bobby hall handcycle compared to morph 2 and proposed morph out

I would like to establish the desired dimensions for the next version of the Morph hand-cycle, called "Morph Out". It seems like the dimensions embodied in Morph 2 work better than the dimensions of Morph 3, particularly in regard to ease of turning and "float". Morph 3 is superior in that the low position is lower than m2, and the frame is significantly lighter.
 
As a goal for Morph Out in the low position, it should match the geometry of the Bobby hall hand-cycle. In the high position it should be as high as Morph 2 high position.
 
What follows is a pdf comparison of these different layouts, and proposed layouts for Morph Out. Please comment.
 
Al

A Tale of Four Handcycles - 1982 to 2008 - With Side View Comparison Drawings - And a Dog

The New England Handcycle (1980 to 1990)

A little history: I started New England Handcycles (NEH) in 1980, just after I graduated from MIT. I ran NEH as a side business (my main occupation was in high tech at companies like Computervison and Apollo Computer. I later started Avid Technology, Inc. in 1987, and Wildfir Communications in 1992) Rory McCarthy was my third customer at NEH, and he started doing wild things like 24 hour bike marathons, riding across the country, and then in 1995, he rode around the world (13,500 miles in an epic trip organized by World T.E.A.M Sports) using a Freedom Ryder handcycle (not shown here).

The photo above was taken in 2004 when Rory and I took a trip to Scotland using our NEH handcycles. They aren't fast, but they are comfortable, practical, and they turn on a dime. You can ride inside and outside. To this day, I mainly use the 1982 NEH handcycle shown here.

This post is about comparing the geometry of these vehicles. Right now, we're in process of exhaustively documenting the geometries that work on our other handcycles. These drawings are from back in 2006 during the design of Morph II, and while they are not dimensioned, they do show relative layouts.

The Travel Bike (2003)
This is the "Travel Bike." I commissioned this bike and co-designed it with Mike Augspurger of One Off Titanium.  It is shown here with the seat folded down. The bike weighs in at a wonderful 34 pounds, and yes it does have some titanium. (The large vertical for the front pedals is titanium; so are many of the telescoping parts. The rest is chrome molly steel.) The silver coupler (follow the main tube to the left of the "off" decal and you'll see it) lets the bike break in two in a few seconds. It then fits easily in a car trunk. Below its in the back of a small minivan.

I've taken the travel bike all over the world and had great results with it. The benefits of the middle coupler cannot be overstated. That, with quick release wheels and a fold-down seat make the vehicle amazingly portable.

We hope to come close to this portability with the Morph by also offering some kind of mid-bike coupling.
Here is the side view layout of the Travel bike. Not sure that the head tube is shown at the correct angle

And here is the comparison with the NEH bike. Notice how much further forward the rider sits in the Travel Bike. The result is dramatic. The Travel Bike (red) is like a mountain goat when it comes to climbing steep hills. You can go straight up, and the wheel doesn't slip. The NEH bike has the rider sitting much further back, which puts less weight on the front wheel.

The Bobby Hall Handcycle

Rory and I both own Bobby Hall handcycles, and we love them. They are fast, comfortable, and stable. The Bobby Hall bike is our "gold standard" for the Morph for low rider seat position, seat height, seat layout and  pedal placement. That's me with running my dog Jake using the Bobby Hall in the photos-ops above. But the truth is, I mainly use the NEH handcycle. The Bobby Halls are fast, but they are very hard to maneuver and hard to get into because they are so low. For example, the Hall handcycle has difficulty making a U-turn in a normal suburban street. The NEH handcycle can turn in its own 75" length. The low 13" seat height of the Bobby Hall is great for speed, but very hard to get in and out of from a wheelchair.

The Morph will address all of this. You get in and out an any height that's comfortable. You morph down for speed, and then up (and even way up) when you need maneuverability, or want to go inside, or talk to people you meet.
Here is the side view of the Bobby Hall. Note how low the seat is, and how much it tilts back. The dashed line shows the extension of the head tube, and you can see that there is about 4" of trail.
Here's Rory on the Morph II in Newburyport, MA in June, 2007, posing for a photo.

Here we see a side view comparison of the Bobby Hall with the Morph II in low rider mode. I believe this drawing shows the Morph so it matches the Bobby Hall seat tilt, which means it hasn't morphed all the way down (because the extended front struts ahead of the seat -- hidden by Rory's legs). It turns out that the extra height is a problem and make the bike a bit unstable in low-rider mode during high speed turns.

The Morph in high rider mode gets lots of attention. It's really great fun.
This shows rather dramatically how much higher Rory is in high rider mode on the Morph.
We don't have a Bobby Hall vs High Rider side view. This one is the NEH Handcycle (Blue) vs the Morph in High rider mode.

Powerpoint Animations Exploring a Morphing Joint at the Knee in a Morphing Handcycle 2-4-08

This presentation from over a year ago looks at how we might have a morphing joint at or near the knee in a morphing handcycle. The nice thing about this is that you can bend the joint and have the foot stay in the same location in the footrest. Meanwhile, the wheelbase can be reduced, and you can move the pedals further away from the rider, making it easy to get in and out of the bike. This same joint might be used as a coupler, allowing removal of the front end so you can put the bike in the trunk of a car.
 
Given that John Baron and I had a recent discussion about the forward morphing joint on Morph II, I thought it would be good to post this exploration from over a year ago and see where it takes us.

What a Difference a Tab Makes: Repairing our Morph II "Hubble" Without Zero Gravity 4-7-08

 

Remember when they launched the Hubble Space Telescope and soon needed to correct the optics? New lenses, some as small as a nickel, did the trick, and the giant telescope began working flawlessly.

Well, soon after we started riding Morph II, we realized we had a problem also. The bike just didn't turn well in low rider mode. It just didn't want to turn. It wanted to go straight. Had a mind like a camel. It turned out that the problem was too much trail in the steering geometry.

Check out this video. You'll see how it has 8" of trail, and how we plan to get it down to two inches.

How to do it? A tab was designed by Graham Butler, who designed the original Morph II frame. Using Solidworks from his new location in New Mexico, he figured out that a 2" tab of metal between two attach points would drop the front fork by a couple inches and fix the trail problem. So, with this drawing from Graham, on April 7, 2008 I set out on Morph Mission STS-61 from Boston to Derry, NH to work with George Reynolds to carry out the modification.

 

This is the drawing Graham sent.

 

Morph II before modification.

 

 Almost 8" of trail. Very bad.

 

The tab we're adding will actually reduce trail in two ways. One is that it will change the head tube angle by dropping the front fork. We similate this by raising the rear frame and seeing what happens to the trail.

 

Raising the rear frame drops the trail by almost 2 inches. This is only the effect of the head tube angle change.

 

The two front forks join without the tab originally. We make use of this joint to add the tab.

 

Here, the tab is inserted, but not at its final angle. As George searched for suitable material, all he had in the right size was titanium. But it did seem fitting that the small corrective piece for our "Hubble" mission would a high tech material like titanium. (By the way, if you follow the Hubble link above, it turns out that in order to replace that nickle-sized optic, they replaced an entire subsystem that is the size of a telephone booth. Our mission, by contrast, was much simpler, and cheaper, and shows how much more efficient private enterprise is compared to government programs. :-)

 

Here is the finished modification.

 

And now our trail is about 2", just where we want it! And the vehicle rides like a dream, and turns beautifully.

 

Here, a photo taken one year later, on April 24 2009, shows Morph II in action, with the tab performing its work.

 

Rory McCarthy's big smile on April 24, 2009  is due to his first test ride on Morph III, which is made of aluminum and cuts a whopping 18 pounds off the weight of the vehicle, now 40 pounds. We made a bunch of changes to its geometry in the shop at the end of the process, and guess what? We have a problem with trail. This time, the trail is too low. Actually, its negative in both low rider and high rider.

STS-125 is in the planning stages now. This time, we plan to pull the front wheel back (shorten the fork), and also raise the lower fork to increase trail and match the great geometry of the modified Morph II.

With the Hubble now repaired for the last time by Shuttle Mission STS-125 we expect complete our STS-125 mission in the next few weeks. STS-125 cost about $1,000,000,000. We expect our mission to cost about $650, a savings of $999,999,350. 

Solidworks "As-Built" Models of Morph II - You Can View These In 3D Using Free Viewer

While we have the original CAD Model of the Morph II design, many things have changed on the machine as it went from CAD to metal. Some changes were made for proper clearances, and later a change was made to drop the front fork and reduce trail. (An added tab that worked like a charm.)

As we compare our work on Morph II and Morph III, we've been finding that very small changes make for big differences in geometry, riding performance, and comfort. With that in mind, our Alan Ball, our Industrial Designer has begun creating "as-built" models by measuring the actual device and then modeling it in Solidworks, and then comparing predicted and actual dimensions and angles.

The first of these models shows Morph II in simplified form. No seat, no pedals (yet). As we proceed with "Next Morph", we'll use these as-built models to make sure we keep what's good in each of our two on-the-road prototypes as we design the next machine.

This post lets you download an e-Drawings version of the Solidworks model, and look for yourself. Perhaps later we'll also post the actual Solidworks model so you can make it morph for yourself (Here we offer 5 models in different morphing postitions)

The screen shot above shows the Morph II in low rider mode, but with the angle adjustment strut forcing the front of the seat up, so it tilts the seat back.




This three-image sequence shows the Morph II geometry exactly as the prototype is built. All three Solidworks models are available below.


Click here: http://www.edrawingsviewer.com/ to download the viewer for Mac or PC. You'll need it to see the files below

Morph II As-Built Solidworks e-Drawings Files

Morph II in Low Rider Mode
Click the file above to open in 3D using Solidworks e-Drawings free viewer. It's very cool and useful. You can turn elements on and off, and you can explode the parts and move them around.

Morph II in "Mid" Rider Mode

Morph II in High Rider Mode

Morph II in High Rider Mode with seat strut collapsed

Morph II in Low Rider Mode with seat strut collapses







This 5-image sequence adds the collapsed struts at the beginning and the end so you can see what that does. You can see that in High Rider Mode, with the struts collapsed, the seat is tilted too far forward.

Some Cool Things You Can Do With Solidworks e-Drawings Viewer

There are some very useful tools within this viewer. Check it out:

Use the green "Next" button, and e-Drawings Viewer will animate between standard views.








Select components, make them transparent or hide them.

Comparing the Morph II to the Bobby Hall Handcycle (Especially Seat Height and Back Angle)

This series of photos compares the Morph II in low rider with Bill Warner's Bobby Hall handcycle. In this first picture, you can see that the Morph II seat (in the back) is quite a bit higher than the Bobby Hall. This is significant in that the bike is less stable around turns. But also note that that the seat angle adjustment is not all the way down. When that is changed, the Morph II more closely (but not completely) matches the Bobby Hall handcycle. The geometry of the Bobby Hall was used as the "gold standard" for the low rider mode. But it turned out to be harder than we thought to match it exactly.

Same setup from the other side. That's me in photo position.

Here, John Baron is releasing the collar and removing the pins so the two struts will compress and will allow the Morph II to get to its lowest height. These struts and the forward hinge below the seat are part of the seat angle adjustment system that was part of Morph II. However, it turned out that these struts were under huge pressure, and riding shocks created even more force. This caused the locking pins to tear into the metal on the struts. Thus the collars had to be permanently locked. In this photo, John is releasing those locking collars.

Now we've lowered the struts in the front, and the Morph II seat is closer to that of the Bobby Hall. The Bobby Hall uses 26" wheels on front and back. The Morph II uses 700c (about 27") wheels on the rear, and 16" on the front.

Note the difference in the seat back angle. This is very significant. The Morph II in low rider mode isn't comfortable due to the very vertical seat back angle.

This closeup shows the seat angle differences. The camera used its flash, and you see the various reflective materials shining back.

This photo, from the other side (you can see me in the background) shows the dual struts in their compressed state.

Front angle of the two handcycles. Note that the Bobby Hall has 15 degrees of camber on the rear wheels. Camber isn't possible on the Morph because the axel rotates and the camber would be unusable only at one position.

Higher angle front view.

Even higher front view.

Note the difference in rear track width. The Morph looks much wider, but its not that big a difference when you measure at the ground. Note that the camber on the Bobby Hall is very hard on tires, and it seems to reduce rolling efficiency. Rory has changed his Bobby Hall to 9 degrees of camber.

Higher angle rear view.
 
At this point we have two handcycles on the road. Morph II, shown here, is made of steel and weighs 58 pounds. Morph III is made of aluminum and comes in at about 40 pounds. Morph II's geometry is better, and it positions the front wheel and pedals better. It turns beautifully in high rider mode, and in low rider mode. But the seat is uncomfortable and the seat back too steep in low rider mode. The seat angle adjustment system has problems and generally needs to be locked on one place. The result is comfort in high rider, and good performance in high rider, but mediocre comfort in low rider and the too high seating position that you see above.
 
Morph III (not shown here) by contrast has some geometry problems that we hope to fix. It has negative trail in upper and lower modes (not good). The seat angle adjustment is different, but has been problematic to use, and it too is fixed in one position. Ah, seat angle adjustment. We are 0 for 2. On the next morph, we are looking at an automatic mechanism that will correct for seat tilt as you morph.
 
But Morph III's riding position in low rider is much better. It is low to the ground, and more stable. Rory rode it 110 miles (!!) in two days at the World T.E.A.M Sports Face of America Ride with soldiers riding from Washington DC to Gettysburgh, PA this April.

The Morphing Handcycle in Action: Rory Morphs for Lydia (Age 3)

This is our favorite video of the Morph in action -- a classic!

Newburyport, MA  July 16, 2007

Rory and I did an early test ride of Morph II in Newburyport, MA. We parked in the public lot next to the library. As we were packing up to leave after the ride, this mother and daughter came by and were interested in the Morph. So I started shooting video and we did a little demonstration for Lydia, who’s three. We don’t know the Mom’s name. But thanks to both of you!

Morph II vs Morph III - Side View Orthographic Photos; Rear Wheel in Same Postion

This is Rory in high rider mode on Morph II. Notice that his seat back is almost exactly in the center of the rear wheel.

Rear wheel in exactly the same position. Morph III, stopped part way down.

Morph III in low rider.

Morph II in low rider. Note how much higher it is.

This sequence shows the comparison between both bikes in upright mode.

This sequence starts with Morph III and goes to Morph II. You can see how much higher the Morph II is.

April 14, 2009 Morph II and Morph III Measurements at Baron Engineering

Morph III in high rider mode. Note significant negative trail.
Morph III high rider trail measurement: 3.5"  That's way too much. The result of this will be that it's hard to turn tightly.
This photo, taken February 5th, showed the same problem on Morph III before its first round of big modifications. We made some  (see post The Morph III Gets Chopped, But That's a Good Thing)
From February 5: With the new main tube taped in place, and with the head tube angle set by adjusting the old seat angle adjustment, we took some quick measurements.
Trail looks to be almost zero.
This closeup of the "chopped" Morph III shows just what we want: Almost no trail in high rider mode. But after that modifications were completed, things changed.
Morph III in partial low rider mode. Note wooden block stopping morph to bottoming. This is a bad thing. It doesn't let us get down as low as we want. But we were having trouble getting the morphing to work, because the 4-bar linkage actually goes over center beyond this point, and that means you can't morph up by pulling the wheels closer to you.
About an inch and a half of negative trail in partial low rider. Also not good.
Wooden block removed. Morph all the way down. (note that the gas springs are removed for making these measurements.)
Even this small amount of morphing down has reduced the trail.
In full low rider mode, trail is about negative 1 inch.
Rear of seat bar is 13 inches.
Front of seat bar is 17". Seat is tilted up. In morphed up position, seat becomes level.
Low rider head tube angle measurement.
Low rider head tube anle of 28.6 degrees looks like its too low. We'll see when we measure Morph II, which seems to have the optimal angles.
With block in place.
Head tube angle with block in place is 32.4 degrees.
Wheelbase measurement with block in place.
Morph III wheelbase is 60 inches.
This is an inch shorter than the CAD design before modifications.
Seat base to pedal center.
Seat base to pedal center - 23 inches.
Wheelbase in partial high rider.
Wheelbase is 46.5". That's long. Much more than Morph II.
Head tube angle in partial high rider is 50 degrees.
Morph III overall height in high rider: 46"
Morph isn't fully collapsed.
Now it is. Note: compare the modified frame shown here with the original frame in the photos from this post: The Morph III Gets Chopped, But That's a Good Thing. We eliminated the forward bushing that was used to allow the rear frame to tilt as a way to achieve seat angle compensation when you morph. We found that that original mechanism was unstable...when you released the pins in the dual support tubes of Morph II, the seat angle would collapse to the lower position, so in actual use we never did change the seat angle during morphing. Now with this modification of Morph III, we added a seat tilt adjustment directly. But the seat back, which is separate, has no adjustment, so the seat design remains in flux. This was just a way to get on the road and get testing.

Also note that we removed the bend in the bottom arm of the morphing frame. Perhaps this is why the modified bike doesn't morph as far back as the original Morph III.
This cuts about 2" off the wheelbase. Very significant. I believe we can use the over-the-center approach to allow the Morph to get very short in high rider mode. Just need to figure out how to GET OUT of the over-the-center position. A spring? A lever?
Compare the actual rear frame with the original CAD. Hmmm. Something significant changed along the way. See the red axel tube on the CAD? It is at about a 60 degree angle to vertical. The actual Morph III has it almost vertical. Also note that the CAD design of Morph III (From Graham Butler) shows a tight 39.4" wheelbase. The actual Morph came in at about five inches more than that. Hmmm again. That's a lot!
Front end steering interference with legs (imagine they are there.
Wheel at 90 degrees.
Morph II seat height.
Morph II seat height is 16.75 inches. Almost four inches higher than Morph III.
Morph II seat height at front is 19"
Seat base to pedal center.
Seat base to pedal center is 25". Two inches more than on Morph III.
Morph II Seat back to pedal center - 23"
Morph II wheelbase.
Morph II wheelbase is about 58"
This matches the CAD. However, note the 5" trail shown above. That was too high, and we eliminated it by adding a tab to drop the lower fork.
Morph II low rider head tube angle.
Morph II low rider head tube angle is 36.3 degrees. This is higher than the CAD because the rear frame seat angle is not all the way down.
Morph II low rider trail.
Morph II low rider trail is about 1.5" positive. It rides very well
Morph II turning leg clearance: good.
Morph II turning - note that footrests hit the ground before you can turn 90 degrees.
Morph II high rider seat height.
Morph II high rider seat heigh is about 27.5 inches.
Front seat height is 27". Slight downward tilt.
This matches the CAD design. Note that the trail is almost zero.
Morph II high rider head tube angle.
Morph II high rider head tube angle: 52.3 degrees. A bit higher than the CAD, but again the rear seat angle adjustment isn't all the way down, as it is in the CAD drawings.
Morph II high rider trail.
Morph II high rider trail: about .5" negative. (Not bad!)

April 3, 2009: Morph III Meeting at Baron Engineering, Lexington, MA

Alan Ball is on the left, with newest team member, John Baron, on the right. They are standing in front of John's brand new barn that holds his machine shop.
 
John is a mechanical engineer, an avid cyclist, former racing cyclist, avid mountain biker, former race car designer and builder, and all around excellent mechanical engineer. Plus, he has a fully equipped shop that can do 3-axis CNC machining, aluminum welding, and just about anything else we might need.
 
Alan Ball is an industrial designer, and he and John work together on projects. Alan recruited John to the project, and today is the first meeting.

Rory introduces John to the Morph (s).

Alan's dog checks out Morph II before its high-tech weigh in. It comes to 58 pounds.

Now John Baron is holding Morph III. Weight came in at 40 pounds. Much of the savings was due to clever work by George Reynolds at Morph III's first home in Derry, NH.

Morph III uses clever locking gas springs that are made in Germany. This lets you control the morphing process, and it lets you stop the bike at any convenient height to get on and off. That is really great, since getting on a low handcycle can be quite a challenge for many riders.

These footrests were designed by Geoge Reynolds. They are extremely light, and have a wide range of adjustability.

The black cords are the centering spring to keep the steering upright, especially for times when you must push the bike using the rear wheels. (Or when you are morphing up or down.)

Front end closeup, low rider mode. If you extend the line of the head tube, you'll see that the bike has negative trail. (The extension of the head tube hits the ground behind, rather than ahead of the contact patch.) This negative trail is a problem, and we'll need ot reconfigure the front end eventually. But it will work for now.

Our first meeting to discuss Move with Freedom. 

John Baron has joined the Move With Freedom team, and the gears in his head are already spinning.