News and Events

Keep up to date with the latest news and events of Modular Bikes.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Wooden Bike MK2 Part 2

Progress to Date

Seat

Rear Triangle Pivot: an old front hub.  Note the dark brown knot in the wood.  I did some rearranging so the knot would be in compression.
Hi

Well, a bit of progress on the bike this weekend, I have put together the seat and have the rear triangle in place but not fully complete or strengthened and no suspension.  More progress to report soon!

Regards

Steve

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Wooden Bike Mk2 Part1



Hi

As promised in Tuesday's blog  the nc routed timber for a couple of wooden bikes arrived yesterday.

(When I got home from work, Damian from TGC Building was at the front door, having a chat to my wife Christine.  His ute double parked in the street, I double parked my car in the street and joined in.  Damian lives in Nicholson St. very close by and sees me pootling around on the bike every now and then.  He's pleased to have had a small part in its making.  The  equivalent post from the last bike I made is here, you can compare and contrast)  

The wooden bits include the rear triangle and seat and this will be bolted on to a wooden frame made easy to build - not too much more than a plank of wood with some holes drilled in.  Anyway, will go on reporting progress.  Although there are still a few glitches, overall I'm happy.  The features shown in the sketch on this post came through fine, that is
* 2 types of cut outs to let the bits be put together with cable ties and
* the slots to hold the seat to the frame, a bit more aero than the current version

The rear triangle should be very aerodynamic and simple to build.  See how I go with strength - and flexibility - always possible to use fibreglass to reinforce.  Ok, more soon.

Actually very soon, an hour or so after this post was done I did an image search for furniture using "cable ties" and came up with some interesting results,

Here: Quite Neat
Here: Let it All hang out, I like it!
and from the same page, this! , art meets science meets human powered vehicle.  Ok, more next time, bye!

Seat held together with cable ties


Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Wooden Bike Mk2 Prolog



Hello and welcome to 2013!  Its 20 days or so into the new year and I still haven't posted anything.  Very remiss of me!

So here is a run down of recent bike activity at Abbott Grove...

Bucket List
I've been thinking about what I want to do with my fledgling (or maybe twinkle in it parent's eye, younger than fledgling!) bike business this year.  I'm very broad minded, success means building and proving a new bike, actually making money still seems a long way off.....
So for what its worth, the bucket list is shown in my sketch book above:
Build a wooden bike and ride it in a registered 200k ride. Well on the way with this, some nc routed timber for the bike should be arriving by the end of the week, so more on this soon I hope.  Incorporating some of the sketches shown above in the design.....
Sell 10 bikes or plans for bikes.  Made a good start on this, 4 bikes sold on ebay today, the results wer Moulton mk1 $500+, Raleigh, Bickerton, Panasonic all about $40.00.  Well worth the effort of selling the bikes.  A few weeks ago I bought 2 Bickertons off ebay so still have one left.  Not too fussy about what bikes I sell!
Complete an Audax 1000k ride.  I had a go at the Great Southern Randonee 1000 k without success last year.  There is another Great Ocean road 1000k late April, and I'm keen to train and have a go at it, but I'm under no illusions, there will be a lot of work to do to get there.  My current commute of 2 X 70k rides a week gives me the ability to ride 200k in a day relatively easily, but for a multi day, 1000 k ride quite a lot more training and time away from the family is necessary.  Riding an Audax 400 or 600k ride has to be part of the training!  Sofar I've sketched out a training plan with weekend rides of 200 / 300 / 200 / 400 / 200k leading up to the Geelong Flier ride on April 25 - 27.   See how I go with this one, if I don't do it it won't be a great loss.


Cycling Sandals made from Cycling Shoes
Last night I unmercifully hacked at some old bike shoes to make sandals (shoes that breathe a bit better)  Nice to ride in and inspired by a pair of Shimano Cycling Sandals I bought which aren't quite aerodynamic enough for my taste.