Alt Bike Culture - Pics of your "alt bike(s)"?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/wethepeople101/103_1583.jpg

nuice!! your good dude :beer:

j # 342 jpg[/IMG]

JC Higgins Colorflow frame
Monark repro front forks
Brooks seat
Schwinn crank
Kiddie bike handlebars


Wow....

This bike is tuff as #@$$ !!

:love:

I ditched the engine because it was ridiculous and unnecessarily fast.



Does not compute.





Other than that, fantastic finished product! :beer:

one more, built for the tempe, az alleycat race this weekend...

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m80/nugenhipsta/bikes007.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m80/nugenhipsta/bikes006.jpg

You'll want to check the tire seating on that rear. It's about to pop!

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d89/jroo112/jobike.jpg

Thats pretty aggressive. Do you ever feel like you're just seconds away from loosing your teeth? What about clipping?

Heres my "Alt" bike, all it is a Old Kent beach crusier painted, front fender moved to the rear and obviously the handle bars turned. I'd like to get some new handle bars on it, but I got 2 months left in Korea and then it goes to the orphanage.

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r127/brownspictures/Picture339.jpg?t=1187179809



Peace!

if i can find the money im gonna build a chopper with 30' fork and bars and 144 spoke gold rims...it'd look so so sick

My commuter/errand runner/path rocket/nightcrawler for the last 1.5 years/4500+ miles:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b157/rohorn/Flow9.jpg


http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b157/rohorn/daddio1.jpg

I want to learn to weld so I can build something similar. Very Nice!

I'm diggin that bike.

If They Mated: A BMX bike and an old Schwinn exercise bike.

The back wheel was the front wheel of this exercise bike I found. It's solid steel I think, with a rubber strip around it. The wheel is probably as heavy as the frame. And it's a fixed gear, haha. The crankset also came off the exercise bike and that puts the gearing at 63/15. It's crazy to pedal that thing.

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/1350/dscn1250pi5.jpg

Damn and/or wtf!!! Nice work though!? :eek:

not mine but DAMN!

http://denver.craigslist.org/bik/409451881.html

not mine but DAMN!

http://denver.craigslist.org/bik/409451881.html


I know the copy will disappear eventually...

"This is a custom one off BBQ bike, it is made from three bikes and a full size sunbeam gas grill. You may have seen or eaten off of it at the thursday night cruise night or the Tour De Fat ( where it a was an award winner ). It is truely an experence to ride this party inspired piece of engineering. Some of its fine features include ,three wheel constuction with custom tie rod steering( Its easy too keep this thing up right when your feelin a bit tippsy) the grill is modified to a colman two burner stove( yes you do cook and ride at the same time)a side mounted cooler and a fire exinguisher if somthing goes wrong. If your looking for fun this is for you. If you cant have fun on this thing you pretty much SUCK!!!!!! "

Awesome!

East Hill

*Admin note: Using my mad skills, I was able to preserve the images here for all eternity. No offense EH, but this post was truly worthless without pics. ;)

**East Hill's note: whoever you are, thank you! And if you could send me a pm explaining how to do that, because it would be a useful skill to have, one which I would love to learn. :D

If They Mated: A BMX bike and an old Schwinn exercise bike.

The back wheel was the front wheel of this exercise bike I found. It's solid steel I think, with a rubber strip around it. The wheel is probably as heavy as the frame. And it's a fixed gear, haha. The crankset also came off the exercise bike and that puts the gearing at 63/15. It's crazy to pedal that thing.

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/1350/dscn1250pi5.jpg

Damnnnnnnnnnnnnn. Have you rode it around?

yeah, I ride it around my neighborhood. The rubber strip around the wheel finally came off. Thing is loud as hell now.

yeah, I ride it around my neighborhood. The rubber strip around the wheel finally came off. Thing is loud as hell now. The gearing is so high I can't even get it too skid, even with bare metal.

If They Mated: A BMX bike and an old Schwinn exercise bike.

The back wheel was the front wheel of this exercise bike I found. It's solid steel I think, with a rubber strip around it. The wheel is probably as heavy as the frame. And it's a fixed gear, haha. The crankset also came off the exercise bike and that puts the gearing at 63/15. It's crazy to pedal that thing.

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/1350/dscn1250pi5.jpg

That think is fookin awesome. I gotta look out for an old exercise bike!! :)

If They Mated: A BMX bike and an old Schwinn exercise bike.



I want to see someone try to horse hop with that. Better yet, have some friends lay down and attempt to clear them with just bunny hopping. Creative, I like it a lot

Dang, that would be bomber for Polo. If you get sick of the noise, and lack of grip on pavement you could try to mount sew-ups onto that back wheel. (do they make sew up s in that size?) Maybe you could fold a sewup like a figure eight and mount it double-side by side itself. or maybe you could glue some tubeless tires to it. Hmmm.

I just saw this one posted, but it was one of those posts where it was like 95 pages down a blog, so I just copied the picture and posted it here for you instead of using the link. There wasn't any text explaining it other than "that guys sure looks uncomfortable". Awkward, maybe, but not really uncomfortable.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/wethepeople101/IMG_0162.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/wethepeople101/bike005.jpg

Hahaha! YES! Hows it ride? That thing looks awesome!

It flips, very, very easily.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/wethepeople101/IMG_0162.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/wethepeople101/bike005.jpg


We need photos of you riding the bike, WTP.

East Hill

We need photos of you riding the bike, WTP.

East Hill

That will most likely result in loss of blood or broken bones with him.

That will most likely result in loss of blood or broken bones with him.

Oh, yeah. Uh, never mind WTP! No photos necessary :p .

East Hill

nice! are those 16" wheels or 12"?

Cool! Next step is extending the rear? :)

http://www.cycleconnections.com/images/articles/DSC05254-Holt-600.jpg

not really an "alt" bike but this is my daily.
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u156/basscadetz/IMAG0108-1.jpg

schwinn fleet frame about 1999-2000, not sure, powdercoated for free by a friend of mine
stem from a 1970's fuji
the bars were one purple and on a girls walmart mtn bike shortened, flipped, rattlecanned
gt crank and xs chainring
the back hub is freewheel with the mount for disk brakes, dunno if ill use it
the lights are the old school kind with the generator that touches the wheel, schwinn
mesenger seat from the 50's, chock full of rust, yay.


in case anyone cared...

in case anyone cared...

Of course ;) .

It looks very handy.

East Hill

fresh paint
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c330/Lownslow302/b71685b2.jpg

^^^
Electric, and eclectic at the same time :D .

East Hill

Here is my hidious alt ride!! But it's fun!
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c353/Funrover/IMG_9695.jpg

Here is my hidious alt ride!! But it's fun!
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c353/Funrover/IMG_9695.jpg

Fiberglass it

that bike is ridiculous.............. and i love it!
fast eddie outty

Here is my hidious alt ride!! But it's fun!
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c353/Funrover/IMG_9695.jpg

Do you have to keep adding duct tape? How long have you been working on it? Do you live where it's dry (I think it would not last too long here in Puget Sound :p )?

And yes, it's fun!

East Hill

Are "Alt Trikes" allowed?

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/2015/p1012664ms9.jpg
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/5296/p1013613jw0.jpg

Are "Alt Trikes" allowed?


Yes. More photos please. Lots more photos.

Are "Alt Trikes" allowed?

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/2015/p1012664ms9.jpg
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/5296/p1013613jw0.jpg

Is it an alt bike? Yes?

Absolutely! And yes, photos are always good.

East Hill

More pics hey? I'll try to mix it up a little

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/7397/p1011513if3.jpg
This is the plug. Took 14 weeks to build. About $1000Aus of auto bog in this baby! Weighs about 200kg

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/3346/p1011511uz8.jpg
This is 1 of 2 fairing moulds. The 2 go together obviously, with the frame bonded to the floor.

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/9756/gt4016fu0.jpg
The frame/chassis is a carbon fibre space frame construction. Frame is built in a jig containing all steering geometry, wheelbase and track. All tubes are built in house on a mandrel. Front wheel hubs are drum brakes. Hubs are hand built, taking about 12 hours to manufacture 1 hub. Seat is a bucket, allowing some pretty insane cornering, due to being able to push body agaisn't side of seat to lean weight over inside wheel. Steering is "push-pull". Think of a bobcat steering setup and you're on the money. Chainring is 65 tooth. The complete package minus the fairing weighs in at under 10kgs- about as much as a mid range roadbike

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4808/byo6119vj4.jpg
The complete vehicle minus paint. Fairing is Kevlar skin, with carbon (and in later vehicles, fibreglass) "rollcage" monocoqued into fairing skin. Entire fairing is vacumn bagged. With paint and external rollbar, the entire complete vehicle weighs in at 19kg/40lbs

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/3427/wonthaggi07016fr7.jpg
Our vehicle is very fast and our riders very fit, being able to average up to 46km/h over 24hrs of racing through up to 200 vehicles at a given track. On the open road we are even faster, being able to average 60km/h+ (see vid below)

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/3325/pedalprix061sc2.jpg
Rollovers are common and quite dramatic in our HPV racing. Here is a pic of our vehicle being pushed over whilst going around a very hairy corner.

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/9774/caseyracebyr004yy4.jpg
Some blood on our side windows. Being fully enclosed and strapped in with a 5-point safety harness doesn't guarantee you won't get injured in a rollover. There are gutters, barriers to smash into and occasionally, 50km/h impacts into bridges :lol: .

http://img481.imageshack.us/img481/2557/wonthaggi07004sg7.jpg
We are an independent, unsupervised team of 16-23yo males from Australia, who love building these things together. Its trhe most labour intensive and life consuming hobby I can think of, with a vehicle taking 10 months to build from scratch to use basically for one race campaign. We are the most successful HPV team in Australia. Website in sig VVVV

VIDEOS

Myself and Rowan riding in a 64km time trial (http://youtube.com/watch?v=1QVDuVDvotA)

Me riding my trainer back in the day. Demonstrates the cornering prowness of a tadpole recumbent trike (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKl7a24aqtY)

Footage of our vehicle at the last race we competed in, back in April/May (can't remember) (http://youtube.com/watch?v=vO89II-PnHY)



Hope that's adequate!

Michael.

Nutters! Great photos and commentary.

that thing is just plain fantastic. I love the idea of the push pull stearing, as other HPV's I have seen have always had the most awkward steering arangement.

And here I thought I was crazy :D !

Beautiful, beautiful.

East Hill

Wheelchairman,
Honestly, no BS, THAT is the cooles thing I've ever seen with pedals and wheels. Seriously, I love it! What's the top speed? How well does it do in competition? How hard was the frame construction? Total weight with rider? Drag coefficient? Total cost?

Edit: In my ecitement, I ovelooked the link in your sig :D

Nutters! Great photos and commentary.

And here I thought I was crazy!

Beautiful, beautiful.Thanx guys. We work hard for no real reward, so it's good to know people find it interesting!


that thing is just plain fantastic. I love the idea of the push pull stearing, as other HPV's I have seen have always had the most awkward steering arangement.Couldn't agree more. We've trialed many different setups for R&D and have always disliked them. Wether it was the feel of the steering or even the way it forced your body into certain positions.... I don't think you can beat our setup for practicality, altough the setup is complicated initially. Here's a pic of one of our kingpins- the things that steer the trike;

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/3593/06newog1.jpg
4130 Axel and kingpin, with carbon fibre steerer and ackerman arms.


Wheelchairman,
Honestly, no BS, THAT is the cooles thing I've ever seen with pedals and wheels. Seriously, I love it! What's the top speed? How well does it do in competition? How hard was the frame construction? Total weight with rider? Drag coefficient? Total cost?

Edit: In my ecitement, I ovelooked the link in your sigI'll imperialise it for youse non-metric folks ;) . We run at different speeds depending on the disipline. In a typical 24hr circuit race we run a 65t ring. We are clocked through the speed trap at one circuit, consistantly, at 43.5mph. On open road time trials we run up to a 72t ring and have clocked 60mph on a flat with a tailwind and 74.6mph down a hill in similar conditions
In competition we go pretty well. We have been beaten only twice since debut in 2003, and one of them was in very dodgy circumstances. Our run of results goes something like; 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 2nd. We hold lap records at every track we race at and a couple of distance records at times (it's very competitive racing). Here's a race report I wrote on our last 24hr campaign we did, back in March. It's a good read! http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=281703

Building a carbon frame is easy, yet extremely time consuming. Some of us have been doing carbon since our mid teens, and actually find it easier then welding, if you'll believe that!
Total weight with rider depends on the rider, but with me in it the entire thing weighs 220lbs/ 100kg (80kg weight plus vehicle)
Drag co. is unknown, yet we had an older vehicle wind tunnel tested for half a day and that is how we developed this shape. Wool tuft tests are also common.
Cost is quite high. $10KAus per vehicle constructed, which includes traveling to the race. We put in 40% of total cost, and sponsers and fundraising efforts pay the rest. We have some very good sponsers, willing to give a unknown sport such as ours a chance.

One thing I have wondered about is that it seems a major problem would be the rider getting overheated without the airflow as on a standard bicycle. Do you still have to work a good draft up through there? Or race on cold days?

AU$10k is not so bad. When you factor in the much lower cost in the US, (for everything) it could probably be almost affordably over 10 months. Where can I get plans? After all, this thing (http://www.industryoutsider.com/?p=187) starts at US$10k. :(

One thing I have wondered about is that it seems a major problem would be the rider getting overheated without the airflow as on a standard bicycle. Do you still have to work a good draft up through there? Or race on cold days?That is an issue we are constantly fighting. It's extremely easy to get air inside the fairing, but making that air "blow" onto the face is an art. It seems to be about aero and cutting an intake and an outtake that, due to their dimensions, produces adequate pressure. We have a intake on the "hat" above our windscreen and "shark gills" on the section after the door opening. Here's the inside of the intake, just after layup;
http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/1181/densosaad015po9.jpg
It's the best system I've ever experienced, and I've raced in 6 different vehicles since I was 16. We concerntrate on the upper body only. The legs are fine mostly because they're disturbing air as they rotate.
Hot days are pretty common, with half our races being late spring- mid summer. Hot days are unavoidable, and cold days are much appreaciated :lol: . Some races have seen 38*c/100*F days, so our fairing heats up to close to 60*C/140*F. All you can do is rotate riders quickly, or race with a head out design, like this vehicle;
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/5009/mb2007032ok9.jpg
This is "Tru-Blu" which came 3rd in this years Australian International Pedal Prix


Brian AU$10k is not so bad. When you factor in the much lower cost in the US, (for everything) it could probably be almost affordably over 10 months. Where can I get plans? After all, this thing starts at US$10k.The thing about us is that we use very exotic materials, which accounts for most of our costs, plus we build a new plug each year as our vehicle's design evolves, so there's a grand there......
Here's a good example.

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/543/199150228ozi9.jpg
THis is "Blueshift". They're a fellow competitor and our biggest rival. Sure, their vehicle looks advanced, but it certainly isn't. The fairing is made from coroplast sheeting and their windows from polycarbonate. Their chassis is a cro-mo spaceframe. Total weight is 50lbs. I estimate that this vehicle cost, at the most, $4000Aus to construct. It's simple yet effective. Blueshift just prove you don't need to spend big money to go fast.

Plans? We don't have any on offer I'm afraid. Plans from greenspeed trikes are easy to get though. IMO though, if you want something fast, you have to build it yourself from nothing. Most recumbent trikes manus' design things with the "recumbent rider stereotype" in mind. That is, a big fat old guy with a santa claus beard who rides at walking pace speed with a talking parrot on his shoulder :rolleyes: . They can't be pushed to the limits of adheasion that one of ours can. Its a weird issue, and I certainly can't help from over here :(
As for that link to the velomobile........ no wonder popularity is lacking in this area. That thing is ugly and agricultural. Plus the aero is all wrong and it's typically heavy. If you want a real velomobile then people gotta stop looking at Europe and at Australia instead.

http://www.trisled.com.au/images/murray2.jpg
Take Trisled for example. This velomobile came 4th at AIPP. And it's a production trike racing custom rides. Having HPV races over here allows local manufactures to test their designs and ideas to their limits, and this only benifits the customer. You can pick the above machine up for $7000ish Aus. It's aero, its sub 44lbs and it's practical to work on etc.