Some Projects Wrap Up, Others Begin….
I rode about 60 miles on the Cycle Truck during the last week. During the week I was just riding it as a naked bike, but yesterday I fashioned together a basic container using a recycle bin and some muffler clamps. It’ll do until I have a chance to build a real front rack (right now I’m waiting on metal, tools, and my bag!).
I really enjoyed those 60 miles. It’s really exciting to ride something that I built and have it work. This brazing stuff is addicting. The Cycle Truck handles well but my temporary cargo box is pretty mediocre and has a lot of flex in it. There is more to do too (building the rack, a lot of finishing work, re-routing the shift cables along the top tube, installing fenders). I still hauled a decent amount of stuff in it this weekend and the bike is already proving it’s worth. I’ll probably keep quiet on the Cycle Truck until the new rack is done.
The deck is complete. We used these neat hidden fasteners called EB-TY so it just looks like one great expanse of wood. It is sectional so we can partially disassemble it should we need to do any roof repairs. We still need to put a railing up, but it is really nice to see the deck finished. I think the tigerwood looks pretty cool too.
After today’s riding and deck building I celebrated with this nice dinner:
I promised some new projects too. Today I rode out to Aaron’s Bicycle Repair and picked up a SRAM i-Motion 9 hub. This is going on a Bike Friday Tikit. I know, I already converted a Bike Friday Tikit to have an internal hub gear (and now even Bike Friday is doing it). I have something up my sleeve for this conversion that’ll make it more interesting. The hub came from Aaron’s Bicycle Repair (what other shop in the US stocks all of this internal hub gear stuff) and came home on the Cycle Truck.
The other project is a mountain bike. I sold my mountain bike at the swap a few years ago and haven’t missed it. My cyclocross-ish IvyCycles and RB-T do nicely off road almost all the time. However we’re spending a week surrounded by mountain bike trails late this summer and I thought it would be nice to have a real mountain bike available. If I don’t ride it much compared to the IvyCycles then it’ll be on the chopping block. If I find that 60mm tires really do make a difference compared to 40mm ones then it might stick around. I bought the bike as a single speed but will be putting a Rohloff rear wheel (which is going on yet another future project) on it for now.
So that’’s a Surly fork, but the vertical drop outs tell me that it’’s not a Surly frame. What kind of beast is it?
lets take the mtn bike to the tolt trails by carnation. when will you have it together?
Alex, congrats on getting the cycle-truck rolling!!! Coupla random questions:
1) Did you need to take out any construction permits to rebuild your deck?
2) What kind of frame is that MTB — the long seat tube extension above the top tube is unusual!
Cheers and thanks!
-Jim G
Fun to see the cycletruck in action!
Thumbs up for FSC lumber! Those fasteners would be great for a sauna, keep you from getting burned on nail heads.
Belt drive Tikit? Disc braked Tikit? Cog bolted to the ISO disc holes, and the option of fixed or 9 speed (supa-flip-flopppable) Tikit? Pugslykit? Amphibious Tikit?
Which bars are those in the mountain bike pic? I”m putting together a new project/selling off old projects and those look like what I”m after.
The frame is a Rocky Mountain Hammer (or so I”m told) that has been powder coated. The welding on it is nicer than most TIG welded bikes that I”ve seen (not up to IF standards, but better than average) and the powder coating is in good shape.
The handlebars are the On-One Mary Bars. Origin-8 (J&B Importers) sells a clone called the Space Bar that I”m using on the Cycle Truck.
Jimmy is way more creative with ideas for the Tikit than I am.
JimG — The deck was just a replacement and didn”t change the structure. I think a new roof deck would require permits though.
Wow, that went from blueprint to riding fast (at least in blog time). I”ll be interested to see your front rack design for this one. My experience with the cantilevered, frame-mounted front rack on my Dutch bike (much wimpier support than your cycletruck) mirrors James Black’’s with his cargo bike. The front end seems prone to wobble with heavy loads. For me, it seems like the load tends to rock side to side, torquing the rack around the narrow center support beam.
Maybe you”ve already thought this out, but I wonder if struts from the rack sides to the bottom of the beam (forming a shallow “v” from the front) would eliminate this problem? Of course, it may not be a problem in your design, and James’’s shimmy may be related to something else, too.
I”ll be interested to hear more about how different loads handle. Great work, amd thanks for sharing the updates!
Joe — I”ve spent way too much time thinking about the rack. I”ve considered what you are talking about, and also making the bracing angle less acute by brazing a downward facing spigot on the bottom of the cargo tube.
Here is the CAD drawing (in flux, I fiddle with it on the bus almost daily):
http://alexandchristine.smugmug.com/gallery/5107556_tDdQU#331797126_osmnf
There is a sub-structure which consists of two cross pieces that are 12″ wide and brazed to the frame. If you look at the picture in full size those are made with orange lines. The rack (black lines) bolts down onto it.
My plan is to build the sub-structure incrementally to see what works. I think this is roughly the order:
* support bars alone, nothing else. This is similar to the James Black bike
* Diagonal stays from the back corners of the support bar to the downtube a few inches back from the headtube. This should add lateral stiffness to the rear support bar.
* Diagonal stays from the first set of those up to the head tube. This should help prevent twisting around the cargo tube.
* Tying the back stop of the rack to the head tube somehow. This would likely involve bolts going to those two new stays.
* (This isn”t on the drawing) Brazing a spigot that points down from the cargo tube and which goes out to the edges of the support tubes. That would tie the front support bar clearly into the rear one.
I hope to document what I learn from this incremental approach to see what works best. I think there is a lot to learn here.
Been a blog reader for some months now… LOVe the cycle truck. Interesting.. I noted that frame outside Recycled the day you posted that you bought it. I was wondering what someone would do with it!
Curious, what route do you use to travel from Ravenna (I”m over the hill in Hawthorne Hills area) to Aaron’’s in W. Seattle? Do you go straight up California from the beach?
How does one find out about future cargo rides?
Marc
Marc — To get to Aaron’’s from Ravenna I ride through Fremont, over the Fremont Bridge, to downtown along Dexter, south through downtown, across the lower West Seattle Bridge (Spokane Street) and then just take Fauntleroy to ABR. It’’s a reasonably nice ride and takes about 90 minutes each way depending on my pace and if I run into any friends. On the way home I took Myrtle Edwards and Nickerson instead of Dexter just to change things up.
Aaron lists the Cargo Bike Rides on http://www.rideyourbike.com. The next one is probably Labor Day, but not announced yet.