Friday, February 26, 2010

Snowshoeing Anyone?

Wish I could get my hands on my snowshoes! I may be reduced to making a pair. There is so much snow in bklyn getting around the next few days will be pain. I have ski poles and could probably bodge together something that would work. Hmm.... To bad I got rid of those old tennis rackets;)

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Results of Sunday's efforts

Here are the sorry results, but consider that this morning, my son and I did a 45 minute bike ride. Icy puddles look out here we come.

I) Install the heater in the lab, No way, It was really just to get it out of the way.
2) unload materials for the heap 'o parts. Good to go, moved the frame, a trike front end and some forks.
3) Do initial assembly of chrome chopper bike. got as far as getting it on the rack.
4) make shopping-digging out list of additional parts for the chopper. found the original fork, check to smaller heap for other choices.
5) install / adjust rear cables, seatpost, saddle, rack on wife's bike. No way, next time

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Sunday plans for work, chrome chopperproject


Sundays plans are clear
I) Install the heater in the lab
2) unload materials for the heap 'o parts
3) Do initial assembly of chrome chopper bike
4) make shopping-digging out list of additional parts for the chopper.
5) install / adjust rear cables, seatpost, saddle, rack on wife's bike.

I'll post tomorrow on how many items I have completed by Sunday nite.
Tonight, I should load the car with whatever stuff is left to go out to the heap: The chrome frame, some fork candidates and whatever over items I've left laying around. One of the forks I'm considering is a NOS OCC Schwinn Stingray fork and the other is a cheapie 20" suspension fork with triple trees. I want to use the Stingray, which has brakes, brake cable and lever but gotta see what fits. The frame needs a bottom bracket, crankset, handlebars. I have a banana seat and a sissy bar. Wish me luck

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Rube Goldberg homebuilder survey salvaged recovered repurposed materials

DIY recumbent home builder/mechanics are a resourceful breed. Almost uniformly, our efforts are based on taking an existing bike frame or two and bodging it/them together with parts from other bikes and creating something new. I've seen a lots of exciting projects made from trash day recovered kid's bikes. But I want to know what are the best non-bike parts you have repurposed for your ride?
We will have two categories:
Best non-bike item you bought for use on your ride
Best non-bike bit trash picked or repurposed from within your home or workshop.
Please share your eureka items and comment on posted bits.

Thanks should be fun to see our results. I have to believe my best trash pick find of a non-bike item is the Suzuki motorcycle windshield. It's going to be the fairing on my BikeE. My best store bought non-bike item is probably the plastic storage bin that fits between the rear wheels on my eldest's Worksman Trifecta