It only took one year to the day to build. I mean I was still putting pinstripping on it while were waiting for Steve. This was one of a few Flat Landers of Ayer that was built for this years
4th Human Powered Vehicle Festival in Ayer MA. We used this type of bike for the rail trail in Ayer and had a great time on the ride and back at the festival. Not only did I finish the pinstripping there my wife bought me a new Schwinn seat for it that I put on it half way through the festival. I'll continue to add to it as I see fit, like a chain guard, pedals, and a rear rack. If you follow this link you can view the concept of what we were trying to achieve. Here is how I built mine.
I started with 1974 Schwinn road bike, I think it was a Continental. My Dad fished this out of the metal pile at the dump.
The frame was tall so I planned to cut it down to something like this.
With the help of my CAD program ( Cardboard Assisted Drawing )......
..... I came up with this ......
..... where I bent the backstays by hand without bending the chain stays. If I was to do this ever again I think it would be easier to match up the curves after you set the upper frame tubes. Just saying. I did a little bird mouth work here while it was close to where I welded it on with this welder. I cut myself doing this. Bummer!
This top tube was a prebent fail from another project bike but it seemed to fit here.
I took it out for a spin after I laced a Bendix Coaster Hub to a rim that my inch and a quarter by twenty seven inch tires went on.
My Bendix Coaster Brake.
So we were now into October and I worked out the fenders before I put the bike away for the winter.
By mid summer I got the itch to start the build again and I worked on the lower tubes and tank.
Mean while I put the white walls on the rims when I was inbetween painting the frame.
I have been back from the Ayer bike ride for a week now and today looked like a good day to take pictures. I have riden all weekend into Orleans and spun a few heads around. I guess I'll have to think about cleaning up my shop now!
I modified this picture to stir up a building frenzy for the others to finish their Flat Landers. I say it worked!
Graylock
4th Human Powered Vehicle Festival in Ayer MA. We used this type of bike for the rail trail in Ayer and had a great time on the ride and back at the festival. Not only did I finish the pinstripping there my wife bought me a new Schwinn seat for it that I put on it half way through the festival. I'll continue to add to it as I see fit, like a chain guard, pedals, and a rear rack. If you follow this link you can view the concept of what we were trying to achieve. Here is how I built mine.
I started with 1974 Schwinn road bike, I think it was a Continental. My Dad fished this out of the metal pile at the dump.
The frame was tall so I planned to cut it down to something like this.
With the help of my CAD program ( Cardboard Assisted Drawing )......
..... I came up with this ......
..... where I bent the backstays by hand without bending the chain stays. If I was to do this ever again I think it would be easier to match up the curves after you set the upper frame tubes. Just saying. I did a little bird mouth work here while it was close to where I welded it on with this welder. I cut myself doing this. Bummer!
This top tube was a prebent fail from another project bike but it seemed to fit here.
I took it out for a spin after I laced a Bendix Coaster Hub to a rim that my inch and a quarter by twenty seven inch tires went on.
My Bendix Coaster Brake.
So we were now into October and I worked out the fenders before I put the bike away for the winter.
By mid summer I got the itch to start the build again and I worked on the lower tubes and tank.
Mean while I put the white walls on the rims when I was inbetween painting the frame.
I have been back from the Ayer bike ride for a week now and today looked like a good day to take pictures. I have riden all weekend into Orleans and spun a few heads around. I guess I'll have to think about cleaning up my shop now!
I modified this picture to stir up a building frenzy for the others to finish their Flat Landers. I say it worked!
Graylock
Last edited:
!!
!!
!! 
