Warren builds a chopper

[damcard]

Hey that's cool. Do you have some more info on that bike? I like it if it rides nice. -Damcard

[StudEbiker]

No sorry, no info on it, I just saw it on a Flickr group and thought it was cool for this thread since it's a recumbent chopper.

[damcard]

Ohh btw Warren, I have been following your build. Looking cool and cant wait to see how it rides. I have wanted to do a long bike like that. Props.

[www.recumbents.com]

That recumbent chopper was built/ridden by a guy in Australia. He has built several of them. I can probably find out who if you want to know.

-Warren.

[www.recumbents.com]

After much cutting, brazing, grinding, and brushing, the tubes in the rear sub-frame are now capped. Yes they still need some cleanup, I am far from a perfect brazer.



Before reassembling the bike, I need to add a small gusset tube between the upper and lower stays and add the mounting post for the chain guide pulleys.

I have been thinking about the bike stand. This will integrate with the rear suspension pivot and fold up to put relatively inconspicuous. A bolt on the back side of the pictured slot acts as a stop to keep the gear in up or down position.



-Warren.

[RallySTX]

I like the style of the rear dropouts.
Brian L.

[www.recumbents.com]

They are surly dropouts, nice and heavy duty.

I went to the welding supply store to get my acetylene tank refilled today. I told the guy there that the tank seemed to get empty very quickly this time, and he was nice enough to give me a refilled tank for free. He always seems interested in my projects, so I'll have to ride the bike down and show it to him when it's running. I'll also have to stop by and give let this guy give it a ride. http://www.3cbikes.com/index.html He make gasser / chopper bike conversions and I'm trying to get him interested in e-power.

-Warren.

[www.recumbents.com]

I added the mounting posts for the chain guide pulleys, finished brazing the BB mounts and capped another tube, then started to re-assemble the bike. I want to ride it before doing any more brazing!



It's getting heavy...

-Warren.

[RallySTX]

Looking good so far though. At least you don't have to worry about huge hills, or carrying it up and down a set of stairs every time you want a ride. I gotta admit I would love to see how it goes.
Brian L.

[www.recumbents.com]

We had one more nice day in the 50s F (that would be in the 10s for you metric types), then the temps dropped along with the snow. Now it's really cold in the garage to be building.

I added the chain, derailleur and back brake, then decided that I needed to remove the back wheel again, which is a pain. It would be so much easier if the bike would stand on its own. Time to build the bike stand. Here it's shown with the bike stand legs in the down position. I still need to cut the slots and tap the pivot tube to make it stay in one place.



I need to take off the wheel to add some braze-ons for the derailleur cable. Once that is in place the bike would be rideable, if I really wanted to take it outside in the snow and cold.

Also I'm trying to decide whether to stack the Ping split pack battery, or to have them one behind the other. I have some nice smoked Lexan to use for a battery box. I'll use the heat and bend method to form it.

-Warren.

[RallySTX]

That stand looks a lot more useful than the one on my bike. All that one does is hold up the wrong wheel! Putting the batteries, one behind the other, would apear to reduce wind resistance, and lower the center of gravity. Can't wait to see smoked lexan on the bike.
Brian L.

[www.recumbents.com]

Thanks for your interest Brian. It helps me to go out into the cold garage to work on the bike.

I worked on the bike stand again today and brazed on some brazons for the derailleur cable. I just need to add some snap clips to hold it in the "up" and "down" position.

-Warren.

[RallySTX]

I used to do construction this time of year, so believe me, I know the feeling. I'm only pretending to be interested so I can drive up my post count. In reality, I'm only interested in choppers, but since I'm out of work, all I can do is drool over custom jobs like yours. Looking forward to posting an update on my thread soon. Word is, somebody will be shipping a package my way shortly. I been lookin at buying a FS Schwinn for about $300. Thinking about adding a set of springers to the front, and a fatty to the back. Those red neoprene swingarm bushing of yours are captivating.
Brian L.

[www.recumbents.com]

Now that the chain is in place I can build the battery box. This picture show the battery placement and size, along with tentative mounting points. I have some smoked lexan sheets that were removed from equipment, which I will heat and bend to make a battery trough and the lid. The controller, BMS, power switch, charge port, and a DC to DC converter for the lighting will be mounted in the lid. cables will be run inside of the frame tubing as much as possible.



The chrome fenders from choppersus.com arrived today. I'll have to chop them up a bit as I don't need fenders that wrap around that much.

-Warren.

[www.recumbents.com]

I love Lexan. I could bend it in a brake like sheet metal if I had one. I first tried applying manual bending pressure while heating it with little effect. I'm sure the fact that it's January and my garage is unheated did not help. I ended up clamping it in a workmate table vise, applying bending pressure using large clamps, then heating the 24" long bend zone repeatedly with my heat gun. Once I had the technique down it went pretty fast. Yeah, it's bubbly in a couple spots but not too bad.

The battery trough is done, now I need to bend up the lid.

-Warren.

[RallySTX]

Nice size battery box, I still can't get over the low rake of them forks. Them supports look kinda skinny, I hope they can hold the battery box steady. The over all apearance is definitely unique and strong, I like it.
Brian L.

[www.recumbents.com]

Lexan is tough stuff. To form it you can put it in a sheet metal brake and bend it, or heat it and bend it. I don't have a sheet metal brake, so I'll need to heat it. You have to be careful when heating though because if you get it too hot it will get bubbles.

Here's my Lexan bending rig. My heat gun can't heat the entire bend at once, so I use the vise bench and other clamps to hold it bent while I run the heat gun up and down the bend line. As the part bends, the clamps are tightened.



Eventually the part is clamped flat to the table, with the bend at 90 degrees.



Here's the 48V 20Ah Ping LiFePo4 battery in the bent Lexan box with lid. Now I have to make the ends of the box.



-Warren.

[RallySTX]

Looks good, that gives me ideas about my own box. I'm gonna stick with aluminum though. I would rather cut my fingers, than have melted plastic on my floor.
Brian L.

[www.recumbents.com]

After many pop rivets, here's the battery box. It's about 3.5" x 23" x 9", and feels pretty solid. The controller is mounted to the top of the inside of the box. I still need to figure out where the wires will exit the box. It weighs about 20lbs, so the brackets on the bike will need to be fairly heavy duty.



I took the bike for a ride for the first time tonight, up and down the street. It will take a while to get used to because of the long handlebars and the turning radius is huge because of handlebar interference, but it's coooool!

-Warren.

[Chalo]

I took the bike for a ride for the first time tonight, up and down the street. It will take a while to get used to because of the long handlebars and the turning radius is huge because of handlebar interference, but it's coooool!

Why don't you tilt the bars up until they clear the frame? It looks like they're almost there as it is.

Chalo

[RallySTX]

That box is too cool, I like the switch on top, I hope it's stout enough for the pack. Glad the first ride impression is a positive one. Yeah the turning radious will be large, as the wheelbase is long, but that's a small price for a custom bike likethet. NICE WORK.
Brian L.

[veloman]

Lexan eh..... I may have to give that a try one of these days. Battery enclosures are a big project for me.

[www.recumbents.com]

Parallel Evolution



http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiteanderl ... otostream/

[RallySTX]

Beautiful shot Warren. Thank you for sharing that. I copied it to PB and downsized it to 640/480 so the whole thing shows up. If you object, I will remove it.



Brian L.

[www.recumbents.com]

I finished making the battery box clamps. The battery box is held on by tube clamps in the front and back, and is stabilized by a bolt on the back side of the box that slides into the frame. It's very solid.
I moved the controller out of the battery box and cut a couple inches out of the height of the box. The controller is now mounted to the bottom of the box to fill in some of the space provided by the curvy frame.



This shot shows the mounting brackets.



I still have a lot of work to do to lengthen/shorten the wires, and route them in the frame, but I was able to put it together enough to take it for it's maiden e-powered voyage around the block. It was marvelous. The the bike feels great at speed and temps were amazing for February. I think we sent all the cold and snow to Europe.

I'm starting to think about color. Probably black.

-Warren.