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Back in April I built a small trike for my grand-daughter. As she is growing quickly I have decided to build a bigger one and make it a recumbent style. As ever I will try to use what I have got to hand and spend very little cash! I had a couple more bikes which could prove useful.... A bit of spannering. Then a bit of angle grinding with a cutting disc and hacksawing...
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Then a quick "mock-up" to see roughly where things could go.... And some more cutting.... I will be using the gears on one back wheel and no back axle so that the seat is low between the wheels. Some sort of intermediate cross shaft will take the chain drive from the front centre.
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Feb 22, 2021 14:58:18 GMT
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There has been a long silence on this.....We had a problem! I thought the blue bike had cut up quickly with no angle grinding sparks.....duhhh it's an aluminium frame. In the past I've tried......... and failed to weld aluminium. After a bit of thought I planned to insert and rivet some steel end tubes into the ali bits. Pause for Christmas, Covid lockdown 2, general apathy. Start cutting again to get a drive chain gear for the rear wheel using the little blue bike frame, it is steel as well! Then I found it has a different chain pitch. Not a problem I could use the drive gear from the alloy bike frame.....but it is the wrong size and will not fit. However I can use the whole bottom of the blue frame - except I had cut off the rear part! Still that is the plan and I will get that re welded by a local firm.
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Last Edit: Feb 22, 2021 17:59:59 GMT by flyingphil
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Feb 22, 2021 15:16:24 GMT
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Next I decided to actually do some welding with a couple of lengths of 2" square box section. I fabricated the rear frame in a T shape. I even managed to get a semi respectable bead in places!
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Last Edit: Feb 22, 2021 15:18:43 GMT by flyingphil
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Feb 22, 2021 15:30:17 GMT
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These are the Aluminium frame sections that will need to be rewelded. It is also going to have the original three gears on the chain wheel and 5 or 6 gears on the rear wheel. The frame will be slotted and bolted to end of the 2" box section.
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Last Edit: Feb 22, 2021 15:36:58 GMT by flyingphil
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Feb 22, 2021 15:34:40 GMT
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The other chainwheel section has also been re-purposed....I've cut the big chrome chain ring off, stripped out a smaller gear from the old gear set and welded it to the hub, and that will go as the other end of the cross shaft.
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The aluminium welding is being done by W & W Engineering (who also did a coolant pipe on my BGT V12 project). I need to get that frame fixed in place so that the intermediate sprocket can be positioned and welded.
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I picked up the aluminium welded frame section today..... but it is too cold for me out in the garage!
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duncanmartin
Club Retro Rides Member
Out of retro ownership
Posts: 1,320
Club RR Member Number: 70
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Trike Mk2 - Recumbent buildduncanmartin
@duncanmartin
Club Retro Rides Member 70
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This looks really cool. Have you been on the Atomic Zombie forums - there are more like-minded people there building cool new bikes out of bits of old ones (you don't have to buy their plans, though I think they are pretty good). Keep it up (and post some more pictures).
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Thanks Duncan...(yours is a much better engineered trike!) I got out to the garage yesterday and sorted out how to hold on the aluminium frame to the end of the "T" frame. It will also have bolts to hold it in place.
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Then I was able to weld in place that small intermediate chainwheel on its bottom bracket so that it lined up with the big blue chainwheel shaft....and then I found that a 1/2" short socket drive almost fits between the two!
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However it is really difficult to get the two bottom brackets to exactly line up.....but I could put a short 1/2" drive shaft with a flexible U/J unit......
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Or I could remove the two inner races and weld a shaft between the two chainwheel shafts, so any misalignment is not constrained between the two bottom brackets? Anyway I've run out of MiG wire so I did a quick wheelout on all three wheels to see how it is looking....I may not go for a fully recumbent after all as Grandaughter pefers a more traditional seat!
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Mar 12, 2021 11:23:51 GMT
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More MiG wire purchased and I tried the easy way to transmit the drive using a short length of thick walled tube hammered to a square hole and slid over the crank axle shaft to give a small amount of "Wiggle". The other end was welded to the stub of the shaft..... Well it did transmit the drive....but was a bit "tight" ....right up until the weld broke due to the, still slight, miss-alignment issue! I realised that the idea of using only the two outer bearings will only work if the shaft is all in one piece - which will be impossible to assemble/disassemble. So I will try with a 1/2" drive U/J next......
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Mar 12, 2021 19:09:02 GMT
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I fabricated the new drive with two slide fitting 1/2" square joints and the welded on U/J.......and so far it is holding together!
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Mar 12, 2021 19:10:20 GMT
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I also tried the position for a recumbent seat......
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Mar 12, 2021 19:12:21 GMT
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But it will have a traditional saddle with suitable supports....this is just a mock up.
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I did some more work yesterday.....and even had a quick ride! It is hard to pedal as it is stuck in high gear until I can get a longer cable and change the deraillieur(?) down. Photographs to follow....
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Mar 16, 2021 12:20:56 GMT
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Here are the pics... A brace to triagulate the central spine. The second handle bar was just to mount the controls temporarily - but does show how a recumbent could have a reacheable steering system. A support section of tube for the seat. This is removeable so that it can become a recumbent later. Grand-daughter has had a quick trial ride and could just pedal even with the high gear. However she did manage to throw the chain by pedalling backwards!
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Last Edit: Mar 16, 2021 12:29:38 GMT by flyingphil
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Mar 17, 2021 18:53:47 GMT
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A quick visit to Halfords saw the purchase of two very long cables and now the back brake and gearchange work correctly. I have ridden it and it is better to pedal now it is in the lowest gear. I also bought spray cans of primer, colour and clear coat.
I asked my grand daughter what colour she wanted......
It is now pink...Very PINK!!
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Last Edit: Mar 17, 2021 18:55:06 GMT by flyingphil
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