Crank Forward Number 3 painted

Got the painting done on CF3. I retained the original paint on the fork and most of the downtube in order to preserve some of the Schwinn decals and the original paint is much more durable than the Duplicolor touchup I used on the rest.

Here is detail on the seatpost. Note I borrowed the idea from Rans for marking the inseam measurements.

This bike is very smooth riding and quite comfortable. With the 53 inch wheelbase it seems slower handling the my first crank forward bike that has a 50 inch wheelbase but I doubt that there is much difference in speed as weight and tire styles are similar on the two.

Crank Forward Number 3

The no weld crank forward was fairly successful but I decided to try perfecting the bike with some cutting and brazing. The original bike was an old High Sierra Schwinn mountain bike. One of the more serious shortcomings of this rendering of the bike was its tendency to pop wheelies on takeoff. The seat sits almost over the rear axle. The bike did not handle badly but I figured sooner or later I would forget which bike I was on and end up being dumped on the pavement.

My plan was to stick pretty close to dimensions on one of RANS new models they offer taller riders called the Sequoia ( http://www.ransbikes.com/Sequoia.htm ). Wheelbase on crank forward number 3 came out 53". It is very stable and comfortable. I'm still messing with the handlebar setup--I have a set of RANS B38 bars I may try on it. I plan to paint it dark green similar to the original mountain bike's color--the fork will probably not get repainted at all.

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Crank forward bikes are considerably simpler to build than recumbent bikes as the origingal steering angle and bottom bracket position can be retained thus eliminating fork bending and cutting on the down tube. Basically the seat ends up about 6 or 8 inches back and the chain stays are extended about 7". I keep about 5" of the old seat post for mounting a front derailler and attach a new seat tube to the base of the old one and angle it back at something closer to 50 degrees rather than the original 70 degrees. Mountain bikes seem to be better suited to conversion into crank forwards but I think an old road bike could be cut up for this purpose. Crank Forward bikes make great commuter bikes and city cruisers whereas recumbents are probably a better choice for longer road trips.

crank forward 2 shrink job

The second crank forward bike I built sat around mostly unused for several months and I decided to resize it for my wife to ride. The good part of this is that it took very little in new materials / cost and not too much work. Here is the bike before and after shrinking. I took a couple inches off the wheelbase as well as dropping the seat tube from around 23" to about 17".

Kiddie crank forward

Here is what a crank forward bike might look like as a basic Huffy type kid's bike:

I added about 4 inches to the rear triangle and laid the seat post back. Small riders can touch the ground pretty good with their feet and still get good leg extension on the pedals.

Number 4 refresh

Homebuilt recumbent number 4 came back in trade a few weeks back. With 18,000 miles on the frame it was about due for some serious restoration. Here it is with newly redone seat and paint and complete tune up...

Home made cruiser bars for MB crank forward conversion bike

My old Schwinn High Sierra mountain bike has been dusted off and become the object of some tinkering in hopes of creating a more comfortable bike without frame cutting or welding. Farther down this page are pictures of the old mountain bike with the repositioned home build fat comfort saddle in place and some cut off road bike drop bars. What the bike seemed to need yet was a better pair of laid back cruiser bars. I had and old pair of BMX handle bars with a wide straigh across design that I did some cutting and brazing on. The result is a pair of very comfortable bars that fit in well with the cruiser style of riding. I rode this bike 12 miles this morning and found it to be very comfortable and good handling--to a point. Wheelies in the lower gears are extremely easy to pull and care must be exercised when climbing steep grades to stay leaned forward far enough to keep the front wheel on the ground.

Recycled bicycles

Old bikes laying in wait for bulky item pickup by the city are difficult to leave well enough alone. Sometimes they follow along beside me on my bike and occasionally I find more than one and have to return with the van to round them up. The last three trash bike finds involved pairs of bikes. Usually 2 trash bikes will equal one finished recycled bike, a few spare parts, and a smaller pile of parts for the next trash pick up. My fleet of 20" kid bikes has now grown to 5 rideable bikes. They just sit there waiting for grandkids to come visit them.