M
mowestusa
Guest
Hello,
I'm hoping some of the home builders on this group would be willing to
offer some advice. My brother and I are seriously thinking of building a
wood recumbent tandem over the winter months. We would like to try wood
because we have the tools and no welding skills.
I've looked at a number of websites that talk about building wood
recumbents, and it sounds like it would be a task we can handle. I've
already built one recumbent, a swb oss, the welding was done by someone
else. It got heavy because of the materials used by the welder, and has
5 speeds because of a welder mistake instead of 10.
Questions:
I'm considering using layers of plywood with the cannibalized bike parts
sandwiched in between the layers. It seems like this would be strong and
also lighter, because I would leave the areas without bike parts hollow.
This also seems to be a way to avoid warping problems. Is this a good
idea, or is there a better method?
I'm considering making the plywood box 4" because it would fit around
the head tube that I would bury inside of it, but is that thick enough
and strong enough for a tandem?
Any ideas to keep the length down? (I don't want to get too long because
then it will have a huge turning radius. I'm looking at the captain
being almost over the front wheel like on a swb recumbent, then mounting
the pedals of the stoker almost under the seat of the captain.)
Any easy ways to mount a rear triangle to a wood frame that are strong?
Any ideas on how to keep the front wheel and the rear wheel aligned so
they have the same track? (I'm sure this is a problem with any
homebuilt, even one that is welded together.)
Any other advice would be appreciated. Thanks for your help.
I'm hoping some of the home builders on this group would be willing to
offer some advice. My brother and I are seriously thinking of building a
wood recumbent tandem over the winter months. We would like to try wood
because we have the tools and no welding skills.
I've looked at a number of websites that talk about building wood
recumbents, and it sounds like it would be a task we can handle. I've
already built one recumbent, a swb oss, the welding was done by someone
else. It got heavy because of the materials used by the welder, and has
5 speeds because of a welder mistake instead of 10.
Questions:
I'm considering using layers of plywood with the cannibalized bike parts
sandwiched in between the layers. It seems like this would be strong and
also lighter, because I would leave the areas without bike parts hollow.
This also seems to be a way to avoid warping problems. Is this a good
idea, or is there a better method?
I'm considering making the plywood box 4" because it would fit around
the head tube that I would bury inside of it, but is that thick enough
and strong enough for a tandem?
Any ideas to keep the length down? (I don't want to get too long because
then it will have a huge turning radius. I'm looking at the captain
being almost over the front wheel like on a swb recumbent, then mounting
the pedals of the stoker almost under the seat of the captain.)
Any easy ways to mount a rear triangle to a wood frame that are strong?
Any ideas on how to keep the front wheel and the rear wheel aligned so
they have the same track? (I'm sure this is a problem with any
homebuilt, even one that is welded together.)
Any other advice would be appreciated. Thanks for your help.