Wheel sizes on a chopper... need a quick fix.
09-30-07, 10:41 AM
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Wheel sizes on a chopper... need a quick fix.
I'm decorating a chopped bike for a crazy bike parade. Here's my delimmah:
The bike is crappy to begin with. Someone just added on some 1/2" corrugated steel pipe to the front forks, and used 3/4" steel tubing on other parts to add length to the bike. The rear fork is stock from whatever it was, bottom bracket is cut out and welded to the bottom of the downtube with the old holes still there like someone ripped the heart out of another bike.
It was sitting behind the LBS I work out, donated by someone years ago, rusting... so I took it home with a piecemeal chain and a few cans of spraypaint. I finished paint, got the chain on and started riding up my street. I got to one end, turned around and started back. About 1/2 way back, the pedals started scraping the street as I pedaled. Soon, I couldn't pedal at all because the bike pedals hit the ground everytime I made a rotation.
The rear wheel is 24", the front wheel is 10" or smaller... not a 12" rim.
I'm pretty sure the bike frame bent during the ride (duh) under my 350lbs. So, I have two options available to me:
1) Grab a 26" wheel off my old commuter bike and a 12" rim off my kid's bike and make it that way to raise the frame off the ground or
2) Straddle and scoot the bike in the crazy bike parade.
The bike, when I was riding, is a bit dangerous to ride. It's fine in a straight line, but if you want to turn, you're going to have to think way ahead of time. I'm not even sure I could make the corners in the turns of the parade, around city blocks.
The front forks are about 5' long and the bike is proabably 8-9' long in total length. When I stand it on end, it towers above me.
I'm afraid if I put on larger diameter wheels, it's just going to flex more and possible break a weld. They're really, really bad welds.
Any suggestions?
The bike is crappy to begin with. Someone just added on some 1/2" corrugated steel pipe to the front forks, and used 3/4" steel tubing on other parts to add length to the bike. The rear fork is stock from whatever it was, bottom bracket is cut out and welded to the bottom of the downtube with the old holes still there like someone ripped the heart out of another bike.
It was sitting behind the LBS I work out, donated by someone years ago, rusting... so I took it home with a piecemeal chain and a few cans of spraypaint. I finished paint, got the chain on and started riding up my street. I got to one end, turned around and started back. About 1/2 way back, the pedals started scraping the street as I pedaled. Soon, I couldn't pedal at all because the bike pedals hit the ground everytime I made a rotation.
The rear wheel is 24", the front wheel is 10" or smaller... not a 12" rim.
I'm pretty sure the bike frame bent during the ride (duh) under my 350lbs. So, I have two options available to me:
1) Grab a 26" wheel off my old commuter bike and a 12" rim off my kid's bike and make it that way to raise the frame off the ground or
2) Straddle and scoot the bike in the crazy bike parade.
The bike, when I was riding, is a bit dangerous to ride. It's fine in a straight line, but if you want to turn, you're going to have to think way ahead of time. I'm not even sure I could make the corners in the turns of the parade, around city blocks.
The front forks are about 5' long and the bike is proabably 8-9' long in total length. When I stand it on end, it towers above me.
I'm afraid if I put on larger diameter wheels, it's just going to flex more and possible break a weld. They're really, really bad welds.
Any suggestions?
09-30-07, 11:31 AM
#2
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Unbend the frame and reinforce as necessary so it doesn't bend again?
Depending on how it's bending, raising it up may just give it more room to bend down again- not a fix.
Depending on how it's bending, raising it up may just give it more room to bend down again- not a fix.
09-30-07, 01:07 PM
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I'm not a builder and really have no way of doing any type of reinforcement. I'm not sure where it's bending at, the fork or the frame... my guess would be the fork, and there's really no way to reinforce that without a welder.
