New to the forum, scratch building an Airbike. Here is a picture of it mostly welded and on main gear. The engine is a Kawasaki and IvoProp just C-clamped to it!

here are larger pictures...

Hi Cameron and welcome to the board. looks like you have done a good job so far.

Monte

Looks like you have been at it for a while. Thanks for sharing the project. I hope you keep updating us. Nice work

I didn’t really start consistent until this last January.

You will love flying it in when the weather is warm, when it gets cold mine sits in the hanger.

Monte

Welcome to the club Cameron. We will look forward to your progress. Is this going to be an ultralight or LSA?

Paul Fiebich

Most likely LSA, Heck, I already have 3 lbs of welding rods in it!

Oh I also added a link to my instagram acct below, I have a few more pictures there.

Good, LSA provides you with more latitude to add some convenience items such as brakes, a well cushioned seat and seat back, wing tanks plus a 2 gallon fuselage tank.

Is the elevator cable that minimax sells for the wood planes the same as the Airbike?

Yes it is

Monte

[quote=1513]Yes it is

Thanks Monte! I will get one coming!

I finallly found a recoil starter for the Kawasaki 440 so I started mocking up the engine, redrive, and mounting....
1/4" aluminum bed mounting plate mounted in rubber mounts from air-tech. 2.56:1 belt drive came with the engine and 68" adjustable IVOprop.

Cameron the  Airbike uses 2 elevator cables.

Monte

My plans show one, do you have the plans that use two? Or pictures? I heard of the twin cable setup in the UK.

Cameron i did not build my A/B but it has a horn on both sides of the elevator. Paul might have a pict or plans he could share with you.

Monte

My plane only had one elevator control, too.  But, having two certainly provides a safety factor.

My AirBike plans show using one push/pull elevator cable. A friend of mine built his with two cables for redundancy.

Paul Fiebich

I would only think it adds redundancy for a broke cable.... it would double your chance of a binding cable. What is the typical failure mode?
2 cables would be 8 pounds, I would almost change to 7x7 cables or push tube design for that.
I was really on the fence about the teleflex. I decided if it is only 1 cable then I should stick to the plans, but if it's 2 cables, then I would do a push pull tube instead.
I guess the question is, how is the reliability of one cable? And how do they fail?

Hi Cameron

I wanted the reliability & lighter feel of pushrod controls. Here's a couple of pics of my setup.

Bruce

Nice looking set-up Bruce. Yes, I agree, dual teleflex cables only provide redundancy in case one broke. Same idea of a twin engined plane over a single engined plane. You now have twice the number of parts to go haywire. I chose to go with a push/pull tube such as you have for the Tiger Moth I am building. I don't know what the life cycle of the teleflex cable is, mine has been in use for 20 years with no problems.

Paul

like Paul the elevator cable in my max-103 was over 20 yrs old and never caused a problem. I did finally change it so I could disassemble it for inspection which did not show any corrosion
or fraying of the strands. I even did a pull test and at 100 lbs did not fail. IMHO these cables are safe if installed correctly and are out of a high moisture environment. I see no need for
a dual setup...save the weight.

monte  

Thanks guys! I will go with one to keep it simple and light!