Roger Ford wrote in message <01bed849$ec836980 <some interesting bits snipped You also need a low centre of gravity. So my utlimate buggy is built round  a carbon fibre tub filled with batteries.  The driver sits on top of the tub.  The tub is, of course, painted like Jimmy Clark's Lotus 25. <even more interesting bits snipped To add even more fun to your buggy, you could fit it with radio control and enter it in Robot Wars - I can see it now Captain Deltic thrashes Sergeant Bash and gives Sir Killalot a severe beating! I thought of perhaps using a tilt jack to power a weapon. Seeing as the things can lift half a railway carriage... might even have a chance against the Sentinel...

< This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it <huge snip although you get lots of oldies whizzing round the attached shopping mall in 'Shopmobility' common user electric buggies. Maybe one day you'll need a 'Shopmobility' common user electric buggy too, and you may then hold a different view about their use and their users. Oh Tony, what have you unleashed! One of my favorite Jan & Dean songs is 'The little old lady from Pasadena'. and while the little old ladies of WGC don't have superstock Dodges in their garages they have some very pokey electric buggies which they drive with verve and enthusiasm. So with anno domini creeping on Captain Deltic has been looking ahead to when/if he needs one.  And now he has a chance to write about it. It seems to me that the basis is max battery power.  A chum has an electric Hillman Imp with the engine compartment and boot full of aircraft batteries. You also need a low centre of gravity. So my utlimate buggy is built round  a carbon fibre tub filled with batteries.  The driver sits on top of the tub.  The tub is, of course, painted like Jimmy Clark's Lotus 25. I'm not sure whether to go for three or four wheels.  Three is good for turning circle, four is more stable.  Could be embarrassing to roll at the end of an aisle, so let's say four.  Certainly two wheels at the back, running soft rubber slicks.  To get maximum torque each wheel has its own electric motor. Current thinking is DC motor with chopper control so you can have regen braking.  I'm not so much worried about long  range, but this mutha  is going to be able to outdrag anything in the mall or on the pavement and that means lots of amps. Supplementary hydraulic brakes are simply discs on the back of the motor drive shafts a la Class 91. Suspension is wishbones all round.  Steering (wheel or handle bar depending on arthritis) is one turn lock to lock - Kart _style_.  Fairly soft springing with good damping because the key is to keep that rubber on the ground (C Chapman) Seat is a moulded pan, also kart _style_, which swivels sideways for entry and exit.  Sadly, I'll probably be too stiff to recline JC _style_ With the batteries in the tub there is plenty of room for shopping in a storage box  behind the seat. But most of the time will be spent cruising WGC shopping centre pulling up alongside fellow oldies and giving them mean looks.   Headline from Welwyn Times 2011 'Editor of Sporting Buggy magazine banned from mall' Timed at 22mph say police Totally off topic and it's all Polson's fault <g Capt D.   I would suggest that you look into the new breed of carbon-fibre batteries. They are available at reasoable proces, and the manufacturers claim that they perform better than the standard lead-acid traction battery. We just might try some in my wife's shopping scooter!! One small point, buggies/scooters are legally limited to 8 mph, so you had better gear your little beast as a dragster. Also, one turn lock to lock is FAR too slow, handle bar control much better. (_base_d on many miles in a fondly remembered Messerschmitt KR 200, & also on various electric scooters.) Enjoy the fantasy, but hope & pray that you'll never actually need the beast, being unable to walk is a  real bummer! P.S. I ought to reply to your previous post re. disabled facilities, I,ve got a few horror stories which possibly deserve an airing. Best Wishes, David C.

No, the disabled area and the bike area are separated by the main seating area with 2+2 seating. You won't get from A to B in a wheelchair. Sure this arrangement allows to take more wheelchairs, but these persons won't be able to reach the toilet. In describing the view out of the front I did not mean to imply that the bike space and the wheelchair space were one and the same. The wheelchair space is part of the seating area. However I think from his previous postings that the ghost of 15916 is a big fan of the forward view we used to get on DMUs which is I mentioned it!

In article <01bed845$dda9fa40$LocalHost@default, Roger Ford < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it writes When I start my pressure group COP (Cyclists Off Pavements) our minimum demand will be confiscation of any bike involved in an accident with a pedestrian on a pavement.  A bit extreme, but extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice (B. Goldwater) As a cyclist, I'm all in favour of that, but only if it's coupled with confiscation of any motor vehicle involved in an accident with a cyclist in a cycle lane, or with a pedestrian on a pedestrian crossing. Having been forced ro learn the highway code in some depth as a schoolboy am I not correct in recalling that once a pedestrian has both feet on a pedestrian crossing (certainly a zebra crossing) they have right of way, even if a car were approaching at 60mph? I think there was a lesson that covered the fact that bikes ridden across zebra crossings had no right of way, but pushed across did, and that mothers who stood on the pavement and lowered the front two wheels of a pram onto a zebra crossing still had no right of way until their feet were on it, thus exposing jnr. to the oncoming traffic? Off thread, but amazing that I can remember something from junior school at all! Tony

In article <01bed845$dda9fa40$LocalHost@default, Roger Ford < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it writes When I start my pressure group COP (Cyclists Off Pavements) our minimum demand will be confiscation of any bike involved in an accident with a pedestrian on a pavement.  A bit extreme, but extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice (B. Goldwater)   As a cyclist, I'm all in favour of that, but only if it's coupled with confiscation of any motor vehicle involved in an accident with a cyclist in a cycle lane, or with a pedestrian on a pedestrian crossing. As a motorist and pedestrian, I'd advocate confiscation of cycles under the folowing conditions:- Cycles found chained to all manner of street furniture, thereby causing an obstruction to anyone daft enough to want to use the pavement. Cyclists riding 2, 3 or even 4 abreast - is there something in the Highway Code that permits this if you are wearing a brightly coloured jersey and lycra shorts? Cyclists who think traffic lights are optional if they are making a left turn............along with those who think temporary traffic control at roadworks is also optional, no matter what. Cyclists who think that they have a God given right to be at the front of any queue - no matter how many wing mirrors are banged in the process. Cyclists who use a steadying hand on vehicles whilst waiting in queues.... usually wearing the above mentioned garish clothes, feet encased in _meta_l traps and using the other hand to swig from a water bottle. Cyclists who sit level with me when they are going straight ahead and I'm waiting (and indicating) to turn left...........forcing me to wait for them. Front and rear lights?? - what are they?! Neale SCRAP (Some Cyclists Really Are Pillocks)

So with anno domini creeping on Captain Deltic has been looking ahead to when/if he needs one.  And now he has a chance to write about it. It seems to me that the basis is max battery power.  A chum has an electric Hillman Imp with the engine compartment and boot full of aircraft batteries. <SNIP ROFLMBO!! Brilliant!! Neale