The Breeze frame is painted, plus a little bike advocacy

The Breeze single track semi recumbent frame (click to enlarge)

Last month I finally finished welding all of the small mounting tabs on The Breeze frame and sprayed a coat of chicory blue paint on it.  All of the small hardware still needs to fitted and this will take a while because I've done some unusual things (like cutting a freehub in half and mounting it on the motor's square taper crank).  But it's kind of neat and the rear suspension is actually supple, so I thought I'd post a picture of it.

I started this frame during Covid, but ended up building it as a side project because bike advocacy work became more important.  I've been using my ebikes as serious transportation since 2010, and next month will be 8 years without a car.  I live 5.5 miles away from the center of my small town in a rural area, and roads have become important.

In his book "One Less Car", Zach Furness quotes Sara Stout as saying:

"At first bicycling is utilitarian, it's just how you choose to get around... but it becomes political really quickly because it's hard to get around.  There are difficulties at every turn, and there seem to be injustices at every turn."

Being a builder geek I was a bit slower to understand this problem than Sara, but after 5 to  6 years it occurred to me that our roads have some major design flaws for anyone outside of a car, and this was scaring many people away from riding everyday like I was doing.  I started locally by asking my town manager and select board to include bicycles and pedestrians in their plans, but it grew and now I'm part of several transportation organizations.  One of my biggest supporters has been my state Sierra Club chapter - they have a Clean Transportation for All (bike/pedestrian/transit/EV) campaign.  I've been given the opportunity to testify 3 times before my state legislature for better support for bicycling and walking, and now I'm advocating to make US Route 5 in Vermont (along the Connecticut river from Massachusetts to Canada) safer for bicyclists and pedestrians.  Besides local river valley biking, this route would fill in a missing north-south Rail Trail system gap between the Farmington Canal trail starting on Long Island Sound up to La Route Verte in Quebec.  You don't have to be as involved or technical as I've gotten, it's just important to show up because otherwise all that the transportation people hear are car drivers loudly demanding pothole repair and more parking.  I actually think pretty highly of the people I've met at my state DOT, but all these agencies need to hear there is a demand for bike/ped facilities to justify taking time and money away from cars.  Now that I've stepped back from cars I can better see the insanity of all the externalized costs and effects of our car based transportation system and feel like speaking up, but please show up even if you just watch, or sign a petition, quieter voices need to be heard too.

Back before Covid I realized that our transportation system was not going to change quickly enough for me.  Since I had to travel 11 miles one way for groceries, 6 miles another way for the Post Office or bank, or 16 miles another direction for errands, I needed a bike that was more car-like to fit in with the existing road network.  My bike had to compensate for 1950's planning that expected people to drive a fast car everywhere. 

There were 3 main design inspirations for this frame.  To start, a semi recumbent would be similar to a car and I have a RANS Stratus that I've liked.  However the Stratus twists too much when there is a large load of groceries on the rear rack, and the fiberglass seat without any rear suspension can be a rough ride.   I used pedal drop and reach dimensions from it combined with dimensions from an EZ Racer and a mock up.  Second, my last few cars were Saab 900's (the early version), and aside from inaccessible service components they had a design philosophy with their planes I liked.  I used the 18 inch seat height, the 60 degree steering wheel angle (in line with shoulder joints) and other packaging and ergonometric details.  Third, I've loved Porsche cars since grade school in the 1960s, so the Breeze was getting a mid motor.

To these basic parameters, I added 26 inch wheels (for dirt roads) with rear suspension, a front storage compartment with a solar panel cover to keep rain off of me, dual batteries for longer distance, and a retractable solar canopy with a drop down windshield.  It took quite a bit of drawing to get it all to fit together, but we were quarantined for Covid anyhow.  The bodywork is going to take some time, but I expect to be riding the bare frame this fall to find out if it is going to work or not.  As I put it together I'll post more pictures of the details.