MI Cruzbike retreat 2020 - August 6-9, 2020 Benton Harbor Michigan
- Thread starter benphyr
- Start date
3bs
whereabouts unknown
@castlerobber let me assure you she is welcome here too. bring the whole wedding party. she can get married on the beach. make it a destination wedding!!!!
Mathew Fy
GRU
I still think someone should make this.
https://forum.cruzbike.com/threads/the-perfect-recumbent-df-draft.13122/#post-158067
3bs
whereabouts unknown
super slim
Zen MBB Master
3bs
whereabouts unknown
@super slim yes, they helped a ton. the rear triangle is quite stiff now but there is still a ton of flex in the carbon from the rear attachment points at the top of the seat and the bottom rear of the frame forward to the head tube bracket and on to the front fork drive. this is partially flex and partially the natural bend at the head tube as you power onto the fork drive. its not perfect, as when you are powering on hard, you can hear some creak, but i don't think i am losing power because the drive is in front and the creak is in back. i need to get a much wider front tire, as the 451-19 is too small for any real chuckholes. i will put on 28 duranos. i could probably put wheelcovers on the rears to clean them up as well. the gap between my shoulders and the wheels is a good spacing for clean air. i have the caster set flat using a level so there is no bind with the rear wheels, and i think i have the triangulation pretty close, so the trike coasts forever. it is also quite easy to stop with just the front clincher brake. the trike is super easy to ride no handed. my daughter likes to ride around 12-15, and at that speed i wasn't even holding the bars. i have not done any real speed tests yet, but the gearing feels pretty good. i think the handle bars are too much. i think i can trim these down further, or i could just run a t bar just like i run on my m5m, but i think i will need climbing handles to make sure it will climb, otherwise, i can tuck almost all of my arms in behind my legs. i hit my ankles a few times on the quick release hub, so i will probably grind that down. i did get it up on two wheels once already, and it was quite stable. i also cut a corner too close, as i need to get used to the long wheelbase and rear width. if i made a rear tailbox for junk, this would be the ultimate GT cruising trike. ground clearance is a little iffy but not horrible. this project also confirms that i can make a cruzbike low racer trike out of normal parts that should be pretty darn nice.
3bs
whereabouts unknown
okay i am going to hijack my own thread to keep this thread on the top, and remind you all of the Michigan event.....
here comes the tie in.....
at the Michigan event you will be able to test ride....the frankentrike.
here is the history from the other thread:
so, you ask, what is the history of the frankentrike?
so i was looking to build a convertible carbon fiber moving bottom bracket tilting bike/trike lowracer. yes the swiss army pocket knife of recumbent utopia. scoured the internet. saw every cool picture everyone else has seen. read obscure articles, web posts, tracked the pictures cross referenced names, the works. contacted some local carbon fiber companies. contacted some national carbon fiber companies. realized carbon fiber was a good material to use but not the only. look at some aluminum options. watched more utubes watched searched more pictures. drew sketch after sketch, more more more. it became tiresome. then an exceptionally obscure one off bike that i had studied and had a little file on was offered to me almost by accident, and i was lucky at the time to be able get it. Commonly known as the zockra clone, although there is no actual connection that know of, it was built in 2013 by ken stolpmann up in charleviox. (although i understand that he was actually a kiwi from NZ) He did not have much success riding it fast, and while i understand he tried to re do it into something more interesting, somewhere along the line he sold it. the next owner did not appear to do much with it and its caretaker had too many irons in the fire. when i received it, it was my plan to figure out how to ride it fast, and then figure out what i needed to do to make it a tilt trike by replacing the rear swing arm assembly. then i got distracted. then, i figure out that the darn bike is near impossible to ride fast, or to be precise, i cant ride it fast. too much flex, to much going on in front, too much caster, i.e. too much rake and trail (among other things) then i got distracted. then i studied the numerous tilt mechanisms, and spend some time brain storming with jim parker and others, and decided that i was not sure there was a solid benefit for the concept to justify the weight and complexity to do it except in high cornering situations, and ironically there were some really neat innovations being made by several people, so i decided to go with a fixed rear, built up an interesting rear end, keeping the convertible concept in play, and then i got distracted. then i started playing with the trike again, and then i was distracted again when again, by pure coincidence and accident another exceptionally obscure one off was offered to me, and i was able to secure some help bringing those specific ideas into 3 dimensions. then while waiting for that project to complete, we get the covid period, and i decide i am going to finish a few projects. which brings us to now.
so yesterday another test ride and a few rips.
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/48688128?privacy_code=Ki1swCdGlQXToaNN
okay its pretty fun and pretty cool. its fast and it is really stable and easy to ride, and it climbs. But it still needs work. its not pretty, and i need to build a new bracket for rear brake as the old one failed, and then this handle bar set up is still not right, and i need a head rest pad, and i think i want to build a storage tailbox behind the seat to clean up the airflow and hold stuff. the trike is right around 30lbs now.
it does not take much energy to buzz along, so i think the aero is pretty good.
here comes the tie in.....
at the Michigan event you will be able to test ride....the frankentrike.
here is the history from the other thread:
so, you ask, what is the history of the frankentrike?
so i was looking to build a convertible carbon fiber moving bottom bracket tilting bike/trike lowracer. yes the swiss army pocket knife of recumbent utopia. scoured the internet. saw every cool picture everyone else has seen. read obscure articles, web posts, tracked the pictures cross referenced names, the works. contacted some local carbon fiber companies. contacted some national carbon fiber companies. realized carbon fiber was a good material to use but not the only. look at some aluminum options. watched more utubes watched searched more pictures. drew sketch after sketch, more more more. it became tiresome. then an exceptionally obscure one off bike that i had studied and had a little file on was offered to me almost by accident, and i was lucky at the time to be able get it. Commonly known as the zockra clone, although there is no actual connection that know of, it was built in 2013 by ken stolpmann up in charleviox. (although i understand that he was actually a kiwi from NZ) He did not have much success riding it fast, and while i understand he tried to re do it into something more interesting, somewhere along the line he sold it. the next owner did not appear to do much with it and its caretaker had too many irons in the fire. when i received it, it was my plan to figure out how to ride it fast, and then figure out what i needed to do to make it a tilt trike by replacing the rear swing arm assembly. then i got distracted. then, i figure out that the darn bike is near impossible to ride fast, or to be precise, i cant ride it fast. too much flex, to much going on in front, too much caster, i.e. too much rake and trail (among other things) then i got distracted. then i studied the numerous tilt mechanisms, and spend some time brain storming with jim parker and others, and decided that i was not sure there was a solid benefit for the concept to justify the weight and complexity to do it except in high cornering situations, and ironically there were some really neat innovations being made by several people, so i decided to go with a fixed rear, built up an interesting rear end, keeping the convertible concept in play, and then i got distracted. then i started playing with the trike again, and then i was distracted again when again, by pure coincidence and accident another exceptionally obscure one off was offered to me, and i was able to secure some help bringing those specific ideas into 3 dimensions. then while waiting for that project to complete, we get the covid period, and i decide i am going to finish a few projects. which brings us to now.
so yesterday another test ride and a few rips.
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/48688128?privacy_code=Ki1swCdGlQXToaNN
okay its pretty fun and pretty cool. its fast and it is really stable and easy to ride, and it climbs. But it still needs work. its not pretty, and i need to build a new bracket for rear brake as the old one failed, and then this handle bar set up is still not right, and i need a head rest pad, and i think i want to build a storage tailbox behind the seat to clean up the airflow and hold stuff. the trike is right around 30lbs now.
it does not take much energy to buzz along, so i think the aero is pretty good.
Attachments
super slim
Zen MBB Master
3bs
whereabouts unknown
Yes, you probably couldn't just do a cf shell without additional integrated spot reinforcement.
I have another project I contracted out because he had time and better skills and access to materials that involves both my fixed/ tilting Delta fwd ideas coupled with shells and fenders and fairings and my love of taking brilliant old castoffs and restomodding them.
If anyone has been paying attention to certain hints in the recumbent world, there are already pictures of that project out on the web...that project will also be around at the event...
I have another project I contracted out because he had time and better skills and access to materials that involves both my fixed/ tilting Delta fwd ideas coupled with shells and fenders and fairings and my love of taking brilliant old castoffs and restomodding them.
If anyone has been paying attention to certain hints in the recumbent world, there are already pictures of that project out on the web...that project will also be around at the event...
super slim
Zen MBB Master
3bs
whereabouts unknown
Ha. I am an old fan of the car show of days gone by. Super hot curvy models awesome from any angle look but don’t touch unobtanium. Yes both the girls and the cars....
the teaser detail is that there are already pictures on the internet posted by my collaborator. You just have to find them. Not finished by any means but finished enough to inspire.
the teaser detail is that there are already pictures on the internet posted by my collaborator. You just have to find them. Not finished by any means but finished enough to inspire.
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3bs
whereabouts unknown
well okay no one has found that project yet, though it is sitting in the wide open....
back to frankentrike.
i took it out for a little longer ride this weekend to see how it rode for a 25 mile loop, and see what other stuff needed attention. this is my normal 25 out and back. it is more uphill than downhill, but really it is just perpetual up and down. you all will be riding most of this route as a part of the steelhead ride.
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/48900231?privacy_code=wctCr9d6DLoxkGaM
here is a similar ride just 10 miles longer on the vendetta. the cadence was a little slower, the max speed 5 mph slower and the heart rate a little faster. average speed one mph faster. this is pretty much my not being able to ride downhill as fast on the v as i can on the trike, and
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/47682837?privacy_code=v6ph8ojbGATLFr4G
so, some of the issues i had were that in the upper gears my right foot was actually hitting the derailleur. so i added pedal spacers yesterday. i also am still not fully happy with this bar set up. i like the width, and the distance for leg clearance, but for climbs i really need longer bar ends going down. this may require me to change brake leavers to a mtb style on the drop section
then, i found myself wanting a better first gear. i was able to do the hills, and i thnk i could get my speed going up the worst hill to 10 mph, but for longer hills and bigger hills, i think i need a 50 on the cassette. i have a sun i may put on, but i am already using a wolfs tooth. on the top end i maxed out at about 33 with a 137 cadence. the trike is very stable, and i think i could have pedaled more, perhaps up to 35. so maybe a bigger ring? nah.... unless i start trying to race.....
the trike weighs 7 lbs more than the v.
that is a pretty fast trike.
back to frankentrike.
i took it out for a little longer ride this weekend to see how it rode for a 25 mile loop, and see what other stuff needed attention. this is my normal 25 out and back. it is more uphill than downhill, but really it is just perpetual up and down. you all will be riding most of this route as a part of the steelhead ride.
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/48900231?privacy_code=wctCr9d6DLoxkGaM
here is a similar ride just 10 miles longer on the vendetta. the cadence was a little slower, the max speed 5 mph slower and the heart rate a little faster. average speed one mph faster. this is pretty much my not being able to ride downhill as fast on the v as i can on the trike, and
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/47682837?privacy_code=v6ph8ojbGATLFr4G
so, some of the issues i had were that in the upper gears my right foot was actually hitting the derailleur. so i added pedal spacers yesterday. i also am still not fully happy with this bar set up. i like the width, and the distance for leg clearance, but for climbs i really need longer bar ends going down. this may require me to change brake leavers to a mtb style on the drop section
then, i found myself wanting a better first gear. i was able to do the hills, and i thnk i could get my speed going up the worst hill to 10 mph, but for longer hills and bigger hills, i think i need a 50 on the cassette. i have a sun i may put on, but i am already using a wolfs tooth. on the top end i maxed out at about 33 with a 137 cadence. the trike is very stable, and i think i could have pedaled more, perhaps up to 35. so maybe a bigger ring? nah.... unless i start trying to race.....
the trike weighs 7 lbs more than the v.
that is a pretty fast trike.
Attachments
