Current Projects chat and miscellany

I like taking old bikes and making them work again and I happen to like riding and racing old trikes. Regardless of any money spent, it will still a lot cheaper than having a new one custom built.

I know what you mean, I found an old Carlton Flyer (1965 by my reckoning) and had it renovated - it rides better than anything else I own.

always wanted a racing trike. had to turn down a tandem trike the other day, no room in the stable. interesting project. re-spray, totally renovate?

I have six trikes in total and this is my third racing one. The solution I came up with for storing them, was removing the ceiling from my bathroom, opening up a space to hoist them into the roof.

So far, I’ve stripped this one down to the steel and it will get a lick of paint next month. I was thinking blue and ivory with a barber pole twist. But apart from a vintage looking paint job, I have little interest into restoring it to vintage condition. I will be using good quality, modern componentry wherever I can. Apart from the forks, axles and differential, every other part has been chucked straight in the metal waste bin. I have a nice pair of 40 hole sprint rims laced, five toed crows foot pattern, into large flange Higgins hubs, waiting to bolt on, along with Middleburn cranks and Nitto Noodle bars and stem. The rest of the build, has not been determined yet.

anyone in North have some assembly paste and a torque wrench? My Doric seatpost really wants to be fitted.

Also removing the sticky residue from decals, any tricks?

I have been told nose grease is the best thing for removing gluey residue. I'm yet to try it out though..

I know what you mean, I found an old Carlton Flyer (1965 by my reckoning) and had it renovated - it rides better than anything else I own.

I would love to be able to say that this Higgins, will ride better than anything else I own. But the honest truth is, all trikes handle like unstable and precarious, super market trolleys.

My friends built a tadpole-style trike out of a couple of other bikes for a person with mobility issues, handles pretty well. You just have to become comfortable with lifting the outside wheel on corners.

Hey Thrust, What tape is that? Looks rad!

Pelten shade

sweet, just had a cursory google, seems it's pretty rare now though

I can probably get a few rolls via someone I know, I think for £15 p&p included, what colour would you like?

Id love some!

Finished my Rocket build last night.

sweet, just had a cursory google, seems it's pretty rare now though

Id love some!

please send me a pm with your preferred colour combo (white + yellow/blue/black/red) and I'll see what I can do

What is Zinn's solution for this?

What’s one major misconception of bicycles built for taller people, or in the construction of them?

Once you get to be an adult—at least with road bikes—basically everybody has the same length crank: 170-175mm, or even 165-180mm. With certain cranks, you can get that much range, but that’s still no kind of range relative to the difference in proportions of people. And then with wheel size, other than a few people riding 650B...smaller people can get away with smaller wheels... there’s no bigger wheels. Everyone’s got the same wheel size.

Now with mountain bikes you have a big range of wheel sizes, which is wonderful. I’m really happy about that.

One of the problems then, if you take someone as tall as me, and you’re going to fit them on a road bike with a 175mm crank, and you want to do the standard knee-over- pedal positioning, the seat has got to be way, way back over the bottom bracket in order to get the knee over the pedal. What you end up with really makes the bike terrible, in my estimation. You have a super-shallow seat angle in order to get the seat back far enough to get the rider’s knee over the pedal.

And what you end up with is the rider cantilevered way back over the rear wheel—weight distribution is awful. You have very little weight on the front wheel, and tons on the rear. It tends to wheelie the bike riding up steep climbs, and it doesn’t really have good weight distribution for handling on the descent.

And I think those bikes just generally do a disservice to tall riders and tend to discourage them from riding, because most tall bikes are too flimsy and too flexible. They just shimmy. And then with this positioning problem, the rider winds up super folded up at the hip angle because the seat is pushed so far back, and then the handlebars are not far enough forward and way too low. They’re just uncomfortable.

And that’s for a skinny tall guy! For a tall guy with a beer belly, it’s even worse! The shimmy is worse the heavier the rider gets. Those guys are the ones that really need to be riding a bike, and are the ones least comfortable and least safe on the thing.

What is Zinn's solution for this?

Selling crappy and expensive long cranks to people who don't need them.

Pretty much the only thing I disagree with Zinn that taller rider required longer cranks.

Except for shorter rider, shorter cranks is beneficial.

i like the kojak's on this , so may not use supermotos, seatpost right height also

downtube decal is out o'line a few mm, and been clearcoated, pain in arse

Rossin Pista '82 by 48x17, on Flickr

I have six trikes in total and this is my third racing one. The solution I came up with for storing them, was removing the ceiling from my bathroom, opening up a space to hoist them into the roof.

Pics pics pics

Pretty much the only thing I disagree with Zinn

That and cock.

Rossin Pista '82 by 48x17, on Flickr

Desktop wallpaper?

Tick.

... 1954 Higgins Ultralite trike...

How does it brake on the rear?

You don't.

Two front brakes, none on the rear.

Pretty much the only thing I disagree with Zinn that taller rider required longer cranks.

Except for shorter rider, shorter cranks is beneficial.

says who Ed? You? I absolutely disagree with this ridiculous generalisation. It depends on the person and their dimensions.

My latest LOOK done.

hello mate!