Make a Mini Recumbent from a Kid Bike

Step 1 CAD system Layout

CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) layout of 12 inch wheeled small recumbent. Yellow lines show the chain line.

You can also see the Center of Gravity (approximately the bellybutton) is about 1/3 of the wheelbase distance ahead of the rear wheel contact point.  This good weight distribution leads to nice handling.

Comments

[23mcharlotte]

Love it! This will be my new project...

[MaxineLaRue]

OooH! I want to see the video too!
This is super-cool.

[rockgod1]

Nothing quite like a grown man riding a small girls pink bike, lol.

[snotty]

Nice ride!

But your video has disappeared and it's what really made this instructable. Any chance you could repost the video?

[B4SEC4MP]

This is awesome! Might I suggest adding a wheelie bar!?!? That would take this bike to the next level. The only thing cooler than riding this bike down the street would be riding this bike down the street popping a wheelie!!!

[husamwadi]

hey if you dont want those monkey lights.....heh heh heh :)

[husamwadi]

this is cool, but man! I hope the tires don't pop!

-hey check out this mini recumbent i made, "POW, POW" uurghh, never mind...

Lol, just kidding, but this thing is really tight!

keep up the good work!

[mattthomas992003]

Cardboard Aided Design...nice

[Woodenbikes]

'Keepin' it real' since 2002.

[Questor]

I notice a tire change.
minor mishap, perchance?

[Woodenbikes]

Dumpster bike problem... old rubber... tire bead wire was exposed and was puncturing inner tube. (Tire possibly not meant for plus-sized kids like me.) I replaced the tire with another dumpster tire from a high-end baby stroller.

[toad]

Great ride, maybe bolting a rear deraleur somewhere around the headset to take up the slack in the chain. Some thing like a long cage mountain bike one.

[Woodenbikes]

That would handle the chain, but with a rear coaster (back-pedal) brake, one would need to back pedal a whole revolution (winding up chain from the lower run and sagging it into the upper run) before the brake would engage.

[caarntedd]

This looks super dangerous, and super fun. Five stars.

[mjursic]

Love it! Now let's figure out a way to get a decent ratio on it so you're not pedaling like the dickens.

[Daftehh]

my goodness look at it go

[avicena]

Cool...
when any body think it a junk, it can reused by some way...I like it!!...

[PenfoldPlant]

The concept alone is great, but the CAD pushed it over into brilliance.

Wonderful work!

[aleceatsfood]

I know who I'll be voting for in the contest!

[jovino]

HAHAHAH!!!! Brilliant!

[macrumpton]

Very cute!
It looks like it could use a longer boom for your leg length.

[Matin]

What a Cute and Fun bike!
I am keeping my eye out for small kid bike
How about no weld wood version

[BtheBike]

SA-WEET !! I've been trying to mock up a concept for a cargo bakfiets style bike with a regular and kid bike . this give me a few ideas . great work Wood

[berserk]

Very nice! Would not want to commute on it, but I have not had a bike make me smile like that in a while! :-)

[PurplePeople]

I've been building recumbents since '86 and your first effort looks good. You did make one junior mistake... the bottom bracket threads are in reverse and will eventually unwind themselves loose.

[Woodenbikes]

The BB shell is the large one piece crank type with press in thread-less bearing cups. (no threads there). The chain drive remains on the right hand (traditional) side of the bike. Nothing is reversed from traditional, so I do not expect anything out of the ordinary.

[PurplePeople]

Yeah... I see that now. My bad. Maybe we'll see you at the races.

[ilpug]

Of all the crazy stuff... I love it!

[Alecw35]

maybe you could add a 2 ring chainset to the pink bikes bb. then run front chain to smaller ring. big ring to rear wheel. make the gearing a little bit higher.
tho I geuss its the smaller diameter threadless bb. so wont easily take cheap mtb one piece cranks

[Woodenbikes]

One could easily put the larger Mountain bike cranks and chainheel setup in the front BB for a higher gear. However, I'm building this bike to share with little kids so I wanted to use the short cranks to accomodate small and large riders and I wanted to use the small chainring to keep the top speed down the to 10-12 MPH for safety at Maker Faire. (It's crowded with excuberent people riding 8 of my bikes at a time.)

[Houdinipeter]

Great concept and fun but the mechanical advantage is probably less than desired

[wobbler]

Utter madness! Somewhere in you there is Coco the Clown desperate to get out. I love it!

[lemonie]

Quality!

L