TourSleazy

Tour Sleazy

LWB recumbent with 2.5hp Honda G100 engine

TourSleazy is loosely based on Easyracers' 'Tour Easy.' What started off innocently as a long, low recumbent pushbike built from rubbish turned into a sort of moped. The trash factor begged the name corruption.

Most parts are from discarded bikes or at best second hand. The engine's provenance isn't exactly known, but it had a lot of wet concrete splashes on the crankcase- it may have been on a concrete screed or other builder's equipment.

A very few custom bits had to be machined for the differential drive which permits pedal, engine or any combination of the two simultaneously. I was overcharged outrageously for substandard work on these bits, but they were good enough to fit together and work. I may not be able to disassemble the drive again because I didn't heat-treat the threaded shaft adapters which carry the freewheel hubs. Call it v1.0. ;) I know for next time.

The first pass on the frame, pre-engine and suspension, was very light and pleasant to ride. Too bad we live in a mountainous area. Had to have a power assist for the hills. However, the lack of rear suspension very nearly caused a nasty high-speed crash when I encountered a pothole at about 60km/h sailing down my favourite hill. Considering the bike can do close to 70km/h on the flat, rear supension was a must to control the bike on rough roads. I rigged in rear springing and then added the Honda G100 2.5hp sidevalve engine.

Daily use for 10-15km errands to the shops at 50-60km/h proved that V-brakes are much more capable than designed for, stopping the 120kg mass of bike and rider with no trouble, but wears out a set of rubber brake pads about every 2 weeks.

Rim heating with V-brakes was a worry as well, but I never blew a tyre from braking heat (or anything else). The Maxxis Hookworm tyres are as close to motorcycle tyres for bicycle rims as you'll ever get. Very tough, grippy, long wearing.I put 1000km on the bike under engine power before I noticed the front fork steering tube was scarily bent- forwards. The weight of the bike under braking and hitting the odd pothole was just more than the old 27" fork could cop.

However, the length of fork required by the frame design prevented any easy replacement. The front wheel must be a 20" on a long fork to clear the pedals, meaning V-brake bosses had to be welded on the fork legs to suit a 20" rim, as done with the original fork, or an entirely new suspension fork with a disc brake. Most teleforks I found had aluminum sliders- and my welder won't do aluminum. The local bike shop wanted about $500 for a fork, wheel and disc brake.

So it happened, I recently found a mountain bike on special at the local Aldi, disc brakes and suspension on both ends, $200. Cheap! Working on grafting the new telefork and disc brakes on, but the forward section of the frame will have to be reconstructed to suit the larger steering tube diameter of the new telefork.

Derailleurs are simply not made for 60km/h. The bike chews up a derailleur tensioner about every 500km. Plan B is to get rid of the slacky chain by using a 3 (or 7) speed internal gear hub, fit with a roughly 34T sprocket. Would like to try a 2nd hand old 3 spd internal hub to see how well it copes with the engine drive before buying a new Sram or Shimano internal hub. If it works, the chain can be under fixed tension, solving the tensioner wear problem.

early form

solid suspension

sprouts suspension

derailleurs aren't meant for 60km/h, extra tensioners needed

new front telefork and disc brake 1

new front fork and disc 2

fork mocked in, new head tube must be installed to suit fork

TourSleazy under own power, video capture 01

luggage and pannier rack fabrication 01

pannier rack detail

pannier rack sanded back ready for primer

pannier rack in primer 01