Recumbent: wheel brackets

Yesterday, I mounted the rear brake. Today I finished the rear wheel brackets. They're made from aluminium and are each others mirrir except from the (rear) derailleur mount.

Next step wil be mounting the rear wheel.

Keep on cycling!

Recumbent: rear brake

It's quite a time ago, I updated this blog. Well, I've been busy with other things. Since spring I'm a board member of the Dutch Association for Human Powered Vehicles (NVHPV).

But during these holidays, I started working on my lowracer recumbent bike. As you may remember, the headset was mounted. Today I fitted the rear brake. I got both the Shimano Deore V-brake and a Tioga booster for free from Mossink!

First of all, I created the alumuniulm clamps. The edges aren't perfect but these won't be visible riding the bike.

Thereafter, I fitted the hinges and ...

... dry fitted the brake, booster and clamps combo.

The hinges didn't fit exactly to the booster. So I had to file which wasn't that difficult. Using epoxy and screws, I assembled the clamps to the frame, ...

  ... mounted the booster and ...

... attached the rear brake itself.

Along with the rear wheel, it starts looking a recumbent bike.

Next step will be to mount the rear wheel.

Keep on cycling!

Birthday presents

During my anniversary, I got some really nice presents. I like them very much as I will use them for my recumbent lowracer.

From left to right: three bike chains (rear wheel driven recumbent bikes need looong chains), a sprocket, best wishes including some cash and (below) a Ventisit seat pad. I already use the Ventisit on my Orca. I like it very much as my back stays dry now.

At the moment, I'm busy cycling. During winter, I'll continue the built.

Keep on cycling!

Recumbent: Headset

Now the frame and rear fork are joined, the wheels are created and I got a donor bike, I need a headset.

According to the plan, I created two little aluminium plates. I drilled some holes in them to attach the plates to the frame. Thereafter, I had to make a big opening to fit the front fork. This went terribly wrong. I drilled a circle of small holes of which I intended to make one big opening. The hole however, wasn't a circle. So I had to start again.

I created a new plate and drilled the holes again. Now I carefully removed the inner circle of the big opening and polished long enough to create a beautifull circle. Using some soap, I mounted the ring. Then I had to repeat the process to create the other half (one is mounted above and the other beneath the frame).

To find out if it all fits together, I assembled the frame along with the front fork and wheel. The project is in progress!

After finishing these metal parts, I milled the frame to the plates fit nice. Last but not least, I expoxied the plates to the frame and secured them with four screws each.

Next step will be mounting a rear brake.

Keep on cycling!

Donor bike

Some time ago, I bought a donor bike. It's a girl's bike with 20" wheels.

I took it apart, to (re-) use some of the parts. Especially the front fork with it's fender. Probably I'm going to use the handle bar also.

Keep on cycling!

Wheelbuilding by the pro's

Recently, I told you I created the wheels. It took me a whole afternoon and a good instructor, to built these. On one of my favorite cycling blogs, Cycling Tips, I found a nice video of a professionel wheel builder. Enjoy!

Keep on cycling!

Recumbent: the wheels

Apart from the frame, I need wheels of course. A 26" one in the rear and a smaller one of 20" in front. So far, I not only didn't invent the wheel ;-) I neither created one. But where to start?

Well the people of Mossink were so kind to teach me. So I went a complete afternoon to their bikeshop where Mark taught me how to make a  bicycle wheel. After connecting the rim to the hub with 32 spokes (cross 3), we had to true the wheel. Good tooling, some patience and an experienced teacher resulted in a nice wheel! I'm proud of it.

Keep on cycling!

Recumbent: joining frame & rear fork

Now the frame and the rear chain stays are ready, they can be joined together. At first, I thought I would use  dowels. (B.t.w. is that correct English? I mean wooden sticks to insert in both parts.) However, James stated in his design that just epoxy would do. So I glued them together and clamped them for 24 hours. Here's the result.

Please note there are two additional shelves at the outer sides of the rear stays to prevent clamping damage.

Keep on cyling!

Recumbent: Rear fork

Now the (main) frame is ready, it's time to construct the rearfork. This part consists of two rear stays. Each of them will be constructed of two layers of birch plywood (5,5 mm - for strenght) plus one layer of whitewood (18 mm - the 'fill'). Again, the whitewood will be perforated to save weight.

These are epoxied together. Between the frame and the rear stays, two additional layers of whitewood (each 18 mm) are added to gain the correct inner width of the rear fork. As the bike lacks suspension, I'd like to be able to mount wide tires. Later on, I'll experience if this is necessary.

Next step will be attaching the rear fork to the (main) frame.

Keep on cycling!

Recumbent: Frame

After choosing a design and selecting materials, I'm ready to start building the bike. The plans are excellent as they contain (technical) drawings, a shopping list, building instructions, some templates and pictures. First of all, I went shopping. I bought wood and aluminium.

I'll construct the frame of three layers of birch plywood (for the strenght) plus two layers of whitewood (the 'filling'). The'll be expoxied intermittent. First of all, I made a paper template.

Thereafter I cut the whitewood. To save weight I cut some holes so the frame will be - more ore less - hollow.

Next step was cuting the plywood and epoxying the layers together. I started to attach the mid three layers: whitewood (18 mm) - plywood (5,5 mm) - whitewood (again 18 mm).

Working with epoxy was new to me. However, everything went well. One has to wear gloves and a mask which is a bit uneasy. I worked carefully to prevent spoiling the glue on clothes, the work-bench, etc. Next step was attaching the outer (plywood) layers (each 3.0 mm) to the frame.

After the frame, I'll create a wooden rearfork.

Keep on cycling!