FearSteer (a.k.a. crash and burn)

[68z27]

Hope all had a safe and enjoyable day! Rear fork bearing issues continue, so, wheel of death comes in to play. Removed the 2 steering tubes, cleaned up contacting surfaces, magnets to make rewelding straight and true, placed additional brackets to tac in to place, and so I hope to weld it all up tomorrow.

I would do it tonight since it has cooled down to 88F, but it's been a day.....

 

[68z27]

As I stated in the seat/saddle thread....I got this seat for free (sometimes free ain't free). My wife thinks its pretty.......ouch! I desperately need to come up with an easy way to cover this. I may just rattle can it with 2K paint. The cover may just be some type of polymer: it sure isn't leather. The top may just pop off (2nd pic) so using a spray adhesive such as 3M Super 77 (great stuff) may work to glue a thin and pliable material on top. Hmmmmm.....

 

[Captain Awesome]

As I stated in the seat/saddle thread....I got this seat for free (sometimes free ain't free). My wife thinks its pretty.......ouch! I desperately need to come up with an easy way to cover this. I may just rattle can it with 2K paint. The cover may just be some type of polymer: it sure isn't leather. The top may just pop off (2nd pic) so using a spray adhesive such as 3M Super 77 (great stuff) may work to glue a thin and pliable material on top. Hmmmmm.....View attachment 240128View attachment 240129View attachment 240126

Flex seal spray or vinyl spray

Ask @OddJob

 

[Brian macumber]

The colors kinda go along with the frame lol.

 

[Ulu]

Normal weight limit on that plastic seat is 45 pounds. Hopefully you will not be thrashing this bicycle, because at some point these seats split.

 

[68z27]

Normal weight limit on that plastic seat is 45 pounds. Hopefully you will not be thrashing this bicycle, because at some point these seats split.

Thanx, I took a closer look and found an indentation where the ink wore away and the allowed weight is close enough to your estimate to think twice about me using it. I do have this spare seat with the frame sticking thru the bose but not sure how much effort it will be to recover it. Since time is getting real short, I might have to open my wallet and buy something I already have which kind of defeats the purpose of this build.......

 

[Son of Kradus]

To have a useable currect BB shell:
With the extra chainlength, you could chop off a crank and attach a spring On the other side, thus making a chain tensioner of some sorts.

Or use the unused bb shell for a large (double?) kickstand.

Bro thats a cracker! I can see where your coming from with this! you can vary the length, how far out it is, of the runner on a tensioner by using the pedal bearing mechanisims and maybe cutting down to size! and the idea of either a kickstand is awesome! mind if I borrow them ideas at some stage!

 

[Son of Kradus]

I been fixated on your build as of late! looking at how safe it can be at a higher speed, I hope ya dont mind but off the top of me head I drew up this simple demo!
I rekon your idea can ride safer at a higher speed..(within practical reasoning) if ya give it a huge negative trail, stopping the quick steering, turn on a dial scenario (unless thats what your after) the drawing below sort of simplifies what im saying!.... so this is assuming your turning the front wheel via crank n chain or unicycle style.
part A (top) is if you were to use a BMX style fork set up, it would allow super fast steering, turn on a dial yes but at the cost of stability at say 20mph and up,
Part B is how it looks like you may go! an entire rear drop out assembly, if you could get that to swivle and steer the bike it would result in a much slower steering, and yes the turning circle is now huge but this way should provide better trail and stability for the rear steer at speed, which for this style bike would have to be 20-25mph and above! I also think this way would allow for a rear electric hub to power as well as steer, Hmmmm what ya rekon!

 

[68z27]

SOK, you are surprisingly close. Good calls. Your Scenario B is the closest regarding steering quickness. many people set up the rear wheel similar (offset, head angle, trail, etc) to how a front wheel steers. I think that is part of what adds to the "twitchiness". I am hoping to mitigate some of that by using a long fork/steering arm that has a pivot point about mid-bike length forward. I have been watching the swing bike folks who use upper torso for the front steer and lower torso for the rear steer to view front to rear steer interaction.

To answer a couple of other points you had: no front steering, fork is locked : front wheel will be the drive wheel via crank-n-chain and electric (due to poor health/strength: I will not be using current BB shell, I plan to add one 30ish" forward and 12" below the plane of the seat and install a 1 piece crank. I just haven't gotten there yet.

Sorry I have been bad on picks but design, fabrication, and build in this weather makes for slow going. More pics will be forthcoming in hopes to clear up some of this.

 

[Son of Kradus]

Sorry I have been bad on picks but design, fabrication, and build in this weather makes for slow going. More pics will be forthcoming in hopes to clear up some of this.

Thanks for the feedback, like many I too are keen to see how this go's, I dont plan on building anything like this but to see someone work on the mechanics involved with a project like this is fantastic!

 

[68z27]

I changed gears from seat to rear steer fork and didn't get too far..........Can your band saw do this??

 

[Ulu]

You plugged 120 V saw into 240?

 

[68z27]

Nah, the saw is 14yrs+ old and has lead a hard life. I have cut a ton of steel with this refurbished HazardFrought saw (I wish I had 5 of them). It was just time for the 40uF running capacitor to "give up the ghost" and I wont receive a replacement until early next week. Even Amazonnnn didn't have 'em......

I'm forging ahead using the wheel of death.....

 

[68z27]

The running capacitor for my saw isn't in yet so moving ahead with the wheel of death.
Rear steer fork progress - green arrow shows the top landing or roof where most/all of the forces will be pushing against, the 2" brgs (blue arrows) will distribute vertical loads, provide front to back stability and allow side to side steering movement, yellow arrow is another fabricated part that will account for any off-axis tilt. The flats on that part (thumbnail closeup) will have a piece of Delrin (acetal polymer - orange arrow) it is very durable and will be attached to it to reduce friction against the top landing. Tomorrow's plans are to fab the bottom landing, drill holes and paint. Assembly pic will follow

 

[Pondo]

This build is wild! I love the concept and the materials you're using. I'm having trouble visualizing the finished product but fabrication is always fun. I can't imagine how much of a danger I'd be to myself if I had a rear steer bike. Nice work!

 

[68z27]

Thanx Pondo, (and to others). I am going to see how much I can accomplish this weekend. I would like to make some headway on my hubless rear wheel (no spokes, etc). Then I'll lay everything out for a final pic so that people can see what I had been envisioning.

 

[Pondo]

hubless rear wheel

Yes!!

 

[Tallbikeman]

I changed gears from seat to rear steer fork and didn't get too far..........Can your band saw do this??

View attachment 240783

The factory puts that smoke in there and when we let it out we get to buy another factory smoke installed part. The smoke is the magic that makes em work.

 

[68z27]

The factory puts that smoke in there and when we let it out we get to buy another factory smoke installed part. The smoke is the magic that makes em work.

Tailbikeman, I can completely relate. At school, I used to mess with the minds of some of the kids about going to the car Dealership to get factory air in their tires. Some of them actually believed me!............

 

[Ulu]

Tailbikeman, I can completely relate. At school, I used to mess with the minds of some of the kids about going to the car Dealership to get factory air in their tires. Some of them actually believed me!............

They’re putting nitrogen in these supercar tires, from the factory = factory air

Then there was that bike from Confederate that had the exhaust system routed through the swing arm pivot. Basically they now have invented muffler bearings.

What else . . . ? It’s been 50 years since I worked in a real garage. Things have changed!