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1996 Short Wheel Base Recumbent

This is the second recumbent I built. It uses a part off my first bike I had as a child.

Frame:
A mix of road bike and BMX bike frames. The backseat support is the old banana seat support bar from my first bike when I was 8 years old.

Fork/Headset:
A 16" wheel BMX fork. Head set is just a kids BMX set used with the fork.

Crankset/Bottom Bracket:
This is off of an road bike.

Pedals:
Plastic cheap pedals.

Drivetrain/Cog/Chainring/Chain:
48/38/28 mountain bike set 170 mm lenghth arms. A 52/ 42 chain ring is shown in this early picture showing the bike in 1996.

Handlebars/Stem:
Modified steel wedge style stem with seat post extension and old 1960 style cruiser type handlebar.

Saddle/Seatpost:
The seat is combined with the bike frame and plywood is used as a base to place seat foam padding.

Brakes:
Old steel side pull brakes.

Front Wheel/Hub/Tire:
A 16'' alloy custom built wheel replaces the steel wheel seen in this picture.

Rear Wheel/Hub/Tire:
A 700c rear tire assembly.

Accessories:
A rear mounted red light and two front lights, one a LED style type, the other a older style bulb light.

More Info:
I built this bike in the spring of 1996. I liked the SWB (short wheel base) design of recumbent but could not afford to buy one. This bike is one of many different recumbent bike styles I have made to see how they work. I added a rear bag rack on the bike this last week of 05/27/10. I now can carry stuff on it with worrying about hand-holding items.

Added by stevbike. Last updated over 12 years ago.

7 Comments

strange

strange says:

i am a fan already.

Posted over 12 years ago

roadracer

roadracer says:

thats something you would see in the A-Team!

Posted over 14 years ago

hubnride

hubnride says:

freakkin rad!

Posted over 14 years ago

sloman

sloman says:

great build.

Posted over 14 years ago

stevbike

stevbike says:

A early picture of the bike after changing the drive train set-up.

Posted over 15 years ago

stevbike

stevbike says:

Welding jig set-up.

Posted over 15 years ago

stevbike

stevbike says:

Early design layout of cut-up bike parts. The original set-up used.

Posted over 15 years ago