Chopper / bobber morphs into a recumbent!

I finished the seat clamp and brazed in the support tube between the rear chain stays. Now I need to make the bracket the holds the front of the shock so I can locate the point where the rear of the shock mounts to rear subframe.

I also mounted the Fat Frank tire to the front wheel to ensure I have proper clearances. That is a big tire! :shock: Eventually I will mount it to a wider rim, but the 1.3" wide rim I have seems like it will work.

-Warren.
 
The tire may be a bit rounded on top, until it's installed on a wider rim, my 2805 is like that. Nice looking rear shock and seat.
Brian L.
 
Img_0505.jpg


Nice shock indeed, Warren, is the part attached to the end of the shock from a donor bike or is this
part you purchased? if the latter, does it come with mounting fixtures i.e the bolts/bearings for the pivots?
I all but binned the idea of rear suspension due to not being able to purchase or make pivots to the standard
i would be comfortable with using myself, this part you have might swing me back to suspension!

KiM
 
This is the shock unit that came from CRC, and it includes the Y shaped yoke. It's OEM for some MTB. It did not come with bushings on the Y end, so I'm using a couple concentric tubes and a brass bushing (pictures when I get to that step). No Huhu.

The suspended rear end is a PITA, no doubt about it, but I'd rather spend a couple extra weeks of making and connecting metal bits than get thrown off the bike after hitting an unexpected bump at high speeds.

I also came up with what I think is a cool solution for the bike stand. the dual "kickstand" down-tubes will be mounted to the pivot axle. When in the "up" position they fold around and are next to the bottom chain stays. That's probably confusing.

I'm still looking at wide rims, but have not pulled the trigger on any yet. The widest I have found in my price range is 1.75" and I was hoping for 2" minimum. Most sites are very skimpy with the rim width details.



-Warren.
 
I finished seat mount bracket and made the front shock mount. By using the split tube clamp design it is fully adjustable. Also a nice shot of my nicely organized workbench. Hey, I'm using that stuff!

IMG_0507.JPG


I have just enough 1.5" tubing left to build massive stays. These really would not need to be this big but I think it looks better than a smaller diameter tube. I'll use .5" tube to triangulate from the rear shock mount down to the lower stay.

IMG_0508.JPG


Here's what I'm using for the shock bearing. The socket shoulder screw fits into the brass bearing which fits into a couple concentric tubes. I had to hand machine (file) a bit off the outside of the outer tube to allow it to fit in the shock properly.

IMG_0510.JPG


Here's the bearing in the shock.

IMG_0511.JPG


-Warren.
 
I now have a rolling chassis. Because I used such beefy chain stays I will not need a huge amount of triangulation in the rear subframe. The BMC hub motor fits nicely in the rear.

Img_0513.jpg


I need to do a bunch of tweaking, finish brazing the tacked joints, and cap the tube ends before working on the bottom bracket and handlebars.

-Warren.
 
Now you have it in rollimg mode, I have
To say I think it needs more head angle
Warren, its to steep IMHO, I understand
It will slacken a liitle when you decompress
The rear, I would like to see at least 5 degree
More rake... JM2CW

KiM

P.s I have my roller bender Warren! Last box delivered Sundee, VERY
Happy with the quality! Extremely sturdy construction
Cant believe it cost only 150 bucks!
 
Hi KiM,

The back end will actually be a couple inches lower, so it will have a bit more trail. Hopefully it's enough. I thought the shock would have more bounce to I jacked it up. Now that I know it's pretty stiff I can lower it.

Congrats on your new toy! You'll have to show at lease a couple pictures on your build thread.

-Warren.
 
I finished brazing the frame tubes, did some tweaking, etc. Also I added handlebars and the bottom bracket shell. It's beginning to look like a bike.

Img_0514.jpg


The handlebars are 7/8 X .058" 6061-T6 aluminum, and I bent them with a 3/4" conduit bender. This works nice as long as you want to make a 5" radius bend. The handlebars are very wide and long, but they are in a comfortable position. I'll use these until I actually get a chance to ride the bike. I may end up doing a remote steering as it would be much more compact and I wouldn't have to deal with the "tiller effect".

The suspension seems to work well. Bouncing on the seat both the front and rear suspension have a bit of bounce but not too much.

Time for more parts! I'm still waiting on spokes to lace the drum brake into the front wheel, and need to obtain a bottom bracket and about a mile of chain.

-Warren.
 
I put on some cranks and tried out "the position". Looks like I can shorten up the 'bars about 6", yay!

Spokes arrived for the front wheel. Building that up will be my fun for the day.

BTW, there seems to be some misunderstanding about chrome moly. It's not that much harder to work with than mild steel. You can use the same tools. You can still braze it. It's just stiffer and because of that it can be thinner / lighter.

-Warren.
 
Beautiful work so far.
Envious of your metalworking skills.
Great design. FS Cruiser. Sign me up.
You won't regret the Sturmey Drum.
See "Ghetto"build In sig.
I have 3000km on an 90mm example.
I love it. Can still lock up/ endo.
Not as good as a hydro brake.
But no maintenance, sealed from weather, looks kool :wink:

Keep up the great work.
Lots of pics please. I'm a visual learner :mrgreen:
 
www.recumbents.com said:
I finished brazing the frame tubes, did some tweaking, etc. Also I added handlebars and the bottom bracket shell. It's beginning to look like a bike.

Img_0514.jpg


...
The suspension seems to work well. Bouncing on the seat both the front and rear suspension have a bit of bounce but not too much.

Time for more parts! I'm still waiting on spokes to lace the drum brake into the front wheel, and need to obtain a bottom bracket and about a mile of chain.

-Warren.
Click to expand...

Could be my eye or maybe the pic, but in that shot, it appears that you have lost quite a bit of rear suspension travel potential.

AussieJester said:
Now you have it in rollimg mode, I have
To say I think it needs more head angle
Warren, its to steep IMHO, I understand
It will slacken a liitle when you decompress
The rear, I would like to see at least 5 degree
More rake... JM2CW

KiM
...
Click to expand...

That head angle appears extreme.
May alter the function of the fork.
Great progress though
I appreciate the effort that goes into creating a build thread.
Congrats :mrgreen:
 
Hi Brentis,

Thanks and we'll see how it handles soon! Rear suspension is adjustable and I'm not going to be offroading so it doesn't need much. I think it has 3" now, should be plenty. I'll take it over some bumps and see if it bottoms out.

I'm looking for a rear fender now. More to keep my a$$ out of the rear wheel than anything else. I'll hack off the tube that sticks up behind the rear seat when I find out how much of it I need to attach the fender. I see some at Choppersus.com but I'm not sold on those yet. Maybe I need to look for an old chrome motorcycle fender.

Apparently I forgot to buy chain. :?

-Warren.
 
I like that detail shot of the SA hub. That big yellow thingy at the back is intriguing. I stil think it would have made a nicer chopper! Merry Xmas, and good luck.
Brian L.
 
I liberated some more parts off of the MTB e-bike. I wanted to get the front brake working today but I trashed the cable, so I settled on just taking a picture of me on the bike in the garage.

Img_0518.jpg


I was thinking the big handlebars would work out, but now I'm having second thoughts. They are really big. That top tube is too perfectly placed as the mount for remote steering.

Merry Christmas!

-Warren.
 
Doesn't look like it dropped much with your weight on it, that's good I think. I think your wrists will be sore and you will have trouble holding onto those bars without some more outward angle near the ends. It almost looks like the barts will hit the top tube when turned, but I'm bettin that's not true. Are your feet clear of the front tire when turned?
Brian L.
 
Brake handles do hit the top tube when the steering is turned, but I won't be riding on any sidewalks with this bike so it's fine. I did have to file a bit off of the handlebar mounting bracket so it would not rub the top tube. Close tolerances! I cut about 6" off of the handlebars so they do not look so long now. Feet clear the tire fine.

I was hoping to use some nice new LiPos on this build but nobody is buying my old batteries so I will just use the old Ping until the ions all fall off. It's good for about 1900 watts, which isn't going to smoke the tires, but is just fine for going 30 MPH.

I have all the parts to put the human power part of the drivetrain together now. I need to braze on some bolts to mount chain idlers and cap some tubes before I put it back together. After that I will be able to mount the old Ping batteries and then it will be time to take it for a ride.

Happy New Year all!

-Warren.
 
Speedy posted this over at the recumbents.com forum.

It's a slide show of cool bikes
mostly choppers types with a recumbent or two.

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=F242625B103D3E9F&id=F242625B103D3E9F!636&sc=photos#cid=F242625B103D3E9F&id=F242625B103D3E9F!506&sc=photos

There are some great idea here, but most are totally "form over function", and some look completely unrideable.

-Warren.
 
WOW! Talk about some awe inspiring rides to ogle. Thanks Warren, that's actually an unexpected Christmas gift. Wish I could return the favor, but all I can say is Thanks!
Brian L.
 
Thanks for the link Warren, very cool designs, i like the one with the animal skeleton, very original !

I might embark on a crazy project of building a e-chopper starting from this babe below.
This is the Sled ProStreet from Big Bear choppers in California.
Contacted the local dealer here and he's pretty enthusiastic about the idea, he customizes a lot of bikes himself.
The important part for me is the look must be as close as possible to the ICE version.
So we might buy the rolling chassis from Big Bear and fit a real "fake" engine head to keep the look.
I'll probably start a separate thread on this.


 
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