The following pages give numerous construction details for my home made recumbent bicycle. The bike is patterned after one designed by Barnett Williams, a student at the University of Waterloo in Ontario Canada (/http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~bkwillia/). I built the bike four years ago and have several thousand kilometres on it. I have found it to be highly stable, easy to ride and comfortable. My first homebuilt was a disaster, being virtually unridable (Wind & Water). While the gentleman is a talented builder with many great ideas I found the design to be too complicated for my needs. I require something simple, rugged and functional. The bike shown on these pages has survived unscathed through potholed Nova Scotia roads, heavy rains, and daily mistreatment as my primary means of getting back and forth to work. Being a blast to ride is a side benefit.

Click inside any yellow box to see a detail picture and explanation of the area. (Linked pages contain numerous large pictures and may take a few moments to load if you're on dial-up.) The frame is made from common muffler pipe. The purchase, bending and welding cost me only $40. While it is strong and cheap, it is also heavy. I have some light weight thin wall bicycle tubing which I plan on using for a new frame. I built a new seat over the 2003 Christmas break.

 

 

 

A homemade Recumbent Bicycle ('Bent' for short)