"Bertie the Bunyip" wrote in message
.. .
"Ken Finney" wrote in
:

My first dumb question for the day:

With all the renewed Cub interest due to LSA, I haven't see any
available with tricycle gear. Have I just missed them, or is there a
fundamental reason (e.g. low thrust line would make propeller too
small) why no one is making them?

P.S. If purists want to eviscerate me for using "Cub" and "tricycle"
in the same sentence, I'll consider myself eviscerated!



There was a tri gear conversion for the cub back in the fifties. I've only
ever seen one, at OSH a long time ago. It had no nosewheel steering, the
nosewheel castored using bungees as a centering device, I don't remember
who did the conversion, but the noswheel conversion for the Twin Beech was
the same, so it might have been Tradewinds or Volpar who did it. I'm sure
there's one or two of these flying around somewhere.
It was unpopular for obvious reasons, though.
Nowadays, I can't see a reason for doing one. There are vastly superior
tri
gear airplanes out there that'd probably be cheaper than a cub for those
who prefer all the mod cons. Me, I'd take the cub.

there were a couple of tri gear Champs, one of which had the third wheel
just aft of the rear seater's butt! I never saw the point of that. you
still had a taildragger, but one with less tailwheel authority than the
original.


Thanks for the informative reply. For "heritage Cubs", and can see why
tricycle gear was really rare. For new "Cubs", I can also see (if from an
insurance standpoint, if nothing else) why tricycle gear might be a popular
option.