Carrying camping gear on a 2 wheeler

Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
4,571
Location
Nottinghamshire England
So browsing my archive of long gone web pages , I print anything I think maybe useful in the future I came across this .

An attempt to build a recumbent from a single bike frame ? and some new tubing ?



It has distinct echoes of what I want to do?



Sadly he stuck strictly to the constraint of one frame and hacked out the BB , it would have been much better [ stronger ] if he had left it in and sourced another one for the front ? [ the picture above is reversed as it does my head in when the pictures show stuff pointing in different directions ! ]
Also not lengthening part 1 created a SWB bike as can be seen the front wheel could have been a lot further forward otherwise ?



kranky reversed as well

More food for though Paul
 
Last edited:
Joined
May 31, 2013
Messages
3,980
Location
South Benfleet, Essex, England, UK
Hi Paul,
To get that shape you can keep the BB shell, but the tubes off of it all need to be at angles differing from how they are in the initial frame do they not?
 
Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
4,571
Location
Nottinghamshire England
Hi Paul,
To get that shape you can keep the BB shell, but the tubes off of it all need to be at angles differing from how they are in the initial frame do they not?
Yes definitely seems the chain stays and lower front tube are parallel ?

Always fancied building one of these ?



A Starley Giraffe bicycle :- 1894 Starley

Beggar to reach the floor though !! specially for dumpy little hairy legs ;)

Paul
 
Joined
May 31, 2013
Messages
3,980
Location
South Benfleet, Essex, England, UK
I just had a thought (daft maybe).
Get an old Brompton (that folds in half) and recumbent-it ?
 
Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
4,571
Location
Nottinghamshire England
Spooky my friend just sent me this not 1 hour before :-



His local one night camping trip

However NO NON O'HI ARA NEIN etc etc

16" [ or are they smaller wheels ] no wheelbase to speak of does not make a 100 mile a day bike !
 
Joined
May 31, 2013
Messages
3,980
Location
South Benfleet, Essex, England, UK
Spooky my friend just sent me this not 1 hour before :-



His local one night camping trip

However NO NON O'HI ARA NEIN etc etc

16" [ or are they smaller wheels ] no wheelbase to speak of does not make a 100 mile a day bike !
Well, I wouldn't want to try 100 miles a day on any up-wrong. But if it was recumbented. Hmmmm.....
 
Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
4,571
Location
Nottinghamshire England
Well, I wouldn't want to try 100 miles a day on any up-wrong. But if it was recumbented. Hmmmm.....
Simple do it and report back ?
 

SirJoey

Super Moderator
Joined
Feb 8, 2008
Messages
4,781
Location
My cozy little nook in the corner!
I did 100 miles one time on an upwrong, but that was about 35 YEARS AGO!!!
I was "slightly" younger & in "slightly" better shape! :ROFLMAO:
***
 
Joined
May 31, 2013
Messages
3,980
Location
South Benfleet, Essex, England, UK
Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
4,571
Location
Nottinghamshire England
So question can a £275 ebay bike save me from build one ?

Well lets see ?



This is a HP Velotechnik Wavey so it is SWB would have prefered CLWB less twitchy ? and 20 x 20 so moving in the right direction.

Well managed 10 miles on it today , probably gusty 25 mph winds did not add to experience.

Long snagging list , some things niggly like one brake cable runs wrong side of bars , front brake judders [ probably old hard pads ] rear needs
some adjustment 2 different inner tubes and I hate presta valves.

Still it was easy to add a pannier behind the seat

While the seat looks very adjustable it ain't ! as the frame runs from the front of the seat all the way up to the top of the seat back. I can't get
seat back vertical enough seems the base is right at the back of the adjustment slots and the front is hard up against the frame [ due to the
frame slope ] and so the seat back is only about 45' and I want nearer 55'.



May try packing under the front of the seat between the frame and mounting and loosen the rear bolts , else make a new mount and try one of my solid
seats.



Handle bars won't go down any further ? it looks like a threaded fork on the outside however inside it looks like there is a star thing like you see inside a
threadless fork ? needs more investigation ?

I could reverse the bars that would get me a couple of inches lower ?

Quite nervous to ride I am unsure if this is lack/to much trail , it shows in feeling very twitchy when riding one handed and seems to have no hands
free stability. Changing the forks will be fraught look at the head tube length ! it may be tamed when I have some miles on it .

Yes pedals are quite high 28" however I can feel the power going down [ unlike the Oke-Ja 22" ] also seat height is Oke-Ja 22" and Wavey 25" so the pedals are above the seat hooray you say and it shows it climbs very well and because of the 3 x 7 has much more top end however I may be tempted to reduce the front ring a little to gain a slightly lower low end.

So lots to do but could all be called tinkering and I need some miles on it , the Oke-Ja seemed twitchy when I first got it [ 16" front wheel main culprit I think ] however it was noticeable from the start that it was dead stable when the bars were straight ahead and could be ridden hands off [ well more hovering ] quite easily the Wavey is not that stable.

all for now Paul
 
Last edited:
Joined
May 31, 2013
Messages
3,980
Location
South Benfleet, Essex, England, UK
While it would be vandalism of the highest order...... You could notch the centre of the front of the seat so the frame and seat mount rails could dip in the notch.
Or, as you say raise the seat on spacer/bearers so the front edge does not foul.
 
Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
4,571
Location
Nottinghamshire England
While it would be vandalism of the highest order...... You could notch the centre of the front of the seat so the frame and seat mount rails could dip in the notch.
I have to be aware this has resale value and if I don't like it , it needs to go on Ebay and be sold so no non reversable messing ;)

Or, as you say raise the seat on spacer/bearers so the front edge does not foul.
Rapidly going off that idea ? would you say looking at the pictures the seat base is already almost horizontal ? if the back came upright by 10' the base would be pointing at the floor big time ?

I think I will rescue some of the fittings like the rear quadrants and the frame piece under the seat put one of my solid seats on and make pieces to join them together that way I can start with the correct seat angle for me and attach it to the base mount with it's Q/R in the middle of the adjustment slot giving me about 3" - 4" forward and back for tuning ?
 
Joined
May 31, 2013
Messages
3,980
Location
South Benfleet, Essex, England, UK
That sounds like a very reasoned approach. All reversible for re-sale if you decide not to keep it.
 
Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
4,571
Location
Nottinghamshire England
That sounds like a very reasoned approach. All reversible for re-sale if you decide not to keep it.
Well that didn't work due to geometry constrains of seat mountings the rear upper mount was behind the lower Q/R so instead of the weight push against the Q/R it would have been causing it to rotate.

So back to the original seat , I got the frame where I though it needed to be by measuring the straight portion of the back rest , I then added some packing under each runner and bolted the seat back down ?

Well it was a step in the right direction however the base was either horizontal or slightly nose down and I was sitting on the very hard rim at the back of the base , NOT comfortable at all !

So I took the packing out and tried packing only the front to get the nose of the base up when I bolted it down the rear of the base just stood on the frame [ but precariously ] giving it a nice slope.



So I now need some better spacers so I can tighten it down for the duration , and no recumbent was hurt in the process.

Then I decided the seat back was still to laid back so I started to raise it and viola !!!



I think the straight part of the seat back is not actually a true representation of the seat angle , made worst because it is a mesh back so your weight causes you to sink in ? what angle is that then ? however measuring is only part of the story and no amount of measuring is a substitute for riding it some miles !

Need to compare it to the Oke-Ja but it is now very comfortable as most of your bum is now on the seat spreading the loading.

The seat base is maybe to hard , however I can replicate it in plywood and get some seat foam from a place near me and carve myself a better one if need be.

On a roll I took the horrendous bars off and using a straight set of ali bars and some straight bar ends mocked these up ?

They are currently a bit to wide and the bar ends are to short , however a hacksaw will narrow the ali bars and a bit of welding will lengthen the bar ends.





So more stuff to do , but I think it can be ridden now so progress is being made (y):LOL:
 
Last edited:
Joined
May 31, 2013
Messages
3,980
Location
South Benfleet, Essex, England, UK
Well done! "Comfy" is right up there with "Safe" as the over-riding [pun] criteria.

More test rides are indicated then. 🆒
 
Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
4,571
Location
Nottinghamshire England
So after 3 days of frustration and brain storming with DanC I have built these parts and bolted it all together :



4 right angled pieces 2 bolted to the existing seat tubular base and 2 bolted to the seat base.

They are pivoted at the rear to allow the angle of the nose to be altered.



I have currently stuffed some wood under the front to give a measured seat base angle of approx 10'

A quick spin around the estate shows it is comfortable , so need to change most of the nuts for lock nuts and a trip to mothers tomorrow is the next challenge about 12 miles.

still tinkering Paul
 
Joined
May 31, 2013
Messages
3,980
Location
South Benfleet, Essex, England, UK
Best of all, if it works for you and you sell the bike on..... it can all revert to standard with no damage or visible signs of molestation.
Bargain! Well done Paul.
 
Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
4,571
Location
Nottinghamshire England
Well I got my ride in this morning...

Bit mixed really I can't yet relax on it and so sit hunched up and maybe leaning to far forward on the seat ?

I had a bike very similar to this years ago and rode it for maybe 5-6 years so the files must be in there for how to ride one ?

Reality is I keep getting caught with a soft strike of my heel and the front wheel , getting one of my knees outside the handle bars and it's nervousness when travelling fast [ it is definitely faster than both the Python and the Oke-Ja ] some of which I am sure is me and my worries ?

At one set of traffic lights I tried to cycle through the railings and got my right foot pedal down when I hauled the bars to the left for a turn , however my foot was inside of the wheel arc and the wheel hit my heel , no problem dropped a foot got my composure back and got through on to the path ?
A fast downhill maybe 18mph and when on the flat noticed the handle bars no longer pointed forward ? luckily I realised they were displaced in the direction of the turn when I had heel strike , at the next lights I tried to straighten them and found they needed some force to move them so cycled gingerly the last 3 miles to my parents. Got a 6mm allen key and tubing and did them up tight.

Got home without incident....

Hopefully it is now sorted enough for a ride out in company Sunday ? the group may ride at a pace a bit fast for the Python.

regards Paul
 
Joined
May 31, 2013
Messages
3,980
Location
South Benfleet, Essex, England, UK
Sounds like a winner. The feet positioning to keep away from the wheel will become automatic soon enough I suspect.
Hope you are able to out-pace the youngsters at the weekend. :ROFLMAO:
 

SirJoey

Super Moderator
Joined
Feb 8, 2008
Messages
4,781
Location
My cozy little nook in the corner!
Always great to be out riding, eh Paul? I've even been enjoying my stupid
upwrong most mornings, although I do pay a high price for those rides!
***
 
Top