Recently I have gotten many of the key components that I need for the bike. Needless to say I'm pretty excited! I bought a used set of Velocity recumbent wheels for $180 which seems like a good deal seeing how they are at least twice that new. I will only be using the front wheel on my bike initially. The components that I have right now are all 7 speed and the Velocity rear wheel has an 8 speed cassette. When I upgrade it to new components I will add the rear tire. Today I am going to call the Hostel Shoppe and have them help me pick out tires and tubes for my wheels. They seem to have a good selection (not that I'd know) and they are experts on recumbents. This morning when I needed to find out what size tires I needed for my rims I once again found myself at one of the most exhaustive bicycle information sites on the internet, http://www.sheldonbrown.com. If you are ever in need of any information about bicycles, chances are you'll find your answer here. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother searching the web because most of the time I just end up there. Here's a useful tip for finding information on the Sheldon Brown site more easily. When using google type:
WHATITISI'MLOOKINGFOR site:http://www.sheldonbrown.com

The "site" option allows you to search a website you specify.

Last night when I got home from work I found a package waiting for me on my doorstep. Woo hoo! It was like Christmas. Two crucial components to my frame had arrived from
Nova Cycle Supply Inc. along with a couple of other goodies. I ripped open the well packed box and beheld the beauty of my aluminum head tube and bottom bracket. I can finally plug the actual dimensions of these pieces into my computer model. In the box was also my titanium cable stops and brake bosses. I'm still waiting on my fork to arrive and have to order some aluminum flat stock to create my rear dropouts. At that point I can start fabricating the frame.



On Sunday I bought supplies for a wood seat that will be built like the one at the Alternative Transport blog. The seat I will be making is just a temporary prototype that will help me get a better idea for how I want the final seat to be constructed. I hope to begin construction on this seat tonight but I have to buy a jigsaw first (hurray, more tool expenses!) so we'll see. By the way Alternative Transport is a fantastic resource for anyone building there own recumbent. Ben shows all the steps he went through to build a mostly weld free conversion recumbent. I will be referring to this site for quite a bit of ideas.

Along with the seat materials I also happened to find nice painted aluminum "spindles" for $1.80 each. They are just what I've been looking for to use as braces for the seat. I still have to find some brackets to attach the braces to the bike and the seat but its nice to have one part out of the way.

Well, enough writing, I'm on to some seat building.

A Little History Lesson

"Wow! What the heck is that?" That's what I was thinking when I saw this image on the cover of Popular Science way back in October of 1993. The article was about a team of college students that made a fairing around this strange bicycle called a recumbent and it went really fast. It was like a human powered car!



I immediately began designing my own human powered vehicle with all of my bad maths and guesses about how things work mechanically. I came up with an easy way to make a recumbent from two bicycles. If I had a welder. If I knew how to weld. I didn't have either. Eventually the idea faded into the back of my mind where it has been simmering for all these years. Surfacing every few years to receive some front of the mind time. Finally late last year after my wife and I bought a condo. I'd have all kinds of space to work on my crazy projects. On top of that our bicycles got stolen. The time was right to begin the bicycle project I'd been dreaming of.

So I suck at keeping up with a Weblog.

Well, here it is almost exactly a year later and I decide to post something again here. In truth, I just found my blog again by accident. I had completely forgotten that I had set it up. Fortunately, this is a Google service and so somehow Google pointed me here when I went to post on someone else's blog. I don't do that either. Anyway, after a year the pepper thing ended up being a wash. The company more or less went out of business and before they did they released software that hosed the setup I had going. I still use the device but it is no where near what it could have been. So what next? I finally have something to write about. Somewhere around a month and a half ago I started designing a recumbent bicycle. Its actually something I have wanted to do for many years and I am excited to finally be under way with the project.

Let's go back to the beginning!

I've been meaning to set up this site for a few weeks ever since I bought my Pepper Pad 3. Its been a crazy ride so far an I wanted to share my experiences thus far to make things easier for new Pad owners.

While the Pad definitely delivers what it promises as a web browsing appliance, I bought it because I had read the forums regarding the device and saw its potential to be so much more. For those with the willingness to put in a little effort into this gadget it can be transformed into a full fledged mobile computer.

In the following weeks I will be chronicling my adventures with my Pepper Pad 3.

Stay tuned!