Friday, June 25, 2010

NEW DIY bike project - Tomahawk SWB recumbent lowracer - AtomicZombie.com


The Tomahawk Lowracer is all about the speed! The extremely laid back seating position means that you will always be able to deliver your full energy to the cranks, as well as cheat the wind in ways that are impossible on a standard upright bike. The short wheelbase configuration offers agile and responsive handling characteristics that make it feel as though you are piloting a jet fighter.
 
The building process is designed to allow anyone with a Do-It-Yourself desire to finish his or her own version of the Tomahawk without requiring previous bike building experience or specialized tools and skills.

The plan is laid out in a format that makes customization or alternate parts usage a breeze, so you will certainly be able to include your own imagination in the process of building a fast lowracer.


With the adjustable bottom bracket and unique frame design, riders with shorter legs will be able to pilot the Tomahawk without dealing with crank interference with the front wheel.

Before you start cutting your frame tubing, it is a good idea to read the entire plan so that you understand how modifications may affect the rest of the build.

There is plenty of room for your own design changes, and the Tomahawk can be built using the parts you have available to you.

Each of our plans is created as electronic book portable document file (PDF) with high resolution color photos followed by detailed text. Our photos are print quality resolution of at least 1024 by 768 pixels. PDFs can be viewed using Adobe® Reader®, currently the global standard for electronic document sharing. It is the only PDF file viewer that can open and interact with all PDF documents.

Every step of the build includes one or more photos, followed by the text explaining in detail how and why. The length of our plans varies depending on the complexity of the project, with printed page count ranging from 80 to over 200 pages. A plan that includes 150 printed pages typically includes roughly 150 or more photos along with the included text.

Printing the entire plan is not necessary as you can usually read through the plan and then print out only the sections that you need to take into your workshop for reference. However, feel free to print the entire plan if you want to. To ensure consistent image clarity in all of our plans, we use a high quality digital camera and take our photos in a properly lit room with a neutral background. Read more...

 



Take a look at our Builder's Gallery to see some other Lowracer examples, including many creative modifications to the plan. Our international builders community ranges from students to retired engineers, but they all have one thing in common - the desire to build their own stuff!