Front Wheel Drive Recumbent with Underbar Steering

Step 7 Step Seven: Final Assembly

Though I won't go into the details of actual bike assembly, I will show the issues and pitfalls that I encountered with this particular project.

To begin, I didn't do a 'dry fit' of the bike prior to welding. This error became most clear when installing the crankset and front brake. The new brake bridge I welded into the front triangle is in a very tight spot. As you can see in the pictures (2nd photo), the brake is very close to the chain line, though it does not interfere with the operation. However, on the non-drive side the crank arm tapped against the brake arm. I tried different ways to correct the problem, but wound up filing down the brake arm slightly, enough to give it a few millimeters of clearance (3rd photo).

One of the things that turned out right was the addition of cable routing. During the welding phase I bought some steel spacers, cut them down to about 3/8" long and brazed them along the down tube, fork, and chain stay to allow the brake cables to be routed and keep them from interfering with the operation of the bike.