Green ♺ Machine

Ok this time it's really the finishing touch. First off, I decided on a name for my bike. It's "Green ♺ Machine." I thought this was right on a few levels. First the color is a weird kind of green and the seat's definitely green. Also it's a human-powered vehicle, so that's green too. Finally it's a recycled bike, being made from parts of other bikes that might otherwise have been discarded. Green green green.

So I thought about trying to print decals myself but couldn't find the right stock for the printer. I found an excellent online vendor though, http://bikenames.com. Very high quality vinyl cut letters. I got the 3/4"x7" size pair for $8.99 and free shipping. Seems like a fair deal to me, definitely better than what I could have done myself. It looks very professional. Here's a photo.

From Recumbent Bike Project

Finishing Touches

Today I put a couple of finishing touches on the bike. One is a sweet head badge that Andrew Carson sent me. Thanks Andrew, it really looks nice!

From Recumbent Bike Project

The other is a safety flag. Don't have a picture of this yet but it's not really necessary. I feel safer with that thing waving above me. I also decided just to remove my chain idler altogether. It was noisy and annoying, and I don't think my chain really needed it. The bike still rides perfectly without the idler, the chain's high enough off the ground, and it's soooo quiet now! Love it.

Now I Can Carry Stuff!

One of the biggest problems I've had in the early days of riding this bike is the total lack of cargo capacity. You can't wear a backpack like a normal bike, stuff falls out of your pockets when you sit down, and it didn't have a rack or anything. I solved the pocket problem by putting a little underseat pouch for keys and pocket items. That was great but what about bigger stuff? Last night I hacked together a rear cargo rack that will carry the Jandd grocery bag panniers I use on my Trek mountain bike.

First I took a generic rack off of one of my other bikes:

From Recumbent Bike Project

I was hampered a bit by my rear seat support but I discovered that if the front attaching part of this rack were removed, it ought to fit the recombent. I'd just have to find a way to attach it. So I cut off the front part so it looked like this:

From Recumbent Bike Project

I drilled new holes in the rear seat support down by the other holes, then mounted with cut-off skateboard mounting bolts & locknuts, securing the front of it with zip-ties for the moment:

From Recumbent Bike Project

Here's what it looks like with the Jandd bag stuck on there. Love it!

From Recumbent Bike Project

Today I stopped by Guidry Hardware and got a small hose clamp to replace the zip ties. Now it's very secure and I can carry stuff!

The Finished Bike

The frame came back from the powder coat place today and I LOVE it! It's coated in a fire-engine greenish yellow, with black on the fork, seat supports, etc. I guess with this the project is officially done. Here are some shots.

From Recumbent Bike Project

From Recumbent Bike Project

From Recumbent Bike Project

From Recumbent Bike Project

From Recumbent Bike Project

Riding the new bike

All I can say is WOW!! This bike is so comfortable and so much fun to ride that I can hardly stop riding it! After about 4-5 days riding it every day, I've gotten very comfortable with the long wheelbase and low center of gravity. I've been riding around campus at night and today I took a nice ride around the Saints' Streets. Man it's so great. This bike has brought the "pleasure ride" back after many years absence. I can ride almost indefinitely because there's no wrist, neck, or butt fatigue at all. These are the things that always kept my rides short in the past. Now I just want to ride and ride. So fun.

Now for something kind of important. I think this bike needs a name. I've thought for a while and I'm leaning toward "Geezer Pleaser" (or "Pleezer"). I'm also hoping to talk to a powder coating place on Monday. Need to finish this thing up properly.

Shifter cable, front brakes, other details

This morning I installed the shifter cable for rear derailleur and I'm happy to say the shifters from the donor bike work perfectly, even though kinda outdated. I also installed a front brake, although it's not very good and I'll likely buy a new one soon.

A couple of other details got attention today. First I took my calipers with me to Goodwill in hopes of finding another donor bike to give me a proper stem to fit these handlebars and the fork. The shims I made for the original stem were slipping. I found this Princess bike with the right stem and it only cost me $4.99. Checking compatibility in this photo:

From Recumbent Bike Project

And here it is installed:

From Recumbent Bike Project

This stem is much better. Glad to have this problem solved. My daughter wants to ride the princess bike now so we'll have to find another stem for it. :)

I also noticed the chain was rubbing the rear shifter cable a bit, so I solved this by adding a washer to the idler to shove it out about 2mm. This did the trick.

I've been riding the bike all over town today and it's excellent. The guys at Recycled Cycles were impressed, too. I do need to practice tight turns, though. They're hard on this long wheelbase. Last thing to do is install front derailleur. No urgency to this though.

Last welds and a test ride

Tonight I got a bit of time in the metal shop and did the final welds to attach a split tube to the rear seat support, making a bracket that can attach to the seat with hose clamps. Here's how it looks:

From Recumbent Bike Project

From Recumbent Bike Project

So after I attached the seat securely I installed a shiny new (low-end) Shimano V-brake in the rear and then installed the tandem-length brake cable.

Oh wait. Almost forgot. I got my ape-hanger hi-rise handlebars yesterday only to find they were the wrong diameter for my stem. Couldn't tighten it at all. Solution was to cut the flared 1" section of another pair of handlebars and split it in half to make a shim. This hack worked o.k. I don't know if I want to keep these handlebars on it though. They're really big. I'm considering an underseat steering system. At any rate, I got a brake installed and took it for my first test ride. I only could use one gear because I still don't have the shifter cable installed, but it was good enough to ride around a bit and get this video. Fun!



The recumbent position will take some getting used to. I've never ridden one of these things before. It's pretty comfortable but has a very different feel, for sure. Next step is to get the shifters working and decide what to do about painting.

The bike fits me!

Today I installed the crankset so I could finally see whether the bike would actually fit me or not. Seems fine. I might like another inch of length but I think it'll do o.k. Here's a video of me trying it out. This also gave me a chance to discover how comfy the seat is.



I also drilled a hole for the chain idler and hacked together a kickstand. I had to take the adjustable kickstand off one of my other bikes, remove the part that slides in and out, and then cut a salvaged kickstand off as long as possible and slide it into the adjustable kickstand. It was plenty long this way. Here's my freestanding recumbent:

From Recumbent Bike Project

Tuesday night I'll be able to do the very last weld on the seat stay, and UPS is also supposed to bring my hi-rise handlebars and the extra chains I need to make a long chain. Almost there!

Seat & Fork installed, waiting on handlebars

Yesterday I installed the seat so I could finally try sitting on the bike! But it's only attached with zip ties on the rear support bracket because I still need to weld a piece onto the seat stay. I also installed the fork and front wheel but could only put short handlebars for now because the ape-hangers haven't come in yet. Looking pretty good though!

From Recumbent Bike Project

From Recumbent Bike Project

Seat is Finished, nearly ready to assemble bike

Little did I expect that the hardest part of this project would NOT be welding. True though. Tonight I finished the seat, and the stitching of the Phifertex cloth onto the frame was definitely the hardest part of the whole thing so far. All done though, and looks pretty good. I'll actually be able to sit on the bike very soon.

Here's the seat in its upright position.

From Recumbent Bike Project

And this is the underside.

From Recumbent Bike Project

Seat Frame brazed together

Last night I had 45 minutes in the metal shop before it closed. I managed to get the seat frame brazed together, although the joints all still need filling around the sides. I'll do that tomorrow night when the shop's open again. Looks pretty good though. :)

From

Hacking together a seat support

Andrew Carson has a nice design for a seat support, but it requires more welding and piecing together and I thought I'd try to make one out of actual bike pieces I have lying around. I think it's promising.

It starts with a crappy Huffy frame like this (I had two of 'em salvaged from the ditch and a junk pile):

From Recumbent Bike Project

I cut off the seat stays and a bit of the seat tube, plus the dropouts. That's a seat post stuck through the 2" of seat tube there.

From Recumbent Bike Project

Next I cut off the bottom part of the dropouts. I just need the parts with the little round holes.

From Recumbent Bike Project

Then I spread the seat stays a bit so it'll fit around the recumbent frame, flip it upside down, and install with two little bottle-holder bolts into the holes of the recumbent seat stays. I also put a seat clamp on there.

From Recumbent Bike Project

I need something to attach it to and I remembered this old part from a broken comfy seat from my cruiser bike.

From Recumbent Bike Project

I move the seat clamp onto the rails of this thing...

From Recumbent Bike Project

Remove the springs...

From Recumbent Bike Project

Slide the seat clamp onto the seat post like so...

From Recumbent Bike Project

and zip-tie one of the seat frame supports to the thing to show how it could attach. In the finished support I will braze on half of a split tube and use hose clamps to secure it to the seat support the same way Andrew Carson does at the top of his seat stay design.

From Recumbent Bike Project

From Recumbent Bike Project

I'll let you know how it works out after I get into the metal shop again for more welding. :D

Frame Welding Done

The basic frame is all done now. Andy taught me how to do the welding, and I actually did the last several joints myself! Yea! It's so empowering to learn this. Here are my joints on the bottom rails and the new brake bridge on the fork.

From Recumbent Bike Project

From Recumbent Bike Project

I decided to add a bit of downward curve to the bottom rails where they join the bottom bracket. I like the graceful curve. :)

From Recumbent Bike Project

And here's how it looks with the wheels set in for show:

From Recumbent Bike Project

Next I have to weld the seat frame together and put the cover on it. I got the fabric already and it should be very nice. Next post is about my possibly clever seat support...

Welding of first joints, bending seat frame

Last Saturday I had professional help from Andy Loewy (Industrial Design professor), who welded the joints for 1st and 2nd assemblies for me.

From Recumbent Bike Project

I came up with a way to jig the 2 assemblies together with some metal stock in the shop. This held it together nice and straight.

From Recumbent Bike Project

We also bent the rear triangle's seat stays over a big pipe.

From Recumbent Bike Project

From Recumbent Bike Project

Here's what the first two assemblies look like all welded together

From Recumbent Bike Project

After that I kinda stuck the pieces together to see what it would look like in the end. Looking pretty good...

From Recumbent Bike Project

I tried a 27" wheel in the bent triangle and found it'll work great. Brake pads strike the rim perfectly. I'm really glad about this b/c it would be a pain to put new brake bosses on.

From Recumbent Bike Project

Then today I bent the side pieces for the seat frame. They turned out pretty well I think. Hope it's a comfy seat.

From Recumbent Bike Project

Next we'll weld the rear triangle on there, then the bottom rails. After that it's the seat and seat stays. Fun!

Improvised rear triangle jig

To bend the rear seat stays it helps to have a jig. I think I've put one together that'll work fine without having to weld it. It makes use of a big heavy brake drum that's been rusting in my yard for a few years. I expect to try it out tomorrow so I'll let you know how it goes. Here are pics of the jig. You have to heat the seat stays and bend them over that little pipe.

From Recumbent Bike Project

From Recumbent Bike Project

Third donor bike gives me a front wheel

I bought a cheap kids 20" bmx-style bike today for $11.99 at Goodwill, mainly to get the front wheel, which will be the front wheel for my recumbent.

From Recumbent Bike Project

Not great quality, but probably good enough. It has aluminum rims at least. The wheel needs some attention to get the tension evened out, and it'll need a narrower tire. I also salvaged some reflectors and a stem and other little stuff from the bike.

So here's the wheelset for the recumbent as it stands now, although according to Andrew Carson, the guy who made instructions for the recumbents, 26" wheels work better than 27" in rear. This one's a 700c wheel.

From Recumbent Bike Project

Holding pattern

I've done about as much as I can do before getting into the metal shop for welding. I even got a scrap hub from a neighbor's junky bike so I can make a jig for bending the rear triangle down.

I think while I'm waiting to weld, I'll take one of the Nishiki's wheels and use it to learn how to build a wheel. Take it completely apart and re-assemble, just for fun. I can also get rid of all the rust and shine it up while I'm at it.

Getting ready to weld first joints

I made some good progress tonight. I cut the seat tube of the Raleigh piece and made a fish-mouth joint to be welded to the top tube. This is a major pain using only a hacksaw and files, but I think it turned out pretty well.

From Recumbent Bike Project

I ended up having to cut off about 2mm from the downtube to make this fishmouth joint fit up tight with the top tube. Must have cut too much off of seat tube. Whoops!

In this series of pics you can see the pieces for the first two assemblies. Gold pieces are from the Raleigh bike, black piece is from the Nishiki, and the shiny silver piece is the famous sleeve I made last night from the Murray junker in my neighbor's trash pile.

From Recumbent Bike Project

From Recumbent Bike Project

From Recumbent Bike Project

From Recumbent Bike Project

From Recumbent Bike Project

From Recumbent Bike Project

Everything fits great, I think the bike is coming along well. Tomorrow I'll take off the paint, then I have to find a time to get into the metal shop to do the welding. I'm stoked!