Too much time spent sitting on my wonderful 84 Suzuki or my 96 Yamaha Scoot. Time to lose some weight and exercise. When I do, I'll let you know how much. It's almost Christmas 2007 and the streets are icy. Not optimal weather for bicycle riding.
I have a friend, Charlie, who is a great bicycle rider. I tried his recumbent and was sold on the idea of a recumbent. I had an old 10 speed from 1981 that put certain areas to sleep when I rode. Recumbents are the answer. No stress on body parts, clear view of your surroundings, it's great. But expensive.
So, I googled. I found these great plans at http://www.recycledrecumbent.com/ A.D. Carson has a great site and is very helpful through email. I started mine after printing about 40 pages of his site, in early November of 07. I got almost everything used (free), except the front tire, extra conduit, paint and material for the seat. I have about $120.00 in the bike. It is a copy of a $2000.00 bike. I have parts from 5 different bikes on the bike.
Here it is complete
on December 18, 2007
GONE
- Traded Feb. 2008
In late January 2008, I received a phone call from someone who had some bicycles, in his garage, to get rid of. It's a bit of a story but I said I'd come by and look at them. They were mostly older models and I said I would get rid of them for him. There were about 30 bikes and an extra 50 wheels or so. He said take all but "this one" as I'm fixing it to ride. I noticed he was walking with some difficulty and with a cane. I suggested that he should ride a recumbent and mentioned that I had recently made one.
I took him to my house to see the bike and he wanted to make a trade for my bike, the purple LWB. I didn't want to trade for the older bikes and said I could make him a recumbent given enough time. He said he was leaving town in two weeks and would really like the purple bike. I mentioned I had to borrow welding equipment and that slowed the process. He said I could borrow his 80 amp Craftsman welder to do the project. He loaned me the welder but by the next day I knew I would not be able to complete a bike in a week or so. So...I traded him the purple bike for the welder, the bikes and parts. From the purple bike, I took off the extras like the mesh seat, mirror, computer, carrying bag, water bottle, etc. He still got the best of the deal, but I had already started a SWB and could make improvements as I went.
So I am finishing the SWB (March 2008) and will then start on another LWB.