building recumbent bikes!

[timhippy]

i am looking for someone as obsessed with creating bikes as i am to talk to either here or on messenger to bounce ideas off and maybe come up with some new ideas!
i will be starting a new project next month it will be a rear wheel drive under seat steering trike,
i generally know what im doing with the building process but am always open to oppinions ideas creative critisism and would love to talk to somebody like minded as i am finding it really difficult to find anyone to talk to about my hobby and my wife is at her wits end with me talking about them all the time lol....
please feel free to ask me any questions about recumbent bikes as im always happy to talk about them.

[Martin]

like this one at the BGG last year?

[timhippy]

no not quite like that the bike your showing is a front wheel drive never the less a cool bike all the same.. in truth the only reason i use rear wheel drive is that they are better for carrying weight the front wheel drive design is great for touring and a much more simplistic design but they tend to wheelspin depending on the riders weight.
rear wheel drive is only really good however if you can work out a way to drive both rear wheel which i have lol if only one rear wheel is powered the bike can have difficulty in turning which was the problem with allot of the early and come to think of it modern upright trikes they are made unpopular because of thier strange cornering habits lol
the last recumbent i built was one wheel driving on the rear and it had the horrible tendency to pull to one side when going up a steep gradient..since then i will always use both rear wheels driving in a sort of primative differential.....oh my god ive just realised i really am obsessed lol

[Wombat]

Hey Tim!

I am interested in load bearing trikes, of the human powered or electricity boosted type, and am happy to talk about them. To build or buy one is on my list of projects.

Have you seen the book "Chasing Rickshaws" by Tony Wheeler and Richard l'Anson? It is published by Lonely Planet. I saw it going cheap a few years ago in a local bookshop and picked it up. Not huge on engineering details but it gives descriptions, pictures and some drawings of human powered tricycles from all over Asia. If I see any other copies around i will let you know.

Nev

[Martin]

I think they're great fun, but I do have a few doubts............they are very low down for the pedaller, so in everyday use in our soggy island, you're going to get a wet bum, and your hooter is about level with lorry exhausts........ - on a "sit up and beg" trike you can stand up to pedal uphill, adding your weight to the pedal strokes.....

[timhippy]

traditional bikes as you say you can stand up on yes very true but lets say your moving a wardrobe in your bedroom and it just wont budge if you possition yourself between it and a wall sit on the floor and push using your legs ..its amazing the hidden power you legs have !!!
and when you stand up you lose a great deal of stability your bike will weave as you ride and unless you pull up on the handlebars you only have your weight to push down you cant utilise all of you legs strenth in my oppinion ....my favourite trike of all time is the work trike it gives a higher rider possition almost on a par with a standard bike and the carrying capacity of theses is incredible not allot you cant do with one from experience i rasn my bussiness as a handyman for two years using only my worktrike as transport carrying cement and sand/toolboxes/and on many occasions my welding gear lol..
as for the point about being low down on a normal recumbent with fumes being a problem i couldnt agree more this is a problem i try to stick to minor roads and cyclepaths as much as possible ....basically the recumbent bike is a marmite/vegimite issue you either love it or you hate it both the standard bike have thier good points...but for comfort/long distance and weight tranportation recumbents all the way!!!

[glenniedragon]

Response to Nevs post, a book about bikes by Tony Wheeler? nominative determinism if I ever heard it!

Kind, though mostly irrelevant, thoughts
Deb

[Wombat]

Yeah, I know Deb..................say it when I was typing it! Just like the guy who used to run the batch and furnace section at ACI glass packaging - John Byrne (burn!)

Nev

[Muddypause]

That recumbent in the pic is so laid back it's almost asleep.

Tim, that's a very good point about the extra effort that you can exert on the pedals; I'd never really thought about it before. On a sit-up bike, you can stand on the pedals, yes, but that represents the maximum amount of pressure you can apply to the pedals.

They're an interesting idea, but I think I would feel terribly vulnerable on a recumbent - your head is at axle height to an artic.

...a marmite/vegimite issue you either love it or you hate it

Sacrilege! You've can't possibly put Marmite in the same sentence as Vegemite.

Damn! I just did.

[Boots]

Re: Richard
If you do come across another Nev, will you let me know too? That's a rellie of mine.

I was just talking with a young guy about something like this the other day... He wanted to build some sort of pedal cart and take tourists for rides around the nearby town (and drunks home on Fridays). Prolly get more drunks than tourists, I imagine. He was talking about converting his pushbike into a trike and then towing some sort of cart with a seat on it...

I'm going to mention this dual wheel thing to him. I ride a m/bike and sidecar, and left hand corners are a right bugger. Feels like its going to near rip my arms off some days. Guess that is the same principle. Will keep an eye on this thread. Looks like being a good one TimHippy... you got some pics?

[Wombat]

Re: Richard
If you do come across another Nev, will you let me know too? That's a rellie of mine.

I

Wow!

Sure thing Boots!

Nev