"Charlotte is a little person. She is four years old and wanted a "pedal bicycle" like her friends have, but no commercially produced bicycle comes close to being able to fit her.
So, we started with a bicycle with 12 inch wheels and rebuilt it. The changes are: seat tube and pedal cranks shortened, bottom bracket narrowed, rear stays shortened and reshaped, forks and steering head shortened, main tube replaced with a curved tube to lower step-over height and bring handlebars closer to seat, handlebars narrowed and reshaped, carrier reshaped. The only unaltered frame parts are the front axle dropouts.
The full construction is covered in this thread:
http://forum.atomiczombie.com/showthread.php?6214-Custom-fitted-bike-for-little-person
The result is a bike that fits Charlotte and retains good proportions. More importantly, it is a pleasure to see her riding her own bicycle,when at one stage this didn't seem to be possible.
Thank you for providing the forum and website where so many bike hackers can swap ideas and learn from each other. The world is a better place for it.
Regards,
Neville Whitlock
Grandad, Petone Bike & Velo"
So, we started with a bicycle with 12 inch wheels and rebuilt it. The changes are: seat tube and pedal cranks shortened, bottom bracket narrowed, rear stays shortened and reshaped, forks and steering head shortened, main tube replaced with a curved tube to lower step-over height and bring handlebars closer to seat, handlebars narrowed and reshaped, carrier reshaped. The only unaltered frame parts are the front axle dropouts.
The full construction is covered in this thread:
http://forum.atomiczombie.com/showthread.php?6214-Custom-fitted-bike-for-little-person
The result is a bike that fits Charlotte and retains good proportions. More importantly, it is a pleasure to see her riding her own bicycle,when at one stage this didn't seem to be possible.
Thank you for providing the forum and website where so many bike hackers can swap ideas and learn from each other. The world is a better place for it.
Regards,
Neville Whitlock
Grandad, Petone Bike & Velo"
