i was inspired by all these great ideas, so here's my first iteration of the longtail bike I put together yesterday from inside my cramped college dorm room:
the bolts holding on the rear triangle were rusted on so tight I stripped them of any use so I resorted to my trusty old hack saw. Also had to drill out the inside a bit to get the axle bolt to fit:
Home depot square aluminum tubing for triangle beam:
washers and bolts:
put together:
all done! for now...
Still have to:
-get some racks and a skateboard deck like others have to make a roomy platform
-maybe fabricate some runners so I can haul bigger cargo on the side.
-rear derailleur (with bolt on hanger)
-rear brakes
edit:
-added racks commissioned from my other bikes
-zip tied my huuuge duffel bag by the straps to one side to hold boatloads of stuff or tow bikes(something I havn't tried yet)
-extended brake cable and cut longer housing to make rear brakes work.
with racks:
a bunch of junk I had lying around (helmet, sneakers, snowboard boots, statistics textbook, laundry detergent, bivy, cd binder):
and all that junk packed up nicely:
I used heavy duty zip ties on the end handles, then zip tied one main handle on the other side, while using a bungee on the other main handle.
JB weld on the frayed and intertwined extended brake cable (holding up very well so far).