A number of years ago I received a "mention" and wondered what it was. I asked one of the moderators and got a "I don't know" answer. So I didn't worry about it.


Now that it seems that I've gotten more mentions without knowing it I'll just continue living like before. Sometimes a bit of ignorance is OK. Andy.

Well this is some of the finer welding I've done! And by that I don't mean best, I mean I had 2.5x cheaters in my helmet and wore 3x reading glasses. I did have the seat post in just past the weld area, and after every 3/8" of weld I would spin the seat post to cool the weld and make sure it wasn't seized in place. I did only drill a 3/8" hole in the seat tube before the welding. After the weld, I opened up the lock tube with a die grinder and smoothed the inside of the seat tube with a tiny drum sander on a die grinder. A little de-burring with a chainsaw file and that's as good as it gets.

It looks nice. :thumb: I assume the fully assembled photo is holding the post.

I'd probably plug weld the hole, but then you'll have some reaming to do, hopefully not too bad. I've never welded with aluminum behind my welding, but perhaps that would help, although filling a hole is different than simple welding.

Once you get done massacring the fame, you should send some photos to Bilenky.

You will need a pretty long seatpost if somebody ever chooses to raise it, but I suppose they can deal with that later.

I was going to plug the holes for them ( I punched a couple of 3/16" diameter blanks out of the seat post offcut) which I was going to fuse in place, but ran out of time because the owners wanted to come and pick it up. Copper is a better weld backer, but aluminum works pretty well. The seat post is plenty long at 12-3/4". In the pic it is inserted to just below the lock mechanism. I believe this is all the massacring that may be necessary (hopefully!).


For some reason this site will not let me post some pics? Anyways, it looks like they could have almost 8" of seat tube sticking out if they wanted.

Thanks a million for all your advice and thank you Greg for doing all the research, development, and then the actual modification...Just got back from taking the bike out for a 2 1/2 hour ride and it is like a new bike - the bike seat can get low enough now that there's no knee strain, the seat is solidly locked into position, can be adjusted as needed - the Stoker, absolutely loves it, loves the feeling of being able to move freely and to chat within hearing range while we are cycling - gear changing, brakes, and steering had become too much on the recumbent trike, now by working together on the tandem we are back cycling as a team. Thank you so much Greg for taking on the modifications and for everyone in this forum for your advice. Happy Cycling!!