Help -Hand controls

[Rentawrench]

I'm looking at putting hand controls in my Mini Sprint,750 cc motorcycle engine.

The driver will be a Motorcross rider that broke his back ,But still has a need for SPEED. Now this Might not be for him to race, just get that Speed out.

While I have the Gas pedal design in my head the brakes are a lil harder.

1st idea was to use a hand brake handle with the master on the lever an plumb the line to a slave cly that will push the real master for the brakes.

2nd idea would be to electriclly push the master.

using the motorcyle grips would give him the feel he was used to.

Ideas ? Pros /cons

Mike

 

[TravisT]

An old friend of mine had a drag car with hand controls. His we're setup so there was a bar on the left of the steering column. That bar moved forward and backward, and was tied to the brake pedal itself with a rod. Then you could either rig the throttle up using a brake lever or even a twist throttle, like on a bike. I believe that is the preferred method of hand controls - at least the ones I've come across.

 

[GirlnAgarage]

Mike, I can't use my left hand. I can ride a motorcycle after modifying the controls to the right. I did a lot of research on the disabled motorcycling sites on the web. Guys and gals are modifying bikes, trikes, quads, side car rigs and vehicles so they can ride/drive with various limbs missing. I'd be glad to offer what I know.

If your friend finds the handle bar setup intuitive, go with it. You don't want to go against the ways he feels comfortable with. The system that is easiest to use and is most comfortable for one guy might not work for another. While this info I'm providing may not be the details you need, it might give you ideas and help in choosing a function for the system he needs.

Question, what controls does he need? Throttle, brake, clutch and gears? What is the setup on brakes? Two systems or one?

Here is the setup I used on my motorcycle. That is brake over clutch. The throttle was left stock. The gear shift on the left foot was stock. The rear brake on the right foot was stock.

While I'm using one hand and two feet, you can switch the foot functions to both handlebars. To shift gears to the hand you can use a push button/piston activated system. To get the foot brake to the top, you can utilized a linked system through the hand brake with a proportioning valve.

Anyway, glad your buddy wants to get out there. It'll be a lot of fun.

 

[JamieK]

A simple " push for brake/pull for gas " setup wuld be pretty simple to fabricate at home.

 

[demographic]

The NABD page might be of some use to you.
That's National Association for Bikers with a Disability and its UK based. They do have an interesting section regarding ADAPTIONS though.

 

[GirlnAgarage]

The NABD page might be of some use to you.
That's National Association for Bikers with a Disability and its UK based. They do have an interesting section regarding ADAPTIONS though.

^^ That's one of the forums I was talking about.

 

[crewchief888]

not sure if this will help,
evan evans (walker evans's son) races short course pro2 off road truck.
tha last time i got a look at his controls there was a motorcycle twist grip throttle, on a lever that was connected to the brakes, pushing the lever fwd actuated the brakes.
i never got a look at the shifter, (manual valve body automatic) but i assumed there was some type of paddle shifter on the steering wheel.

 

[demographic]

There's a lad local to me who rides his motocross bike and even manages jumps after he lost the use of both legs in a motocross accident.
Really nice lad from a good family.

Bit of a write up in the local paper HERE for anyone that's interested.

This is a photo of him riding his bike after he was paralysed in both legs so he's none too shabby.

Some of the footage in his Myspace page is inspirational.