Studebiker is getting low & dirty.

Fresh off the completion of my latest E-Bike-E conversion, I have decided to venture into the home builders (the dirty part) world and build a dual 20" front wheel drive low racer (the low part). I have been interested in these low racers ever since I saw a Raptobike.



The Raptobike is definitely NOT in my budget (especially since I can't ride it before buying one so who knows if I'll even like it.) so I've been looking for something similar that I could build myself. Recently a guy on facebook shared some plans for a bike he calls the Blaster on the recumbent home builders page. It is a different style FWD setup than the Raptobike, but it should be somewhat similar at a fraction of the cost. The plans are very well presented and my initial impression is that for building a first scavenged home built bike, this is about as easy as it's going to get.





The plans say this bike can either be built with either dual 20" wheel or dual 26" wheels, [strike]but doesn't say anything about doing a 20/26[/strike]. (edit: actually it does mention that a 20/26" variant is possible, but it reduces trail, I'll have to think about this some more.) If doing the Blaster 20/26 is a viable option I may go with that instead of the dual 20".

I've got my donor parts all ready to go and will hopefully start some cutting this week.



For now, I have kept this post in the general topic area, but I do have an Ezee motor laying around that I could put in the rear of this and make it electric and of course if I like the way the bike rides I'll almost certainly make it electric. :wink:

That should be a fun project. Have you ridden a MBB recumbent before? They can be challenging to learn how to ride. Also the way the rear stays are designed will transmit a lot of road chatter to your upper torso. Some of the Atomic Zombie designs would probably be more stable platforms and just as easy to build for a first time builder.

Warren

Looks like a fun undertaking.

I had a LWB recumbent that I really loved to ride. Only moved on to trikes because of balance issues and the need to be so focused in order to run a straight line.

Good luck with the project. I'll enjoy watching your progress.

www.recumbents.com said:

That should be a fun project. Have you ridden a MBB recumbent before? They can be challenging to learn how to ride. Also the way the rear stays are designed will transmit a lot of road chatter to your upper torso. Some of the Atomic Zombie designs would probably be more stable platforms and just as easy to build for a first time builder.

Warren

Click to expand...

No, I've never ridden a MBB bike before, but there was a time I had never ridden a recumbent before. If I build it and don't like it/can't ride it I'm not out much and I've learned a few things about building bikes so I'm not too worried about it.

That's a good point about the way the seat mounts. However, I think this bike will be primarily for the bike paths and they aren't too rough around here so hopefully it won't be too bad.