Get Bent

I was downstairs in our junk room the other day looking for something to complete another project when I saw the old frame in the corner. It was a bike... years ago. Well I guess it still is technically, but it has been cannibalized for other projects. (This must be an illness). It is not just any bike frame, it is a one of a kind, because I built it. It was about ten years ago and the last big project I completed prior to moving out of California. It is the second of two bikes that I have built from scratch. Both of them were recumbent bikes. Neither were perfect but both were a blast to ride.

I tried riding "regular" bikes over the years but never enjoyed the numb hands and sore crotch that developed after a few minutes of "fun". I started looking around for options and soon found the answer, the recumbent bike. The problem was that the cost of recumbent bikes was significantly more than the groin grinders. I brooded for a few days and decided why not build my own. I'd never built a bike before but gee, that's never stopped me before. Over the next week or two, I found a couple of free bikes as parts donors. I rented some oxygen and acetylene tanks and began to create. What resulted was a long wheelbase (LWB) style recumbent with under-seat steering.

The first "ride" was VERY interesting but I soon got the hang of it and it became quite natural to ride. No numb crotch no numb hands, I was sold! I began to get other ideas. One was a front wheel drive, foldable recumbent. I did build it but it was too ungainly and was quickly scrapped. The LWB recumbent was great for long straight distances but not for around the neighborhood. I just had to have a short wheelbase (SWB) recumbent. This next one was going to be built from scratch.

I called a local supplier of aircraft steel tubing and several days later I was welding together a new bike out of 4130 cro-moly tubing. This from a rough sketch on a piece of paper. It took about a month to build, but was great fun right from the start. Definitely not an off-road bike though. It did not do well with loose gravel. (Don't ask how I found that out.)

Well the bike was placed in storage after our move and slowly lost its identity to other projects as mentioned before. Recently I decided to return it to service reasoning I needed to get back into shape (yeah, right. Anything for another project even if it is a re-do).
I have been riding a little lately and remember now why I originally chose to Get Bent.

If you are interested in weird and wonderful homebuilt human powered vehicles try this site: http://www.ihpva.org/