Bicycle Frame - metalworking.wood.bike PEP BB

I'm brand new here at Permies and I am a huge fan of the PEP program. It provides a structure to my normally all over the place style of learning. In regards to metal working I have some basic experience. In particular I have welded a 'back rack' onto a bike I got for free and have made it into a long-tail cargo bike. All the metal used is from the local scrapyard. It isn't pretty by any means but it carries the weight of me along with another person with no signs of stress. The heaviest load was me and my dad together which was ~350lbs altogether. It's been with me to a paint job and to the metal scrapyard and back quite a few times now and is still going strong. I know it isn't a bike frame but this is the closest thing I could find that fits what I built. If anyone knows a better place just let me know, as I said I'm new here. Thanks!

Cam Inthenorth wrote:I'm brand new here at Permies and I am a huge fan of the PEP program. It provides a structure to my normally all over the place style of learning. In regards to metal working I have some basic experience. In particular I have welded a 'back rack' onto a bike I got for free and have made it into a long-tail cargo bike. All the metal used is from the local scrapyard. It isn't pretty by any means but it carries the weight of me along with another person with no signs of stress. The heaviest load was me and my dad together which was ~350lbs altogether. It's been with me to a paint job and to the metal scrapyard and back quite a few times now and is still going strong. I know it isn't a bike frame but this is the closest thing I could find that fits what I built. If anyone knows a better place just let me know, as I said I'm new here. Thanks!

Greetings Cam and welcome to Permies and the PEP program!  Thanks for jumping right in!  I'm not a certifier for these things so I don't know whether or not your bike adaptation will be approved under this BB.  If it's not then I would think it could go under the Oddball Badge which seems to be a catch all for cool things that just don't quite fit elsewhere.  Regardless I wanted to commend you for adapting your bike in such a way and using it to do real work!  I've got a sturdy rack I bought on the back of my bike along with a set of panniers and find many people don't realize just how much one can carry on a bike.  I'll use it for grocery shopping with the panniers.  I'm also regularly hauling home 3 to 4 foot long logs, some that I can barely lift up, that I find from cleared trees that fell across the local bike trail.  Balance can be more challenging with such loads as I'm guessing you have experienced, but it's highly doable.  Free firewood, good exercise, and trail maintenance all at once!

David Huang wrote:

Greetings Cam and welcome to Permies and the PEP program!  Thanks for jumping right in!  I'm not a certifier for these things so I don't know whether or not your bike adaptation will be approved under this BB.  If it's not then I would think it could go under the Oddball Badge which seems to be a catch all for cool things that just don't quite fit elsewhere.  Regardless I wanted to commend you for adapting your bike in such a way and using it to do real work!  I've got a sturdy rack I bought on the back of my bike along with a set of panniers and find many people don't realize just how much one can carry on a bike.  I'll use it for grocery shopping with the panniers.  I'm also regularly hauling home 3 to 4 foot long logs, some that I can barely lift up, that I find from cleared trees that fell across the local bike trail.  Balance can be more challenging with such loads as I'm guessing you have experienced, but it's highly doable.  Free firewood, good exercise, and trail maintenance all at once!

Happy to be here this seems like a great place to learn a lot. The Oddball badge sounds like a good fit. And yes, people very much underestimate how much bikes can carry. 3-4 foot long logs are pretty solid loads to be taking home, good for you! Balancing the heavier loads is by far the most challenging part I agree. Kickstands are great but the regular ones aren't made to handle a couple hundred pounds of weight. I put some more pics up incase someone reads this thread and says, "no way a bike can carry a lot of stuff".

I was going to say I/we should start a thread about carrying things on our bikes, then thought to look and see if there was already one.  What do you know, there is.  It's called Show Us What You Are Hauling On Your Bike.  You should repost your last post on that thread, and I should grab photos sometime soon of my log hauling to post as well.  That way we can keep this thread for just the intended BB's.  In fact, someone with the power to do so, may want to move these posts over there.  :)  

Well would you look at that. Thanks for finding that!