News and Events

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

Saturday, October 22, 2016

New trike Part 1

Ride to Work Day at Monash Caulfield

Brazing Jig for V-brake Bosses on 24" bike fork


After brazing bosses in place

Chainring with 42t biopace ring and guard plates each side.

The parts have been painted and are drying inside now. The fork dropouts are custom made from 4mm steel and have mounting points for mudguards, derailleur and a front fairing.
The back yard photo studio has improved a bit courtesy of some renovations next door to us

This shows some changes to one of my current trikes, I have simplified the handlebar arrangement by using a one-piece bullhorn handlebar.  Its not really wide enough (40cm) as my legs come up in between the handlebars while pedalling.  They should be about 44-48cm wide.

Met my friend George down the road, this has the old handlebar arrangement.
Hi

For a few weeks I have been gathering parts for a new trike and this post shows a few pictures of the parts plus a few photos taken around town.  Within a few days I will receive the frame and seat parts but putting them together will have to fit in around a full master's thesis redraft due in a week or so.

This time I am using a 24" fork for a 24" wheel (shock horror), and adapting the frok came quite easily as there is only one set of brake bosses to braze on and none to take off.  I plan to run brake cables up through the threaded part of the fork, and hopefully there will be room at the top of the tyre for this.

Regards

Steve Nurse

Friday, October 7, 2016

New Tailbox Part 3

The bike with the new tailbox installed  on part of the Yarra bikepath.
The box has side-panels which are held on by bulldog clips. Some more construction details are shown in photo 5 of this post.
The fit of the seat to my back and bottom are not perfect, and I took this photo yesterday to assess how I can change the design to make it more comfortable and aerodynamic. The shoulder rest will  move back 30mm and the tailbox top will be raised 30mm.

In this photo (click to enlarge) you can see the piece of ply between the 2 seat supports, right above the back wheel.  This stops the supports from failure by buckling, something which happened with a previous box.

 
Hi

For 3 few days now, I have been riding a trike with a new tailbox and curved plywood seat fitted.  My quest for the perfect tailbox takes another step, but is not over!  The timber panels of this 'box can be replaced with corflute or cloth versions, but I haven't made any of these yet.

Regards

Steve nurse

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

New Tailbox Part 2

While adding the internal braces for the seat....

I found I had to do this (modified tab shown at left, existing tab shown right) extra chamfering to get all the tabs to fit in.

Bending the base board.  It had been soaked using a towel before applying the iron to finish off the bending.  Cable ties were used once the bending was done, then the tabs were glued together.

At the dumpster on the way back from stationary supplier officeworks.  A sidepanel is hanging out the side of the tailbox, I'd bought it with me to check the size of the bulldog clips I was buying. 

Flattening the pivot part of the bulldog clips.  The clip (right) has been hit with a hammer while it was clamped on to a spanner as shown below.  This lets the clip fit into the tailbox assembly easier.


 
Hi, A few more photos of the tailbox assembly.  Finished for the most part now, I should have it on the bike trike tomorrow.

Regards

Steve Nurse