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Saw this on a Facebook page belonging to my old University...
(Annotations not mine.)

It's just a crazy idea at the moment...
I don't plan to do whip skids! I just think it would be a little fun to have it set up as fixed... if it ever gets built...

So, I have an entirely mad question for the frame builders out there...
Despite having had no intention of ever riding one, I've suddenly had the urge to try building a recumbent... (Yes, I'm probably mad.)
The big question here is can I build one myself from scratch? I know someone who's got a scrap frame I could pilfer for the rear triangle, and I was thinking it wouldn't be too huge a job to weld up a recumbent frame. Structurally, it's way simpler than a traditional diamond frame in terms of angles, alignment, and construction.
I have three questions:
Firstly, can I actually build my own recumbent relatively easily?
Secondly, does anyone know the easiest way to access a welder?
Finally, fixed-gear recumbents, are they a thing? Are they even possible?

@Geoffnotsle There are definitely eyelets on both the forks and dropouts in the pictures if you look close enough, but only one rear set rather than two, so if you did have both mudguards and a rack they'd have to share the same ones.

Hopefully this is useful advice from a random observer of this thread...

Heehee. I've been wanting to do this to a Twenty/Stowaway since my friend bought one to get around town. The idea of whip-skidding on a "granny bike" just seemed so hilarious. I got even more serious about the idea when I saw a similar new build bike on Kickstarter. Props on solving the BB thread issue, that's the one thing that really held me back from trying anything like this.
If I was £100 richer, I'd be buying it by now. It's just the thing to fling on a train (cos it folds so it's luggage, right?) and still give my my fix of fixed when I get to the other end. Sadly, I'm not £100 richer though, so GLWS.

Okay, I bent more of my frame than just the forks, so @mr_alex they're all yours if you want them!

I'll take the mudguards if you'll post and just want rid of them now?

Just my two cents, but the seat stays don't look like any Carlton I've ever seen- even when they didn't build their wraparound seat stays on 531 models, I've never seen stays that are flush with the seat tube like that, or stays that don't meet the tube right at the top.
To me that suggests it's either not a Carlton, or it's built to order, as you suggest.
Feel free to correct me though, more knowledgeable people.

As a further note, some of my friends at Oxford were international students, and they shipped their bikes over. It usually costs between £20 and £50 to ship a bike internationally, so it may be worth your while, unless your bike has too much sentimental value to bring to a place with relatively high theft rates.

Mark,

I posted in the other thread but I figure you'll probably see this here faster. I might be able to help you here.
Firstly, have you tried the Broken Spoke? They often have nice 70s and 80s steel bikes- there was a nice Mercier hanging up in there for ages, and I've seen other nice bikes from time to time. If a comparable bicycle is what you're after, they're probably your first port of call.

After that, I'd say, try the Daily Info's bike page, occasionally there are bargains.

If you can wait a few weeks, it's worth befriending some Oxford students (assuming you aren't one already) and going to some college bicycle auctions, which usually take place towards the end of this term. They sell off bikes left by leaving students- I've seen decent bikes go for silly money in them before, as most people just don't know the value of what they're buying. Although sometimes, things have been left for a reason.

Honestly though, you're going to struggle to find something fitting that description in Oxford right now- it's the first half of the first term of the academic year, so the price of bicycles is heavily inflated to make the most of the new freshers who need a bike and don't know much about them, so are easy for sellers to rip off.

(As an addendum, I have a rather nice, albeit quite heavy, three speed with drop bars that might shortly become surplus to requirements, let me know if this takes your fancy.)

@markantony What kind of steel road bikes? What budget?

Edit: I found your wanted thread and replied there in more detail.

^ Now with non-pants formatting!

Now I just have an image in my head of the cycle responder riding like this guy (except with more Ambulance labelled fluoro...): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sITW5tr7KQg

Yes, they do say that if you order in bulk, there is a discount. Looking at it, it's about 30% reduction in that price if you order more than a few, which, given that they are literally made to order, does make sense.
I hadn't considered the idea of them selling on the older models, although I assumed that it would be just as cost effective for them to keep using them until they wore out, given that there's no further costs incurred at all that way.

I may well send an FOI request the way of one of the larger LAs who uses these bikes, it would probably be quite interesting to find out whether they actually offer value for money.

Honestly, the biggest surprise for me is that given that they're made to order, the choice is actually quite limited, especially regarding the bizarrely similar choice of bicycles- I wouldn't imagine riding a bike with front suspension and the weight of an oxy cylinder over the back wheel to be very fun. In some places, I imagine the off-road capability would be a godsend, but it seems to be a very one-size-fits-all approach to an otherwise quite open ended service. I know it's a partnership where Halfords provide the bikes, but even so, they sell a few hybrids and even tourers that, certainly in the places I've lived, would be far more appropriate!

(Plus, paramedics on proper touring bikes would just be an awesome sight... also potentially useful in rural areas as a very low cost way of getting to places in non-emergency situations, just like posties used to!)

I'm impressed by the replies!
I mean, I would expect made-to-order panniers with customisation options (a huge range of colours, different options for the chequering, logos and wording to customer specification) to be expensive, but just not £900 expensive.
I'm certain that they're brilliant quality, unbelievably rugged panniers, and they are pretty much the biggest panniers I've seen. (which is why I was looking for information about them in the first place).
I just can't work out though, why spending £1250 on a full set of these is cost-effective.

The figures are taken straight from the supplier's website.

And yes, it's truly hideous, and probably weighs a ton.

Yeah, I've heard that too. The only problem is the drive-side cranks have the outer chainring attached directly to the crank arm, with decorative stuff filling up the otherwise empty space to make it look more expensive, so I don't think I could get one to fit without bending the rings and needing new cranks. Whilst they are cheap cranks, it's a cheap bike, and it's already looking like it's going to cost more than it's worth, despite the sentimental value it has.

That's what I couldn't work out. As far as I can tell, the panniers arrive empty.
Here's a picture from Wikipedia of such a bike:

(They do other emergency services too, like the more common Police bikes).

In a typical "I wonder" sort of mood, I decided to find out whether Joe Public could buy one of those hi-vis ambulance bikes you often see. The answer is yes, you can. If you have at least £1500 to throw away on it, that is.
Apparently, they're all provided by a single supplier, and the prices are:
£300-600 for a small list of "Carrera" brand mountain bikes, with a free decal service.
£940 for the rear panniers
£310 for the front panniers
£150 (approx) for lights, hi-viz helmet, basic toolkit.

With a setup of pretty much the bare minimum needed, it's £1700.
Now, the bikes are terrible, and the choice is limited, but at least they're the same price as they are in store, and that includes decals for whatever emergency service related wording takes your fancy, and the accessories turn out to be pretty reasonable too, when you break it down.

What I don't understand is how those panniers can possibly cost £1250. Even if they are handmade to order, that seems insane. Am I missing something, or is it a blatant rip-off?

Would you be willing to post it? Or is it too valuable?

Aha, not that far at all (though still a fair few miles from there).

Indeed! Thank you all, I will try asking them!

Okay, so after more research, it's definitely the Stronglight one. However, I'm seriously thinking that the total cost of this repair is likely going to come out at more than just buying another similar quality frame with a new BB in. Thoughts?

True, true, but there's a fair bit of hassle in that. Plus, I tend to hoard obscure tools in the knowledge that if I don't, and need it again, I'll have to track another one down.