Thanks to the inspiration from this thread, I finally got it together and built a trailer. My original plan was to build an Xtend, and ended up here. Luck would have it that I was able to secure a donor today as well. I knocked the project out in a few hours and am happy with the results. I already brought home two loads of tools with ease.

I decided to go with a trailer as I can store it when not needed, and I don't have to find a place to store an extended bike.
The donor was a kid's trailer. I had some aluminum corners left over from some road cases I made a while ago. I attached them to a wood frame. I put some aluminum cross members on the underside for extra support. The rear supports are foot rests from an old wheel chair. The front is supported by the handle bar.
Total cost: $50 for the donor.

I'm thinking about adding an electric motor to the trailer for assist under load.

The rear wheel is a 24". I am thinking of using a 20" to lower the center of gravity a bit. Would that be advisable?

Again, thanks for the inspiration.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4124/...fbb2828eb9.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4128/...1f32924c03.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4111/...9ef30307f7.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4131/...0982e4b6de.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/...4c87110370.jpg

This chap in the UK documented his home made longtail build, and a very nice job he made of it too. Apologies if this has been posted before:

http://www.steves-workshop.co.uk/veh...obikeindex.htm

The fellow in the UK has a sweet bike.

Beautiful work on that one.

Took "Stretch" out for a ride to the farmer's market the other day as I felt bad for letting him gather dust... have been using my trailer a good deal as I am more comfortable on my folder which is my designated tow vehicle.

Have offered it up for sale and had a few people express interest but I am still stuck with my extrabike... think I might hold on to the bike through the winter as it really excels as a bad weather bike.

Hi all,
I'm new here, so this is a self introduction...

Live in a small town in rural South Africa, forever busy fiddling with bikes.
Currently busy scheming my way towards an xtrabike, this thread has been a great help.
I'll be posting some pics of the mock-up before I start cutting so that I can be gently steered in the best direction.
Looking forward to it.

Advice Please
 

OK, this is the general idea...
[ATTACH]Attachment 174277[/ATTACH]

Any comments/suggestions would be welcome.

My primary concern is the donor bike's top and down tubes. Should I remove them and install one support from the top of the donor bike's seat tube to the back of the other bikes BB shell?

Or weld the donor bike's down tube to the other bike's seat post?

I wait in anticipation:)

First off, you have to think about the head tube angle. If you connect the two frames so that the chain stay is extended in a straight line, you end up lowering the head angle and increasing the trail (and wheel flop). To maintain the existing steering geometry, you have to connect the rear triangle so that it's chain stay is level with the ground, keeping the original BB height. With that done, I estimate that the second top tube will meet the top of the first seat tube. In that case, you can just cut off the head and down tube and you're finished.

If you're looking to for laterally stiff connection, you need to make sure the second BB shell is connected to the first BB more directly than some bolts to the first dropouts. The way to do that would be to cut off the first dropouts and weld a 1"x2" section between the two BB shells.

:)ensen.

Something like this?
 

@purplepeople: Thank you for that.

Looks like it worked out OK. Surprising what a few hours with a grinder and that old sparking stick machine can achieve.
Rides well, bars are VERY temporary, they were closest when I reached out for bars!

No brakes or any other gubbins yet, want to get the basics sorted first.

Comments? Anybody?

I have read thru this forum, and have been planning this for about 2 years now. unemployed and ready to go! but, i see 2 ways of connecting the rear. BB and shock mount. i would think teh BB is stronger, but what do you guys think? and do you guys use the whole BB? or a bolt thru it and spacers? and last, the stabilizing rod, is that a top tube from a doner bike? or a solid piece? and last.. is more than one stability bar needed? is there flex with this long kit?


sorry for all the questions!!!

Broomhandle: I kept the donor bike's top tube (good solid piece of steel well attached at the seatpost end). Does anyone have any ideas about an additional strut?
I used a 12mm high Tensile bolt with spacers through the BB. Rock solid.

The O'l mighty ALL SPARK. ;)

I added extra spacers to the BB spindle of the donor where it attaches to the rear drops(spreads them out further) to give the chain more clearance.Kept getting chain rub in high gear.

Nice job Johann!

Thank you, Michael.

Progress has become steady (i.e. "slower") as I get to the detail.

I removed the middle gorilla, it wasn't needed
The cardboard in the triangles is to help me visualise storage compartments....
The rear rack is a work in progress
Brakes AND a bell, things are looking up

One weakness I have identified (or rather two weaknesses) are my very unfit legs :)

Latest pics showing what I'm up to....

More at http://fiforiders.blogspot.com/

The Black Mamba
 

OK, so here she is, most of the construction work finished.

Matt black with a matt clear final coat.

I have returned the Shimano SLX Chain tensioner to it's original position, it is needed if you have more than the big ring working up front (the previous one was someone's reject and only had the big ring working)
New crankset (cheapo), new chain(s), Saddle is Murray Orthoped Competition (South African, custom made), Mary Bars from On One, Ergon grips, Deore brake levers and R40 ($6) friction shifters. Eclectic mix, but it works.

Next stage is to complete the load area.....

I have a friend making up frame packs for the first and third triangles (100m and 250mm wide respectively) and probably also some panniers for the back end.

Plywood deck (sorry not too many skatebords round here), this is deep rural!

And then to set out across the country, particularly as one of the original motivations for building this bike was it's ability to carry extra water for longer desert trips.

Thanks to all of you for the advice and support...this intraweb thingymajig is damn useful :)

Tandem xtracycle
 

I've been meaning to post pictures of the finished build for a while. I've actually decided to break it down and turn it back to a regular tandem since none of my kids want to ride on the seat without pedals. I should consider myself lucky that they all want to stoke.

Attachment 179575http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=180275

Another winter is upon us... no bike handles it as well as "Stretch."

(image unavailable)

What's all that white stuff on the ground? Dust? ;)

Happy winter cycling.

Ive looked at this thread enough, im finally building a long bike. Just got back from the co-op and picked up some piece of crap mongoose full suspension for 5.30$ will probably start on it tomorrow, will put up plenty of pics during the build

Well i spent about an hour toying with the two bikes and mocked up a quick setup, using two sockets as spacers for right now just to get the spacing right and to take some measurements, gonna probably wait till the weekend till i do any more. A trip to the hardware store and a couple of hours on sat and other than the rack it should be done. I decided to just use two crappy bikes for my first xtracycle build when i finish and see how much i like it ill probably do another build using better parts and bikes as is im 6bucks into this so at the very least it will be a fun time killer. And sorry for the crappy pics i guess i dropped my actual camera one too many times the other day:)
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...2-09170201.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...2-09170215.jpg

Better pics and i took it for a ride, has a few wobbles but rode alright.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...s/DSCF2160.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...s/DSCF2161.jpg

all these long bikes are making me imagine a foldable cot on one side that you could unfold into a nice bed for overnight trips, little alum. for the frame some removable legs for support and some tent bows to keep the bug screen up and out of the way.......

Look at what I currently have on my work bench :lol:

Well i ditched the magna frame the wobble i was feeling was the frame it self, decided to use my retired commuter frame the 95' raleigh M-50 did some more temp. work and already its way more stable than the magna frame. Hopefully ill mount another rack this week and get started on the final rack build, im still not sure if i want to build one from scratch or just do the two racks back to back thing.
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...Picture003.jpg

Part of the extrabike design we all seem to be so fond of incorporates the dual rack and deck assembly to stiffen up and stabilize the frame and increase load capacity... I have also added 1 inch tubes along the chain stays to add some additional stiffness and serve as a tie down point for bunjee cords.

My extra bike has seen 1000's upon 1000's of kilometres, is entering it's 3rd winter and is still rock solid... since I have the capability to do so I will be replacing my Al racks with a custom brazed rear deck / rack which should make things even stronger.

But the key in integrating the rack and deck into the frame design as individually, these parts are fairly strong but when you mate them together the sum of the whole exceeds the sum of the parts used.

I have carried 200 pounds of gear on my bike and there isn't a hint of flex in my bike.

One should use triple bar racks instead of the lighter use double bars as these too are much stronger.

I think eventually im going to weld up a steel rack to go on it, for now im gonna build up with parts i already have. Ive got another cheapo rack im going to mount and im thinking about just getting a some wood for the deck, i was thinking about doing the same as you with the long board deck but i dont want to cut one up. This build is mostly just for fun, i would like to down the road have a long bike made for me but money wise right now isn't the best time. Im still less than 10 bucks into this and the only other thing i need to buy is a long rear derailleur cable and the wood deck so total will probably be around 20 dollars max. It will also serve as a good learning experience for future projects.
Mostly im just glad i was able to once again repurpose the M-50