Dave Armstrong

really nice build!!!!

troysmith80

Agreed, fantastic build Zbret! Where did you find that chrome rack/frame? Is it a motorcycle subframe or something? It looks like it was perfect for the application. Did you make the red bags?

zBret

Thank you for the comments. The rack was made from one of those folding luggage dolly's. It had been hanging in my garage for a long time serving no practical purpose, so I made use of it. I do not have a before pic, but found a pic of one on the web. The rack is very strong and sturdy, and the way it is designed, you can actually stand the bike up on end on it, makes for easy chain oiling
Yes, I made the bags myself, as well.

mountaindave 

Nice! Looks like you bolted the rear sections "women's" downtube to the seatpost bolt - correct? Love it! Parking it vertical in the garage would take up much less space too!

zBret

That is correct. In fact there is no welding between any of the three main sub-assemblies (3 painted in black, see pic further above in post) that make up the bike. To connect them together, they are simply bolted to each other, in order to make the complete bike. It's the "center seat section" that really ties everything together. Should for some reason, any one bolted connection fail, there are at least, two other connection points, that will still be holding the bike together.

Sixty Fiver

When I was on my way back from Portland I drove up through Seattle and stopped at a military surplus store at the base just south of there and found a crate full of German military rain packs and in looking at them thought they made a terrible backpack but would make excellent bags for Stretch.

They have a stiff inner frame and a lower back pad that sits against my rear rails so the cargo will get a very soft ride.

Most pleasing was how easy they were to adapt to the bike... that and the fact they were $2.99 each.

Helmet webbing... or a place to stash a 20 pound turkey... or a basketball.





Quick releases... you can't see the back straps that keep the bags secured but they are also very quick to release and the bags go on and off in about a minute



Opening them up...





Insane capacity... they are designed to swallow a backpack and carry other gear on the exterior.







I think I need to take this bike camping... there are tie downs up top that might be harder to see that are designed to carry a sleeping bag or tent.

mountaindave 

Sweet find! You could buy them out and start a long-tail pack supply!! Shoot, I'd pay $6 + shipping to outfit my ride.

Sixty Fiver

Stretch is now all wheel drive... the front drive hub is an older 400 series Crystalyte that seems to have been set up for maximium torque rather than maximum speed which was pretty much perfect to make snowy 12% grades into something fun instead of a struggle when the legs are not working at 100%.

Philphine

i wish i could come across a deal on bags like that. i paid a good bit more for u.s. air force a-4 flight bags that i don't think are nearly as waterproof or versitile. i did see some really similar to that just recently, but the guy wanted $40 a piece for them.

zBret

AWD is great, I'm sure your going to enjoy it, I know I do. Having the front wheel turning, while going through mud, sand or snow, makes all the difference in the world. Should be able to power through or over about anything. I have found myself in spots several times where the front end would have washed out, or stalled my pedaling, had the front wheel not been turning.
My motor is a Bafang with planetary gears inside, it too is more for torque than speed and as a plus, the planetary gears allow the motor to freewheel while coasting, with no drag.
zBret

Sixty Fiver

The Crystalyte is not quite as advanced a motor but does not add much appreciable drag when it is freewheeling... only wanted some light assist and the deal on the package I got was one that I could not pass up.

Sixty Fiver

Almost finished with my friend's extrabike project... he will be installing a rwd Bionx to make it an Extrabike and just has to trim the top deck a little before it goes on as he plans to use conventional panniers.

zBret

Looks like the project came together very well

zBret

worthlees

Sixty Fiver,Very impressive!! Makes me want to tinker.

Philphine

backtracked recently and finished the first cargo bike i was trying




picked upthe kinda matching messenger bag recently so i leave with the bike like an accessory

i had a flat on my truck along with a flat spare, so i dug this out of the garage unfinished (no gears and just a weak front brake) thinking i might have to do a trial by fire. stick two of my truck wheels on it (one was too unbalanced) and ride up to a tire place about a mile away. turned out i didn't have to, but i figured i should finish it for the next time i'm in a pinch like that.

i've only done one test. rode up to a lowes a couple miles away and got a couple bags of lava rock (something with a little weight and a little bulk). except for how heavy the bike is on it's own, it rode fine there and back with the load (about 38lbs). out of curiousity i put both bags of rock on one side and it still seemed to ride ok (just doing some figure 8's in front of the house). i weighed the truck wheels out of curiousty and they are about 63lbs apiece. i want to believe i would have made it, but i'm glad that wasn't my first test.

so im kind of fooling with cargo bikes for fun again. working on finishing another past project (the one i called "big bottom" earlier in the thread), playing with one for a buildoff on another forum (a stretch cruiser cargo bike), an electric mountain bike i'm trying to do as much thinking on as i can before i start on it , and thinking on a lighter version of this one 'cause i think the weight is it's main real minus.

troysmith80

Very cool! is that put together from old dept. store bike frames?
Did you make that braced seat post yourself?
With weight on the rear, does the shock just ride bottomed out?

Philphine

yeah, a next mountain bike stretched out. the middle is gutted conveyor rollers from where i work, and the bag outrigger things are emt. the build is on the freakbike forum, but it's down right now.

the seat post is off ebay. i think maybe this was a girls frame, 'cause it seems kind of small, plus normally i ride a stretched out cruiser. the laid back post helps, but i mean to look for a larger frame the next try.

the shock seemed to work fine, but if i keep playing with it and trying heavier loads i want to put on a stiffer one. the shock on it now is the one that came on the bike i started with, and as mentioned, the bike seemed to be for a smaller person.

Philphine

fooling with utility bikes is still a for fun thing for me, so this is just my second try at carrying something



i'm doing a very slow gazebo build, and needed 3 pieces of 8' decking, so i measured to see how far back it would stick out from the bike, stuck an 8' ladder on it to eyeball it, and decided to try and get it on the bike.

there's a lowes about 2.5mls from my house that makes a good test run. not too far away, and there's a railroad overpass along the way to see how fighting with an uphill and downhill works out.

the load was 62lbs, but i think the length of it was the bigger issue. had a few tail wagging the dog moments. i also had a front end failure, but it looks like i managed to leave a bearing race out when i put it together (at least i hope that's what happened, even though it was real inept of me).

the whole utility bike thing is still interesting to me, but i'm seeing things that i need to try and change for my replacement attempt, mainly trying to get it lighter. even though the steering failure was my fault, i remember reading it can be a weak point on a cargo bike (i thought something like that had happened at first), so i mean to look for a bike with a 1 1/8" head tube for the next try. the suspension stays though. i like it and i felt it helping on bigger bumps that might have got the wood bouncing more. i still have the light spring on it, but with the wood it didn't bottom out. i still mean to change it eventually. i also think i want to try lowering the load, so i'm keeping an eye out for sturdy looking 20" bikes with rear suspension to make the next rear section from.

dramiscram

Here's my new project. It's coming along just fine. The dog is giving me a good hand

rdlange

OK, so I'm finally able to do one. Found two trashed NEXT bikes, one with rear suspension. Both aluminum 24" frames and front fork shocks, though. Planning to put the rear brace tube up to the seatpost rather than down to the pedalcrank area. Hoping to make racks from conduit and PVC pipe which is very easy to shape, rather than having to buy racks. Really not interested in investing alot of cash in a first build concept.

I'll try it first with the suspension active, retaining option to make it rigid because the springs are probably too weak.

Pictures soon, as I'm still assembling. Same as others I like the concept enough to build one, even though I don't live in a bike friendly area.

Philphine

made my side/extra/auxillary/whatever you want to call it stand today

i tried to get it where it touched down at the same height as the center stand, but it's about 3/4" off the ground. seems to be ok though. when you set something on the outrigger thing it touches down. also, it's on the right side. it made more sence to me there, 'cause it's away from traffic (assuming i rode with traffic), and i have a couple ideas that would involve purposly having weight on one side. being on the wrong side it works backward (you kick it forward to lift it), but that might work in my favour since it would have to roll forward for the center stand to accidentally fold up, and backward for the side stand to.
URL=https://s7.photobucket.com/user/Philphine/media/bikes/bikes002-35_zps28512b1a.jpg.html][/URL]
i just set these things on it to see what would happen, and it seemed to support them well, but then i kind of looked at my truck spare and thought about how it got me restarted on this in the first place (pic kinda washed out, sorry)
URL=https://s7.photobucket.com/user/Philphine/media/bikes/bikes003-20_zpscae679c5.jpg.html][/URL]
took this pic after a ride around the block with the tire (the tire seemed to like it). i could feel the weight being off center, but still it rode pretty good. my truck tire is also about the weight of the three pieces of lumber i carried before, so that made me a little more sure of it too. the bad handling from the lumber was the lenth and not the weight. still liking the suspension too. once again i forgot to look for a heavier spring, but it still did well. my next planned experiment is bringing home a couple good sized bags of potting soil, so i mean to make sure and get a heavier spring on before i try it.
i still want to try an eventual improved bike, but until i do, i think this bike keeps a place in the collection.

dramiscram

Almost there, all that remain is to make the rear rack more stable, a few brace should do the trick, and paint everything up.

Philphine

you never know. the posts i recently put up with the loads on it were a fairly weak spring. it had 650lbs written on the spring, and i didn't really have the adjusting nut that far screwed in. none of the loads bottomed out. after that last post i found one with 1300lbs written on the spring. since the smaller spring did better than i thought, i'm figuring i'll break the bike before i have to worry about getting beyond this spring's limit.

in any event, give it a try with the spring active. i really like the load being suspended and for now i don't see myself building one without it.

Philphine

two bags of potting soil, 70lbs each


i don't like this new photobucket layout

not much drama. the weak link was me, since i'm not much of a real biker, and the rear tire rode real low. since i can hardly see it without stopping the bike, i'm sure with my weight on it, it rode even lower than what i saw. either way, i took it slow to make sure i didn't hit a squared off bump or glass (i don't live in the most genteel neighborhood).

the bigger spring didn't get much of a test because of it, but that's ok i guess. it probaly still helped with absorbing some of what the tire may have taken so i made it home ok.

so i'm still happy with the bike, but i guess i'll have to break down and look into heavier duty tires. i may be done testing it's weight limits too, 'cause even though it always makes it home... well... shoot, ah's tired.

noglider 

Looks great!