John Tolhurst
Zen MBB Master
[I'm reposting this one since it shows the child seat application, it is from late 2005]
The Mule is a prototyping bike. Its a low cost Falcon "Optima Cyclone" purchased in the UK which found its way to Australia. It was bought on ebay for AUD $225.
The bike as pictured on ebay. Then we get onto working out the conversion concept. Reverse the front forks to make room for the wider rear wheel up there; sketch in the new front triangle, consider the placement of the brakes and the seat.
After doing some brief drawings, off to Martin Arnold of LoGo trikes. Martin worked from the drawings to do a prototype.
The toptube is longer in this picture than in the final version. Once this was done, start working on the seat. The seat took longer to get right than the framework.
We discover the bike has a strong image and register the design.
Then its down to the local park for a picture.
Its great to ride. I feel like I'm riding a Porche - a kind of self delusion. I've since located the water bottle to the back of the seat where its reachable. I kept stubbing my fingers (yeow!) on the tyre with it in that silly position. I didn't put a wide axle into the exfront wheel to make it span the rear drop outs on this bike. I just sqeezed the rear triangle together. A bit rough, replacing the axle is far better.
Its the workhorse for taking the boy to day-care and back. The rack for the child seat is a folded piece of 2 mm aluminium, connected with two strategically placed bolts. Its a great configuration for taking a child on the back. You both benefit from the suspension, he acts like a tail box and you can talk and sing together as you go along. You can easily jump off to cross busy streets and the bike is very well balanced when walked along with a child in the back. There is one drawback though. When lifting the child in, you have to kind of stick your bum out to stop the handlebars from swinging around with the weight of the front pedals. It must be time to arrange some stops.
One good thing about connecting the rack this way is that it is not loading up the seat post. Some racks connect straight to the seat post. I think that supporting the seat back is enough for the seat post to do.
The location is Fremantle Western Australia, outside McDonalds. If you are looking for the McDonalds with the best view in the world, this must be close and its all been done up recently. Above you can see a few recreational boats and below, you can see Rottnest Island on the horizon, a favourite day trip of the locals. Each year a group swims over to the Island, it takes about 5 hours.
Watch out for the dragon! Hey - how much fun is this?
The Mule is a prototyping bike. Its a low cost Falcon "Optima Cyclone" purchased in the UK which found its way to Australia. It was bought on ebay for AUD $225.
The bike as pictured on ebay. Then we get onto working out the conversion concept. Reverse the front forks to make room for the wider rear wheel up there; sketch in the new front triangle, consider the placement of the brakes and the seat.
After doing some brief drawings, off to Martin Arnold of LoGo trikes. Martin worked from the drawings to do a prototype.
The toptube is longer in this picture than in the final version. Once this was done, start working on the seat. The seat took longer to get right than the framework.
We discover the bike has a strong image and register the design.
Then its down to the local park for a picture.
Its great to ride. I feel like I'm riding a Porche - a kind of self delusion. I've since located the water bottle to the back of the seat where its reachable. I kept stubbing my fingers (yeow!) on the tyre with it in that silly position. I didn't put a wide axle into the exfront wheel to make it span the rear drop outs on this bike. I just sqeezed the rear triangle together. A bit rough, replacing the axle is far better.
Its the workhorse for taking the boy to day-care and back. The rack for the child seat is a folded piece of 2 mm aluminium, connected with two strategically placed bolts. Its a great configuration for taking a child on the back. You both benefit from the suspension, he acts like a tail box and you can talk and sing together as you go along. You can easily jump off to cross busy streets and the bike is very well balanced when walked along with a child in the back. There is one drawback though. When lifting the child in, you have to kind of stick your bum out to stop the handlebars from swinging around with the weight of the front pedals. It must be time to arrange some stops.
One good thing about connecting the rack this way is that it is not loading up the seat post. Some racks connect straight to the seat post. I think that supporting the seat back is enough for the seat post to do.
The location is Fremantle Western Australia, outside McDonalds. If you are looking for the McDonalds with the best view in the world, this must be close and its all been done up recently. Above you can see a few recreational boats and below, you can see Rottnest Island on the horizon, a favourite day trip of the locals. Each year a group swims over to the Island, it takes about 5 hours.
Watch out for the dragon! Hey - how much fun is this?
