The Front Wheels Setup

[Grayfox72]

Doug....you are correct, but that is where aftermarket comes into play. Rear wheel needs to be special, same as on a bike.

 

[Brainmatter]

SMC has the capability of being stamped and taken straight to the production line.
Why would EM require the parts to be painted on the budget they are trying to manufacture with? JMO

I would like to read where you saw the parts are going to be painted.

The prototypes are painted for sure. If you look at the build pictures you can see that the original color of the SMC panels is gray. That makes sense: any SMC car I've ever worked on has had a gray colored panel as the natural color. Any colors added to an SMC tend to be muted, with grain lines and fibers still visible.
You can see in the pics that they did quite a bit of finishing on that body before paint as well.

If using a true SMC panel you can't get very good color by impregnating it into the material because of the colors already inherent in the stuff used to make the SMC. What you are probably talking about is an in-mold coating, where the piece is in layman's terms 'painted' in the mold. It is still a top-coat, but done at the time the part is molded. It can be repaired the same as a painted vehicle.

Dirtbikes and bikes like Buells etc use actual plastic body panels. Buell plastics look great and are super rigid, but cannot be repaired easily or inexpensively. Well, they can, but not well. SMC either painted or in-mold coated is probably the best route for cost and serviceability IMO. Of course all this has probably changed and there is some other super duper new process, but that usually equals $$$$. So I'm guessing tried and true will rule the day.

I have no idea how Elio intends on doing it. Just throwing out some insights on current processes.

 

[SSpiffy]

SMC has the capability of being stamped and taken straight to the production line.
Why would EM require the parts to be painted on the budget they are trying to manufacture with? JMO

I would like to read where you saw the parts are going to be painted.

Got it from the Elio folks when the P3 was in Seattle. Bare SMC is fine for a shipping container, but it's not possible to get a good surface finish. They will use regular automobile paint on it.

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

Tricycle arrangements with one wheel in the front are inherently unstable in corners, tending to want to continue in a straight line as the mass of the car is outside the contact patch during cornering. You will see lots of caster in their suspension setups to try to get traction to overcome this deficiency in design. If you want to see a bad design, look at the Reliant Robin,

perhaps the worst handling car of all times. It would simply roll over during a hard corner. Tricycle arrangements with two wheels in front have the same capability to deal with weight shift as a four wheel car.

Thank you for posting this. When my mother learned from my father that I was buying the Elio she came over and freaked out about how with only three wheels the Elio would roll over and kill me... so I tweaked her by showing her this video.

 

[3 Card]

There are one or two reasons why I think this vehicle should be titled a Motorcycle and whom ever drives/actually rides it should have a motorcycle endorsement...You will have to be carefull just like on a bike when it comes to road hazards..ie..Pot holes, if you stradle them with the front wheels like we do in cars you could be in a world of DOO-DOO..Think about it, you will miss the hole with the front but the rear wheel will fall right in, damage would be severe..Also how many times do we while driving happen upon a truck tire tread in the road, some we stradle and others we slow up steer around.. Well with the Elio you will have to train yourself to maneuver around every time..I also have a feeling since this is narrow like a motorcycle people will pull out in front of us just like they do when I ride my Harley..Hey folks, you have about a year before taking delivery so put it to good use, study up , take a motorcycle saftey course and GET YOUR MOTORCYCLE LICENSE..You will have to have one to legally operate your Elio anyway..

 

[AltoidBox]

I think that states requiring a MC endorsement will greatly reduce the ownership uptake in those states.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[goofyone]

I think that states requiring a MC endorsement will greatly reduce the ownership uptake in those states.

I do believe you are correct and this why Elio has a dedicated government affairs person working hard to get these laws changed.

I also believe that everyone, regardless of what you drive, should take a motorcycle safety course. Most people would be surprised at the level of awareness it takes to safely operate of motorcycle. We would have many less incidents on the road if everyone would drive with an awareness level approaching what it takes to ride a motorcycle safely.

 

[zelio]

I do believe you are correct and this why Elio has a dedicated government affairs person working hard to get these laws changed.

I also believe that everyone, regardless of what you drive, should take a motorcycle safety course. Most people would be surprised at the level of awareness it takes to safely operate of motorcycle. We would have many less incidents on the road if everyone would drive with an awareness level approaching what it takes to ride a motorcycle safely.

The same can be said for the way people cut in front of a school bus and then promptly make a right turn slowly. They don't seem to realize a large vehicle like a school bus or truck can not stop on a dime. The states would do well to teach people about what to expect from all types of vehicles from motorcycles or even bicycles to semis. I suspect the school bus driving I did prepared me better for driving the Elio than any car driving information. The most important thing is to always be aware of every vehicle near you and to drive defensively. In other words make safety as important as the laws rather than having us memorize laws and then spew them back on an exam. :-) Z

 

[Jeff Miller]

I do believe you are correct and this why Elio has a dedicated government affairs person working hard to get these laws changed.

I also believe that everyone, regardless of what you drive, should take a motorcycle safety course. Most people would be surprised at the level of awareness it takes to safely operate of motorcycle. We would have many less incidents on the road if everyone would drive with an awareness level approaching what it takes to ride a motorcycle safely.

There are also safety courses for cars as well but these are usually targeted at senior drivers.

Everybody that pilots anything down the road really should take safety classes on a regular basis if for no other reason that re-taking them helps you to recognize the bad habits we all drop into.

 

[ST13Fred]

We need to get off this motorcycle endorsement kick for Elio. The only thing that makes him not a car is lack of the 4th wheel. After that, everything about him is CAR and NOTHING about him is motorcycle.
Being classified as a 'motorcycle' gives him the huge advantage of not being under the high cost of emissions requirements. Requiring a helmet would be the death of Elio.

Frontal area is much bigger than a bike and actually comparable to a car.