% of the trikes in this country are ridiculous, butt-ugly, dangerous pieces of junk that never should have happened.

Walt

That would have really eaten you, if the case would have dropped... ;) Never mind the groceries, but the beer.

The beer WAS the groceries.. had nothing else. They were for a friend, or possibly for a house party. Can't remember. It's been a while. Like.. 15 years.

Jan

They just make no sense at all. They handle worse than a two-wheeler. If people ride them because they think they are safer, then they are half the way to an accident already.

That you dad ?

Randy