Building bikes in my "spare time"

Now that I am having my morning coffee in front of the computer in order to do these daily blogs, I find it difficult to talk about anything except for bikes and trikes. After 10 years of keeping to the subject on the AZ forum, it is almost strange to sit here and simply spill my thoughts out to the blank document on my screen. Ok then, let's talk about the term "spare time".

As many of you know, AtomicZombie is a spare time venture for us and I have a day job that had required a lot of attention lately. Yes indeed, I only build bikes when I have the chance and most of my days are spent in front of an oscilloscope in my basement lab where I cook up all kinds of “MacGyver-ish” solutions to my clients’ technical problems. Add to this the "To Do" list of house and yard chores and spare time is almost like gold these days.

We moved out (way out) to the country a couple of years ago and have been learning the ins and outs of being mostly off the grid and maintaining a large yard, greenhouse and garden.  We also intend to move to mainly wood heat, so there has been a lot do to in regards to cutting wood, making a woodshed, insulating the basement and getting ready for another harsh winter. So, it seems that bike building has taken a back seat lately. Am I complaining? No way! But I do miss having two or three days in a row to complete a new bike project.

So, I figured it would be interesting to show some of the other things I have been doing that require the same type of "build it and see" attitude that bike building requires. The last few weekends and non-rainy evenings have been spent digging 3 foot deep post holes in our yard in order to make an arbor and a woodshed.

We needed the arbor because we have no shade in our yard and need a space to grow grapes, so this structure will come in handy. Digging post holes in this soil was an interesting task indeed since it is hard red clay littered with baseball sized stones. This hydraulic auger really worked hard for 12 straight hours, and it was a monumental chore to dig the 20 holes we needed for both buildings.

Some online videos showed this "one man auger" effortlessly drilling into the dirt, making a hole in about 10 minutes, but here it took both of us anywhere between 30 minutes and two hours to dig a single hole due to the sticky clay and rocks that jammed up the machine. To make this thing dig, I actually had to hang off the handle while Kat attempted to keep the auger level at all times. Every 30 seconds, I then had to lift the machine out of the hole and use a screwdriver to chisel out the sticky clay. Yes indeed, we were both sore the next day!

Oh well, we eventually had the posts all set in and finished the arbor, but this two weekend job took up almost a month of evenings and weekends, so I saw no garage time last month. The end result was certainly worth the effort though, and considering this was our first attempt at putting in post or building anything like this, it turned out very well. The arbor is 32 feet long, 14 feet wide, and had a lattice roof so that we finally have a place to hang out and get some shade. I intend to write the next AZ plan on a laptop, and enjoy the country air rather than sitting inside for two straight days.

We planted eight grape plants in the bed behind the arbor and hope they will grow up the entire side of the structure and take over the roof as well. Kat cut dozens of small willow trees from the ditch and wove them between the wall boards to help the grape vines climb the wall, so this should work well as they grow.

Building something like this isn't really much different than building a bike or trike prototype, you just have to dig in and give it your best shot. Measure three times, cut once, and hope Murphy's Law won't work against you that day. So, now I have to build a similar structure to hold our firewood for the year. Oh yeah, I have to actually cut and split it as well, so that should eat up a good chunk of spare time!

I did manage to get three evenings in the bike shack though, and managed to finish the Transporter Cargo Bike, which is now half assembled.

I was just about to put the wheels and chain on and the rain came in heavy, so this is as far as I managed to get on the bike. I am hoping to have the cargo bike ready for the weekend so I can start writing up the plan (under the new arbor), but that will depend on how my day job goes.

This week, I have to complete a circuit board layout, design a software program, build a new graphics processor prototype, and somewhere in there find time to complete the woodshed, so I better keep this blog entry short and get busy so I can show off the new cargo bike soon. So, I shall talk at ya later, and hope you find some of your own spare time to enjoy fun hobbies like bike building!

~ Brad

Painting under the stars

Yesterday I managed to get a full day in on the latest project "the Transporter Cargo Bike". It was a hot one, but now that I have power running down to the old shack, I was able to stay somewhat cool by aiming a huge fan at myself as I welded and grinded away on the almost completed frame. My goal was to complete all of the welding and have the frame painted before the end of the day, but with all of those round tube trusses to weld and the fact that I had not yet figured out the kickstand, I knew it would be a late one tonight.

Since the Transporter was really turning out nicely, I decided to go all the way and add a front disc brake. Actually, this worked out well for the plan because I could now show the steps needed to remove the brake studs from the front fork and install them at the rear and then show how to make a disc brake mount for a front fork that had none. Since most of the stopping power is needed at the front of a bike, the disc option was a good one for a cargo bike that may see loads topping the few hundred pounds mark.

The cardboard template method of making a front disc brake mount went well, and was easy to do thanks to the "weld it in place" method of aligning the brake hardware. I will probably make this into a separate mini tutorial for the main page, since disc brake hardware is becoming very common and inexpensive these days, and is fairly easy to install.

Now, I was faced with how to design the kickstand. A good kickstand is a key feature on a cargo bike; it has to hold the bike stable while the heavy loads are moved on and off the platform. Obviously, a flimsy side kickstand would be pretty useless, so I worked out a stand that would raise the front end slightly off the ground and level the bike on both sides for maximum stability. This type of kickstand is called a “center stand”, and turns the bike into a trike, with three points hitting the ground (two stand legs and the rear wheel). After some testing, the stand proved to work very well and was made out of nothing more than some tubing and bits of flat bar.

When I finally finished all the welding and did a little sanding on the rough spots, the sun was already setting. I decided to paint the bike under the moonlight and brave the mosquitoes that were now coming at me in large waves.

I decided to use brush on paint this time since this bike would be taking a beating and living outdoors mostly. Instead of a perfect paint finish, I opted for a slathered on thick coat that would be easy to retouch as the bike was used like a piece of farm equipment. Under the dim light of the moon, I slopped on the paint as thick as peanut butter, painting the bugs right in as they landed on the tacky paint! I could barely see what I was doing, so I figured the paint job would be less than pretty in the morning, but yellow is somewhat forgiving and the goal was durable paint, not a showroom finish.

Next morning, I took the frame out for inspection, and wadda-ya-now, the yellow paint job wasn't all that bad! There were a few spots needing a bit of retouching and some runs near the joints, but at a distance of 6 feet away, it looked as good as a spray on paint job. I may use brush on paint a lot more in the future since it requires no primer, and costs only $10for a can that would paint 3 bikes.

The only drawback to the department store rust paint is the selection of colors: black, white, grey, red, green, blue, orange and yellow. Knowing that I can make any color imaginable by mixing red green and blue, I have a cunning plan for my next brush paint job - mix 'em and see! By using the color picker in Photoshop to get the RGB values, I "should" be able to concoct a similar color by converting the decimal value to a volumetric mixing value.

Well, that completes the first official plan of 2013, so if the weather holds out today I may get the chance to assemble the Transporter Cargo Bike and show it off in tomorrow's blog entry. I am looking forward to hauling that old freezer out of the bush and then loading a few hundred pounds of firewood onto the cargo bed to make some fun videos of the bike in action. Type y'all tomorrow.

~ Brad

My TimberWolf Delta Trike Project

By Dennis Martin

Two years ago while on vacation in Iowa after mentioning RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) my wife said to me, "Why don't you do that again?"

I hadn't ridden the ride since RAGBRAI XVI (1988), but after thinking about it for a while I thought it might be fun to do it again. The first thing I decided was that I wasn't going to do it on a regular bike!  I've got too many memories of aching back, shoulders and wrists from riding a regular road bike. I wanted a recumbent! Wow, I couldn't believe how expensive they were, and I didn't really see one I liked that well. That's when I ran across Atomic Zombie and their TimberWolf Delta Trike.

Photo 1: Chain guard on tension pulley.

I watched the video and thought to myself, "What a cool trike!" I ordered the plans and spent several days reading through the plans to get ideas on where to get the parts and various items I would need. I immediately started browsing Craigslist for cheap parts. In that way, I got fairly lucky.

I found a mountain bike for cheap and was able to scavenge the bottom bracket, derailleurs, shock and frame pivot. I also used the pedals and the brake levers.  I managed to get the whole front end on a 20" bike from Goodwill for $5! I found an estate sale on Craigslist from a bike shop owner and managed to get brand new chain (a carton of 10), complete crank and bearings and the disk brake. All were new in the box and at a significant saving over retail.

Thanks to AZ for selling the hubs and I was ready to start assembly. Assembly is pretty straightforward per the plans, but I found as I went along that there were a few changes I'd recommend to others if they want to try this (or similar) construction project.

The first thing I found was that the tension pulley really needs a chain guard. I found that if back-pedaling, the chain would drop off the pulley wheel and then get caught between the pulley and the frame when forward pressure was applied. A very simple piece of strap steel bent into a long "U" shape and attached to the pulley bolt will keep the chain in place.  Nice, simple (and inexpensive) fix (see photo 1).

Next, on the advice of my local bicycle shop, I went with a two-bolt mount for the handlebars.  The kind shown is the plans is hard to find and in reality it is much easier to mount the handlebars if you use the two-bolt assembly. That way, you don’t have to pass the entire handlebar assembly through the mount if you need to attach/detach the handlebars (see photo 2).

Photo 2: Two-bolt handlebar mount.

I discovered while assembling the seat that a better way to mount the wooden seat to the frame is to use T-Nuts and bolts rather than using wood screws. This offers a much easier way to attach the seat and won’t strip out if you have to remove the seat very many times (as I found you will do) during construction.

The plans call for a rear cargo area which is actually a Coleman cooler.  AZ told me they got theirs from Canadian Tire; I was able to order one online from Target. I chose the red one and that decided the color for the rest of the trike. I wasn’t happy with the plans where they actually have you drill holes in the cooler, so I devised a mount that wouldn’t require you to ruin a perfectly good cooler by drilling holes in it.

Instead of 3/4” tubing, I used some left over 1/2” tubing that I had left from a gate project and made a rectangular frame that just fits around the cooler. I attached a 1/2” tube on the back with some angle braces and it now attaches to the 3/4” tube that comes down from the back of the seat rest using a bolt to hold it in place. The 1/2” tubing fits perfectly inside the 3/4” tubing, and as you can see in Photo 3 the bolt is held by a wing nut to make for easy removal. I also made another carrier for the back with I will use on RAGBRAI to hold my camel back pack rather than transport the weight of the cooler on the whole trip.

Photo 3: Rear cargo carrier mount.

In Arizona, bicycles are required to have tail lights. I had difficulty finding something that would fit and be bright enough to be seen even in bright sunlight. Problem solved thanks to a couple of LED flashlights available from Home Depot (they come in a two-pack for about $9). Some inexpensive tool brackets and they are ready to go. These flashlights have a four-way light system: white, red, green and flashing red.

I mounted two of them on the rear frame and turn them both on to flashing red. They don’t blink at exactly the same rate, which works well in giving a random flashing pattern which is very visible (see photo 4).  In order to mount these evenly, I used the short stub on the right side of the rear frame for one light, and welded a bracket to support the other light. The bracket is made from a scrap piece of frame tubing. These clamp on really tight, and the flashlights are weatherproof, so I shouldn’t have to worry if I get rained on. The flashlights run on 3 AAA sized batteries each and should run for a long time in flashing mode.

Photo 4: Rear light mounts (one on each side).

The last modification was to add a bicycle flag. Sitting low to the road as this trike does, I wanted all of the added visibility of a bike flag. Unfortunately, bike flags normally mount to the axle nut on a regular bike. No rear axle nuts on this trike! Problem solved by making a bracket from some 1/8” angle iron and welding some gussets to make a sturdy frame.

Photo 5: Bike flag holder.

Next, I took another scrap of frame tubing and cut it out as seen in photo 5. An end cap is welded on to make a base for the frame to provide a way to mount to the bracket. I used a piece of 16 Ga. steel to make the clamp. By heating and striking it with a chisel while setting on top of a vise with the jaws open slightly, I was able to get a “V” shape and get the shape you see in the photo. Three 1/4” bolts with wing nuts hold the clamp in place. This makes it easy to remove the flag when transporting the trike so that the flag won’t get damaged or get in the way.

Photo 6: The finished product.

I’m looking forward to riding this on RAGBRAI XLI this year (July 21 - July 27). Maybe I’ll see some other AZ bikes on the ride. Happy pedaling!

Dennis Martin, Sun City, Arizona


Thanks for this excellent article and pictures, Dennis. Great building tips, too. Have a good time.

New AZ cargo bike project almost done

Happy Independence Day to our American community today! Hopefully, those who get some time off today will be out in the workshop making the sparks fly.

Well, you are officially reading the first entry of what will be my daily morning blog. I have decided to start having my morning coffee in front of the computer to put down my thoughts and musings on the day ahead and some of the projects I am working on for the AtomicZombie site. This will be a random scrawling of project ideas, progress reports (inducing successes and failures), general DIY stuff and whatever else comes to mind.  Ok, let's give this blogging thing a try.

The cargo bike formerly known as "the Pelican"

Often, I start a new project (plan) based on sketches I make and the name of the bike or trike takes on some aspect of the drawing. Last week, I announced the Pelican Cargo Bike, a rear loading upright cargo bike that would have a huge tub-like pouch to drop in cargo. This pouch aspect of the bike made me think of a pelican and its huge scoop-like beak.

But, as usual, things change as a bike comes together and I decided that a flatbed top would allow for carrying larger cargo and become more versatile for carrying large objects of varying size. This, of course, ruined the pelican name, so a new name is now in order.

The large flatbed will be made from a 3/4 inch thick plywood sheet with metal edges made of angle iron. Trussing will be installed along the sides so that the weight will be transferred to the main frame, allowing for a large amount of weight to be carried. Now, this new design is not pelican like in anyway, so I needed a name that fit the new design, which became more like a transport truck.

Hey, how about "the Transporter"? Yeah! That was easy. The name fits the bike and reminds me of those cool movies where Jason Statham plays a freelance driver who finds himself in all kinds of interesting predicaments. So, the cargo bike formerly known as the Pelican shall from this day be known as the Transporter Cargo Bike. Ok, now on to the design.

A made the flatbed support cage out of angle iron using techniques I discovered while making the sides for my ongoing velomobile project over the winter. By cutting notches out of the angle iron, I can bend it into seemingly round shapes and then weld it back together. A few round tubes transfer the load back to the main trussed frame tube and the plywood base will fit right into the angle iron frame to distribute the weight evenly and offer a strong yet light loading bed to carry massive cargo.

When I announced the cargo bike in the forum, I bragged that it could carry a full size freezer, and I intend to prove this claim. I found an old freezer in the bush and I will try to drag it to the road, load it onto the cargo bed, and then haul it up the dirt road.

Maybe I will even fill the freezer with other junk just to show how much weight I can haul with this new cargo bike. This kind of thing makes for great photos and videos for the site and it's fun to push a new bike to the limits.

I am almost ready to paint the Transporter Cargo Bike, but have not yet figured out the kickstand. What good is a cargo bike that can’t stand up while being loaded?

On the Flying Dutchman front loading cargo bike, I made a center stand from handlebars and that worked very well, so I will probably look at something similar. On this commercial cargo trailer, the center stand pops out like a table leg. This is also a possible solution that I will be looking at today as I finish the bike.

Well, thanks for reading my morning blog. I am off to the shack to complete the bike and hopefully paint it by mid-afternoon. I will report back on my progress tomorrow morning. Talk at ya later!

~ Brad