It had occurred to me once upon a time, but I'm not physically up to the task of opening another business. The best I can do is give the details to anyone else who might want to do that.

On the front wheel thing, I tried it but the bike was very unstable. I just make sure I don't lean back too far. Actually I have never had an incident on one like this. You could also move the drive wheel farther back as well. There is no reason it has to be that close to the seat.

When I started with the PAT... It was with a scooter wheel and a couple of rails. It was very slow. When I finished I have moved everything to a 16" kids bike and running a smaller sprocket on the 16" wheel and it would run so fast even on hills that I could not catch up to pedal even in a high gear.

This particular friction drive, I am still working the bugs out of. In the 350watt version on that bike, it does not need a controller just a simple household on off switch. However in the 500 watt version it burned out the switch. Those switches are the only weak spot in the system. I am in contact with a gentleman on a different forum who is using a relay and switch. That seems to be the way I go next. Get a couple, one for each bike, and stop worrying about the switch melt down.

I do not like controllers and throttles. It's not like I run a bike on anything except wide open anyway. They just don't have that much power. You don't really need a low speed, just shut the motor off and pedal.

I have another wheel on a fed ex truck somewhere. When it gets here I am going to measure the sprocket to see if there is a smaller one somewhere. I also have on a ups truck somewhere a larger sprocket for the scooter motor.

As of this moment the 350 watt motor is the one that is my workhorse bike. I will be building the 500watt in the next few days and from that I will know what I need to do to make a hummer bike, if it is possible.

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On the road novel with my ebike...
http://frictiondrivebicycles.blogspot.com/

Too bad, I'm willing to bet you wouldn't have any problems selling them. Most people don't want to ride a 16" bike, but would love to have a single wheeled pusher for their 26" mountain bike, I can almost guarantee you. Speaking of larger wheels, have you considered putting this 16" rear wheel on a 20" frame and 20" front wheel? I've seen it done before, and it didn't look as silly as it might sound, and seems to me like it would be much more comfortable for an adult.

Can you tell give us some of the performance characteristics of both of these bikes? I realize exact speeds can be hard to obtain without a portable GPS, but how about distance for both the PAT and this current friction drive bike? What size batteries did you use, in Ah? Can you give us an estimate of the build time for either/both of these bikes? Oh yeah, where in the world do you have the batteries hidden on this latest one? Whew, that's a lot of questions!

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On this site, 99.999% of all underlined words are links.

A watt saved is better than a watt generated, since it always costs less than 10% as much, and can cost as little as 1%.

V=volt, A=ampere, Ah=ampere hour, Wh= watt hour, VOC=open circuit voltage, ISC=short circuit current, VMPP=voltage @ max power, IMPP=current @ max power, BTW=by the way, your=belongs to you, you're=you are, too=in addition to, two=1+1, to=towards

I didn't have the battery trailer connected for the batteries on the lastest one.

Performance.
The 16" Pat is far superior to any friction I have built yet but I'm just starting a new round of tests. The Pat with the 16" wheel and 44 tooth #25 sprocket welded to the regular sprocket, powered by the 500 watt scooter motor seemed to be almost too fast for me to be comfortable with. I never felt good about going full throttle down even the slightest incline. I also never found a normal hill that I could catch up the pedals with the motor even going uphill on any of the hill around my town. I live in a place called high point.

The 350 watt pusher was about equivalent to a 25cc weed eater friction drive I used to build. I would pull you up most hills without any help, but to keep the speed up I pedaled on most of them.

The only friction I have built successfully is the 350 watt. It has some things about it I like a lot. Much better battery economy for one thing. It goes much slower so you expect it to be slow. I use the on off switch to pump up the speed then just let it coast. Then pump it up again when the speeds to what is about normal for a bike.

I use two sets of sla batteries one is 7.5 ah and one is 12ah. I had thought I might combine them for a longer ride but haven't found anywhere I want to go just yet.

It is a two mile ride to the park were I take my morning walk. I take the 350watt friction drive bike these days. I leave with each battery in the pack at about 13.25 volts. After the two mile ride the 7.5 ah pack usually is at 12.9 - 12.7 volts on return to the shop. Since the motor is about useless at less than 12 volts I figure it would do about 4 to 5 miles with the 7.5 ah pack. Probably 7or so with the 12ah pack.

The pat was far superior in performance but handling wasn't as good as the friction drive.

Now that I know how to do it, if I had the parts on hand, I could build one in a day easily. Once you cut your side rails from some solid steel channel, like the bed frame looking stuff, it is a breeze. I had to rig some metal pieces to be able to attach them to the bike frame. The 16" wheel just bolts through a couple of 3/8" holes you drill into the bed frame material. Bolt or weld a couple of end pieces to make it ridged and you are pretty much finished with the frame.

I used a motor mount from a schwinn type scooter but you could build your own easily and probably get a better one in the process. Then just wire it up and off you go. They are really easy to build after you figure them out.

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On the road novel with my ebike...
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I wanted to test my trailer since I did some changes, so I rode the 350watt bike that I use for my trips to and from the part for my morning walk. I know I said that already. I ran the test track two miles under various condition. A couple of short but steep hills, a couple of mild inclines and the ups and downs they cause gives the bike and trailer a good test.

I had a little more tension to start than I usually have so the bike hummed. I left it right from the charger which should be about 13.25 no more than that for sure. I came home with the battery at 12.78 So I estimate useful distance on the 7.5 ah pack at 4 to 5 miles.

I think this one might be the ideal helper motor. I want to try the 500 watt before I declare the 350 winner but it is going to be hard to beat. As a motorized bike the 500 watt might be better in that it will keep the power up longer on the hills, I think. But purely as a helper motor the 350 is nice. In the two miles I rode I was on the pedals no more than fifty yards.

Part of the reason I pedal so little with the 350 is that it has the kiddie chain ring. It is impossible to catch the freewheel, unless the bike is dragging. One day I might check to see if I have a larger chainring around. My new motor won't get here till Tuesday, I should be really bored by then.

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On the road novel with my ebike...
http://frictiondrivebicycles.blogspot.com/

Oh, I totally forgot about that. Yeah, you'd have to be pedaling at about 500 RPM to keep up, wouldn't you? We'd smell your pants burning before you got close enough to see!

Do you think if I were to build a PAT with a 350 watt motor on a 16" wheel that I'd be able to use a single throw switch, 0V or 24V, all or nothing? Would that work, or would I just be building myself a tire melter?

BTW, have you ever done a 49cc PAT? If not, do you think it would work? I would love to do some experimentation with some single wheeled PAT's, both electric and ICE. Thanks for showing us how you built these, and taking the time to explain everything so those of us with no experience can learn through you.

__________________
On this site, 99.999% of all underlined words are links.

A watt saved is better than a watt generated, since it always costs less than 10% as much, and can cost as little as 1%.

V=volt, A=ampere, Ah=ampere hour, Wh= watt hour, VOC=open circuit voltage, ISC=short circuit current, VMPP=voltage @ max power, IMPP=current @ max power, BTW=by the way, your=belongs to you, you're=you are, too=in addition to, two=1+1, to=towards

Well about the best I can do is give you a head start. Each bike is a little different and needs a little bit different attachment. If you think of it as an extension to the frame, you are on the right track. The more rigid the better.

350 on a 16 inch Pat wheel should be find for a start and go. Pedal a few times to break the inertia and kick the motor in. It won't give you any problems at all. You really need the controller on bigger motors because the start up is so violent on the chain drive. Most (but not all) of my chain problems were from the motor not being mounted rigid enough. It tends to torque on me.

I never built a fume spewer pat, but I think it would work just fine. You could even use the centrifugal clutch without any problem. I think even a 31cc weed eater would make a good assist engine. A chainsaw would be great. You would just need to weld a bike sprocket (easy enough to buy one from tnc) to the sprocket already on one of those.

There should be lots of ways to power a pat.

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On the road novel with my ebike...
http://frictiondrivebicycles.blogspot.com/