20mph ain't no slouch. I would be 5-6 miles behind you at the end of an hour. Had a RANS recumbent with 20" wheels. I wore out rear tires at a fearsome rate. The bike was fast. I also wore the aluminum rim out with the brake pads. There is a first for everything.
Rust Never Sleeps
- Thread starter GuitarlCarl
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66cm frame? I ride this size bike but I like the multispeed side of things so mine have 10 to 30 speeds all by derailleur. If you can spin this then you are really moving along.If'n I get to your 'hood I'll take you up on that with my pavement traveling companion
View attachment 182736
63cm with 93 gear inches. I usually average 25mph.
All that gear talk is fine when you have a frame you can spread. Think about it, you're looking at a vintage swing bike, that rear "fork" is pretty near impossible to spread much. Besides, I'm not doing anything to this frame to mod it in anyway that isn't unavoidable (as in the rusted together seat tube) or reversible (as in a BOLT on 26" clip) that said, just because I won't cut this one up doesn't mean I'm planning on restoring it either. In fact I just picked up an old SA 3 speed coaster, another favorite vintage hub I've used before. Ya gotta love the way old SA hubs click while you're coasting. So I'll likely be lacing it into one of the vintage rims I have with a single speed hub on it. The shifter is what I'm missing now. So 46 tooth mag sprocket, check that's not gonna change... SA 3 speed, check that gives me options. I may even go up on the size of the front wheel to a 20" just to get the stance right. @Couch tater your way behind brother the seat tube was done early on and a lot more heavy duty, as my big tater is gonna be sittin' on it! But thanks for thinking of me. @hamppea I have no blood pressure problems, the value in standing up is that I can now change the title of my thread without begging a mod for help. Maybe you weren't following my Thunderbolt Grease Slapper build but editing the title was a big part of it.
Carl.
Carl.
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Good call on the SA hub. In my younger years I restored a bunch of antique British bikes and got to know them well. I had to check and I still have my crimping tools and some ferules for making custom length shifter cables. If you have an OE style cable with the threaded female end that connects to the indicator chain, the tools I have allow you to cut and crimp a new internal ferule to whatever length you need. A teaspoon of Triflow will get the palls ticking like they mean business.
Some small work...
I'll be welding these little seat shims to the new clip so I can bolt the clip to the dropouts.
and below here you can see I have the beginning of the bracket fabbed to bolt the front of the clip in.
a bit of flatstock on top and a couple stout bolts it'll be done.
next I'll be fabbing a plate/bracket similar to the bracket that holds truss rods under the head tube nut on a ballooner. see it's gotta be able to swing around with the subframe, not attached to the actual frame. some threads coming out the end of those stays should work fine...
See the rear "fork"? It's very much like an Ashtabula fork and it don't spread easily. Final stance will determine the fate of the kickstand. That's a Schwinn middleweight rear clip so I may use the kickstand
Carl.
I'll be welding these little seat shims to the new clip so I can bolt the clip to the dropouts.
and below here you can see I have the beginning of the bracket fabbed to bolt the front of the clip in.
a bit of flatstock on top and a couple stout bolts it'll be done.
next I'll be fabbing a plate/bracket similar to the bracket that holds truss rods under the head tube nut on a ballooner. see it's gotta be able to swing around with the subframe, not attached to the actual frame. some threads coming out the end of those stays should work fine...
See the rear "fork"? It's very much like an Ashtabula fork and it don't spread easily. Final stance will determine the fate of the kickstand. That's a Schwinn middleweight rear clip so I may use the kickstand
Carl.
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I have lots of cable and sheath but thanks, I bought a small lot of both a while back.
Carl.
See that little 16" wheel might look good with a 20" on back but now it's just dinky. That's a 7" crank? I think without measuring, so lifting that front end up some should actually be better. You can see it's a bit close to the ground, it's a full size crank. Thinking of flipping that seat post around too.
Carl.
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I definitely need a Swing Bike in my collection. Interesting work going on here! 
I'll admit it, I like the SA click too.
I definitely use street tires for 90% of my builds. I have stacks of cheapo MTB tires I give away to the chinagirl motorbike guys around here. I'll have to look up the ratio for the SA internal gears just so we know. But I have, I believe, the same setup on Grease Slapper with a fat tire and a bike that's twice as heavy. That rear wheel is a 26" hence the probable bump up to 20" for the front. But since I have to lace up something now I will be checking the tires available for 24" I'd love a fat slick. The big little, fat skinny, combo is on almost everything I build.
Carl.
I had to peek out into my garage to see if it was even there. It sure hasn't been calling my name at all. Might be cuz it's too cold, -7 F yesterday, I think maybe 20 today, felt like a heatwave. I'm hoping to get back to it soon, I have been thinking about it and looking at the last pic I think I'm going 24" on the back no 26" and just a stretched plate at the dropouts to make it work, rather than the whole subframe. It's just too clunky looking. Now I probably should be lacing a rim just to be doing it. I do need a 24" one done now...
Oh look, there's the lazyboy.
Carl.
Oh look, there's the lazyboy.
Carl.
One thing I did on one of my stretched stays builds, i split the new stays for mre strength on the extension.
Worked out well and it has no flex. $.02
Worked out well and it has no flex. $.02
very nice. I doubt I need near as much since I'm only jumping up to a 24" from a 20". That's why I called it a plate, probably just fab something up from decent flat stock. Something that will just bolt on, as I don't want too much unneeded welding to this cool old frame
Carl.
I like where you're going with this. You got skills, fo sho'. It's a stretch swing thing. Say it five times fast.
I flipped the room for this one...
GC.
GC.
So I'm 99% with the wheel build, just a bit of truing to do. It's so close to fitting but the length of the rear "fork" prohibits that from happening without some minor surgery. Now I'm tempted to go ahead and weld it. I have some flightliner dropouts I think could be enough... But I'm going to see how clean a plate I can fab first.
GC.
GC.
So it's very much a "Highboy" with the axle at the end of the rear fork. If I go that way I'll need to scrounge up a chrome 20" front wheel. Too much leaning forward with the 16" wheel. So maybe I'm back to the stretch... I'm also thinking the stock "styled" seatpost I fabbed is going to need flipped around like so and the angle adjusted...
Oh and I'll probably push it a few more inches back. Man I need a SKINNY front wheelset and a 3 speed shifter...
GC.
Oh and I'll probably push it a few more inches back. Man I need a SKINNY front wheelset and a 3 speed shifter...
GC.
MattiThundrrr
Rattus All Terrainus
I like that Sting Ray tire!
Yep I thought, original Swing Bikes used Schwinn parts and since that tire technically is a Schwinn piece, it'd be a good match. Plus it was that or a cruddy MTB tire that was on the trike kit I stole the rim from. I also brought home a 20" chrome wheel and tire that was on ALiEN FiRE. It's just parked in my other garage so if I ain't riding it, it's fair game.
Carl.
