Homebuilt Bike Car

This is the bike car I built.

After seeing the bike car video I just had to make one for my nephews. I wanted to experience riding a recumbent bicycle bike car "quadracycle", "pedicab", "rickshaw" or "bikecar" but I didn't have the money so I made this one from discarded water pipe and old, rusty bicycles. One thing I noticed is they make roads higher in the center to facilitate rain runoff; this is called road crown. It makes the bike list to starboard (lean to the right) when you're riding, so I used a smaller bike on the port (left) side to make up for that. That's my story anyway. You can also see I have used unmodified spare derailleurs as chain tighteners, as suggested by a shrewd pawn shop owner. That's my brother in-law at the helm. Four people are pedalling while 2 children test out the new bolt-on bench seat I made from old oak pallet lumber, conduit, foam padding and folded blankets for cushions. I covered them in vinyl and stapled underneath. This is near the maximum weight for this contraption and the spokes break if you put too much side load on the tires. The kids are wearing seat belts.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• bike
• car
• sport
• quadracycle
• trike
• recumbent
• oss
• diy
• homebuilt
• homemade
• home
• kit
• plans
• build
• hybrid
• economy
• experimental
• pedal
• human
• powered
• travel
• pedicab
• rickshaw
• recycled
• bikes

[tld5500]

Nice. One of the many reasons I hate riding bicycle is the stupid seats. I see you have comfortable, real, seats. I was wondering how far you intended to go with the idea. I was wondering if you would have a windshield, and body, for rainy, or cold weather

[themanyone]

@tld5500 Already on the drawing board. The next one will blow everyone away! May have to rent a storage unit or something to assemble.

[Fireheart528]

@themanyone Is it possible to build a bike like that in a cargo version? Maybe firewood or garden service like?

[themanyone]

@Fireheart528 Sure just build a trailer. I found some nifty cargo trailer designs.

[ZILOGz80VIDEOS]

those are some lucky missionarys

[themanyone]

@ZILOGz80VIDEOS It was a hoot to ride, but it would eat pant legs left and right and pretzel the wheels if it went around corners too fast. We haven't seen it around. My guess is it went to a collector by now and by that I mean the trash collector.

[strangersound]

They stole it from the other guy.

[luizpigeon]

muito bom mesmo, muita  criatividade !!!!!

[Fireheart528]

@themanyone Check out atomiczombie (dot )com. They have some cool bike designs and I ended up finding inspiration from not only that, but a lawn mower with 5 (yes, 5!) two-cylinder engines on it. Don't need anything but the power steering, frame, tires, and rear axle and I'm good to go.

[tld5500]

@themanyone I hope you get it done before winter. It very hard to work outdoors. I am under the same pressure, because my tolls do not work so well below freezing, and my materials get buried below 3 feet of snow for 6 months

[MrPigglesworth]

the kid with the helmet must have downs syndrome, never know when the little bugger will abandon ship.