M
MJ
Guest
Merry Christmas Everyone
I have been lurking around alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent for a few weeks now
after seeing a picture of recumbent bicycle. I now know that the bicycle
was a old Easy Racer and it looked very comfortable. I have been aware
of recumbent bicycles for a while but I had a look on the internet to
find out more.
I live in Perth Western Australia and there are no recumbent dealers here
so I can only evaluate what is for me based on research on the internet,
which I have done a lot. At first I thought a Burley Limbo was for me.
Rear suspension and convertible wheelbase seemed like good features.
Then I thought a Burley Koosah/Jett Creek would be good. I had heard
about numb feet and I have poor circulation in my feet. Next I was
interested in a RANS Stratus, similar to the Burley but you can
effectively lock it. Then I saw a picture of the Fold Rush and I thought
that would be perfect, a LWB that easily folds. I was always concerned
with the overall length of a LWB. Then I saw the price and decided I
could not afford this. Any bike is going to cost an additional
US$300-400 to ship here and then I have to pay taxes and duty bringing
the price of a Fold Rush to almost US$4,500 ($6,000 Australian).
I have seen many Tour Easy clones and the plans on the internet. So what
I am proposing to do is make a chromoly Fold Rush based on the plans and
pictures from the internet.
I can cut and mitre the tubing and assemble it on a jig to for someone
else to TIG weld. The jig would be a 3' by 7' 1" thick piece of particle
board wood reinforced with 3" by 1 1/2" timber around the perimeter of
the under side. The bicycle frame would be assembled flat on this jig
and the various tubes would be attached to the jig with split wood blocks
around the tubes and screwed to the board. Tube heights and alignment
could be checked against the board as a datum and adjustment made so the
frame was symetrical and straight.
The blocks would be made by drilling holes in the wood to suit the tube
diameter at a given height from the boards datum. The blocks would be
cut along this centerline to make clamps for the tubes fastened togther
with self taping wood screws. The clamps would be attached to the board
with steel angles and screws, small adjustments could be made with
washers after checking alignment and heights. The fork, bottom bracket
and rear dropouts would be installed with lengths of allthread bolted to
the board and the heights would be adjusted with nuts and washers. I
would use the front axle center as a reference and all dimensions would
be made from there.
I am 6" 3" 250 lbs with a reclined X-seam of 45". The design I a
proposing is as follows.
Folding Easy Racer Specifications
Wheelbase 70.5"
Front Wheel 405mm 1.5"
Rear Wheel 559mm x 1.5"
Head Tube Length 8"
Bottom Bracket Height 13"
Distance from Front Axle center to Bottom Bracket center 18"
Seat height (assuming seat is 4" above top tube) 24"
Head tube angle 59 degrees
Trail 2"
Rake 3 3/16"
68mm wide bottom bracket
135mm rear dropout spacing
Top Tube 1 1/8" diameter 0.035" wall
Bottom Tube 1 1/8" diameter 0.035" wall
Derailleur Tube 1 1/8" diameter 0.035" wall
Chain stay tubes 7/8" diameter 0.035" wall
Seat stay tubes 5/8" diameter 0.035" wall
Front seat tube 7/8" diameter 0.035" wall
Rear seat tube 7/8" diameter 0.035" wall
Rear Triangle seat tube 5/8" diameter 0.035" wall
(The Fold Rush has three seat tubes the above are listed from front to
back of the bicycle)
The folding/suspension pivot point will be a hinge made from 1 1/8" tube
0.25" wall, 5/8" IGUS bushes and a 1/2" bolt. I have selected this size
tube as it would need a to be reasonably thick to act as a hinge and
standard inch bush sizes are multiples of 1/8". I know the wall
thickness is a bit too thick and I have concerns about welding this but
the tube ID needs to be a multiple of 1/8". The total length of the
hinge is approximately 8" and it is parallel to the bottom bracket.
Chainstays will be easy to mitre to this.
I have a 1992 mountain bike with Deore LX/DX components with very few
miles on it. I was going to use this for the cantilever brakes, cranks,
derailleurs, hubs etc.
I have a couple of questions for the group. Any and all feedback would
be greatly appreciated.
1) Do the tube diameters and thicknesses seem about right.
2) Will the 1/4" thick hinge tube pose a problem for welding the 0.035"
wall chainstays and seat tube. These will be virtually perpendicular to
the hinge. The weld will be the ends of the chainstays and seat tube to
the outside surface of the 1 1/8" 1/4"wall hinge tube.
3) How far can the outer most edge of the chainstays be from the face
edge of the bottom bracket. Currently they are 1/4" from the edge.
Consistent with uprights and recumbent pictures. If I reduce this
distance (maybe to 1/8") I can make a large reduction in the pivot hinge
length. The rear wheel folds up in between the two chainstays and they
taper outwards. If I can make the gap larger at the bottom bracket I can
make it smaller at the hinge.
4) Does the above jig pose any problems with respect to welding? The far
side of the welds would be difficult to get at. Could the welder do part
of weld or tack the frame together, remove from the jig, then complete
the welds? Or would stopping and starting the welds be undesirable or
perhaps nessecary to prevent distortion caused by the metal expanding?
I would appreciate any comments, advice, ideas and questions any has with
the above. I have made a preliminary drawing on CAD software and will
try to post a picture of it at
http://geocities.com/knerp2000/
Anyone that would like to respond by e-mail can send to
[email protected]. Please add 1 to the above e-mail address (i.e. 1999
plus one equals two thousand)
Thanking you in advance,
Marcus "I want a Folding Tour Easy" Jackson
I have been lurking around alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent for a few weeks now
after seeing a picture of recumbent bicycle. I now know that the bicycle
was a old Easy Racer and it looked very comfortable. I have been aware
of recumbent bicycles for a while but I had a look on the internet to
find out more.
I live in Perth Western Australia and there are no recumbent dealers here
so I can only evaluate what is for me based on research on the internet,
which I have done a lot. At first I thought a Burley Limbo was for me.
Rear suspension and convertible wheelbase seemed like good features.
Then I thought a Burley Koosah/Jett Creek would be good. I had heard
about numb feet and I have poor circulation in my feet. Next I was
interested in a RANS Stratus, similar to the Burley but you can
effectively lock it. Then I saw a picture of the Fold Rush and I thought
that would be perfect, a LWB that easily folds. I was always concerned
with the overall length of a LWB. Then I saw the price and decided I
could not afford this. Any bike is going to cost an additional
US$300-400 to ship here and then I have to pay taxes and duty bringing
the price of a Fold Rush to almost US$4,500 ($6,000 Australian).
I have seen many Tour Easy clones and the plans on the internet. So what
I am proposing to do is make a chromoly Fold Rush based on the plans and
pictures from the internet.
I can cut and mitre the tubing and assemble it on a jig to for someone
else to TIG weld. The jig would be a 3' by 7' 1" thick piece of particle
board wood reinforced with 3" by 1 1/2" timber around the perimeter of
the under side. The bicycle frame would be assembled flat on this jig
and the various tubes would be attached to the jig with split wood blocks
around the tubes and screwed to the board. Tube heights and alignment
could be checked against the board as a datum and adjustment made so the
frame was symetrical and straight.
The blocks would be made by drilling holes in the wood to suit the tube
diameter at a given height from the boards datum. The blocks would be
cut along this centerline to make clamps for the tubes fastened togther
with self taping wood screws. The clamps would be attached to the board
with steel angles and screws, small adjustments could be made with
washers after checking alignment and heights. The fork, bottom bracket
and rear dropouts would be installed with lengths of allthread bolted to
the board and the heights would be adjusted with nuts and washers. I
would use the front axle center as a reference and all dimensions would
be made from there.
I am 6" 3" 250 lbs with a reclined X-seam of 45". The design I a
proposing is as follows.
Folding Easy Racer Specifications
Wheelbase 70.5"
Front Wheel 405mm 1.5"
Rear Wheel 559mm x 1.5"
Head Tube Length 8"
Bottom Bracket Height 13"
Distance from Front Axle center to Bottom Bracket center 18"
Seat height (assuming seat is 4" above top tube) 24"
Head tube angle 59 degrees
Trail 2"
Rake 3 3/16"
68mm wide bottom bracket
135mm rear dropout spacing
Top Tube 1 1/8" diameter 0.035" wall
Bottom Tube 1 1/8" diameter 0.035" wall
Derailleur Tube 1 1/8" diameter 0.035" wall
Chain stay tubes 7/8" diameter 0.035" wall
Seat stay tubes 5/8" diameter 0.035" wall
Front seat tube 7/8" diameter 0.035" wall
Rear seat tube 7/8" diameter 0.035" wall
Rear Triangle seat tube 5/8" diameter 0.035" wall
(The Fold Rush has three seat tubes the above are listed from front to
back of the bicycle)
The folding/suspension pivot point will be a hinge made from 1 1/8" tube
0.25" wall, 5/8" IGUS bushes and a 1/2" bolt. I have selected this size
tube as it would need a to be reasonably thick to act as a hinge and
standard inch bush sizes are multiples of 1/8". I know the wall
thickness is a bit too thick and I have concerns about welding this but
the tube ID needs to be a multiple of 1/8". The total length of the
hinge is approximately 8" and it is parallel to the bottom bracket.
Chainstays will be easy to mitre to this.
I have a 1992 mountain bike with Deore LX/DX components with very few
miles on it. I was going to use this for the cantilever brakes, cranks,
derailleurs, hubs etc.
I have a couple of questions for the group. Any and all feedback would
be greatly appreciated.
1) Do the tube diameters and thicknesses seem about right.
2) Will the 1/4" thick hinge tube pose a problem for welding the 0.035"
wall chainstays and seat tube. These will be virtually perpendicular to
the hinge. The weld will be the ends of the chainstays and seat tube to
the outside surface of the 1 1/8" 1/4"wall hinge tube.
3) How far can the outer most edge of the chainstays be from the face
edge of the bottom bracket. Currently they are 1/4" from the edge.
Consistent with uprights and recumbent pictures. If I reduce this
distance (maybe to 1/8") I can make a large reduction in the pivot hinge
length. The rear wheel folds up in between the two chainstays and they
taper outwards. If I can make the gap larger at the bottom bracket I can
make it smaller at the hinge.
4) Does the above jig pose any problems with respect to welding? The far
side of the welds would be difficult to get at. Could the welder do part
of weld or tack the frame together, remove from the jig, then complete
the welds? Or would stopping and starting the welds be undesirable or
perhaps nessecary to prevent distortion caused by the metal expanding?
I would appreciate any comments, advice, ideas and questions any has with
the above. I have made a preliminary drawing on CAD software and will
try to post a picture of it at
http://geocities.com/knerp2000/
Anyone that would like to respond by e-mail can send to
[email protected]. Please add 1 to the above e-mail address (i.e. 1999
plus one equals two thousand)
Thanking you in advance,
Marcus "I want a Folding Tour Easy" Jackson
