I have been wanting to build a recumbent for a few months now and I came across this design:

https://www.atomiczombie.com/!marauder.htm

That's it!! Game over. I'm in love! I want one. I have a welder/fabricator who has the skills to build it for me and he's just about ready to go. I have an old schwinn mountain bike for parts, mainly the crankset and derailures, maybe the rear hangers.

The builder, who is not in the same state even, wants me to spec it out so he knows how to build it. I basically need to come up with the frame dimensions. No problem! Right....

So, here I am. Where do I start? I have a 20" kids bike to use for parts, too, mainly the front fork and headset. I imagine that most of the rest will be fabricated, as he builds custom 4x4's and other automotive masterpieces from scratch. www.wickedfabrication.com is his site.

Any advice you all can give would be most appreciated!

Oh yeah, what about a seat? Would a car seat be too much?? I could find a light one

C'mon, no one has any info?

https://p206.ezboard.com/bbentrideronline
Try this board it's more relevant/active for bents.
Nice bike!

Thanks geebee! I appreciate that. The bike looks really awesome, I hope my builder guy can make one. I think it'd be a wicked-fast bike. Esp with a semi-fairing on the front...... oh yeah...

Hey there, rykoala - another fan of the Marauder! I got the book (Atomic Zombie's Bicycle Builder's Bonanza off of Amazon a month or two ago; have been drooling over the Marauder ever since. It's a very simple design that could easily be made from the two donor bikes you described and a few feet of new steel.

For the seat, I'd recommend going with the simple foam-over-plywood he's used. It's a very reclined recumbent position with your weight distributed widely, so I'd imagine this would have plenty of comfort and be very simple to build.

If you're looking to build one, I'd highly recommend his book (link above) - he has very detailed building instructions, photos, tips, etc. This would provide all of the information you need to find dimensions, and give you and the builder something clear to work from.

With the builder living so far away, you'll definately want to be prepared... these things always take longer then you'd expect. Come up with a general plan, and then start cutting up the donor bikes and piecing it together on the floor until you get a general shape. Take some measurements and try to make it the correct size, then add on some length - you can always take it off later when the bike is built and you have a chance to ride it.

In his plans, the rear triangle is constructed from a rigid front mountain bike fork, some chainstays, and exta metal. It works great, but is complicated and difficult to keep everything in alignment - it has to be perfect and could eat up a lot of time with your welder. If possible, see if you can use the complete rear triangle from that mountain bike... it would save a lot of time and frustration.

I'd like to build one this fall, but set up for touring with underseat steering and an emphasis on comfort over all out speed. It's not a typical touring design, but would be very comfortable, reliable, stable, fast, and relatively simple to build. Check it out with a trailer - perfect for touring.

Keep us posted on the building, and PM or email me if you want to discuss the details.

Good luck!
Mike

There were a couple of recumbent custom frame builders on this forum talking in this thread.

https://www.bikeforums.net/recumbent/41816-where-can-i-get-bent-custom-frame.html

I think you might be better off going with someone who regularly builds recumbent frames rather than cars, there are a lot of vehicle genre idosynchrosies they are familiar with that a car builder would not.

There are a few custom builders also over at BROL.

Well, this guy knows bicycles too, not as well as a bike frame builder, but still. Besides he owes me the work

While an experienced framebuilder would no doubt be better, I wouldn't worry about this too much. If your guy is an experienced welder, just make sure you've got it all measured and laid out correctly - it'll turn out great.

I've built a couple bikes with a buddy and his friend who can weld; they've both turned out great so long as everything was communicated clearly and there was no confusion.

Post some pics of the Marauder as it comes closer to completion... I'd really like to see how it turns out.

Mike

I just finished up my LWB recumbent frame that I tig welded out of 1" and 1.25" mild steel. This is my first build so I don't have alot of experiences but can say, it depends upon whether you will be using a frame jig or not. I built my frame jig out of a couple of 2 X 3 .120 rectangular steel tubes and have to say that building on a jig makes the frame fabrication/mockup/finish welding relatively a breeze. It also comes in handy to steady the bike when I am working on it. I too used a donor bike for my wheels, crankset, front forks and other mechanicals, otherwise everything else was built from sratch, even the seat. I copied the rans seat from a similar LWB because I like how comfortable it was. Seat supplies came from poweroncycling.com They seem to cater to the homebuilt recumbent crowd and have been very good to work with. That Maruader is a sweet bike, my next project WAS going to be a SWB, but now I changed my mind and I am going to build me one of those!!