Tired of those same-old choppers where the rider is above the fork, I designed an underslung chopper...
It lives! This bike is finally rideable, and it's fast! The rear wheel acts as a gravity motor. It powers up hills and turns like a train. I towed a trailer 140 blocks the other day loaded with a tallchopper... I've commuted on a triple-high but never felt compelled to wear a helmet in my life, but this bike scares me enough to make me put on a nugget-bucket. It's motorcycle mass moving at motorcycle speed.
http://non.primate.net/chopper/longchainey001.jpg
I made the wide bottom bracket out of a pipe and two flanged bearings, then I cut a bottom-bracket spindle and welded it on 3/4" solid rod. The chain ring and crank assembly is spaced left-right with washers.
Here's the fatback kit, looking up at the derailleur. I just made a plate so I can swap out the rear wheel if I find a single twenny-fo'.
http://non.primate.net/chopper/longchainey006.jpg
You can ride a passenger on the pipes:
http://non.primate.net/chopper/longchainey007.jpg
The headset and rear axle are set on six-dolla-holla Northern Tool pillow block bearings:
http://non.primate.net/chopper/longchainey004.jpg
There's some weird science going on with this underslung system...
-when the rear wheel hits a consistent rough pattern it sets up harmonics in the fork and the front wheel skitters all over the road
-it eats bumps and drops alive but riding down a 3/4" seam in the street will toss you on your side
-looking at the bottom of your fork is really weird. But you don't really see the frame because you go perfectly straight such a small percentage of your ride.
The bike's name is "Long Chainey" and it is incomplete. I still need brakes.
please keep this thread on-topic
donnamb
05-07-07, 08:32 PM
How fascinating. I'd love to see it in motion, but Chicago is a really long bike ride from here. :(
xddorox
05-07-07, 08:49 PM
Totally insane! I love it:D
hockeyteeth
05-07-07, 09:21 PM
Oh my god! You totally need to take some video, Johnny.
I like the skull weld for the headset, haha.
wethepeople
05-07-07, 10:39 PM
You. Are. GOD!
mastershake916
05-07-07, 10:41 PM
That's unlike anything that I've ever seen.
Very impressive.
I wonder if a big, fat 29" MTB tire stuffed on the at rim might
help the wandering crack problem ??
bantam700
05-07-07, 11:06 PM
nice, I want one!
Capn ¡FUN!
05-08-07, 12:15 AM
is nobody gunna mention how ****ty the welds are, I mean egads!
Sammyboy
05-08-07, 04:53 AM
I totally need to ride that. Maybe it's just me, but I can't see where the bars are? I mean, they must be above your head, at the top of the.....the.......I wanna say fork, but I'm not sure it really is! Anyway, I can't see them. Is the rear wheel braked at all?
ebow3d
05-08-07, 05:04 AM
Very cool bike.
A suggestion: if you put a street bike (motorbike) rear tire on, you will improve the handling a lot. That flat profile of your car tire would cause major handling/straight line problems.
Please keep posting pics.
mastershake916
05-08-07, 08:26 AM
is nobody gunna mention how ****ty the welds are, I mean egads!
I like the ones in the bottom picture, it looks like a face.
dmotoguy
05-08-07, 09:11 AM
At first I thought it was three x's..
I dig that ish man.
Johnny Payphone
05-08-07, 12:13 PM
A suggestion: if you put a street bike (motorbike) rear tire on, you will improve the handling a lot. That flat profile of your car tire would cause major handling/straight line problems.
yes, but motorcycle tires are round, and then I wouldn't have a big flat car tire on my bike, which is the whole point.
Rincewind8
05-08-07, 01:11 PM
yes, but motorcycle tires are round, and then I wouldn't have a big flat car tire on my bike, which is the whole point.
You could over-inflate the car tire a little bit and get a similar effect.
dmotoguy
05-08-07, 03:01 PM
picture of you on it for scale?
Fast Eddie
05-09-07, 07:17 AM
that is AWESOME!!!!!! ya gotta post video or at least some pix of it mounted. fast eddie outty
DonPenguino
05-09-07, 10:55 AM
Damn, I REALLY want to check that out.
wethepeople
05-10-07, 01:49 AM
picture of you on it for scale?
I hope he doesn't mind me leeching his bandwidth for this.
http://non.primate.net/chopper/doomed.jpg
knalb
05-12-07, 04:52 PM
Now, it's just my opinion.. but...
I think I would like it a bit more if it looked like this:
http://knalb.org/images/lc-mod.jpg
and don't you worry about the crappy photo edit here.. :D
Roll-Monroe-Co
05-12-07, 05:15 PM
Knalb-
I think a potential problem with your redesign would come when the steerer tube snapped in half and your forward momentum drew your recumbent carcass over the severed portion like a worm onto a hook.
Hmm. Actually, that would be pretty cool. Never mind. You get the first ride on the sport version of El Chaino.
Eric
Roll-Monroe-Co
05-12-07, 05:18 PM
Another idea for improving the handling might be to redo the fork with more rake. There's about 18 inches of trail there. Wheel flop city.
Wait a minute. What have I seen so far in my life to indicate that Johnny Payphone gives a pizzle about fine-tuned handling?
knalb
05-12-07, 06:12 PM
Sure, there is potential there to make it a wild ride in the event of failure, but you only live once right?
On second thought, I would like to keep some of my lower extremities. I still think it looks better without the bar in the way, but maybe with some different material it would be less prone to snaping in half.
Sledbikes
05-12-07, 07:43 PM
it handled well when i got scooted along on it im sure the ride is even better
Johnny Payphone
05-14-07, 12:58 PM
Another idea for improving the handling might be to redo the fork with more rake. There's about 18 inches of trail there. Wheel flop city.
That is the appropriate amount of rake for a dragster. This thing is fast and turning is mainly done by leaning. True the fork flop doesn't allow for tight turns, but all you gotta be able to do is turn around in the street, right? That's how biker gangs choose the length of their choppers.
The other day I scraped my axle on the ground during a turn and kept on rolling!
You have to realize this thing handles extremely well. It's quick and comfortable for long rides. It hauls trailers like they were made out of paper. I can track stand on it forever thanks to the wide wheel. Basically what it doesn't do is a) go slow or b) stop.
cupcake
05-17-07, 12:33 PM
wouldnt it be more pragmatic to use bike tires on your bike???
dumb@$$
and wouldnt it be safer to have a professionally welded frame???
i meen you are gonna hurt yourself, or someone else, with no brake!!!
what kind of IDIOT would ride an unsafe bike!!!!!
i hope you wear a helmit
Sledbikes
05-17-07, 03:29 PM
wouldnt it be more pragmatic to use bike tires on your bike???
dumb@$$
and wouldnt it be safer to have a professionally welded frame???
i meen you are gonna hurt yourself, or someone else, with no brake!!!
what kind of IDIOT would ride an unsafe bike!!!!!
i hope you wear a helmit
then youd be like everyone else on the road this chop isnt the first running a rear car tire some guys are using Mickey Thompsons on the rear with no brakes. how else would you learn to do things for yourself you porbably pay some guy 100$ to change your innertube this is a DIY lifestyle we do our own work on our own bikes safe or not crap happens i ride with no brakes but most people that see a behemoth like mine barreling down a sidewalk they all step out the way. what kind of idiot comes here talking smack and not posting a bike
Capn ¡FUN!
05-17-07, 04:46 PM
sled-dude, you better step the **** off, cupcake throws down harder than you any day, and you're just a big fat jerk. If you're not smart enough to figure out he's joking, how are you smart enough to figure out how to use the internet?
sled-dude, you better step the fü¢k off, cupcake throws down harder than you any day, and you're just a big fat jerk. If you're not smart enough to figure out he's joking, how are you smart enough to figure out how to use the internet?
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/37/119659747_20f979561f.jpg
yeah im a natural born ******* but i didnt see the J/K indicating it as joke
Fast Eddie
05-17-07, 08:22 PM
i ride unsafe bikes all the time, thats part of the fun!
fast eddie outty
Johnny Payphone
05-24-07, 05:39 PM
Update:
Suffered my first breakdown. I let a big guy ride the bike and the torque on the front floppy wheel twisted the axle into a noodle. Being one of the only bike parts in the whole bike I kind of expected it would be a weak point. Don't know what to do about that.
Also I let a black guy ride it and he was pulled over in about 45 seconds. The cops claimed that you need a driver's license to ride this bike because the wheel's so big. Those hilarious, harrassing cops!
Update with more pictures and video soon. Meanwhile take a look at one of my professional welds:
I'm no master of my craft (I'm only 30) but we Rats definitely, definitely intentionally crapify our bikes, that's the whole point.
-=£em in Pa=-
05-24-07, 05:52 PM
Update:
Suffered my first breakdown.........
Also I let a black guy ride it and he was pulled over in about 45 seconds. The cops claimed that you need a driver's license to ride this bike because the wheel's so big. Those hilarious, harrassing cops!
I dont know if I should laff or cry about the pig/pullover situation...
thats crazy. Not too surprising tho'.......
Yeah, pull up to the Ill. DMV and say yer here for your test :roflmao:
A little more R & D on the Fork/axle stuff ??
Keep this genius engineering comin' JP.... :beer:
mastershake916
05-24-07, 07:58 PM
Ahhhhh, purdy.
Sledbikes
05-25-07, 04:39 AM
Update:
Also I let a black guy ride it and he was pulled over in about 45 seconds. The cops claimed that you need a driver's license to ride this bike because the wheel's so big. Those hilarious, harrassing cops!
no theyre being pricks in general i got a 70 dollar ticket in la grange for dragging pedals:mad:
Serendipper
05-25-07, 06:03 AM
Good'n Johnny. Top shelf homebrew, really.
Three cheers!:beer::beer::beer:
$hitty welds and unsafe measures make for one wild ride.:)
robosauce
05-25-07, 09:56 AM
bummer about the breakdown (and the cops).
Johnny Payphone
06-22-07, 10:44 AM
http://non.primate.net/chopper/longchainey002.jpg
I enclosed the back end of the bike and made a little trunk in there, about the size of a six pack of tallboys. Above it there's room for the 12-volt battery for the lights and sound system. I added a fender and a tow hitch (it's a chain hook above the fender). You can see the train brake pad in front of the rear wheel, but the pedal isn't attached yet. The red and white stripes on the back end are from some kind of jersey barrier, which really makes the cars stop dead because they think they're headed for a concrete wall. In this picture you can see how the rider (me) is truly slung under the fork.