The Magic BIKE BUS! -- My DIY Homebuilt Bike Car
This is the bike car I built from a few old bicycles. Some missionaries stopped by and they really wanted to take it for a spin!
Build process: • The Magic BIKE BUS Build Process -- DIY Ho...
Quick test drive: • The Magic BIKE BUS Test Drive -- DIY Homeb...
What happened to it? • The Magic BIKE BUS TOWED! -- Final video o...
I used a welder, an electric saw with cutoff wheel, and some discarded water pipe the neighbors were throwing away. The most expensive part is gathering up about $100 worth of used bike chains.
After seeing a bike car video that some students had built I just had to make one for my nephews. I wanted to experience riding a recumbent bicycle bike car "quadracycle", "pedicab", "rickshaw" or "bikecar" but nobody around here had one to test drive, so I made this one from discarded water pipe and old, rusty bicycles. One thing I noticed is they make roads higher in the center to facilitate rain runoff; this is called road crown. It makes the bike list to starboard (lean to the right) when you're riding, so I used a smaller bike on the port (left) side to make up for that. Well, actually I didn't have much choice with what I had, but it magically worked out that way. You can also see I have used unmodified spare derailleurs as chain tighteners, as suggested by a shrewd pawn shop owner. That's my brother in-law at the helm. Four people are pedalling while 2 children test out the new bolt-on bench seat I made from old oak pallet lumber, conduit, foam padding and folded blankets for cushions. I covered them in vinyl and stapled underneath. This is near the maximum weight for this contraption. Keep it level. The spokes break if you put too much side load on the tires. The kids are wearing seat belts. They should have been wearing helmets, but they were just going around the block to film this.