Steampunk leads to possible summer project

[Bernd]

Well I've another project in mind, as if I don't' have enough already. Living out in the so called country it's a bit of a haul to the nearest town for a beer run, 5 miles or 8 kilometers. I figured I need some cheaper transport than my Ford F-150 3.4liter truck that gets about 15mpg's on a good day. I do have a bike but it's a bit tiring for a guy with heart problems.

I've always fancied a recumbent bike. After looking at them and pricing them I decided that it cost way to much money, plus balancing on two tires isn't my thing almost laying down. So the idea faded out to the dark corners of my mind for a couple of years.

Then along came the Madmodder forum which I joined at an early beginning and talk started in one of the sections on Steampunk. I'd heard of it before but never paid much attention to it. Some neat things were posted here like lights and some other interesting items that I had to investigate. A google search soon turned up some interesting web sites. One that really caught my attention is the The Steampunk Workshop.

After surfing around the guys site I happened upon an interesting article on his blog called The Brass Lion - Steampunk Recumbent. I was hooked. What a neat way to get around. I just had to surf over to the Steuben's Wheelmen site to see what it was all about.

Once over there I surfed through the site and found some very interesting info. The whole site is actually a blog site. They describe how they started out making The Brass Lion. This got me to thinking about building one. So next step, google "tadpole trike". I found lots of sites. Next was looking for a set of plans. Again a google search turned up some plans. I found a set of free plans at Jetrike - Tadpole

Now I wondered if it was possible to power one of these neat transport devices? Another google search and I turned up a forum devoted to powered bikes and I found Motoredbikes.com. The URL leads to a guy calling himself Alsakavan. He shows how he motorized a tadpole trike. Although his bike was purchased the info he gives is great.

I have one more site I need to find that I had looked at but forgot to put it in my Favorites. There was quite a lot of info on tadpole trikes. I'll post it in a follow up post when I find it.

Now I need to blame somebody for this "hopefully soon to built project" and the person I blame it on is Eric.  Why? He started it all with his love for Steampunk.  Thanks Eric for giving me that kick in the pants, and I sincerely mean that.

Now back to my kitchen cabinet building or I will receive a real kick in the pants from SWMBO.

Regards,
Bernd

[bogstandard]

Bernd,

You honestly should be doing what I am up to at the moment.

I've gritted my gums, and resisting ALL temptation to start anything new until all my backlog is cleared.

I just can't stand seeing all the part started jobs hanging about the place any more, so I am getting it all out of the way, and looking forwards to starting again with a totally clean sheet.


Bogs

[sbwhart]

Hey Bernd

You could power it with a coke bottle engine 

Cheers
 
Stew

[John Hill]

Yea, I will build a steampunk bike one day too!   

It will have only two wheels, a big one at the back and a little one up front.   The front one will have an extension on the steering pivot and there will be an arrow on top to show which way the wheel is pointing, thats because the rider wont be able to see the wheel because of the boiler which will be just behind the front wheel. 

The boiler will have a lot of brass bits on it and will be lagged with brass bound wood.

Behind the boiler will be the firebox, the firebox will be fired from behind and there will be a neat marble mantelpiece with a few essential instruments mounted on there!

There will be a small flat area forming a floor behind the firebox, this area will be covered in red floral carpet and there will be a set of brass fire tongs, brush and dinky little shovel fixed to the floor.  Opposite that fireside set there will be a wire basket filled with pinecones.  Somewhere there will be a framed photo of two old people in their Sunday best.

The driver will sit in a comfortable wicker or maybe red buttoned leather armchair where he can reach the pine cones to toss them into the firebox.  The driver will not have any steering wheel or handlebars instead he will control the machine via a tiller arm that will come from behind his seat, steam yacht style.

The rear wheel will be immediately behind the seat though it will be well boxed in providing a small load space above it. Usually, a canary in a cage will travel on this load space.

There will be cranked extensions to the rear axle and a brass encrusted cylinder on each side, puffs of steam will issue from alternate cylinders when the machine is underway.  Of course there will be a means of routing the exhaust steam to provide forced draft and the correct 'puff puff' sounds from the front mounted funnel with will have little spikey bits on top to stop seagulls perching there and pooping on the machine while it is a rest.

There will also be two little 'trainer wheels' for parking that the driver lowers by stomping on a big pedal that will come up through the floor.

There are a few technical details to be sorted yet.

[rleete]

That was funny.  The worst part is, I can imagine someone building it exactly as you described!

[Bernd]

Bogs,

Bascially I re-evaluate the backlog and re-shuffel the priority list. If I cleared out the backlog one after the other like you I would probably be pushing up daises from six feet under before I'd get to some of those backlogged items. Now I did say summer and probably. As soon as warmer weather gets here laying brick will be top priority. Then if there is a damp day out I'll work in the garage on another project. I like to work my projects in parallel not serial fashion. Perhaps that's why I don't get much done. But that's me.

John,

I was thinking along the lines of using steam power also. Don't know yet.

Roger,

Stay tuned, might just happen. I've discovered that if I work on something that I don't need to finish it all at one time. I've already have a donor bike I picked up at the transfer station. I'm sure there will be more this summer.

Bernd

[Bernd]

As promised I found the other site I was looking for. More info than can be digested in one day. It's Fleet Trikes.

Several other reasons for looking into this type of transportation. One is excirsise, and the other is if the govt wants to start charging carbon taxes and taxing milage. This is just some stuff I've heard and read about on the interweb. I figure for around town this type of transportation would work great.

As far as powering one of these creations I understand you will need to stay under 50cc's as far as an engine is concerned or you will need to register the vehicle. And of course being interested in steam I have thought of steam power.

All a dream? Perhaps, but then aren't all our hobby projects. So what's wrong with working on one project while dreaming about another one down the road? Interests change and so do priorities.

Bernd