About this project
Bernard Cauquil, a former amateur cyclist and mechanics teacher, is one of the legends of the Sun Trip: he won the 2015 edition. In 2018 he rode with his son on a solar tandem until a broken rear hub stopped them in the steppes of Kazakhstan.
From that experience came the TiltDragonFly, a new machine with a tilting three-wheel chassis. Tilting removes the side loads that broke the hub, and it lets the rider lean into curves like on a bike. The drivetrain is 100% electric and chainless: the pedals drive a generator, which means fewer moving parts and a steadier effort for the rider.
Three 170 Wp panels (510 Wp in total) feed two 48 V, 11 Ah batteries and a NineContinent RH212 hub motor. Bernard documents his machines on sunrider.fr.
Technical data
| Builder | Bernard Cauquil (France), Team AKTID |
|---|---|
| Layout | Tilting three-wheeler, chainless series-hybrid drive |
| Motor | NineContinent RH212 |
| Pedals | Drive a generator (no chain) |
| Solar | 3 × 170 Wp = 510 Wp |
| Battery | 2 × 48 V 11 Ah Li-Mn |
| Weight | ~70 kg |
| Sun Trip | Winner 2015; 2018, France 2020, 2021 |
Links
- Website: www.sunrider.fr/ecosunride
- X / Twitter: twitter.com/sunrider64
- Website: www.aktid.fr
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/Ecosunriders
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/ecosunriders
Sources
Photos and details come from the rider’s profile on The Sun Trip website.