An unusual compact commuter/cargo bike design

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Oct 6, 2009
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I'm interested in bikes and particularly ebikes as a car replacement and I thought this was cool and different enough to share, seems quite practical for an urban bike. Small and light enough to pick up and carry up stairs, considerable carrying space for a bike while maintaining a tight turning circle and keeping the cargo CG low and centered.

https://womanonawheel.wordpress.com/2015/01/13/neles-cargo-bike/

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Really awesome! never seen something similar, I bet the driving feeling with a geared steering must be special :roll: too much weight on the front side maybe?

What is the goldish material on the welding points?
 
Nobuo said:
What is the goldish material on the welding points?

That's brass, the usual material for fillet brazing. It's a conventional but old fashioned labor intensive technique.

I think this frame gives up a lot of structural efficiency by not having diagonal bracing. It's pretty clever in other regards, though.
 
Chalo said:
Nobuo said:
What is the goldish material on the welding points?

That's brass, the usual material for fillet brazing. It's a conventional but old fashioned labor intensive technique.

Or nickel/bronze. Better version. Can be brazed, gas or TiG welded. Common in autoracing space frames. http://www.cwuk.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=1_11

[youtube]4luzOE4653I[/youtube]
 
That's pretty cool. I kind of like the way the cargo platform folds up skinny when not in use.
 
Dauntless said:
Chalo said:
Nobuo said:
What is the goldish material on the welding points?

That's brass, the usual material for fillet brazing. It's a conventional but old fashioned labor intensive technique.

Or nickel/bronze. Better version. Can be brazed, gas or TiG welded. Common in autoracing space frames. http://www.cwuk.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=1_11


What I like about brazing is that it's easier/cheaper for the non-pro welder/brazer to produce a good job on thin tubing than with welding, I braze a bit with acetylene and air as well as oxyacetylene and and the air rig works fine for that. You do need some practice and some good fitting to produce a strong brazed joint but nowhere near the level of skill involved in welding and good fitting is more a matter of patience than anything else.
 
Chalo said:
I think this frame gives up a lot of structural efficiency by not having diagonal bracing. It's pretty clever in other regards, though.

There's plenty of room for a diagonal tube from the BB to just behind the rear cargo rack support strap attachments, that should stiffen it up considerably.

For an urban ebike I would make the bottom tube rectangular and large enough to put a moderate pack in it, keeping the mass low will make the bike easier to tote as well as improving the handling, a larger rectangular tube should be stiffer laterally too.

On edit: After thinking about it a bit I suspect the handling with a substantial load on this bike would be better than an equivalent diamond frame bike with that weight on a normal rear cargo rack.
 
Nobuo said:
Really awesome! never seen something similar, I bet the driving feeling with a geared steering must be special :roll: too much weight on the front side maybe?

I have a recumbent with a steering link, after about the first two minutes you never really notice it again.

The way that is arranged if the chain is tight you probably couldn't tell the difference from a normal steering setup by feel.
 
It has a diamond up front, and moving the upper stay in the rear would give it a bigger diamond there. But it could be flexy from side to side some. That would be cured some by moving that seat stay to a more like a mixte bike position.

But of course, even with such mods, it would be a lot to ask the bike to haul 100 pounds of cargo. A typical load of groceries would go fine.
 
rider95 said:
LOL funny your kidding right ? right?

Not really, weather related issues aside the biggest drawback to an ebike over a car for me is the ability to go shopping and carry it home, closest convenience store is four miles away one way and grocery is twice that, hardware, clothing and so on start at about ten miles one way. Those are ranges where a reasonably swift ebike can easily replace a car but carrying a week's worth of groceries either requires a trailer or screws your handling up with a normal diamond frame bike or a mountain bike type and enough rack to carry that much will be quite bulky.

I seriously doubt I'm alone in trying to find something that will replace a car without being either large, heavy or ill handling or requiring a trailer.
 
Be careful with such reward bias of the bike weight. My cargo bike has met the asphalt on a number of occasions do to a loss of traction up front, and it is much closer to front/rear balance than the bike you are copying.

On the bright side it will become safer in that respect when you put loads in the cargo area.
 
John in CR said:
Be careful with such reward bias of the bike weight. My cargo bike has met the asphalt on a number of occasions do to a loss of traction up front, and it is much closer to front/rear balance than the bike you are copying.

On the bright side it will become safer in that respect when you put loads in the cargo area.

Yeah, that's why I run a considerably lower pressure in the front tire of my LWB bent, I've had the front wash out before. Putting the battery down low and forward helped a lot planting the front wheel too.

If I build another bike it's going to be that cargo bent I posted a while back with the under the frame cargo rack, I'm just not comfortable any more on an upright bike, ten minutes and my back is twanging like an out of tune Dobro and my fingers are going numb.

Getting old ain't for sissies.
 
Jonathan in Hiram said:
If I build another bike it's going to be that cargo bent I posted a while back with the under the frame cargo rack, I'm just not comfortable any more on an upright bike, ten minutes and my back is twanging like an out of tune Dobro and my fingers are going numb.

Getting old ain't for sissies.

I agree with the last sentence but build an ebike that ain't for sissies. If you gotta keep it to less than 10 min my solution is to put all that road experience to use in staying safe with an ebike that can cover over 15 miles in 10 minutes with clear enough road. Of course the road is almost never that clear, but the short hops for errands are too quick for any pain to set in, and even if it did the adrenaline rush will prevent you from feeling it. :mrgreen:
 
John in CR said:
... an ebike that can cover over 15 miles in 10 minutes with clear enough road. ...
one hour = 60 minutes (6 x 10).
15 miles x 10 = 150 miles
That makes the speed 150 MPH or I missed something.
 
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