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Version 1.5

Please help fund the development and construction of WoodBike v1.5...

OK, a triangular prism is stronger than a sheet (you don't have to hit me with a brick), and is therefore lighter for the same strength. As a result, the tailbox (heavy, complicated structure) and triple laminated seat and front spars (heavy!) are gone and have been replaced with a triangulated box of 12mm sheet and a simplified seat spar.

This has made the head simpler, as the 2 sides of the box form a triangle with the rear axle, leaving enough room for the head tube between them. The end result is hopefully going to be much stronger and lighter than v1.2.

I'm glad I had this brainstorm before constructing 1.2! Using this design, with the parts precision cut and assembled using stitch-and-glue construction, I should be able to keep the steel parts to rear axle brackets, head tube, fork and front bracket, plus a few nuts, bolts and pulleys here and there. An Adobe Acrobat version of the complete plans is available here. You will need Acrobat Reader to view and print them.

I still hope to do a wooden fork (Son of WoodBike?) but I want to prove the main concept first. To that end, I'll probably use a BMX fork.

Statistics

* Wheelbase = 1010mm
* Wheel dia. = 510mm
* Seat height = 550mm
* Pedal stroke = 1000mm to 1200mm (adjustable at construction stage)


Version 1.2

The head tube will be 2 sockets, welded to the tube and bolted and glued to the seat and front spars. A little more steel than I'd planned for, but necessary just the same. The rear wheel structure will be a triangular box shape, glued and stitched and screwed to the seat spar. I may give up on wooden forks although Peter Hans has pulled off this trick with his wooden upright, so I haven't decided yet.

Anyway, here's the drawings, lovingly crafted with one hand due to my crash...

© June 2001, Stephen H. Jay. All rights reserved.