Re: CVT sources (was Re: )

[Daniel White <danwhite@means.net>]

I think Honda has made a motorcycle some years back that
used a fully automatic transmission "HondaMatic" I believe
it was a type of CVT as there were no gears to change
, the final drive ratio changed as speed and load dictate

Dan White E.V.less Rookie

PETER VANDERWAL wrote:
> 
> > Does anyone know if any motorcycles or scooters were ever built with CVT
> > drivetrains? I'm working on the design of an Electrathon-size chassis for
> a
> > mobile kinetic sculpture to be electrically driven, and I'd like to use a
> > manually-shifted CVT to give it more flexibility of range and power. I
> > suppose the sort of drive used in a variable speed bandsaw would be beefy
> > enough -- maybe. Thoughts?
> >
> 
> Sorry, computer problems have kept me off the list for the last week or I
> would have responded sooner.
> 
> In case you are still looking for a manually controlled CVT, I'd suggest you
> try looking at garden tractors and riding lawnmowers.  My mom has a large
> riding mower with a manually controlled CVT, basically it's just a belt
> drive with two variable diameter pulleys.   A lever on the side has 8 or 9
> notches and controls the size of the drive pulley, the driven pulley is
> spring loaded and automatically adjusts.
> 
> The "Clutch" in just a spring loaded idler pulley, pushing down on it
> releases tension on the belt.  When you let up on the clutch it starts to
> press on the belt.  Now the really cool thing is that you can put it in any
> speed (any of the 8-9 notches) and when you release the clutch, it puts
> tension on the belt and the spring loaded driven pulley starts to adjust
> (gets smaller).  This means that the ratio automatically starts high and
> adjusts down low, so the mower takes off slowly and then smoothly speeds up.