Homemade bicycles with large wheels. How are homemade bicycles made? Step #5: Which Gas Shocks to Use

With the onset of warm weather, cycling in the fresh air becomes increasingly important. It’s nice to see whole families riding their iron friends around the park area and bike paths on their days off. promotes health, general physical development and is extremely useful, even if it is not strenuous sports training.

The variety of bicycle transport on the modern market is very large and can satisfy the most demanding buyer, both in functional terms and in cost. Moreover, the price for individual copies can reach several thousand dollars. There are a huge variety of bicycles of various types, for example: mountain, track, sports, city. Stand as a separate group homemade bicycles. They are distinguished from each other by various parameters of weight, design, wheel sizes, number of speeds, etc.

No need to buy a bike

An alternative to buying a bicycle is to make it with my own hands. Homemade bicycles are very common and are distinguished by their original design. But to implement such an idea, you need to be patient and have certain professional skills and tools. And it’s best to have access to a workshop equipped with the necessary tools and equipment. Assembling homemade bicycles from ready-made parts will not be difficult; anyone can do it.

How to make a bicycle?

In order to assemble you will need a detailed drawing. You can draw it yourself, but it is best to use ready-made options, which are not difficult to find if you wish.

Using a ready-made drawing will help you avoid possible mistakes when assembling your vehicle. It will be impossible to ride a bicycle made according to a technically incorrect drawing. In addition, if the balance of elements is incorrectly calculated, the load on some parts and assemblies will be increased, which can lead to their accelerated wear. And soon the most critical moment may come when vehicle will fail or fall apart. There is a very high risk of injury and disfigurement if a breakdown occurs while the bicycle is being used.

Can't do without shopping

It is worth understanding that some mechanisms, such as chains and wheels, cannot be made at home, or even in a workshop. In any case, they will have to be purchased ready-made. In this case, it is worth paying attention to the material from which the wheel rim and spokes are made. The tire must be selected taking into account the operating conditions of the bicycle. If you plan to drive in quiet urban conditions, then regular city tires will do. If you plan to drive aggressively or operate in rough terrain, you will need tires with reinforced tread to improve the wheel’s grip on the ground. Homemade ones are very popular and original nowadays. tricycles. Immediately before assembling the bicycle, you should carefully study the drawing and determine the exact sequence of actions.

The stronger the metal, the more durable the bike

To produce the frame you will need tubes of various diameters from durable metal. It will not be superfluous if the metal surface is treated with an anti-corrosion compound. This will extend the life of the bike.

According to the drawing, you need to make all the elements of the frame and connect them together using After the frame is ready, it should be checked for defects and, if necessary, all the nuances should be finalized.

When making a fork, you will need to use special pressing equipment. You can use devices and tools designed for forging metal for these purposes. When the fork elements and frame are almost ready, you need to drill all the necessary holes in them for attaching wheels, sprockets and pedals.

Next you need to make the steering wheel, saddle and pedals. If these parts are left over, they can be repaired or simply brought back to normal if they are in good condition. technical condition. The chain, wheels and brakes must also be checked for serviceability and repaired if necessary. Problems can arise due to leaky spokes, lack of lubrication on the brake mechanism, and poor-quality bicycle chain links.

Homemade bicycles, or rather, their parts, can be painted by first covering them with a primer. Even the thinnest layer of paint will protect the metal from corrosion. This will help maintain the appearance of the parts in proper condition.

Assembly and running-in

If all the components are prepared, then you can attach them to the frame for a preliminary assessment of the technical suitability of the assembled vehicle. The first thing you should pay attention to is the quality and straightness of the bike, the ease of pedaling, the functionality of the brakes and other, less significant nuances.

If the ride is not satisfactory or is impossible without some effort, then you need to understand the existing inconsistencies, correct them and carry out further tests. If all parts and components are in good condition, the bicycle should be completely disassembled for painting.

Buy and collect

If there is no particular desire to resort to such a complex option, then it is easier to purchase ready-made components and assemble bicycles with your own hands, adapting them to your needs and wishes. You can assemble a lightweight version using titanium or cheaper aluminum frame. It can be equipped with any components of appropriate quality and value. Possible to design Homemade option such transport will be the most convenient and practical. If any component or component fails or simply no longer suits its characteristics, then it can be replaced with a new one without any problems.

It is worth remembering that frequent use of a bicycle instead of a car not only has a positive effect on health, but also improves the environmental situation.

DIY motorbike

I'm not a fan of high-speed driving: 40-50 km/h in the vicinity of the dacha is quite fast for me. And in order to move one hundred kilograms of “my majesty”, neither exorbitant power nor the elephantine mass of the carrying “piece of iron” is needed.

Someone will advise: well, take a fifty-kopeck scooter!

Firstly, the “stools” are a bit expensive. Secondly, in a village where there is a dacha, this is “equipment until the first breakdown” - it’s unlikely that 300 km from the city I can easily find an imported spare part if necessary.

Thirdly, the scooter weighs a lot: how can you transport it to your dacha in a passenger car? Drive under your own power? Not funny! After 300 km of travel I will be left without arms, without legs, without a fifth point...

Two “idlers” who have become related are going to the dacha.

When I was thinking about this, I came across the article “We’re riding standing up” in “Moto” No. 9, 2005. The author told how he adapted a “cheap” motor to a scooter. I was hooked and I rushed to the bike market.

But the trouble is, the sellers unanimously claimed that they were not releasing the “cheap” product now (maybe they were lying?). I don’t know how it would have ended, but I remembered “Mole”. The one that “lives” in my dacha and cultivates the soil for only two days a year: one in May, the second in September. Its 60 cc two-stroke is twice as powerful as the “cheap” one - 2.6 “horses” versus 1.3. Assembled with gas tank, muffler, manual starter, air filter and gearbox. And I decided to adapt it to another “loafer” - a folding bicycle that had been collecting dust on the mezzanine for three years.

Gas lever (indicated by arrow).

I made a shelf from a 5mm duralumin sheet and installed it instead of the rear trunk. It is held in a vertical plane by two racks from an old bicycle. In the longitudinal one there is a hole with which it is put on the pipe; a saddle is fixed in the hole. And the lateral stability of the structure is guaranteed by a slope with right side. The motor was screwed onto this fairly rigid structure with four bolts.

On the left of the steering wheel: 1 - clutch release lever; 2 - lock lever; 3 - ignition switch button.

The drive to the rear wheel was made by a belt, with a tension roller from the timing belt of the VAZ-V8. The drive pulley was left standard, and the driven one matched the gear ratio from the MB walk-behind tractor. It is aluminum, two-strand. On a lathe I cut off the extra stream - the one that is wider. How do you attach the pulley to the wheel? I found another pulley (the inclination of the side surfaces of most pulleys corresponds to the angle of inclination of the spokes), and made cuts in it with a “grinder” that coincided with the crosshairs of the spokes. I installed it exactly in the center of the wheel using a special bushing. I drilled holes in it and bolted it to the spokes through large washers. And I already screwed the driven pulley to it with three screws. The gear ratio turned out to be extremely successful. And one more thing: the drive pulley is double, and next to the engine on the shelf there is enough space for a small generator. Do you catch the thread?

Clutch mechanism: 1 - cable; 2 - plate; 3 - bolts - guide plates; 4 - roller; 5 - springs.

The Mole does not have a clutch mechanism. Why not transfer this function to a belt drive? To do this, the roller tensioning the belt was not fixed rigidly - it was constantly pressed by a spring. If you squeeze it and move the roller away, the belt slips. Here's your clutch! The clutch release lever is homemade. The free play of the plate with the roller is as much as 7 cm (this is with a margin - after all, the belt stretches out over time), and for motorcycle clutch levers it is no more than 2 cm. What happened can be seen in the photo. The disadvantage of the design is that you have to directly, without a reinforcing arm, “fight” with the springs of the tension roller. But this can be tolerated - my car does not have a gearbox, so I have to operate the clutch lever very rarely - only during starts and stops. The lever in the clamped position secures a small locking lever. It helps out when you need to disengage the clutch for a long time, for example, when riding “like a bicycle.” Instead of a clutch cable, I inserted a thin steel wire lubricated with lithol into the braid. The braid does not have sharp bends, so the wire moves easily in it. The main advantage of such a replacement is that the wire is much more reliable than the cable that is in short supply in the village.

The main component is under the baseball cap.

Front and rear brakes are regular bicycle brakes. The rest of the controls on the steering wheel are standard from the “Mole”: on the left is a “jammer”, on the right under thumb- gas lever.

Conducted tests in December. Starting the motor with a cord. I started using the pedals. Two or three turns - and you can forget about them.

By the way, the forced cooling fan of the “Mole” ensures that the motor does not overheat at low speed. I asked a car driver I knew to drive in sync with me to record the speed. It turned out that the “maximum speed” is over 60 km/h. But such a speed seemed dangerous to me - it was a bicycle after all. And at 40 km/h it’s pure pleasure! For this engine, “forty” is a walking mode. Any rise is a trifle for him.

This is how the driven pulley is attached to the wheel: 1 - driven pulley; 2 - machined pulley; 3 - bolts with large washers.

What did I get? What I wanted. In the trunk of my Zhiguli, it’s easy to put an individual folding vehicle weighing 32 kg (bicycle - 20, motor - 12), capable of moving “my majesty” at a speed of 60 km/h and a little faster. Assembly and disassembly takes five to ten minutes. Gasoline consumption is no more than 2-2.5 liters per 100 km. There is nothing to break in my design. In stock it is enough to keep a belt, one or two meters of steel wire and a tension roller from the “eight”! And as a last resort, there are pedals.

This is how the driven pulley is attached to the wheel: 1 - driven pulley; 2 - machined pulley; 3 - bolts with large washers.

Common data:

dry weight - 32 kg,
length - 1830 mm,
height - 1100 mm,
saddle height - 850-950 mm,
width - 600 mm,
base - 1230 mm,
ground clearance - 180 mm,
gas tank volume - 1.8 l,
maximum speed is more than 60 km/h.

Engine- “Mole”, displacement - 60 cm3, power - 2.6 hp, carburetor - K60V.

Transmission:
homemade belt drive, belt - 1400 mm,
driving pulley - standard 60 mm, outer diameter of driven pulley - 255 mm
(optimal for wheel diameter 600 mm). Chassis:
folding bike "Impulse".

Tires:
front and rear - 47-507.

Brakes:
regular bicycle ones. Electrical equipment: not yet available.

Modifying a bike can become a real hobby. To this day, despite the increasing availability of various devices, homemade bicycles remain relevant. If there are no devices on sale that meet your functionality or appearance- You can try to make them yourself. After all, all it takes is a little enthusiasm to get started.

What are homemade products and why are they needed?

The most common accessories are made from parts of old bikes, which literally gives new life old mechanisms. One of the simplest conversions can be turning a bicycle into an exercise bike. You can often find such a device made from bicycles as a three-, four- (or more) wheeled car. From time to time you can come across simply unusual bikes, transformed according to the artist’s idea. These are all kinds of recumbent models with comfortable and spacious seats, models with manual or other modified drive, bikes with an unusual frame shape, and so on. The list of various homemade bicycles can be endless. The size, shape and purpose of a homemade bike depend only on the imagination and perseverance of the master.

Along with making homemade bicycles, homemade bikes also remain relevant. Making your own various bicycle accessories can be interesting for several reasons. This includes simply saving money, creating a unique style for your bike, and the desire to improve its functionality. If you wish, you can make most of the necessary bicycle accessories yourself.

These include, for example, the manufacture of anti-theft locks, fasteners for water bottles, glove compartments, and so on. There are bicycle carts and strollers. To create a cart with your own hands, an old children's bike, or rather its wheels, is well suited. A homemade cart or bicycle stroller can be useful for transporting goods; it will be very useful for summer residents.

Various trunks and backpacks, which you can also make yourself, can be useful in transporting numerous luggage. The materials can be anything from stiff fabric to wood and even metal.

Bicycle tuning

Recently, this type of “tuning” has become increasingly popular, such as unusual illumination of the wheel rim or a luminous wheel cap. All this can also be done independently, without resorting to expensive materials or ready-made solutions. You will need LEDs, a wire, a battery, a soldering iron and a little ingenuity.

Of course, to work with your own hands, and even more so to make any mechanisms, you will have to master the appropriate tools. Skills in working with a soldering iron, file, spray gun, and perhaps even a welding machine will be useful. You can upgrade your bike indefinitely, complementing it with various accessories and devices that expand its functionality. The same applies to creating homemade items from old bicycles. After all, a thing created with your own hands, and even one that benefits its creator, will please you much more than something purchased in a store.

Components of a homemade bicycle

Frame

If you have a frame left over from an old, leaky bicycle, great, the main thing is that it is in good condition and free of rust. If there is no frame, it doesn’t matter either; purchase steel, aluminum or titanium narrow pipes.

The basis is a drawing on which all the components of the bicycle are displayed. It is better if the sketch is made in 3D mode on a computer, you can immediately assess the real dimensions of the required parts and get an impression of the proportionality of each. Welding remains the preferred method of connecting functional components, if you additionally plan to attach a trunk to the frame or provide recesses for bolts. Holes are also left for bolts for hanging components.

Front fork

It's hard to imagine homemade functioning bicycles without a front fork. If you plan to drive the bike, sliding down the mountain and climbing up, it is better to install a soft shock absorber. You should not mount BMX forks on mountain models - they are too heavy. When making a fork with your own hands, calculate the following parameters:

fork stroke;
method of fixing the brakes;
preferred wheel diameter.

Transmission and brake

Transmission components are selected based on the amount allocated for this part of the bicycle. Experts do not advise assembling the chain with your own hands or creating a speed switch; you will only waste your time, good quality you still won't achieve it. When you come to the store, choose a classic transmission; the placental format has a number of significant disadvantages.

They are divided into rim and disc. If cycling is done in dry weather, rim brake pads are suitable; they are inexpensive and significantly lighten the design. Rim brakes won't withstand extreme travel - use disc brakes. With the latter, riding safety and comfort for the cyclist are ensured.

The wheels, of course, should be bought ready-made, as well as the saddle. Do you prefer sport style riding - pay attention to hard and elastic saddles that take into account the anatomical features of the cyclist.

It would seem that it would be easier to choose pedals. Beginners in cycling believe that, apart from the classics, designers have not come up with anything else, but they are mistaken. The modernized devices secure the legs tightly, which allows the feet not to slip, which means there is no need to make unplanned stops. At the same time, the risk of injury on the road increases.

Experts tell us how to make a bicycle with a comfortable handlebar. It must meet the basic requirements:

ergonomics;
reliability;
strength.

The steering wheel is bent according to a pre-made sketch, but do not forget that it contains important control components that control the activation of the brakes, handles that change speeds, a sound signal, and a headlight. Modern bikes can be equipped with an on-board computer.

The steering wheel is fixed to the stem; it is preferable that the last component be adjustable. To assemble the steering wheel, use durable materials that will not let you down: steel, titanium or carbon.

Step-by-step instructions for making your own bicycle

Creating a Frame

Craftsmen tell us how to make a bicycle with your own hands, starting with the frame. It's unlikely that you can do the job yourself, so enlist the help of a friend. For the frame, prepare 7 pipes, 2 of them should be short, 4 medium ones - they are placed for the rear stays, the long ones remain for the underseat component.

Follow this frame assembly sequence:

Attach the lower main pipe to the carriage shell using a welding machine.
It should be fixed to the lower edge of the head tube located at the front of the bike. The position of the steering wheel is relative to the perpendicular of the carriage shell.
Following the parallel of the head tube to the glass, weld the seat tube with the down tube, taking into account the desired angle of inclination.
Then weld the seat tube and head tube to the main top tube. The front frame is ready.
Proceed to welding the chainstays to the carriage cup. The angle to the seat profile should match the angle of the main bottom.
Connect the top end of the seat profile to the edge of the chainstays to form the chainstays.

Pressing in the fork and making dropouts

The fork is pressed in in a horizontal position. How to make a bicycle yourself at the stage of pressing the fork, step by step instructions masters provide:

Mount the bearings.
Attach cones to the balls
Place the washer on the shock absorber rod.
Tighten the locknuts snugly, but do not overtighten the joint as this may cause the connection to break.

Take a metal plate and cut out some pieces.
Armed with a jigsaw, make indentations in the parts, the size of which should be suitable for the diameter of the wheel axle and fixing nuts.
The part is welded to the frame, applying it with the side without holes.

The landing recesses are placed at the same level, otherwise the wheel will not fit on the dropouts. The step between the mounting holes is equal to tightening the nuts to the maximum.

Installation of remaining components

A fully functioning great bicycle requires installation of working units on the frame. The most difficult thing is to install and debug the cranks and pedals on your carriage. And again, you can’t do without a guide on how to make a bicycle with your own hands:

Secure the steering wheel mounted into the shock absorber body with a bolt. The fork must be well lubricated before starting work.
Insert the seatpost vertically into the tube and secure it with a metal clamp and nut.
Place the carriage in the glass using a squeezer.
After installing the chain, install the wheels.

Conclusion

Now you have the knowledge of how to make a bicycle with your own hands almost from scratch. The work begins with the creation of a drawing, and after that the master’s idea is gradually brought to life. Some components can be made yourself, others are better purchased, so be prepared for the expense. The completed bicycle will become a real landmark of the area; everyone will probably want to ride such a device.

Having a bicycle is cool and inexpensive: the prices for new budget models are not bad, the choice of bikes in stores and on the Internet is huge. But a bicycle of his own production, personally patented, would be much more interesting.

A homemade bicycle is popular among fans of the process of assembling and disassembling mechanisms. Is it possible to create your own bike from scratch, having only available tools? Yes, it’s true that you won’t be able to make components such as a wheel, carriage assembly and transmission sprockets yourself.

It turns out that it is impossible to completely make a bicycle with your own hands. Of course, you will have to accept that it will not be possible to create a bike completely from scratch, but it is quite possible to make the most important thing - the frame. What is needed first to assemble the product? That's right, model it on paper.

Creating a drawing for a bicycle frame

To do correct drawing yourself, you will have to try for a long time, since you need to adhere to the reference data on the length and diameters of the pipes. You also need to decide on the type of bike.

It’s easier to go the other way - take ready-made drawings. For example, let's take a drawing of a diamond-shaped road bike frame. The figure shows that the seat tube and front (cup) tubes must be strictly parallel to each other, and the lower main tube and the chainstay of the rear triangle must be spread at the same angle relative to the seat tube.

The lower and upper main pipes are fixed at some ends to the steering tube, and at the other to the seat tube. The top tube can be positioned horizontally or at an angle, it all depends on the model. In our case it is horizontal.

Picture of a closed singlespeed frame

Taking into account all dimensions and angles, the result should be the same design as on paper. The next steps after studying the drawing are cutting and welding pipes.

Assembling a bicycle frame: welding pipes, pressing in the fork, making seats for the wheels

To make a homemade frame, you will need 7 pipes of the required sizes. Of these, 2 are short for the carriage and head tubes, four are medium for the rear stays and long for the main seat stays. The supporting structure of a simple road bike is made of steel alloys, so we select the material accordingly. Pipes must not be damaged or rusty. Next, the parts are connected using spot welding.

Manufacturing sequence:

The lower main pipe is welded to the carriage shell.
The downtube attaches to the bottom edge of the front steering tube. The steering position is perpendicular to the carriage shell.
Parallel to the head tube, the seat tube is welded to the tube at the required angle to the down tube.
Welding the seat and front tubes of the main upper.
The front part is ready, then the lower stays are welded to the carriage glass at a slight angle to each other. The angle to the seat tube is exactly the same as the main down tube.
The connection between the top end of the seat tube and the edge of the chainstays. We receive the top stays, welding of the structure is completed.

Welded joints of stays and carriage cup

The next stage is the manufacture and pressing of the fork into the front of the frame. The whole process comes down to welding three metal pipes and making special cones for pressing. The length of the fork should be such that the level of the lower end coincides with the tip of the feathers on the rear triangle of the welded frame.

A homemade fork is an energy-intensive option; it is better to make it in the image and likeness of an existing one, or buy a ready-made one for a custom-made frame.

Pressing is done in a horizontal position:

Installation of bearings.
Fixing cones on balls.
Washer cover on the fork rod.
Tightening the locknut.

The handlebar is installed in the fork body. It can be made from improvised means, the same metal pipes, and screwed on a special threaded fastener, but it is better to buy it separately. It turns out that you will have to buy everything except the frame and follow the standard rule of assembling a bike out of the box? Almost. After all, you still need to weld the dropouts under the rear wheel, and you need to do this yourself. And if the fork is homemade, the seats are made under front wheel.

So, dropouts are made according to the following scheme:

Cut the metal plates small, but so that they can be welded well to the frame pipes.
Use a jigsaw to make holes in the plates, the dimensions of which should correspond to the diameter of the wheel axle and mounting nuts.
With the side opposite the hole, the part is carefully welded to the frame.

Both mounting holes must be positioned at exactly the same level, otherwise the wheel will not fit on the dropouts. And one more thing: the distance between the mounting holes should, at a minimum, correspond to tightening the nuts “all the way.” In other words, the wheel should not fall off the dropouts at least at maximum torque.

So the dropout holes should coincide along the axis

Installing the handlebar, saddle, carriage and wheels

To get a full-fledged bicycle, you need to install all the working units listed in the title on a homemade frame. The most difficult stage will be the installation of the carriage and the “crank-rod-pedal” system.

The handlebar is inserted into the fork body and is firmly fixed with a bolt on the top. Before installation, it is recommended to lightly lubricate the inner walls of the fork, and also accurately set the position of the handlebars - the handles are strictly perpendicular to the stroke of the bicycle. By twisting, you can throw off the straight position of the steering wheel. It’s not scary, just adjust the position with one hand while holding the frame firmly with the other.

It is inserted into a vertical pipe and fixed with a metal clamp with a nut. Saddle height at road bike adjusted to the height of the steering wheel.

The next stage is in a glass. The carriage is a complex transmission unit, which during installation will require a special tool - a squeezer. All work on assembling parts is carried out in a strictly specified order.

Tool for removing and tightening connecting rods

And finally, inserting the wheels into the seats. We remember that homemade dropouts must be precisely coordinated in advance before production, otherwise they will have to be cut off, made and welded again. Wheel installation sequence:

Place the chain on the drive and driven sprockets.
Insert the rear wheel into the dropouts.
Install a metal clamp on the chainstay of the bicycle and screw the brake clamp to it.
Tighten the wheel nuts.
Install the front wheel into the seats and tighten until it stops.

When tightening, it is better to use a dynamometer to obtain accurate tightening torques and geometric integrity. For homemade design this is especially important.

As you can see, homemade bikes are a very relative concept. It is still possible to make the supporting structure yourself, but the remaining components will have to be purchased. However, even such a bike deserves the title of exclusive: it was made and assembled independently. The completion of the work will be a thorough running-in of your brainchild, identifying and correcting shortcomings.