Mesh Seat & Bell Flag

I did another 12-miler.  That original design seat just isn't comfortable enough for me to ride long mileage on it.  So I decided to pull a mesh seat off another one of my recumbent bikes.

Here it is with mesh seat and Bell flag ...

A closer view of the seat.  Need to make a newer mesh cover for it.  I need to make those EMT bars that are wider horizontally and then come up vertically instead of at a slant.  That's so I can get a little tighter turning radius.

I welded some tabs on and bolted the seat to them where the rear fork meets the main frame.

Here's the bracket I made to attach the bottom of the seat to the frame main tube.

Heel Strike, Warrior Flag4

The front portion of my main frame tube was parallel to the ground.  From the top of the tube to the ground was 12".  I found that I was have periodic heel strikes with my size 10 (EU 43) clipless sandals.  I decided to cut from the bottom up the joint where the two tubes are spliced together ... leaving the top weld in place.  The hacksaw removed some metal, then I lifted up the tube so the bottom opening was about 3/16" wide.  That isn't very much, but it resulted in about a 1-1/2" rise to the top of the front tube.  I then brace this with some metal chips, and welded it all back together.  This has pretty much eliminated heel strike.  Other than a short, high, bump (speed bumps).


This is that seam where I cut up from the bottom.

Here you can see that the front section of the main tube rises slightly.

 

The tip of the flag pole is in the same plane as the left front wheel.  Yes, I pulled the support brace in another 7/8".

Axle Plates for any Cart or Sulky Plan

Here's some more detail on the axle plates used on the Freighter or Dog Sulky ...

 This shows the type of electrical box covers to buy ... the top right one.

 Drill then hacksaw the slot

 Forming them to the tubing so you can weld or bolt them ...

Using a straight edge to line them up before welding or marking to drill

Dog Sulky

I noticed that someone was asking about building a sulky to be pulled by a dog.  Plans for such a sulky were in a 1983 book titled "The Cart Book With Plans and Projects" by William L. Sullivan.  This book is out of print.  I haven't searched lately to see if it is obtainable.

Here's probably enough information to be able to construct one on your own.

 The parts list is in the first photo ...

 Look at the electrical box cover plates used to hold the axles - bolted or welded on ...

 Here are the markings to use with a pipe bender

 These are the pieces for making the seat

 The harness is a critical component - adjust according to the dog

That's it.  I didn't want to post every page of the entire chapter ... figured this was enough

Warrior Flag3

Today I got a couple of photos of the flag in action ... as my neighbor rode it up and down the street.  I'm still amazed that I can turn a 360˚ circle inside of the 16 feet width of the narrow road out front.

Here we are seeing the flag from the front as Dan rides towards me.

Here is Dan riding away from me.  The flag position looks pretty good to me ... out there, but not obtrusive enough to warrant a citation.

Warrior Flag 2

Based on advice in the AtomicZombie forum, I shortened my bracket and pulled the flag in closer to the body of the trike.  From the front of the trike, you can see that the flag tip is the width of the trike when making a left turn.  I also had to tighten up the left axle bolt, and the under-seat steering unit.  Less slop in my steering and front end now.  Don and I rode our trikes together yesterday on a short 2 mile circuit.  Racing downhill back towards the shop was a lot of fun!

This is looking straight down the center of the trike (no rear wheel sticking out to either side).

Side-by-side rear photos for comparison.  Do a vertical line up from the left front tire and look at the difference in the amount of pole visible before it hits the base of the flag.  I definitely brought it in.  But still feel comfortable with the "protection" that it affords.

Warrior Flag

I've been test riding.  As a result, I have made some minor modifications.  1) You will notice that the angle of the upper portion of the seat tube has been changed to better mount a rack or rear engine.  2) The brake levers have been rotated more to the rear of the bars.  Just more comfortable for braking and keeping my hands out of the wheels.  3) I needed a flag so that cars and trucks will pay attention to me and not attempt to crowd me when they pass.

Side view showing the flag.  My flag pole was missing a flag, and since no one will see much of the vest from the rear if I was wearing it ... I decided to tape it to the pole and use it as a flag.

You'll notice that the flag pole bottom bracket attaches to the idler pulley bolt at the base.  And I made a bracket that attaches to the seat bolt at the top of the seat.  It has a 2-1/2" length of 1/2" tubing that the pole passes through.  That controls the angle of the flag and secures it in a fairly rigid position.

From the rear, you'll notice that the flag pole extends a foot or more to the side of my left front tire.  I have found from experience that this tends to keep cars and trucks from crowding you on the roadway as they go past.  Due to there being no nifty bicycle trails around here ... I ride a lot of roads.  With this arrangement (I tried it on the main road today), if there is oncoming traffic ... the vehicles behind you will slow way down and wait to pass.  Opposing traffic on a narrow 2-lane road with no shoulders, will also slow way down and stay to the far edge of the roadway while going past.

The trike seems to roll easily without apparent mechanical drag (brakes, wheels, etc.)  The flag didn't provide significant drag either ... although any flag will provide some drag.  The smaller hills that I've pedaled up could be easily spun up (spinning).  I have a small gear on the front and a mega-tooth gear 42(?) on the rear.  I'll try spinning up a steep hill tomorrow and see how it goes.  I've stayed out of the smallest gears on the rear ... unless there is a tailwind or a good down-slope, it is just too stiff pedaling.  Although it does go FAST!