Contraptions: Introduction to a new bike.

 

 

 

 

"You be the contraption,

And I'll be no-one, 

I think I owe one

Too-oo-oo-oo You-ou-ou-ou"

With apologies to Kasey Chambers (Misquoted from "The Captain")

 

I think that everything that ever been made starts off as a contraption. Even the bicycle which we hardly glance at today was once a contraption. By bicycle we usually mean the rear wheel drive safety bicycle, and one of the first of these was the Bicyclette or Crocodile from 1879. The bike had all sorts of hangovers from its penny farthing predecessors. It also had remote steering which seems completely unnecessary. But I am talking with hindsight here. The inventors of the day hadn't quite worked it out but they were getting there, and within five years the Rover safety had been made, Dunlop's pneumatic tyres were in widespread use and the bike as we know it today was born. 

We actually don't see many contraptions today but I was bought up on them through Norman Hunter's Professor Branestawm books illustrated buy W Heath Robinson and others. There is my name scrawled by a young me in the cover of a Professor Branestawm book from 1964! 

Some of my bikes have been contraptions and I'm proud to own that, but eventually if something is to work properly it has to end up a bit more refined than a contraption. One of the latest and greatest contraptions I've seen is by Myshkin whose tilting trike is here . The main criteria for this trike seem to be that it is rideable, that it is small enough to get out of an upper story flat and that it is fun to build, which seems to me to be justification enough to make anything. 

Some modern things are contraptions when they shouldn't be!  An example is electricity bills. Different companies can supply my house with electricity, and they charge different amounts. When my solar panels generate electricity they pay me different amounts. It's confusing and contraptiony which I don't like.

Getting back to bikes, I would like to show a few examples of modern contraptions. Yes, I'm calling them out!

 

The laden bicycle: traditional load carrying on bikes is an aerodynamic nightmare. Yes, you can carry stuff, but it almost always sticks out in the wind. Bikepacking was a reaction to this. 

 

 

 

 

The rear wheel drive recumbent bike:  Not all of these bikes are the same, but I have recently been fixing and tuning an Optima Stinger to give away as an OzHPV prize. There's a lot of complexity there. The chain needs to be lengthened or shortened depending on the rider height, the chain is long and tries to twist the frame whenever power is applied, the chain is managed by 2 pulleys and 2 tubes which sap energy, the back wheel and chain are likely to get mud from the front wheel and most load carrying will not be aerodynamic. You can't just run and jump on it, the steering gets in the way. Phew! 

 

 

Now on to my own leaning trikes. This one isn't all that contraptiony although some will never get over the 2 back wheels! Due to the fixed bottom bracket design, it's impossible to steer hard and pedal at the same time and it has outrageous tiller steer. Its quite big with the front wheel waaaaaaay out the front. But the load carrying is good, the tailbox doesn't get in the way of the back wheel, it is aerodynamic and carries a decent amount of luggage. The front wheel drive means seat adjustment is independent of chain length, there's hardly any chain management, and the chain is up the front and high, away from muck. You can run and jump on it which is great, and it has 2 YST bottom brackets which are the same, and 2 V- brakes which are the same, which keeps things simple.

 

 

It's only in the last six months that I've refined and got riding on my own design moving bottom bracket bike. Up to now front wheel drive bikes have been fixed bottom bracket but I spent a year or two with the Cruzbike Quest as my favorite bike, however the steering caused me shoulder pain. I'm enjoying my new bike a lot and don't want to change it much, however I have two different styles of tail box. One (corflute and plywood) is light and aerodynamic for touring, training and racing, and one is heavier for load carrying. 

To swap tail box styles I currently have to swap tail boxes which takes a bit of time. So I'm building a new bike so that I can put the fast tail box on it, and keep the older bike for load carrying. The new moving bottom bracket bikes could be called a bit more contraptiony than the old fixed bottom bracket style. But I don't care that much. The new bikes are much more fun and involving to ride and also shorter by about 30 centimeters. 

They have 2 types of bottom brackets and two types of brakes. The brakes make construction a bit more fiddly as there are two systems (V- and disk) to deal with. It has been great to start afresh on a new bike of this type months and several hundred kilometres after building the first one. It's possible to see details that can be made less complex and therefore lighter and simpler and it is great putting those details in to the new build. In my next post I will report about building the new bike with some photos. A new, more aerodynamic tailbox is planned but I'll leave details of that for another post. 

 

Regards Steve Nurse 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reccce Trip 3, Day 4

A sting in the tail! Mernda line trains were replaced by buses and I was forced to ride home from Southern Cross in the dark and rain. 

Penshurst

Penshurst - note truck reflection cantre

Penshurst: Been a while since a Nash car was serviced here!

Penshurst

Wecumbent bike and wainbow near the Wannon, not far out of Coleraine. 

 This was day 4 of my third Recce trip to Coleraine, and I was up early again and on the road by about 7:20 for the long climb up the Glenelg Highway hill out of Coleraine toward Hamilton and home. This time I took a more direct route through Penshurst to Warrnambool station. 

Recently I'd Patsy Adam Smith's book "When we rode the rails" about her young life in a family of railway workers. That book features Penshurst at the end, and describes her life in a bustling town just before World War Two. It was a bit less than bustling when I was there, but a caf, general store and hardware store were open, A truck driver who had seen me on the road had a bit of a chat in the caf and outside the shop. He offered to give me and my bike I lift in to Warrnambool but I politely declined. 

After Penshurst the going got quite fast and a lot of fun with combinations of sunshine, strong tailwinds and flat roads or downhills leading to high speeds. But near Koroit my route turned 90 degrees and the northerly tailwind became a strong gusty cross wind and the traffic increased. It was hard to contend with the wind along the Failors Flat Koroit road. 

Turning in to Carrumut Road the wind was behind me again but I had to deal with heavy traffic including trucks and absolutely no shoulder on the road. At one stage I got completely off the road and into the grass to let trucks go past. I arrived at Warrnambool station about 20 minutes late for the 3:10 train but 2 hours early for the 5:30 train. I think that given the same circumstances again, I would come in to Warrnambool via the rail trial. There would have been plenty of time to take this route to avoid traffic or wind problems, and I might even have met other cyclists! 

On the train, I could rest and eat some cookies I'd bought, and it was a nice trip. However at Southern Cross (Melbourne City) Station I found my local trains had been cancelled due to maintenance issues and I needed to ride home through the city in the dark and wet. This wasn't too bad as I had been on a trip and had good lights and rain gear and got home not too late (about 10pm) after a long day traveling. 

Overall the Recce trip had been good it was nice to meet William, Chris, Claire and Rodney, and if I follow up on my notes from the day three meeting should be able to organise a good grant application for OzHpv. It's currently very economical for anyone to travel by public transport in Victoria, and its highly recommended! As a Senior's card holder, my total spend on fares for this trip was only $2.85. 

Recce trip 3, Day 3

Chris ahead of me on the Douglas Road Hill. I walked it and he has a ebike.

At the meeting

 Hi

Day 3 of my recce trip was to be the only full day in Coleraine, and I took it easy in the morning chatting to Rodney over breakfast and visiting the history centre in the old courthouse before my 10 o'clock meeting (this was the Southern Grampians Shire Grants Roadshow meeting, encouraging and helping groups to apply for local council funding for events) For me this meeting was related to the Oz HPV challenge scheduled for October 31 and November 1. Chris and Claire from the pedal car event were there along with representatives from Southern Grampian Shire. Chris suggested a ride after the meeting starting at noon from outside the Stoke House Hotel where I was staying, and the meeting finished early giving me some time to visit the Op Shop for socks and the Book Shop for an old Ruth Park and D'Arcy Niland book.

While I was upstairs grabbing a bite before the ride, possibly the biggest event in Coleraine that week was playing out. A car had gone forward instead of reverse and ploughed into and smashed the bookshop window taking out the center veranda post in the process. I don't think there were any injuries fortunately. Soon Chris rocked up on his electric bike and we took off west past the police fire brigade and onlookers. We did a ride which was the reverse of what I'd written last time so not much exploring done, but it was good to get better acquainted with Chris. 

In the afternoon I ambled across to the Coleraine visitors' centre, bought a gift from my girlfriend and accessed their free wi-Fi then ambled back to the Hotel. I met Rodney on his way to the bus stop and we checked out the bookshop damage, then went early to bed to be ready for the next day's ride 

 

 

Recce Trip 3, day 2

 

Some mushrooms ......

emerging.

Dunkeld

Dunkeld

Coleraine Community Centre

Coleraine Community Centre looking good: This art installation had just been an abandoned bicycle the last 2 times I visited.

Melville Forest is between Cavendish and Coleraine, and had this abandoned primary school and a Country Fire Authority shed.

Cavendish Post Boxes

Day 2 of my trip blog is continued from here

I was up early the next day - it was still dark at 7am  - and rode out toward Coleraine in early morning drizzle. It's possible I'm a bit fitter now than I was when I did this ride last as I made it to Dunkeld (about 74k) without much of a break. I stopped there for a pie and a drink and observed a small bird skittering around some old shop fittings.

Then it was on to Cloeraine via Cavendish. This route avoids the Glenelg Highway which runs through Hamilton and is quite busy. It was good to stop at the Cavendish cafe for a cup of tea and a pizza slice, and I was there about 2 - it closes at 2:30 winter weekdays! 

From then on it was fairly easy going, and I thought it was mostly downhill. (Correct, Coleraine is 60m below Cavendish) This was great, I didn't have too much energy left. I was in Coleraine about 4:30 in plenty of time to check into the hotel. I'd met Rodney the last time I was in Coleraine, and he was at the Hotel again, and I saw him off and on during my stay. He was visiting his mum who is in aged care in Coleraine. He is a keen cyclist and was interested in the challenge I was there to organise. 

 

Recce trip 3, day 1

 

View toward the Grampians

Cake!

Pub common room

Pub Bar and Dining room

Quite the building!

Ararat picture theatre

Lighting does the trick

These flowers were in the lawn in front of a large discount store

William, Ararat Hotel

Skylight

The first day of my third recce trip to Coleraine didn't have much cycling in it! 

On my last trip to Coleraine, I'd left Ararat to go by bike to Coleraine after the first Ararat train arrived from Melbourne at about 11 am. This left me riding in the dark at the end of the day, and I wasn't too keen on that. So for this trip I had planned to leave Melbourne on the 13:10 train, stay overnight in Ararat and start the next morning. 

My son and grandson visited in the morning and by this time I had worked out how to change my almost complete bookshelves so that I didn't hit my head on them. As well my grandson had quality tested my latest 3D print designs: I'll need to change the designs so kids are less likely to break them! 

After they'd left I made sandwiches, finished packing and was on my way in the sunshine to Southern Cross Station. I caught my train no problems and whiled away my time with a book and the newspaper, managed to lose my pen, and all together it was a pleasant trip to Ararat. 

William from Oz HPV met me at the station platform, helped me reassemble my bike and we ambled through Ararat to the Ararat Hotel where I was booked to stay. It is a nice hotel, old style and not too much renovated. Most of the pictures here are from Ararat around dusk on a day just after the winter solstice. I ambled around, managed to find a 2 litre bottle of chocolate milk and bought some replacement pens. Dinner was in the pub dining room and for supper there was some of an extravagantly coloured cake sampler which had been left in the guest common room. My room was a bit spartan but I slept well and was warm which is all you can ask for!

Fraser Ro-bike part 2

 

Tandem when it belonged to Matt

Relieved and slightly dizzy after having a go at the Pinata

Packing for the big trip

Whew, I got there

My friend Tony

Graham (riding Aki's bike) and Aki 

Twin rowbikes

Pinata. As the birthday I was required to have first  go at it, and hardly touched it with the stick.

Sunday morning fruit stall

Orange and Almond meal cake

"A bit volcanic", but I put sliced apple, jam and cream on the banana bread and it was well received.

Matt's Ro-bike. 

Hi

(This post continues on from here . )

A few weeks have passed since I first got the secondhand Fraser Ro-bike. Firstly, one of my contacts, Matt came through and sent me pictures (top and bottom) of the 2 Ro - bikes he once owned, one of them a sociable tandem trike of which I believe only 2 were made.

So as well as trampolines, Bill Fraser  made giraffe unicycles, recumbent bikes, and tandem and single Ro-bikes. I'm quite glad to unearthed a bit of Australian cycling history, and Matt's is the first picture of a Fraser tandem Ro-bike I've seen. 

After getting the Ro-bike on the road, I gradually started venturing out on it, including to a local Cafe where I go regularly on Sundays. I can get there via very quiet streets and bikepaths - on the way back I found a small Sunday fruit market which was new to me. I was a bit emboldened by successful rides, and decided to have a 66th birthday party, with a Ro-boke theme. I could take mine, and with a bit of luck Aki would come along with his too. As well I could have it at WeCycle, where a fair few of my friends hang out on a Saturday. 

Somehow it all came together! I cooked 2 cakes for the event, and was successful with a jam, cream and apple topping. Leaving home with 2 milkcrates worth of supplies on the back of the Ro-bike, I felt like a small kid running away from home with all my worldly possessions tied up in a plastic bag over my shoulder, ie, impossibly naive and doomed to failure. The bike is quite slow, and on my way there, I kept pace with a jogger for about 2k's. I was faster on the flats but she defeated me on the hills! But somehow the whole day worked, thanks to my family and friends who came along. Completely unannounced, Marco (helped by Carlos and Mike) ran a Pinata - the last one I'd seen might have been 15 or so years ago - which added to the fun, and the Ro-bikes were well used and enjoyable too.

I copied text from and added some notes to the article mentioned in the last Ro - bike post, here it is:

The Row-Bike, one man's design for easy riding by Arthur Jones. 

They say that there is nothing new under the sun, and "they", whoever they are, are probably right. The idea of a bike which you propel by pulling with your arms at the same time as you push with your feet has been around for a long time. In fact, I have an idea that the principle is being used in those streamlined "future bikes" that are doing 100 km/h in America (Not true! The bikes mentioned are just streamlined pedal bikes). And those figures are not a figment of my imagination; a tandem recently achieved 101.25 km/h (see https://www.ihpva.org/hpvarecl.htm: 101.27km/h in the Vector Tandem designed by Al Voigtand ridden by Dave Grylls and Leigh Barczewski, May 4, 1980), and a single seater notched up a respectable 94.4 (see https://www.ihpva.org/hpvarecl.htm: 94.77km/h in the Vector single designed by Al Voigt and ridden by Dave Grylls on October 27 1980), so 100 km/h will no doubt be reached by a solo cyclist in the not too distant future (100km/h was first exceeded in 1998 by Sam Whittingham, and the current 200m flying start cycle record is 144.17 km/h set by Todd Reichert in Aerovelo in 2016)

However, the bike you see in the accompanying photograph is not intended to be a speedster. It is built for comfortable, easy, efficient riding to and from work, for rides in the country and for touring. It is the brain-child of Bill Fraser, of Mentone, Victoria, who not only designed it, but built it himself from scratch. His aim was partly to reduce man's dependency on motor cars and partly to assist the average Australian to be a healthier, fitter and happier person. All very laudable, you may be thinking, but why not ride an ordinary bike and achieve those aims? The answer is that there are several advantages in the arms-and-Iegs bike over the traditional ten-speed model. Firstly, you can obviously travel much further (or faster) for less effort, not just because you are using all four of your limbs to move you along, but because the lower seating position reduced wind resistance. The average cyclist, riding along at 20 km/h uses half of his total output of energy in overcoming wind resistance, and if the frontal area is reduced, either by adopting the racing cyclist's crouch or by sitting closer to the ground, there is a great saving of energy. Secondly, the nearer you are to the ground, the lower the centre of gravity, which helps stability, and it is much easier to put your foot to the ground at a traffic hold-up, which means less wobble. So, admitting the advantages, what is the bike like to ride? The answer is —perfectly easy — when you get, used to it. I had a go on it, but in spite of all my attempts, I was only able to freewheel for a metre or two, with Bill running frantically behind to steady me if I showed signs of falling off. I must admit, however, that the fault was all mine, because others who tried it were able to ride up the street, turn around and come back again with no trouble at all. As you can see, when Billis aboard it looks as easy as ... I can hardly say "falling off a log" can I? ... but you know what I mean. It is different from riding an ordinary bike, but no more so than riding a high-riser or a BMX bike, I should think. Bill was able to get up to a very highspeed in a short space of time, as the combined arm-pull and leg-thrust really makes the bike move. Acceleration is also made easier by a system of gearing that, to my knowledge, has never been used before on a bike. As you can see from the second photograph, there is a rocking arm attached to the standard head tube, and on it is a strip of metal with ratchets cut out of it — or teeth put on it, if you like. The chain is attached to this ratchet by a nylon cord and an "S"hook. Obviously, the further away from the pivoting point you place the hook, the further the chain (and therefore the bike) will move, and if you hook on to a ratchet near the pivot, the bike will only move a short distance. You thus have a "gear box" that is fiendishly simple in operation, and as Bill's bike has 16 notches, he has 16 gears to play with.

Just think of it! All those gears with no extra weight, no chain running out of line, no gritty cogs, no heavy hubs, and the selection of each gear only a matter of releasing the hook and moving it along to the next ratchet. I was unable to find what the equivalent gears were

on a normal ten-speed bike, but those with a knowledge of mechanics might be able to work something out from the following bits of information that I was able to pick up. The ratchets are approximately an inch apart, there are 14 teeth on the rear cog (the size of the chainwheel is, I think, irrelevant) and the back wheel is 24 inches in diameter.

The other point in the design that interested me was the steering. With the handlebars moving backwards and forwards all the time, it is obviously difficult to steer, but this problem was overcome by a system of linkages connecting the bars and the head stem.

These had to be carefully engineered, as too much side-to-side movement would foul the swinging arm. The movement is obviously very limited, but Bill assured me that it was no problem, and when you come to think of it, most steering on a bike is done by leaning it over to one side, and it is only when you have to turn in a tight circle at low speed that you have to turn the bars very much.

There are one or two other refinements, such as a padded seat and backrest, which can be moved along the top of the frame to accommodate the long and the short and the tall, without, as is the case on your bike and mine, affecting the distance from the seat to the ground. There is another advantage in the wheelbase, which is only 33 inches, some six or nine less than the ordinary bike, and this makes for more responsiveness — at the cost, it must be admitted, of a slightly more bumpy ride.

The frame itself is very simple—just two curved lengths of "U" section steel tubing, all of which helps to keep down the weight. Actually, the bike is fairly heavy, weighing in at 16.5 kilograms, but as Bill pointed out, this is something of a prototype (although he has sold a dozen of them).

At the moment, it is an all-steel bike, and probably weighs no more than its equivalent in ten-speed form, but considerable weight savings could be made by an extensive use of aluminium alloy. I would like to see a light-weight model made, with narrow section tyres and a light frame, because I think that it would really move. On the debit side, all "sit down" bikes suffer from the disadvantage that the body weight cannot be placed over the pedals, with the result that such bikes are very slow on hills. With Bill Fraser's bike, there is the added problem inherent in all "push-pull" bikes, and that is the fact that drive is not continuous. The bike moves along just like a rowingboat (in fact, it has been ch ristened 'The Row-Bike'), with a surge of speed as the pressure is applied, followed by a gliding motion as the "oars are feathered", as it were. This is not a disadvantage when going along a level stretch of road, and is, in fact, an advantage, as you can relax and enjoy the scenery as you freewheel between strokes, but on hills, it makes for hard going. It really means that you are continually slowing down and accelerating, and you will know how frustrating that is if you have ever been forced to brake when climbing a hill. That, to my mind, is the only disadvantage in a novel design that has many plus features not usually found in a one off design, and if you are interested, the address to write to (but not yet, as Bill is still riding his bike to Brisbane) is:

The Fraser Trampoline Company, 7 Aluena Street, Mentone, Victoria, 3194. Incidentally, if you are thinking of knocking up your own model, Bill has patents pending on the design.