Saturday, February 2, 2008



This is where I started this bike building stuff back in 1998 with home built short wheelbase 26x20 recumbent--sort of a muffler pipe version of a Rans V-rex. http://www.ransbikes.com/VREX07.htm This bike was pretty heavy but tracked very well right from the start. I had never ridden a recumbent more than across a bike shop parking lot when this bike was completed so I learned to ride a recumbent while testing this bike. It was almost as much fun as learing to ride my first bike at age 6 but without the harsh landing in a pear tree this time!

Within a few months I started build my second recumbent, this time a 20x20 short wheelbase model. This one used a BMX bike as a starting point with a little muffler pipe brazed onto the head tube for the crank to mount on. The crankset is mounted on a sliding tube that fits over the boom that is attached to the head tube. This bike was lighter the the first one I built and also handled quite well but was a bit short in the wheelbase so that a large bump encountered going up a steep hill could result in lofting the front wheel skyward. I felt like this was about as good as I was going to get with the short wheelbase design and bought a factory built Rans Rocket next. http://www.ransbikes.com/Rocket07.htm

1 comment:

Willowmom said...

I think it is very appropriate that you have started your site on the eve of your special day, congratulations.