A few recumbent bikes and trikes I built..

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

I made recumbent bikes and trikes for about 20 years. 8 trikes and four bikes. I don't use other's plans,, rather I design and build myself.

I built the grey/white one about 20 years ago and used it everyday for about 7-8 years. Made of junk I found, the only things I bought for it weren the front hubs and stainless spokes. The rest I found out Bush, on the side of the road or at the rubbish dump. Eventually, the chain and sprockets wore out, so I retired it and started building others. This one featured a modified rear cassette in the middle to raise the gearing to account for the 20" wheel at back. It had side pull brakes, 20" wheels, five speed cassette at the rear, tthree speeds at the front and four ranges in the middle via a modified rear cassette and deraileur to account for the smaller wheel at the rear.

I started building another two wheeler. a few years ago I got it to the test ride stage but fell off trying to ride it in my small back yard, badly gashing my leg and head, the wife stepped in and convinced this old codger to,stick to trikes for safety sake. So, it went on the scrap heap before getting painted.

The last trike I built encompassed all the best design features I came up with over the years.. It featured:

Deore cycle componentry,

9 position rear suspension,

Hydraulic disks,

Tank steering,

lumbar support,

42 degree back rest,

adjustable toe in via left and right hand threaded toe rod ends,,

Two degree caster and camber,

27 speed,

20" wheels at front,

700c at the back,

19kgs.

My hips started playing up after building this one, so I sold it and moved on to ebikes.

Just as a matter of interest, recumbent bikes are extremely fast, so fast they were banned from competing against diamond frames back around 1930, I believe the ban still stands.

Edited By Tony sacc on 14/08/2023 01:33:28

Edited By Tony sacc on 14/08/2023 01:34:21

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

Interesting to see those, Tony.

On the white one (and possibly others) the chainset appears to be out on a limb, so to speak, i.e. at the end of a length of box section that is only braced about two feet down where it emerges from the main frame. Have you found this gives adequate stiffness when pushing hard on the cranks?

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

Have never broken or bent one. Square tube is pretty dang strong. That's the normal design for the boom, I've never seen one that was braced.

The white one had braces behind the cross beam on to the seat beam,  but I found it wasn't necessary, so, I discontinued that design feature on later builds.

Recumbents, if you look at them critically are just leg presses with wheels attached, you can put a lot of pressure behind a leg press, that's why recumbents are so fast.  Haven't bent or broken one yet.

Edited By Tony sacc on 14/08/2023 02:02:40

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

And they are Green !!!

What,s not to love ???

[Adrian R2Participant @adrianr2]

Professional cycle racing is a highly regulated sport, there are many technical innovations that are banned including I believe some types of sock.

If you are interested in pedal/crank racing on more than two wheels, seek out the BHPC (British Human Power Club) or equivalent where recumbents, trikes and quads are the norm.

Edited By Adrian R2 on 14/08/2023 09:19:08

[JAParticipant @ja]

Tony

Interesting, but I know nothing about pedal cycles.

The one thing that impresses me is that you have provided a "public profile"! I just wish more did so.

JA

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I think the downside of recumbent bikes is that selectively blind car drivers are even less likely to see you. It's not that they don't look, they look for cars, and simply don't see bikes (powered or not). I regularly had car drivers saying 'sorry mate didn't see you' when I was riding to work. Chap round here rides an electric assisted recumbent trike, he has a large flag atop a flagpole

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I think the downside of recumbent bikes is that selectively blind car drivers are even less likely to see you. It's not that they don't look, they look for cars, and simply don't see bikes (powered or not). I regularly had car drivers saying 'sorry mate didn't see you' when I was riding to work. Chap round here rides an electric assisted recumbent trike, he has a large flag atop a flagpole

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

Posted by duncan webster on 14/08/2023 13:47:14:

I think the downside of recumbent bikes is that selectively blind car drivers are even less likely to see you. It's not that they don't look, they look for cars, and simply don't see bikes (powered or not). I regularly had car drivers saying 'sorry mate didn't see you' when I was riding to work. Chap round here rides an electric assisted recumbent trike, he has a large flag atop a flagpole

You are correct of course, drivers routinely do not see, pedestrians, bicycles, motorbikes, animals and even other cars sharing the road with them. I use an ebike now, but I prefer to ride on pathways where provided, unfortunately, I can't drive or ride my car or motorbike on pathways, so, when using them, I join the throngs with selected blindness.

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

Posted by Tony sacc on 15/08/2023 00:47:00:

Posted by duncan webster on 14/08/2023 13:47:14:

I think the downside of recumbent bikes is that selectively blind car drivers are even less likely to see you. It's not that they don't look, they look for cars, and simply don't see bikes (powered or not). I regularly had car drivers saying 'sorry mate didn't see you' when I was riding to work. Chap round here rides an electric assisted recumbent trike, he has a large flag atop a flagpole

You are correct of course, drivers routinely do not see, pedestrians, bicycles, motorbikes, animals and even other cars sharing the road with them. I use an ebike now, but I prefer to ride on pathways where provided, unfortunately, I can't drive or ride my car or motorbike on pathways, so, when using them, I join the throngs with selected blindness.

Interestingly, I've had accidents in cars, on bikes, on motorbikes, some my fault, some not, but I've never had an accident when a pedestrian or riding a recumbent. I find motorists are enthralled with seeing a recumbent, it catches their interest, they stop and stare, give way, ask questions and give you a wide birth.

[John MCParticipant @johnmc39344]

These bikes seem to have the usual excessively long chain runs for recumbents. Many years ago I was involved in designing a recumbent, this was overcome by building in a hub gear at roughly the midpoint of the chain run to shorten the chain runs

This style of bike is not as good as a conventional bike for hill climbing and this was of some help in setting up the gearing to help with this, to some degree.

I would also suggest to the OP that the pedal position could have been a little lower.

As Adrian R2 pointed out, cycle racing is highly regulated. Another style of bike that cannot compete in the popular side of cycling competition is the small wheeled bike, principally the Moulton bike.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Don't know much about push bikes but was fortunate to live near Mike Burrows of cycle fame and see some of his recumbent creations. he was once caught speeding in a 50 limit on one!

[Adrian R2Participant @adrianr2]

Well if it's speed you want then make a note for World Human Power Speed Championships, Sept 10-17 in Battle Mountain, Nevada. Outright record is a shade over 89mph, state of the art now being enclosed carbon fibre monocoques and steering by camera, yikes.

Info below (from 2022, I guess they will get round to refreshing it before this year's event), there is also a Facebook page.

**LINK**

p.s. and to get back to the subject of building recumbents, there are some interesting videos on Youtube of Russell Bridge designing and building his machine "seventy seven" – he had previously piloted Burrow's soup dragon.

Edited By Adrian R2 on 15/08/2023 14:19:11

[Tony saccParticipant @tonysacc93877]

Posted by John MC on 15/08/2023 07:26:29:

These bikes seem to have the usual excessively long chain runs for recumbents. Many years ago I was involved in designing a recumbent, this was overcome by building in a hub gear at roughly the midpoint of the chain run to shorten the chain runs

This style of bike is not as good as a conventional bike for hill climbing and this was of some help in setting up the gearing to help with this, to some degree.

I would also suggest to the OP that the pedal position could have been a little lower.

As Adrian R2 pointed out, cycle racing is highly regulated. Another style of bike that cannot compete in the popular side of cycling competition is the small wheeled bike, principally the Moulton bike.

The white/ Grey one I built has two chains and a midpoint cassette. I modified a five speed cassette to add four ranges to compenatefor the 20" rear wheel, and to,raise the gearing. It has a modified front derailleur to swap cogs. Nevertheless the chain runs, particularly the rear run are still longer than normal bikes.

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