Sixty fiver,

I thought about that as well. I'm not going to have the shock be real loose. If it doesn't work I'll just get another rear end. This one comes with a decent disk brake which I have never tried. I also figured I could use a seatpost mounted rack with a sturdy steel girder for the front of the rack and then mount a BlackBurn to that. If the rack needs to flex a little, it can because of the spring steel mounts. So it will have a bit of a hinge in the mid section. Yeah I hear you though I don't want to hear creaks and squeaks, but so far this looks okay, everything lines up perfectly.

Donor triangle attachment
 

A couple of basic questions - I think i know the answers but want to be sure.

1) The attachment point of the donor rear triangle in the rear dropouts of the bike to be extended:

Am I right in thinking that you can do this by leaving the bottom bracket in the donor rear triangle, and swapping the crank arm attachment bolts for (much) longer ones of the same thread, and filling the excess space between dropout and triangle with washers? Or is there a better way? Maybe just using one long bolt, removing the BB on the donor triangle... but then what do you use to centre the long bolt in the donor triangle BB shell?

2) My proposed bike to be extended does not have a kickstand bridge between the chainstays, but a small bridge for mudguard attachment with the hole going front to back. Would this be robust enough for the bracing strut to be attached. Would I have to use a slight smaller diameter strut with maybe a thicker gauge?

Thanks in advance and apologies if the questions are completely idiotic.

Barchettaman, that's exactly what I did with my home built. Use the BB spindle from the donor, some bolts and I used spacers instead of washers, but I'm sure the washers would work too.

I also did not have a kickstand bracket on the main frame so I used a handrail fitting that I found in an industrial catalog, like McMaster Carr, and I attached it to the seat post tube and used an aluminum pipe to attach to the donor shock mount. See the pictures. These were taken a while ago, didn't have the rear brakes hooked up at this point. I've since added the brakes and an electric front hub motor kit. The bike has been a ton of fun.

Whew...

Got to re-read this thread for the bazillionth time a I went through it and restored images that were lost in the crash... could not get them all restored but got most of the good ones.

Stretch and I are going to go and teach a class on winter cycling today... the sun is shining and as he is not wearing studded tyres (yet) it will be nicer than taking the new ice bike and I have a lot of stuff to bring with me.

With all the ingenuity on this forum, I'm still waiting for someone to come up with a good long-tail attachment that will fit seamlessly on an Adam's trail-a-bike. Imagine a bike that would be a regular bike when you want it and easily convert to a long-tail when needed. With all the trail-a-bikes out there, I'm sure there's a market for this...

We offer an expedition tandem that converts to a trail a bike, a single longtail tourer, and a triplet... cost is a mere $15,000 Cdn

:D

A few shots from this afternoon... winter cycling class went well and it felt like winter on the ride home so it was nice I had packed extra gear as it was nice enough to ride in shorts this afternoon.

Rocking some 2.1 Kenda Komodo tyres and am quite impressed at how well they roll out on the street and am looking forward to seeing how they roll out in the snow.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...retchfall2.JPG

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...retchfall1.JPG

69tr6r, that´s exactly the solution I was looking for. Back to the hardware shop for a ´Clamp-on Tee´ handrail fitting!
At some point I will be looking for an electric assist on the front wheel too but we´ll see first if Mrs Barchetta is happy to ride it without one.
Thanks all for their contributions on this thread, it´s a cracking read and has inspired me to get cracking with our Frankfurter XtraFahrrad!

again, a non serious thing for me, but i've thought about adding a trail a bike to this

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y29...andem002-3.jpg

i don't have a kid to worry about it though, so it's even less serious than the rest of the project

a tandem cruiser idea i've been fighting with. i'm using a 20" fork for a luggage rack an left part of the steerer tube on it. i'm thinking i can modify a few old goose necks and use them for attatchments. like one with a skewer for towing bikes, a one wheel trailer i'm thinking about (from a kick scooter), or a trail a bike. truthfully, i wasn't thinking about the trail a bike as a long tail extension, but...

Hi,

I'm looking to build a cargo bike based on the examples here. But I was wondering, where the rear swing-arm attaches to the rear drop-outs of the main donor frame, is it best to use a frame where the dropouts are horizontal - or would a more modern vertical dropout suffice? I'm worried that vertical dropouts would allow the joint to fall out under load?

This sort of drop-out: http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...DzzI6DDYTa4caw

Not that frame in particular- obviously :)

This is my second home build xtracycle. Rest of the photos HERE.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-i...-%25252016.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-H...-%25252022.JPG

Vertical dropouts will be fine.

yes, nice job. i need something like that!

Stretch's first ride of 2012... no need for studs yet.

http://www.ravingbikefiend.com/bikep...12stretch2.JPG

I'd like to express my gratitude to each and every person who contributed to this thread. The building of my first cargo bike would have been a lot more difficult without you!

I'd like to express my gratitude, too, to Ross Evans and all those who developed the xtracycle concept in the first place. A simple idea that makes a big difference.

After I built a second and better one, I to ad a link to this chain.

It took quite a while, but it's done.

I've put a tutorial online on how to build a long tail cargo bike, including pictures on every detail I could think of. Text is Portuguese (my mother tongue) beacause it is aimed to Brazilians and other Portuguese speaking people (in Europe and in Africa). Spanish speakers will be able to understand almost every thing without a sweat.

http://pespracima.blogspot.com/2011/...sso-passo.html

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=234848

all the best

a.

I haven't posted an update of Fugsley in a long time.
Dahon folding bike with Harley Davidson tires and OCC STingray frame parts and a water ski rack thrown in.
You can see the entire build diary on Rat Rod Bikes here
http://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/vie...p?f=21&t=44315

Here is the frame with no tires.
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/a.../WP_000959.jpg

And with tires
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/a.../WP_000979.jpg
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/a.../WP_000966.jpg
http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/a.../WP_000972.jpg

Sweet.
I made one this week end, $35 for the two bikes. I still need to connect the gear/brake cable and put on a second rack.

The rear screw holes for the rack to connect are larger than the rack holes I have. Are these standard, or do they come in different sizes? It is the back from a big box store full suspension bike.


https://sites.google.com/site/bicycl...=300&width=400

Here is a video of me riding Fugsley (my monster folding beach bike).
http://youtu.be/XTVrW-D-Vak

Looks like your having fun! Great build.

Nice, that thing is like a monster truck! I had no idea how tall it was in the pictures without a person there for reference. HOw does it do in the sand?

Thanks. You really do need a person on it to see the scale of the bike. I still haven't taken it down the the beach yet. This thing is a beast. I am guessing it weighs close to 60 pounds.

Hello, Gene here just joined and I really like all the posts, Here is what I have done to my bike.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=258971http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=258973http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=258974

Nice, Do you enter it in to shows?

Starr_ga72 : At first glance your bike looked a lot like many of the others here and i didn't pay a ton of attention. But then i looked more closely and noticed the rack structure. It is very interesting, what did you build it from, and how is it put together? Is it welded, bolted, brazed? Was it salvaged from some other assembly?

Do you have pictures of the build process?

Anyway, it looks like a good setup, nice work!

Plans for the Ghana version?
 

Are there plans available for this version anywhere? It looks GREAT, and if the gov. is mass ordering them, I bet most of the bugs have already been worked out...

Thanks!

First Build
 

Hi all new member here, I enjoy reading the forum and drawing ideas from those who have posted, so thank you for posting!

This is my first build
Made primarily from two 26" mountain bikes and some pieces from a old minibike.
It consists of five sub-assemblies
Front Frame, Center Seat Section, Rear Frame, the Rack and the Wide-Loaders.
The sub-assemblies are then bolted together to form the bike.
I am running a 700c front wheel on a modified 26" ridged fork with a 250w
electric hub motor at 24v
The bags are homemade as well
-zBret
http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC02305.jpg
http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...2313Medium.jpg
http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...2316Medium.jpg
http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...t/DSC02333.jpg
http://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...2335Medium.jpghttp://i1201.photobucket.com/albums/...2584Medium.jpg