More than 2 wheels?

[quixoticgeek]

I saw this 6 wheeled electric bike the other day. Which got me thinking, what are the names for pedal cycles with more than 3 wheels?  Unicycle, Bicycle, Tricycle... then is it quadcycle or quadricycle? What are 5 and 6 wheels called? 




J

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Five is a pentacycle. I don’t recall specific names for cycles with more wheels than that. They are pretty rare.

[hubner]

More than 3 wheels and it's a pedal car.

[mzjo]

My first reaction to what that one is called is an "artic" in anglo-saxon or "semi" in french. How much of the locomotive power is provided by the driver and how much by the electric motor? What weight does it carry (I presume that the principal interest is the volume or the surface area available for advertising). Mind you my admiration (and deepest sympathy) go out to the poor sod who has to pedal it home against a dutch headwind with flat batteries

[Kim]

More than 3 wheels and it's a pedal car.

Pedal car rules are stricter than that.  Lots of stuff about dimensions and things.  Not all quadricycles qualify.

[sojournermike]

I wonder there’s a pantograph to hook up the catenary?!

[Kim]

Mind you my admiration (and deepest sympathy) go out to the poor sod who has to pedal it home against a dutch headwind with flat batteries

As ever with electric vehicles, the idea is that the battery never goes flat.  This is trivial to achieve when the vehicle is doing short urban deliveries and can easily carry multiple battery packs.

Unless I'm mistaken, it's one of these: https://www.velove.se/electric-cargo-bike

[Basil]

This reminds me of my grumble about the word 'quad bike'. How can it be a bike and a quad at the same time?

And yes ok. It's not a word. It's two words.

[quixoticgeek]

My first reaction to what that one is called is an "artic" in anglo-saxon or "semi" in french. How much of the locomotive power is provided by the driver and how much by the electric motor? What weight does it carry (I presume that the principal interest is the volume or the surface area available for advertising). Mind you my admiration (and deepest sympathy) go out to the poor sod who has to pedal it home against a dutch headwind with flat batteries

250W of assist. Cutting out at 25kph. There's no blue number plate, so it's considered legally to be the same as any other pedal assist ebike.

I have riden trikes in Dutch windy conditions, back when I was a courier. The headwind is less of an issue. It's the cross wind that you wanna worry about. I got blown into a lamp post. I just couldn't control the bike in the wind.

Looks like these are upto 200kg and 2m³.

J

[grams]

This reminds me of my grumble about the word 'quad bike'. How can it be a bike and a quad at the same time?

And yes ok. It's not a word. It's two words.

Would you be happier if they had eight wheels?

[giropaul]

There must be a number at which you are almost guaranteed a puncture in 15 miles

[mzjo]

Thanks for that link Kim. Very interesting and informative. It is obviously very much smaller than I thought!

It is now quite clear to me what it should be called - it's an HPV - or perhaps just "'bent" would be sufficient    Of course e-cargo bent (ecb for short) would be a more elaborate description.

I wish I had the legs of either of those riders in the photos.

[quixoticgeek]

Just noticed this photo in the middle of some others I was looking at. This is a DHL e-trike.



It was what delivered my package from Neat Cleats.

J

[Pingu]

Four wheeler in Utrecht:


IMG_4084_01 by The Pingus, on Flickr

[hubner]

More than 3 wheels and it's a pedal car.

Pedal car rules are stricter than that.  Lots of stuff about dimensions and things.  Not all quadricycles qualify.

I was thinking more of a general description, not a legal definition.

Analogy: take a motorbike, replace the saddle which you straddle with a flat seat with a back, add 2 more wheels to make it self standing ie one wheel on each corner, and it's a (small) motor car.



That to me is a pedal car, even without a canopy.

[Kim]

To me quadricycle is a more generic term that includes four-wheeled cargo-cycles, pedal cars and four-wheeled velomobiles.

If we're talking motor vehicles, then we're into legal definitions, in which case the difference between a quadricycle and a car is mostly weight and power output, and what category of licence you need to drive one.  Quadricycles would include the 'quad bikes' beloved of farmers and oiks, and IIRC the Renault Twizy.

[Cudzoziemiec]

To me the first photo looks like a quad with a trailer or semi-trailer (can't tell which from the photo), as mzjo said. Whether it's an e-cargo quad, e-quad cargo, cargo e-quad, quad e-cargo or whatever... call it an HPV, that'll cover everything!

[LittleWheelsandBig]

It is a quad recumbent towing (fifth wheel-style in America-speak) a two-wheeled trailer.