So.. I decided to dig through the pile of frames in the basement. It had to be long to carry lots of stuff so we picked an old tandem frame for the base. I arbitrarily determined it should carry FOUR 18 gallon rubbermaid tubs. I use these things for almost everything.. camping, boating, storing stuff, so it is a good size for me. And four... well, thats as much volume as the trunk of a car.
In order to hold all this stuff we needed to build a rack of epic proportions. BBW brought down a busted Pro-Flex which we gave an ass-ectomy so we could use the rear triangle to support the new rack. Then I pulled out some 4130 (cro-moly) aircraft tubing, the oxy-acetylene rig, and fillet brazed a rack. The base rack is tied into the back of the where the pro-flex's pivot points used to be, and then attached to the seatpost with a clamp I chopped from a cheap seatpost rack from Benny's.
Here is a top view of the rack:
Here it is with only half of the tub-rack completed:
The bottom of the base rack is set to use structural channel. For the first attempt I used cheap steel channel, once I get the design settled I can switch over to aluminum. You get the idea:
Yeah it's looking rough, the bike needs to be made rideable etc, but the basics are there: Simple, cheap, sturdy as hell, capable of carrying FOUR 18 gallon tubs. I'll probably reduce the size of the rack to carry two for grocery and beach runs, add a hitch to tow a trailer, a second seat so someone can help pedal with two tubs, and definitely a surfboard holder. Maybe even a grill? Oh, and the base rack is strong enough to support an adult.. yep... it's ballsy.
Is the project ridiculous? Yeah. Is it ugly? Yeah. Is it practical? who knows... it's just a BFB.
4 comments:
I can't believe you made that thing rigid. I would have tripped it out with a Marzocchi Shiver on the front, tilted the front stem back a bit, and made an Orange County Chopper-style bike. And then, I would have put on some spinners, and a bumpin' mega-bass system, and a.....nevermind.
In all honesty, with a potentially large payload, wouldn't you want to consider some shocks or dampening device for the cargo? How else are you going to lug around the 40 oz. bottles without them breaking? I mean, honestly!
You down with BFB?
Yeah- You know me!
Word. Any updates? Is that thing ready to rock?
Well, this 6ft long mild steel frame has *plenty* of shock absorption already. I would consider a shock if I had an extra one though. mega bass system.. oh.. just wait and see the latest rev of the i-bucket...which will fit nicely on top of the BFB Rack... thumpity thump.
Progress... well, I've chopped down the rack to hold two tubs instead of four. That way the bike can still be ridden as a tandem, and if i need to carry four tubs and no people I can always bolt the rails back on. The rack is done, the bike needs to be built up and made ride-able.. probably 3-4 hours of work. Problem is I have a huge back-log of 3-4 hour jobs ahead of this one.. ugg.
-40.
Post a Comment