Monday, September 29, 2008

Closer View of a Few Parts

Here it is with the pedals and steering.
That's a seat tube that is attached to the piece going into the headset.
This sits high enough to clear even my knees.

I copied the tilting setup that TrikeBuilder used on his DeltaWolf.

I changed out bottom bracket units ...
just trying to simplify my workload at this point.
Besides, this one is cleaner looking ...
(my welds are getting better)

Steering Complete

Once the grandson got off it and went home ...
I managed to finish the steering.
Next up is the work on the gear-train

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Steering Progress

I'm making the Above Seat Steering (ASS or OSS) mechanism. This thing has 2 headsets ... one above the front fork ... the other in front of the seat. They currently are linked by a rod (which I borrowed off my lowracer). When the rear one is turned ... the front one turns simultaneously in the same direction. Monday I'll work on the short riser that connects with the handlebars. I'm also working on a different bottom bracket unit. You have to cut up multiple bicycles to get the parts you need to make one of these ...

Seat Mount

My grandson just had to have this fiberglas seat that I got from S&B Recumbents ... the bottom mount was sawed out of a Direct TV mounting bracket ... I kept a bit of the bend in the rear for rigidity. Welded to the frame ... there is no flex in it ... and it's wide enough to give good support to the seat bottom.

About halfway up the seat back ... look inside the purple rim ... and you'll see the bracket that came with the seat. I just welded it to the frame. The seat is a compromise angle that will meet the needs of the grandkids. Next to work on the steering.

Current Rear Wheel - Belt Drive

I've attached the ring to the spokes and cable-tied the spoke crossings. The cable ties make the wheel more rigid. I need to put a solid axle in there to replace the QR (quick release). Something about the QR being prone to release under the load while you are whizzing down the road. Now, am I going to keep the Disk brake or replace it with a V-brake ???

Grandkid DW Trike - Steering

This handlebar unit may have to be shortened or changed ... a bit too tall at the moment. And I haven't come up with how it will be attached to the lower unit (below) that will be welded to the frame.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Engine-Frame Problems

I got in this nice 2-stroke, single-cyclinder motor from Bob at BlueCollarBikes. The first problem I noticed was that the diameter of the front tube was too large ... so the bolts wouldn't slip around it and there would be problems bolting the engine to the front tube.

The seat tube was okay to bolt the rear of the engine to ... but it doesn't look like I will be able to attach the carburetor to the engine (see that little tube touching the top bar? That's where the carb attaches.) ... just not enough room inside the frame.

There is this old Peugeot sitting around ... and the frame tubes are the right diameters ... and the engine will fit inside the frame (complete with carburetor) ... but for some reason the pedals don't have enough spread between them (which means they will hit the case ...) and not go all the way around. I've got emails out (to motor bike aficionados) looking for solutions to these problems. Maybe I'll have to go to the flea-market and buy an old single-speed bike ...

Friday, September 12, 2008

Parts Bike

At WalMart yesterday (big box store) ... I found this bicycle on sale. It's a Mongoose Paver ... aluminum frame, 3-piece crank, 7-speed rear, 700cc wheels ... It is so much cheaper to buy these complete bicycles than to buy separate parts to build one. So, the questions is, am I going to tear this one into pieces for other projects ... or keep it in one piece and add a motor to it???

This reminds me of those big black bicycles they have in Denmark.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Wife's New Trike

Custom made by Jack at S&B Recumbents
My wife's bikes or trikes have to be blue!
And she wanted something that sat higher off the ground
than a DeltaWolf trike ... so she got the
Venice Beach Trike.

Front end view
"Sun Bicycles" seat

close-up of the king-pin ...
showing the grease fitting.
It has 14 mm axles on the front wheels ...
which carry the most weight.

Steering connector from the handlebars.