Quote:
Originally Posted by arcosine
Ive been commuting on recumbents for 11 years now. Low racers do not make good commuter bikes. They are too low, you will be looking a cars wheels, drivers won't see you, not to mention semi trucks. Its scary! Too layed back, it's hard to balance, you will find yourself on the ground on the first sand patch. Too heavy, you are using solid steel parts. Ive only ridden a moving bottom bracket bike once, a cruze bike Vendetta. Very strange sensation steering and pedaling, they say you get use to it, but cadence has to be slow due to the dynamic imbalance on the fork, makes it wobble at high speed. Yes, I prefer long wheel base and web seats, though my current commuter is a Vision R40 swb with a tail box. It fits in the saturn. Good luck on your build.
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The input is much appreciated. I've heard about people getting spooked in traffic with low bikes, but I guess I just want to try it myself... my theory is that since I'm going slower than traffic, cars will be passing me and I shouldn't have too much of an issue with them seeing me. Especially with copious blinky lights. We don't really get semi trucks on the roads on which I ride- just Suburbans, Exploders, Acadias. Not small vehicles by a long shot, but much better than semis.
I am used to riding bikes heavily laden with groceries, packages and even other bikes (they have to get to the shop somehow), so I don't think the weight will be a problem unless I just can't get it up to speed.
We looked at doing LWB but the front wheel had to be pushed so far forward to avoid crank overlap that we didn't think it would be practical. I've only ridden one lowracer in my life (video below, pardon the language) and it was a SWB RWD custom job. It was too big for me but after just a few minutes of riding I felt quite comfortable on it. I'm hoping that my enthusiasm there will carry over onto Project Blue Bike.
LWB RWD proposal made in Autodesk Alias. I was trying to visualize stuff early on, and although I like the aesthetic, it would have been long.
Do you know if there's anything I can do to reduce fork flex on this thing? I drew up another blueprint last night and the dropouts are moving quite far outboard on the 110m fork, which will have to be trimmed as well to fit the 135mm hub. Maybe some strengtheners should be welded to the fork.
One last question, if you know. It looks as if you're using stock cranks, but would you have an idea how others re-tap shortened crank arms? I have been thinking I should make an account on recumbents.com... a lot of the inspiration for this bike came from their projects section.
