Tall bike attempts
 

it's really nothing special to you guys but to me it's my first tall bike, well 2 attempts at a tall bike

first:http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...9/CIMG2542.jpg
didn't work so well

second:http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...9/CIMG2569.jpg
should be good and street worthy in a matter of days

Second attempt with the road frames looks a lot better. The mtb attempt looks like a triple decker some of my friends are making. That is to say, it looks like it would collapse if you rode over a bump.

I didn't trust booger welds until I destroyed my tall bike - the seat lug peeled away before the weld broke. I guess they're okay, even if they are ugly.

What was wrong with the first one?

it didn't turn, the top bike would turn sideways and warp

Just out of curiosity (I'm not trying to patronize anyone, I'm genuinely interested), what is the appeal of tall bikes? I can imagine how you'd get on one, but what if you need to stop before you get back home? How do you dismount? How hard is it to maintain balance up there?

it's really not too hard to keep balance on it, and if you want to get off, just bring both feet on one side with one foot on the pedals then jump off, i still need to get breaks on mine before critical mass though

I saw a dude tooling along, helmet on head, messenger bag on back, along the street in Simi Valley CA (suburb of LA) a couple months back. Guy was in the bike lane, stopping at lights, dealing with mid-AM weekday traffic. Very cool.

You get off the way you got on, just swing your leg over the saddle. I also like the wheelie dismount. Mine acutally rides just like a normal bike for the most part, I can acutally trackstand on it.

Nice job, dude! my first tallbike was an all-Huffy monstrosity with super-sloppy MIG welds and no brakes or, for that matter, grease in any of the bearings. This week I've been teaching myself how to TIG so I can put together a pair of beautiful old cruisers that are past their prime, big old fenders and everything. I'm so excited, but more than a little bummed that it won't be ready for critical mass this friday...

the first ones head tubes were too far from being aligned at the same angle to be able to turn. number 2 could benefit from either raising the rear just a bit or using a shorter steering tube, but it should work. nice bike!!

just thought i'd throw this in http://photos-362.ll.facebook.com/ph...33885_4423.jpg

here's my fixedgear tall bike. I can trackstand on it and do a backwards circlehttp://photos-653.ll.facebook.com/ph...894299_529.jpg

Are you also the creater of the commander and chief. If so, the C&C is the greatest bike I've ever ridden. I'm Chris F.'s friend and i crashed at your place last year

http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/phot...97776_3182.jpg

Nope mike stratton is the guy that made that one. I would like to try riding that tall tandem but it's not in town any more. Oh and there's an alleycat race for fixie riders at war memorial at 11:59pm Friday Nov. 30

i'll be at the race.

Just be aware that while welds don't have to look good to be sound, a booger, or surface splat is not a good weld. The fact that other stuff broke first, does not make it good to go. Detructive situations will often take the path of least resistance, while wear may take a sneakier path. Of course you probably aren't putting 3000 miles on these things anyway.

All the tall bikes I see in these pictures have the seat tube and saddle way too far back, why not do it how we used to do it years ago, flip the frame over so the bottom bracket is on top, flip the fork around and weld a new pipe along the seat tube going up to a new seat, that way, the seat is forward over the bb.

Do you have a picture of this, because I'd be interested to see how exactly you go about pedaling, unless you mean, that you use the existing bottom bracket on the flipped over frame. So are you saying that seated position is much higher on the older style bike you're describing?

I believe this is what he was talking about. http://blog.makezine.com/ridinghigh.jpg So yes you do use the existing BB of the flipped bike. I've never built or ridden a bike with this design, mostly because I don't think the look as good. The handling may be better, having the seat farther back on stacked bikes isn't a big deal once you get used to it.

You should totally post that in the elitist/purist convention that is the 'Jackass Fixed Gear of the Day' thread. Seriously, I think you may put a few hipsters in a sarcasm-coma.
:D
(Not talking smack, I do browse that thread and it's often pretty funny.)

Also, next halloween, you could mock-up the other 2 or 3 triangles, paint it white, and make it a snowflake. Like this:
http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w...ownloadphp.jpg
(Sorry, online image editor and no patience. you get the idea.)
Then again, I'm probably the only idiot besides the guys from SCUL that dresses up his alt-bike for halloween. Next year I'm painting my chopper woodgrain, adding fake leaves, branches etc. to make it a bike-tree. I think I'll go as a forest gnome or a lumberjack.

If you liked that bike you'll loooove this video I made of my friends track tall. I'm filming whilst riding my fixed gear tallbike. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIInUEri1Tk

Sean, can you post some close up pics of your welds, where the bottom bracket meets the tub tube, also the quality of your welds at the top fork. I picked up a 100 amp mig welder last week for $100, so the prefab has begun, just need to make sure I have the bike setup the way I want to before I weld anything.

PM sent. Also sounds like you got a good deal on the welder. Let the crazy bicycle shenanigans begin!

I ran across a couple of odd videos here- basically tall bikes made to ride similar to a penny-farthing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znbOXVpXzgg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQH_2kz1H3o

i had a tall bike for about a month and it went fine for a wile but one day wile i was riding it the weld broke and i fell right threw traffic. i think the main problem was because of the pole i used to connect the stem and the fork for steering. does anybody know where i can get a pole that is the right size to right in the holes. the one i had was too big and i had to weld it on but it was never a sturdy that would help alot. that and maybe the width of the pole.