Bike Security

[BBadger]

This discussion strictly for entertainment purposes. Do not attempt any action that might cause harm.

(Or at least not without plausible deniability.)

[Elliot]

Allrightythen. We pick up where we left off a while ago. We are going to build a bicycle with reversed steering. Such a bike is practically impossible to ride. We start by rounding up the parts; two bikes and a gear.


First the gear. A lawn tractor transaxle gave its life so a bicycle thief may give his:



When you open something like a motorcycle transmission, a selections of gears will practically tumble out. In the lower right hand corner of the picture you see the gear I chose, and I cut it in halves with a cut-off wheel on the angle grinder. This gear is larger than necessary, but the larger hole in the middle saves me a lot of grinding.

Be VERY careful with angle grinders. Wear goggles AND face shield, and sturdy gloves. The gloves are only against sparks. The cutting wheel will cut your hand right off in a split second without even slowing for the glove.





We are going to do is install the two half-gears like this:



This way, when one half turns one direction, the other half turns the other direction.





Now the bicycles. Two throwaway bikes from China-Mart. These were donated to Elliot’s Bicycle Repair & Rentals in BRC in a previous year.



The bright pink one ought to be attractive to a thief. All we need off the other is the frame and the fork – and the handlebar stem if it’s not the same diameter as on the pink one. Surplus wheels and other parts will be used to repair other bikes.





Some quick cutting with the angle grinder, or a hacksaw…



…and here we have the section we are going to weld to the pink bike.



Now comes a couple of hours of careful fitting-the-parts-together -- measuring and cutting and grinding and fitting and grinding and….

To be continued. Bwahahahahah.



This discussion strictly for entertainment purposes. Do not attempt any action that might cause harm.
Bikes shown are for demonstration of skill by professional rider on closed course only.

[Canoe]

...We are going to do is install the two half-gears like this:

This way, when one half turns one direction, the other half turns the other direction.

Why is this reminding me of the plane I few that had the aileron lines reversed...

[Elliot]

...We are going to do is install the two half-gears like this:

This way, when one half turns one direction, the other half turns the other direction.

Why is this reminding me of the plane I few that had the aileron lines reversed...

...Because it's the very same concept!

My first experience with this was when I was a young boy and had a toboggan that was steered with a steering wheel thru cables. One time, during a repair, I wound the cable onto the pulley the wrong way. And Grandpa's long steep driveway had a good kink in the middle. A bunch of us boys tried, but that sled never made it all the way down the hill until I corrected the problem.

Work on the "No, the other left" bike resumes shortly.

[dragonpilot]

Elliot...you have WAY too much time on your hands! (but I'd love to give your bike a try.)

[Elliot]

Elliot...you have WAY too much time on your hands!

Well, no.... Yesterday I ran out of time and energy before I got to the bike project.
I never bother to time anything I do, but it took perhaps one hour for the preliminary work Sunday, and I anticipate two hours to finish it today. Then I'll have a good Bicycle Rodeo bike (test of skill), which can also be used as Thief Bait. And those three hours are definitely Quality Time. I can't draw, I can't sing, etc... but I can cut and weld -- it's my art.

[Elliot]

The best laid plans.... Shop compressor finally rattled apart, somewhat. It's a freebie from over 20 years ago -- probably older than I am. So there went this afternoon's allotted two hours.
Somebody once told me they do not own a Volt/Ohm meter. I don't believe it. Cannot be done. Compressor all fixed now, so we'll try again tomorrow.

[vargaso]

Allrightythen. We pick up where we left off a while ago. We are going to build a bicycle with reversed steering. Such a bike is practically impossible to ride. We start by rounding up the parts; two bikes and a gear.


First the gear. A lawn tractor transaxle gave its life so a bicycle thief may give his:



When you open something like a motorcycle transmission, a selections of gears will practically tumble out. In the lower right hand corner of the picture you see the gear I chose, and I cut it in halves with a cut-off wheel on the angle grinder. This gear is larger than necessary, but the larger hole in the middle saves me a lot of grinding.

Be VERY careful with angle grinders. Wear goggles AND face shield, and sturdy gloves. The gloves are only against sparks. The cutting wheel will cut your hand right off in a split second without even slowing for the glove.





We are going to do is install the two half-gears like this:



This way, when one half turns one direction, the other half turns the other direction.





Now the bicycles. Two throwaway bikes from China-Mart. These were donated to Elliot’s Bicycle Repair & Rentals in BRC in a previous year.



The bright pink one ought to be attractive to a thief. All we need off the other is the frame and the fork – and the handlebar stem if it’s not the same diameter as on the pink one. Surplus wheels and other parts will be used to repair other bikes.





Some quick cutting with the angle grinder, or a hacksaw…



…and here we have the section we are going to weld to the pink bike.



Now comes a couple of hours of careful fitting-the-parts-together -- measuring and cutting and grinding and fitting and grinding and….

To be continued. Bwahahahahah.



This discussion strictly for entertainment purposes. Do not attempt any action that might cause harm.
Bikes shown are for demonstration of skill by professional rider on closed course only.

I love this. I have ZERO mechanical ability, so reading stuff like this is fascinating.

[Elliot]

Different folks have different talents. I couldn't carry a tune if you lent me a bucket.

So I'm back on the job.
Forgot to mention.... Be sure the bicycle frame is steel (not aluminum).
The first gear-half is fit in position on the original fork. And paint scraped off for welding:




But I see that the big gear I chose will make for a less-than-neat installation. And I found that grinding the gear to fit went quite easily. So now I'm considering starting over with a smaller gear. This kind of changing-horses-in-mid-stream always takes much more time than the actual project! I'll chew on this option while I eat a (late) lunch.

[theCryptofishist]

See, I'd not check the composition of the bike until I was welding and it wasn't working...

[Elliot]

Here we go.... Much neater with the smaller gear:



Now.... Nothing I've welded has ever broken, but if ugly welding becomes a crime I'm a dead man. So you don't get to see the welded side.

[Elliot]

Ran out of daylight again. But I'm glad I switched to the small gear, for this is turning out slicker than oiled cat's whiskers. Notice how close together the two steering heads are. Hmmm... the gears don't show up so well in this shot, but they are there, nicely engaged:



Tomorrow (barring further delay) we'll attach the Huffy steering head to the Magna steering head with two flat plates -- much easier than whittling down the frame tubes to fit.

[BBadger]

This reversible bike steering has got to be one of the best bike mods.

[theCryptofishist]

This reversible bike steering has got to be one of the best bike mods.

shambala is a good bike mod, too.

[Elliot]

This reversible bike steering has got to be one of the best bike mods.

Let's reserve judgement until we test its face-planting capacity.
But yeah, it should make a good Bike Rodeo (as in try-to-stay-on-it-for-ten-seconds) bike.
I have my coffee IV hooked up, so I should be going out in the barn before Noon today.

[Canoe]

...Let's reserve judgement until we test its face-planting capacity...

hah
already I have a fix
steer with your hands crossed, and a blinder to prevent you from seeing your hands while you steer
right?
no - I'm not willing to try

[Elliot]

Correct. Crossing your arms is supposed to make it doable.
I got a bit of welding done, but there just isn't enough hours in a day. Back tomorrow.

[Canoe]

too bad you can't have a remote that switches between normal and reversed steering, or would that be like jack-lighting?

[Elliot]

Huh?

I'm out in the barn working on it! It will be done within the hour -- except for paint and such.

[Elliot]

At the beginning of this project I expected to spend hours and hours meticulously and painstakingly whittling down the stubs of the Huffy frame tubes until a perfect fit was achieved against the Magna head tube. But along the way it dawned on me that I could simply attach the Huffy with two flat plates instead, and this would also make it spectacularly quick and easy to achieve a perfect fit.

I simply tack welded the plates to the Magna, and clamped them to the Huffy, about half-way snuggly. Then I tapped the Huffy around with a small hammer until perfect fit was achieved. Then weld.

Lesson learned: It’s acceptable to start a project without having perfect plans for completing it. Various aspects of the project will become clearer as you proceed, and solutions will then present themselves.
Well… “may” present themselves. I’ve abandoned a few projects over the years. That’s alright too. Ya gots to aim high or ya’ll never hit nuttin but groundhogs.


Let’s see:



First two plates, to be tack welded for now, held by a spring clamp.




Here is everything in position:



At this point, I can turn the two gears back and forth. The fit is not brain-surgery-precise, but we’re not building a watch here.



With that welded, it’s probably plenty strong. But that’s not how I build things. So I’ll pile on some more steel and weld. Mind you, this is not “neat” mechanical work. This is quick-n-dirty “shade tree” work:



Bomb proof. And I slathered some gray primer on there also, just to avoid having to look at rust in the future. All that remains is to reinstall the front brake and the cables, and cover the “Two Headed Monster” with a scrap of faux fur or something. Perhaps I’ll install a taller, more back-swept handlebar while I’m at it.

The bike can still be ridden normally – just move the handlebar back to the original location. Nothing on this bike has really been damaged! Yet.

[gyre]

For rust, zinc cold galvanizing primer.
The flat has more zinc.
Rustoleum, 15 0z industrial, $5 at hdepot, around $9 at industrial supply.

[ygmir]

beautiful Elliot!! just beautiful!!

[Canoe]

Now, where's the video of you riding it?

Cover that with some playa decorations and ...?

[Elliot]

Cover that with some playa decorations and ...?

...and park it on the end of a row at Center Camp, or Opulent Temple if we can stand the noise. Then watch discretely.
If we do this with four or five "bait bikes" at the time, we just might catch a "fish" on one of them.

[Tiahaar]

LUV it Elliot! I wanna try...

[Elliot]

Bring your crash helmet!

[MyDearFriend]

(((Elliot))) you rock.

[Elliot]

Yeah, I sure do.

[gyre]

Don't forget the spring frame bike.
Anyone that welds can build one.
We found old garage door springs.
Cut and weld frame with springs inside.

Only drawback is someone light enough could ride one, but very effective otherwise.

[Elliot]

Actually, there is not even any welding on the Spring Frame. But I've had trouble with the downtube spring coming loose - pulling out of the frame tube -- so refinements are in order.