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(Without the body)

This may not be a traditional rat rod bike, but it was handcrafted over 5 months and it's basically two bikes put together with a rat rod car on top. I built this pedal car because I don't like the way life is nowadays. I don't like how fast life moves now that almost everybody has cell phones. I don't like how people will not be able to buy a new car in the U.S. that doesn't come filled with electronic doo-dads after 2012. I don't like all the environmental problems that we are causing.

Sometimes I wish I was born 100 years ago so I could experience the glory days of America. It wasn't all good, since the Depression, two World Wars, the Cold War, and many other bad things happened, but the past 100 years held so much more American spirit compared to today. Almost all the bikes on this website come from a time when things were built to last and we could actually take pride in the products we actually made. In 1998 I was given a Raleigh M20 mountain bike for Christmas and on the seat tube was a red, white, and blue sticker that said "MADE IN THE USA". Just eight years after that, in 2006, the same make and model bike has a sticker that says, "DESIGNED IN USA (made in china)".

What happened? The search for big profits has caused us to abandon our pride. I understand that by transferring manufacturing duties to a developing country means cheap labor, cheap products, and more money for both countries, but there are still costs to consider. These costs aren't measured in dollars or production numbers, but rather the amount of American pride that is lost at each sighting of a "MADE IN CHINA" sticker. I hate buying things from China. I have nothing against China and I'm glad to see that their standard of living is increasing, but it's at the cost of an American's drive to succeed. If a little kid grows up in a country that produces almost nothing because the companies just want to make the most money, what type of person do you think that kid is likely to become? A cheater? A bum? A slacker? If they follow the role model of, "Outsource duties to make more money" that is almost the same thing as cheating on a test. Companies don't have to work as hard to make more money, so the kid won't study but will still get good grades.

Unlike cheating, the companies that outsource duties aren't doing anything legally wrong. However, they are doing damage that they never intended. As a recent Jeep commercial said, we do good when we make good things, and not so good when we don't. I believe this to be true. Buying from China may be cheap, but that's because the cost is subsidized by a tax on our American pride.

The solution to this would be to restore America's glory. However, we can't just push rewind and then replay our past. Times have changed, so we need to change with them. One of the things that made America great was our manufacturing of the greatest cars in the world at the time. Sure they were gas guzzlers, but in a time when gas mileage wasn't a concern there was no other country that topped our craftsmanship, our ease of maintenance, the power, and the "wow" factor of something like a 1959 Cadillac El Dorado.

Since gas mileage is of upmost concern right now, it would seem as if the best way to restore American glory is to make the coolest and most sustainable method of transport as we can. I built the pedal car to give inspiration to the "garage craftsman" all across America to either get together or go out on their own to make the next cool, sustainable mode of transport. Rat rod bikes are plenty cool, but if you want to go grocery shopping, go out on a date, or ride in the rain or cold they aren't always the best choice.
 
i completely agree with you man 8) i hate that my childrens only likely experience of the real america will be through its old cars and bicycles,though thats all it has been for me too. good on you man 8) now i want to see more pictures of this 'car' 8)
 
Thank you! Here are some more pics:
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This is how it started out. I used the rear triangles off of two Wal-mart bikes and the head tubes were used to hold the front spindles. The seats are from Office Depot and the gears are shifted via the stick shift in the center console. The frame is made of 1" square tubing from home depot and it is all TIG welded together. I rode it like this for a while, but the rear end was very narrow and it would flip easily if only one person was driving. I switched to a go-kart rear axle which made the rear track as wide as the front and fixed the flipping problem.

After I finished the chassis, I started making the body.

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This is the body after I cut it off the mold.

I then painted the body and added headlights, taillights, and chrome trim along the sides.

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This picture was taken as my girlfriend and I rode in the Holiday Parade in downtown Leesburg, VA.

My goal with this pedal car is to provide people with an alternative to driving a normal car. This is because, despite what General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, or any other manufacturer of normal cars tells you, not one of their cars are, in any way, good for the environment, nor do they make any actual steps toward environmental sustainability. Sure the Chevy Volt is a hybrid, but it comes with air conditioning, an AM/FM/CD/MP3 capable radio, anti lock brakes, large amounts of sound-dampening material, stability control, at least 6 airbags, and an electromagnetic parking brake. The last time I checked, being "green" didn't involve having all of these things, but according to every car manufacturer in the United States, it seems to be that way.

I aim to change this. I know that I cannot tell people what to buy or what not to buy, so I won't. However, I hope to make being "green" cool by offering something that is made with the goal of environmental sustainability, but doesn't look like it. I plan on putting an emphasis on having fun and the stance of the vehicle over aerodynamics and efficiency. My pedal car will be the most "green" car one can buy, but it will look about as "green" as a 1960 mini cooper with fender flares and 20 inch rims.

Here is the new version:

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The frame is made from 2" square tubing that I TIG welded together. There will be a body structure built on this chassis and then I will simply bolt body panels to it. The panels will be made from polystyrene foam with a fiberglass skin on it, or possibly sheet metal. I wish I had more sheet metal working tools. Here is where I built both pedal cars:

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Thanks! And I had just cleaned the shop for the picture. It usually has some tools laying around and metal pieces here and there, but I like to keep it relatively clean. I can't work when I'm stepping/tripping over cords and tools. The shop is a little bit dirtier in these pictures, though.

Also, I have welded on the transmission mounts and the steering column mounts.

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The chairs are lawn chairs from home depot. I'm going to mount them on sliding rails to allow for adjustment for different riders. The fabric in the seats is a big improvement over the chairs on the first pedal car since they are a mesh rather than normal fabric. No more sweaty backs! :D
 
finally a cool velomobile !what are you using for the hubs? can we see a pic of your front end? it dosent look like your using head tubes on your new build
 
The hubs are 20mm thru-axle mountain bike hubs. They are mounted using 3/4" go-kart spindles. Since 3/4" = 19.05 mm, there isn't that much play and when the wheel nuts are tight there is no play at all. I spent a few months trying to find wheels for this pedal car. There are only a handful of companies that make hubs that mount from one side. Sturmey Archer makes some, but I couldn't find out where to get them. The hubs that I used are AtomLab downhill hubs so they are really beefy, but they are $90 each. Each wheel on this pedal car is worth about $130.

There is a cheaper route, but it's not as durable. If you take two 20" coaster brake wheels, take the brake shoes out of the coaster brake. Then you thread the axle over to the drive side so that there are only a few threads showing on the non-drive side of the hub. Then you weld a tube with washers welded to the ends on the bottom of the steerer tube of the forks. When you put the axle through the tube and bolt it from the other end of the tube, the metal piece that the cog mounts to becomes a load bearing point. The axle may only be 10 or 12 mm in diameter, but that round piece that mounts the cog increases the load bearing area to about an inch and a quarter in diameter so the axles don't bend and there are two bearings holding the weight rather than just one. This method does work well, as long as the rims and hubs are of decent quality. When I had this style of wheel on the first pedal car they worked great but a flimsy tie rod caused them to go different directions at the same time which folded them both like tacos. Also, a faulty bearing caused one of the wheels to come off the axle but it was replaced with the parts from the pink bike in the pictures.

And I don't want to show off the front end too much right now since the suspension I made may be the first of it's kind on a pedal car, but I can say that it's a cross between a MacPherson strut and a swing axle that uses a leaf spring to cause negative camber when it's compressed, which will make the wheels lean more like they would on a bike.
 
Thanks! They are just like driving a go-kart with pedals. They can go as fast as a bicycle on flat ground and downhills, but up hills are pretty slow. To fix this, I put an electric assist motor on it so it now matches a bicycles speed regardless of the hill. The pedal car in the pictures has just three speeds so it can't climb extremely steep hills, but it can handle everything short of San Francisco as well as a bicycle can. I could greatly increase it's abilities with a bigger motor but I want to put an emphasis on sustainability rather than performance.

I am interested in powering it with different fuel sources. This past summer I modified a lawn mower engine to run on compressed air but it can also run off of steam. I am thinking of putting a boiler where the batteries would go and having a human-steam hybrid that can run off of wood or any other flammable material.
 
sweet!
ive been looking a velomobiels but dang there expencive! where as this kind thing seem more fun to build :D
 
can get you the sturmey hubs if you want. They are drum brake recumbents. using them on my "Project 3-way"

The irony is the first body and name look like an import :p

Where did you get the sprocket that is bolted to the disc rotor mounts?
 
Thank you, but I don't need the Sturmey Archer hubs. I think the 20mm axle hubs would be more durable. I'm actually trying not to use bicycle wheels because when they are put on a 4 wheeled vehicle they need to be trued a lot. Also, I got the disc-mount sprocket from benscycle.net. The brand name is VeloSolo.
 
I have to tell ya,' American ingenuity is not dead and this is a classic example of such talent. Hats off to you, sir and an inspiration to the rest of us.
 
Way cool... I like the way you think :D I've always had a similar idea but I always came to the conclusion that it would be too big to ride/drive on a bike track, but too small and almost suicidal to use on the road and share with maniacs in cars :shock: I would love to move to a small town where I could get away with it, but unfortunately in town it's just too impractical :(

I've decided to focus more on cool trikes with full sloper rear ends and lockable boot space - sorry, trunk space :lol: I think the only way to sell the whole green thing to Joe Cit is to make it cool, practical, and decently priced... Style doesn't always need a big price tag :wink: and I think that the beauty of good quality is that you can see it, and people appreciate it even if they aren't a fanatic :D

Good luck though!! :D :mrgreen:
 

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