No Weld Rear Wheel Drive Recumbent “la Vronimatik”

This bicycle is really easy to do, cheap, and does not require any welding skills.

Front wheel drive recumbents not requiring welding are popular in instructables:

https://www.instructables.com/id/Front-Wheel-Drive-Center-Steer-Semi-Recumbent-Bicy/
https://www.instructables.com/id/Chucks-No-Weld-Recumbent-Bike/
https://www.instructables.com/id/No-Weld-Recumbent-Modifications/
https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-recumbent-bicycle-made-from-recycled-parts/

I did one myself :  https://www.instructables.com/id/simultaneously-pedalling/

These front wheel drive bicycles are easy to build, cheap and do not require welding. However, they have two main  problems: steering is affected by pedalling and traction is lost uphill because the weight is shifted to  the rear wheel. You may get used to compensate the steering influence of pedalling but it will always be impossible to use the bicycle on a hilly terrain. My rear wheel drive bicycle overcomes these problems while keeping the simplicity of construction of the front wheel drive ones.

Step 1: Materials

For building this bicycle you need:


- Two bicycles. From one of them only the crank related parts are used.

- Two clamps (10 €) of the kind used to fix parabolic antennas.

- Two plastic tubes, inner diameter should allow passage of the chain. I bought chain tubes made specially for bicycles (5 €), but you may use any tube, for instance those black tubes used for irrigation.

Step 2:

Cut the frame of one bicycle and fix it to the the other one with the clamps as in the photos.

Step 3:

Join the two chains (https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-repairassemble-a-bicycle-chainwhile-keepi/https://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Fix-a-Bike-Chain/) and guide them through the plastic tubes.


The upper section of the chain should be straight, the lower doesn't. Keep the end of the tubes close and aligned to the gears.

To guide the chain with tubes is easier an cheaper than using pulleys, springs and gears.

Step 4:

The distance of the seat to the crank should be adjusted to your legs lenght. You may either move the seat or move the crank when fixing the clamps.

The position of any bicycle seat may be shifted some centimetres horizontally, just by loosening the nut and moving the seat. In order to move it even further; I turn 180 degrees the seat clamp, as in the image.

Step 5:

In recumbents it is convenient to have a backrest, not just for comfort, but mainly because you can put more force when pedalling.

I mounted a handlebar with a threadless stem because it happens that the tube of my seat is exactly the diameter of a front fork steerer tube. However, all kinds of diameters are used for bicycle seats. You may find many other ideas for seats in the instructables relating to recumbents.