How to Build a Recumbant Bike
With an aerodynamic profile and stability, recumbent bikes are getting more popular than the conventional upright bicycles. Cycling is a healthy and fun-filled activity at the same time but riding recumbent bikes adds more excitement to this activity. Recumbent bicycles are a bit more expensive than the conventional ones but you can make some effort to construct such vehicle at home. You can use two of the old ten speed bicycles to make a recumbent bicycle at home. You will need to have some advanced mechanical skills, along with the abilities of welding and brazing.
Instructions
-
1
Take the first bicycle and remove the components from it which are not necessary for making the recumbent bike. Take a saw and very carefully cut off the rear triangle of the conventional bike. This will be used later.
-
2
Continue to cut the seat post all the way until you reach the bottom bracket and almost 9 inches along the top tube. This will be Section A.
-
3
Use a filer to smooth out all the cuts you have made with the saw.
-
4
Remove all the components of the second old bike, except its chain. Then cut 9 inches along the down tube to remove the steerer tube and then along the top tube where it joins the seat tube. This will form Section B of the recumbent bike.
-
5
Cut out the bottom bracket of the second bike as well and file all the edges smoothly. This shall be the Section C of the bike.
-
6
Now comes the assembling of your recumbent bike. Attach the top tube of Section A with the top tube of Section B. These two ends can be inserted into one another very easily.
-
7
Join the down tubes of Section B and C together and then connect their seat tubes as well.
-
8
Take the rear triangle which you cut off at the beginning and heat its seat stays. Now bend the hot seat stays until it remains about 9 inches from chain. You have to attach the seat stays to the joining point of the seat and the top tubes of Section A.
-
9
Now attach the chain stays to the bottom of the seat tube of Section A. Use the aircraft tubing to connect the chain stays from Section C to that joint.
-
10
Sand out each joint and clean them properly. Very carefully weld all these joints together and then allow them to cool down.
-
11
Take the components you removed from the old bikes and attach them to your recumbent bicycle. These components include the fork, stem, brakes, headset, rear derailleur, shifter, brake levers, rear wheel, cables and crank set.
