Updated pics of stool .... still building

[docgreen9]

Hey guys ... been working a little here and there when I can stay home and not be tied up with hurricane relief. Here are a couple of updated pics... I'm almost there but not quite. I still have to mock up the brakes, throttle, figure out if I'm gonna do foot pegs, or side steps, or both. I did a little different thing on the steering let me know what you think.

Brian

[josullivan]

i like the looks of the steering assembly. It looks as though it will provide smooth and responsive control. What kind of bike did it come off of? I had this idea over the weekend to maybe build something similar using bearings, some old pipe and a couple of flat washers. I think i'll look instead for an old bicycle and utilize the parts in a similar fashion while trying not to copy someone elses ingenuity. I'm glad that i check in to this site often because there's so many good ideas being knocked around! Looks Good! :cheers:

[WarPaint]

Looks great. I used the steering off of a bike also. And it works great. Not that you have a lot of turning but hey it looks like you went the extra mile and feels good. keep sending the pics.

[WarPaint]

Oh here is a pic of mine. I have it tore down for paint and some welding but should have it together soon.

[docgreen9]

jos ... yea it turned out nice. Just go and find your local "Junk Man" every town has one. I went to mine and found an old 10spd. Kinda was a shame the bike was in really good shape. Cost me $10 for the whole bike. I felt bad about hacking up a perfectly good bike, guess it was the young kid in me ... lol ... .but I got over it.. HA.

Warpaint .. I think I saw your pic a while back and that's where I got the idea from to use the bike steering. I wanted to do something different and try and clean up the front of the machine. I'm trying to use as little braces, tubing, ect ... as possible but still maintain structural integrity. It seems pretty stout as it is .... I think I'm going to put a small brace at the bottom under the curved piece.

Thanks again for the compliments

[RUBICON]

The bicycle stem housing is clever and interesting. One experience of mine was with the rigidity of the shaft itself and the height of the upper most support. You may find that the steering shaft will flex ( more from front to back weight from hanging on to the handlebars ) and having a brace with bushing (bearing) closer to the top will make for a more secure feeling. I started with a 1/2 carbon steel rod...then a 3/4 thinwall tube...then a 3/4 solid stainless bar....the last was the best but still flexed...so I added a nylon block braced to the base of the seat...You will find that you tranfer a lot weight through body English if you have a solid axle...and with the high center of gravity the handlebars are the only place to manage it....trust me ...the shaft needs to be rigid and well braced....That is why I am an advocate for handlebars rather than steering wheels...wheels look way cool...but bars just work better for handling....unledd you are just putting around...and who does THAT?

[D&Jracing]

3/4 dom steering saft used on race cars it has almosta 1/4 in wall thickness with do seams. and you can get hiem joints .755 diam just for the steering saft. :cheers:

[docgreen9]

Rubicon,
Yea I know what you're saying about the flex.. I positioned the bearing housing about half way through the whole length of the assembly to try and reduce that as much as possible. I basically just extended the bicycle handle bar tube with 1/2" black pipe which is the same ID & OD as what was used on it. On the bottom I'm using 5/8" solid round bar which is stiff as heck. I got on it and yanked the handle bars really hard forward, back, left and right... I got a little flex front to back mainly at the frame level. I'm going to put a gussett in there to take care of that.