The Breeze recumbent cargo bike frame is rolling!

 

The Breeze is now a rolling chassis.  Although it still needs a front trunk with a solar panel lid, a retractable solar canopy, a deflector in front of the pedals, and oversize rear panniers built, I'm finally able to ride it around (before snow!)  I started building this single track semi recumbent electric cargo bike during the Covid quarantine while I was ruminating on the role of bikes (and walking) in a car culture.  As a result there are several unusual details which I can write more about this winter, but for now I thought I should put up a few photos.  (Click on the pictures to enlarge them.)

Single track recumbents are steered more by your hips than the handlebars so some people may have a difficult time riding one, (those with back or balance problems), however I've used a RANS Stratus for a few years and greatly enjoy it, so I wanted to build a heavy duty version that can haul groceries better.  I didn't want to have to push this bike home while I'm commissioning it, so I've ridden it for 2.5 miles just around the yard so far.  It's OK on grass, even with the motor shut off.  It does feel a little unusual when I get on it and it sinks 1/2 inch to sag position, but there hasn't been any pogoing or wallowing.  I have a steep, long, gravel driveway and it tracks very comfortably down to 2 or 3 mph going uphill or down so I think most of the dimensions are correct, but of course now that I've built it I can see a dozen little details that I'd do different next time.  The one odd behavior I don't fully understand is when I try to U-turn within a lane's width (10 to 12 feet wide), I end up leaning way over (40 degrees) at which point the front wheel turns sideways, the bike comes to a stop, and I do a slow roll onto the side.  (I need to U-turn to the left to spare the derailleurs!)  I eventually learned how to U-turn my bakfiets within one lane so this geometry/ergonometric speculation is mostly in case I build another frame.

Technically this is a Class 1 ebike: it has a Bafang BBSHD motor which I've programmed down to 720 watts (15 amps at 48 volts) and 20 mph to make it legal for both Vermont and New Hampshire, and I didn't install the throttle.  It has 26"x1.5" tires for mud season, with 8 speeds for the motor plus 3 more for the rider (two chain loops as 1x3x8).  There are 2 batteries totaling 1.68 kWh for longer trips, (plus I'd like to try heated grips or seat cushion).

The horizontal display mimics a car dashboard.  On the right is a standard Shimano SL-R440 8 speed shifter for the rear cassette.  I ended up using an upside down Shimano Deore 6 speed thumb shifter (hidden under the Bafang keypad on the left) for the motor mounted high/mid/low range cassette because the cable pull was the best match after I had to shim the sprockets to avoid chain rub.  The front trunk bin will mount on the horizontal tube using the welded on m8 nuts, and the handlebars should be just below the height of the flexible solar panel lid to give wind protection for my hands.  Although the handlebars are minimum width, the bell fit ergonomically in front of the display.  The curvature of the handlebars are a natural angle for this riding position, (Mike Burrows' Soup Dragon used a similar arc).  To reduce the handlebar interference with my legs there is a slight step up ratio (1.2:1) on the steering, but I need to rack up some mileage to see if this is a good idea or not.

I included a bottom bracket at the front of the rear rack as a pivot for the retractable solar panel canopy, and when the top is down a 60 watt panel should extend just beyond the rack to the end of the bike.  The head and tail lights required a solid state relay circuit because the BBSHD supply was not powerful enough, and I tested 11 ebike headlights to find one with good focus and cutoff like a car headlight - I'll try to post a blog with this data during the winter.

Even though the bikes I build are just for getting myself around, I couldn't resist painting my Scarlet Runner Bikes logo on the head tube and down tube to try to trick people into thinking this one is from a factory.  (Also I think the Scarlet red looks good on the Chicory blue.)  This winter I'll try to post about more design considerations (there's a lot to say about the suspension besides the headlights), but our legislature will be coming into session soon and I expect to spend some time advocating for better bike/ped infrastructure on Route 5.  (Thank you all you other advocates who are helping bring about a better human scale transportation system.)  Now to get in some test miles before the salt, dirty slush, and ice will make it difficult to finish up the bodywork.