A few years ago, I've bought a second hand Sinclair C5. Although I doubt the second hand part and suspect it had multiple owners considering the it had a lot of issues. A lot of parts were missing. For instance, the entire electronics system, so, no battery, no motor controller, no motor, no console, no wiring. It all was completel remopved from the vehicle. The only things "electrical" that were left were the front and rear light, but even those were in bad condition and non functional.
This was perfect! As it gave me all the options to make the C5 just the way I like it. I never really liked the brushed DC motor with a toothed belt system, although it seems to work, it has it's issues according to some people on the internet. So I googled for many hours and found myself a cheap but decently looking brushless DC motor including motor controller. It was advertised as a 500W motor, but since I only require 250W, that is more than I'll need. Meaning that I can use the motor below the specified ratings, meaning that it will last for many many years.
THe console was missing, so I needed a new console, after all, I needed a display to indicate battery status and some knobs and buttons for controlling the lights and such. Ohh.. a radio would be nice, MP3 player perhaps, lot's of 7-segments displays for the proper 80's look. And oh... to top it all of, speech. So when I press a button, the C5 will talk to me, confirming I pressed the button. Why... well why no, this is an 80's vehicle, it should look and sound like the movies told us. And after all, I grew up with Airwolf and Knightrider, so speaking wvehicles with lot's of flashy lights is a bit of what I like to see.
The image below is late at night, with the interior lighting enabled (so that you can see your own feet when paddling late at night).
The headlight and floodlights/foglights are all pretty bright. This may seem like overkill, but when riding this close to the ground, you really need all the light you can get in order to see those nasty potholes you defenitely do not want to run into. Since the C5 is a tricycle without any proper form of suspension, the wheels are directly bolted tho the chassis and everything that is between your back and the road is a one size fit's non slippery plastic seat. So and additional cushion is the first thing you'll install after riding this thing. Keep in mind that these light are adjusted to the proper angle so that the DO NOT blind the other traffic. But it is suggested to disable the floodlights/foglights whenever other traffic is encountered, just in case.
Sinclair_C5_cupholder.zip
This was perfect! As it gave me all the options to make the C5 just the way I like it. I never really liked the brushed DC motor with a toothed belt system, although it seems to work, it has it's issues according to some people on the internet. So I googled for many hours and found myself a cheap but decently looking brushless DC motor including motor controller. It was advertised as a 500W motor, but since I only require 250W, that is more than I'll need. Meaning that I can use the motor below the specified ratings, meaning that it will last for many many years.
THe console was missing, so I needed a new console, after all, I needed a display to indicate battery status and some knobs and buttons for controlling the lights and such. Ohh.. a radio would be nice, MP3 player perhaps, lot's of 7-segments displays for the proper 80's look. And oh... to top it all of, speech. So when I press a button, the C5 will talk to me, confirming I pressed the button. Why... well why no, this is an 80's vehicle, it should look and sound like the movies told us. And after all, I grew up with Airwolf and Knightrider, so speaking wvehicles with lot's of flashy lights is a bit of what I like to see.
The image below is late at night, with the interior lighting enabled (so that you can see your own feet when paddling late at night).
The headlight and floodlights/foglights are all pretty bright. This may seem like overkill, but when riding this close to the ground, you really need all the light you can get in order to see those nasty potholes you defenitely do not want to run into. Since the C5 is a tricycle without any proper form of suspension, the wheels are directly bolted tho the chassis and everything that is between your back and the road is a one size fit's non slippery plastic seat. So and additional cushion is the first thing you'll install after riding this thing. Keep in mind that these light are adjusted to the proper angle so that the DO NOT blind the other traffic. But it is suggested to disable the floodlights/foglights whenever other traffic is encountered, just in case.
Cupholder project:
If you go for a ride with your C5, no matter how long or far, you'll eventually need a drink. Because even the tiniest bit of paddling on this thing can be tiring on a hot summer day. So I decided to make a cupholder for it. Now many people before me have done the same I'm sure, but I wanted something of my own design and something that doesn't cause problems when it goes wrong. After all, you do no want your drink to be spilled inside your C5. And since there is no much room inside the C5, it'll mean a conventional cupholder will most likely be somewhere in between your legs, close to the handle bar. Which in my case isn't really an option because of the massive console I've just put in. Therefor the cupholder must be placed somewhere on the outside of the vehicle. Below you'll see it in action, some plastic 3D printed parts, held together by some 3mm threaded rod for strength, after all, it will be bouncing for many miles with halve a kilo of fluid in it, so it needs to be strong and in order to prevent scratches from moving/bouncing/sliding I added 2 suction cups to keep it all in place. The fun thing of this design, is that you can carry up to four cupholder, two on each side of your C5. So this means you no longer need to be thirsty on those long trips.
I made a video about it... sort of.
I also made a video about it, see the link below, the cupholder is at the end of the video (which is a bit on the long side). But hey, there is a lot to tell about the history of this vehicle in many ways, so you'll see that these 20 minutes will fly by and if you think otherwise do feel free to skip all the way to the end.Downloads:
The files for the 3D printed cupholder are in the .zip file below. I made the design using FreeCAD, do with it whatever you like, modify it, make it better, stronger, more versatile.Sinclair_C5_cupholder.zip