Dragged my kids out to ride today and everyone had a blast!

We took advantage of the great weather and went out this afternoon. I was able to take turns with my older boy on his adult sized trike with the little one riding on my lap. We generally chased each other around and had a good time. I was happy with the way the trike felt and how well the little upgrades I've done worked out. I had installed a caliper brakeset on the front wheel to supplement the drum brake, possibly unneeded but it makes braking possible with either hand. The plastic cargo box works well and seems lighter and probably safer than a wire basket. The new handgrips were comfy. and most importantly the bell is compact, cute and loud!

sorry to see summer go!

Rather than focus on summer being gone, I'm going to focus on getting ready for fall.
Project one: getting the BikeE ready for commuting, repair horn mount and maintenance.
Project two: Create cargo chopper bike for riding with the kids. inspired by this post at instructables.com:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Cargo-Rack-Bike-Sport-Hauler/

I promise updates by the end of the month.

Easter Sunday in the shop and on the road?

I'm hoping to get busy today. Get a ride ready for my wife. Do a ride with as many family members as possible. install an Xtracycle frame extension on my wife's Mtn. bike. Select bits of "extra bike junk" to E-bay off. I'll post pictures today.

scoring: Got a ride/walk in with the wife and kids. The kids on the rides and the wife & I walking, Though I did ride Ian's Trifecta around some
collected and photographed and post 7 items on E-bay
didn't get the wife's ride hooked up, hoping to get her to try one of my rides.

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;)

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

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

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