Steuben's Wheelmen

A Bevy Of Brass Lions

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:32:50 PDT

Some recently acquired artifacts of a distinctly brassy liony nature.
What could I possibly have planned for them?

Silver Fox Video

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:38:47 PDT

Video of the Silver Fox trike all lit up at night with our homemade lights:

Presenting The Silver Fox Tadpole Trike

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:11:48 PDT

We've concluded our work on our second trike, the aluminum trike covered in previous posts. We've dubbed it the Silver Fox, and it sports our homebuilt LED lights in nice chrome Art Deco housings, white wall tyres, chrome fenders, amber Down Low Glow tube and fox hood ornament. Check it out!

Here is the Flickr set.

Best Bar Ever.

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:24:00 PDT

Steamy Bar

White Lights

noreply@blogger.com (Alan) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:39:28 PDT

Okay, so I previously covered the creation of the tail lights for the trike, so now I am going to cover the headlights. The circuit is the same, but the white LEDs have different voltage and current requirements so they will need different resistors. So I'll begin with a parts list:

White Bullet Lights

White LEDs

Resistors

It's the same idea as before, only the white LEDs are shaped differently because they have their own heatsink that they are mounted on. The two bullet lights are going to be smaller side lamps, while a large bullet headlight is going to be the main headlight.

I am reposting the circuit diagram here for reference:

So to begin with, I gave the white LEDs a test to check their brightness. Here's a photo of the test:

I soldered wires to the LEDs:

Then I mounted the LEDs in the white bullet lights:

I also used the larger white bullet light which is to be the main headlight:

Here it is opened up. I removed the light bulb but did not bother removing the battery case, as it was riveted in place and would have been very difficult to remove without damaging anything:

Then all that remained was to mount the lights. I mounted the headlight on the front derailler bar:

Here's a good photo of the white LED in the front lamp:

I mounted the rear bullet lights using some of the premade mounting holes on the trike frame. Also visible are the wire crimps I used to connect up the whole trike. I am going to put black heat-shrink tubing over the crimps so they're not quite so visible:

The large rear lamp was mounted to the rear fender. I drilled a 1/4" hole, and the light included all the mounting hardware:

Here is a couple of photos of all the tail lights together:

And finally, a view of the front bullet lights. The fender mounts had these cool little mount points that ended up being perfect for the lights:

Finally, all the wires (made of black 20 gauge lamp wire held in place by black zip ties) were run to a bag strapped behind the seat. The bag is just the right size to hold the electronics box:

And there you go! The lights are bright as heck! I calculated the batteries as lasting around 2.5 hours, but we haven't tested the system to that limit yet, as we generally recharge the batteries after every ride anyway.

Mercedes Steamy Hommage To The First Automobile

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:41:28 PDT

This concept car from Mercedes-Benz inspired by the very first Benz is undeniably Steamy in pedigree. It wouldn't make a bad pedalcar either. ;)

Via Jalopnik.

Form And Function: Columbine Bicycle Works

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:15:00 PDT

Hours of staring online at bicycles and the art of making them until my eyes cease to function has taught me no one makes a more beautiful bike than Columbine Bicycle Works. I enjoy staring at beautiful triumphs of the craftsmanship of Man, so if you believe my assumption to be false by all means show me beautiful bicycles.

But Columbine doesn't just produce eye candy, form follows function as they are glad to point out and their bicycles prove it with world class artifice.

The Morgan Motor Company Pedal Car

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:58:00 PDT

The fine folks at the Morgan Motor Company, makers of beautiful British three-wheeled automobiles, celebrated their hundredth anniversary with a two-thirds scale kiddie version that is pedal powered. Thus created the most awesome tadpole trike in the world.

Morgan Pedal Car

Nightlights

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:59:58 PST

Here's the aluminum tadpole trike all lit up with our DIY bike lights, as well as the Down Low Glow light:

The tail lights are in fact so bright, every bit as bright as automobile tail lights, that I may only use one- they're liable to annoy cyclists behind me.

Thursday Tweed Ride in SF

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 05:35:59 PST

Inspired by the London Tweed Run, an enterprising young chap has started the Thursday Tweed Ride in San Francisco February 12. As Jake Von Slatt said, "Darn wrong coast again!" Well Mr. Von Slatt, perhaps we should start an East Coast Tweed Run. Surely there's enough Old World Tweed types around for the task at hand. Perhaps an Autumn run to offset the west coast not-quite-spring run.

CatCubed, Cyclelicio.us, Laughing Squid; Jake Von Slatt for pointing it out.

Dressing Up The New Trike

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 07:01:34 PST

We've begun the process of fancifying the new aluminum trike- the lights in the previous article are part of that process. We're going for an Art Deco theme. An easy theme to go with since Art Deco and bikes go together like toast and jam. Think of all that chrome and curves and shiny bits and so forth on classic bikes and then realize it's Art Deco. I'll certainly take it over garish logos on every single surface.

As a first step we've put white wall tyres on the trike. Compare the photo below to older pics of the trike and I think you'll see it's already an improvement. Soon the trike will also have shiny fenders with killer lights mounted, and various other happy curvy bits. I'll need a little something extra to make it special... also the trike will need a name. What do you think? I'm thinking of going with Silver Fox.

Just as a side note I originally intended to go with Art Deco for the Brass Lion, but something about the high-off-the-ground profile of the Streetfox tadpole trike from Atomic Zombie that the Brass Lion is based on seemed kinda old-fashioned as in 1886 Benz. So I went Steampunk or Neo-Victorian.

As a second aside, I consider Steampunk and Art Deco to be fundamentally aesthetic opposites though they are both quite beautiful and concerned with craftsmanship and functionality as well as aesthetics. The fundamental difference is that Steampunk likes to see the working bits- let the guts hang out! Show us the gears, and the more the better! Art Deco likes to cover the functional bits with fairings and housings considering the guts to some degree to be unappealing, and certainly less aerodynamic.

Let's Light Things Up

noreply@blogger.com (Alan) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:26:16 PST

All right, so I have wired up a sweet set of lights for all purpose triking needs. We wanted a good high-powered set of LED lights, but there are problems with premade lights:
-They are too dim
-Alternately, they are bright but very expensive, and
-They universally look boring

We found a cool set of art-deco style bullet lights at BikeWorld USA in both clear and red:
-Clear bullet lights
-Red bullet lights
-Large red bullet light with fins

These are the perfect art-deco style light, but the problem is they have crappy low-powered light bulbs. The solution then was to buy the bullet lights, but remove the light bulbs and add our own high-powered LEDs. Thus there are 2 parts to this project, swapping the lamps for LEDs, and creating support electronics for the lamps. At this point in time only the tail-lights are finished, so I am going to detail the build of the tail lights.

Parts List:
(Relevant data sheets are linked)

Red LEDs - Digikey part 67-2061-ND

Resistors - Digikey part TWW3J8R2-ND

Two battery holders - Digikey part BH24AAW-ND

Waterproof project box - Digikey part HM954-ND

Power switch - Digikey part CKN1019-ND

Five volt regulator - Digikey part 296-8157-5-ND

Bridge rectifier - Digikey part VS-KBPC108-ND

Circuit board - Digikey part 3405K-ND

The previously mentioned bullet lights

Soldering equipment

Wire

Epoxy; caulk or hot glue would probably work fine as well

So, let me start off at the lamps themselves. The lamps needed to have the light bulbs removed, and the LEDs mounted. I also decided that the lamps needed sealing, as they did not come with any sort of seal where the wire enters.

So let's start with a bullet light:

This is the bullet light disassembled, with the light bulb and wiring removed:

I soldered wires onto the leads of the LED and ran the wires into the lamp:

I then used a dab of epoxy to seal the back of the lamp, where the wires stick out. The epoxy was left to dry for 24 hours.

I repeated this process for the second red bullet light.

Now let's look at the red bullet light with fins:

Internals removed, LED added:

As before, where the wires exit the lamp was sealed with epoxy and left to dry.

For both types of lamp, the epoxy was plenty strong enough to hold the LEDs in place, so no additional mounting was necessary.

Now, I needed support electronics to actually power the LEDs. I wanted the electronics to be usable with both battery (DC) power and generator (AC) power, which is the reason for the bridge rectifier and voltage regulator.

The circuit is shown below:

The schematic above includes the white LEDs, which I will cover in a future post. The battery in the schematic can be replaced with a bike generator, as long as it is at least 7 volts. 12 volts is a common bike generator output, which would work for this build. I plan on eventually adding a switch so that the lights can be flipped between generator and battery power, but that is not in this current build.

I don't have a PCB layout for this circuit as that was a bit beyond the scope of the project and I lack access to PCB etching equipment. I fit all the parts onto a two inch by two inch circuit board. I added a heatsink to the voltage regulator, I'm not actually sure how necessary it is but I had some heat sinks sitting in my parts box and it seemed like a good precaution. The resistors in this circuit are going to be sinking a fair amount of power, so don't use puny 1/4 watt resistors. I used 3 watt resistors for the red LEDs.

The finished circuit is shown below. I labelled parts for your reference.

The circuit board and batteries will be going in the metal weatherproof project box.

I epoxied fabric down where the circuit board will sit in order to prevent short circuits.

I also mounted the power switch by drilling a hole (1/4 inch) and bolting the switch down.

I also put fabric on the bottom of the battery holders, because they had exposed contacts, and I didn't want them rubbing against the metal project box and shorting out.

Finally, I crammed the whole thing into the box. The box now holds the circuit board and two battery holders which each hold 4 rechargeable AA batteries. I also used the same 1/4 inch drill bit to drill a pair of holes, one for the black ground wires and one for the red +5v wires. I will be running 3 taillights with this box (and eventually 3 headlights as well).

And finally, with the cover added:

Now, the lamps are as-of-yet not mounted on the trike, but I wanted to preview their brightness, so here are a couple of pictures with the lit lamps.

And there you have it! In future posts I will cover the headlights as well as the mounting of the lights onto the trike itself. Take care!

-Alan

Followers (Evil Villain Cackle)

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 07:14:58 PST

I've added the followers widget to the side bar so all you fine ladies and gentlemen can more easily track the blog and vice versa. Just as the Monarch needs minions so do I. Muhahaha!

Cool (Potentially Steamy) Velocity Bike Rims

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:55:00 PST

Bicycle rim manufacturer Velocity markets rims in a wide variety of colours, and now they even have rims with various very cool patterns, everything from clubs to polka dots to skulls. Including a few convincing (especially while moving) wood patterns such as burlewood and teak. Teak is pictured below.

Patterned Velocity Bicycle Rims

Brass. Honjo. Fenders.

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 06:36:00 PST

It seems our favorite metal fender craftsman is prepping a brass version of his famous Honjo fenders. For a po' Steampunk like me that's pretty much a wet dream. When these come out the Brass Lion will be that much shinier, no offense to Cody Davis (craftsman of my sublime wooden fenders).

Another manufacturer, Tanaka, already has brass fenders.

Night Fire

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 06:32:55 PST

I received a Down Low Glow "Fossil Amber" light from Rock The Bike for Christmas, much to my delight. I had long wanted one, and the amber light should be street legal as well as very sexy. The low fire glow is perfect for the Brass Lion. Rather reminiscent of the glow of vacuum tubes, or a forge.

Here's a few shots of the Brass Lion burning a hole through mundane reality:

Yes, I know the bullet headlight is totally period inappropriate as well as rather dim. I don't care. I really must Art Deco up another trike with lots of curving chrome. Mmm. I also know I look a right git with dark goggles after sunset. But the Down Low Glow is just that bright kids! I need'em.

A red Down Low Glow light btw makes for the world's most awesome tailight.

Renovo Hardwood Bicycles

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 04:09:00 PST

A company called Renovo is custom crafting hardwood frame bicycles that are drop dead gorgeous. Just another bike to lust after. Perhaps with some wood fenders from our favorite guy Cody Davis at Woody's Fenders.

Front Fender Solution For A Tadpole Trike

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:31:33 PST

My recent mudding experience reinforced the need for front fenders on my trike. Attaching front fenders to a trike can be tricky, especially with disc brakes. Different manufacturers have different solutions when they make an attempt at all. ICE and Greenspeed have notably interesting fender solutions, and what we've done has a little in common with how Greenspeed attaches front fenders.

The parts used are Planet Bike Freddy Fenders including hardware (for 20 inch wheels in my case), a pair of nifty aluminum curved bar ends, a couple rubber lined hose clamps from the hardware store (5/8)and some bolts and lock nuts.

The bar ends are attached to the handlebars and extend over the wheels. The curve of the bar ends is absolutely perfect on my RecumbentUSA trike and should work for Actionbent trikes too. If you look at how Greenspeed attaches front fenders you can see they use bar ends as well, just attached differently. The other end of the bar ends attach to the steel mount protruding from the top of the fenders using the rubber lined hose clamp from the hardware store, bolts and lock nuts. One caveat is that at the moment anyway I have very little clearance around the brake levers. The bar ends will only reach so far over the wheel so the fenders pretty much have to be mounted with the bar end that close. This will vary depending on how meaty your hands are and which brake levers.

This alone is loose and bouncey (as would be only using the hardware that came with the fender on one side of the wheel). So I've used the fender stays that came with the fender to attach to the disc brake and the same bolt that holds the bar end to the handlebar. The fender stay that attaches to a bolt on the disc brake needed to be shortened a bit. So I used a chop saw to cut off the appropriate amount. Measure to fit for your trike. The other fender stay I simply bent artfully to attach to the bar end. You could bend and cut it too instead of having the artsy "S" curve but I like it. Note the fender stays in the photo below.

The whole thing is as solid as a fender gets. I rode over the scattered branches left over from the chainsawing of the fallen tree pictured in my previous post and the fenders did not bounce or having any other problems.

Here is a final photo of the bar end over the fender attached with the hose clamp and bolt with lock nuts.

Playing in the Mud

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:46:35 PST

Another mild winter thus far means lots of riding. We did ride on one truly cold day- it was about 16F with winds gusting up to 45mph. Now that was an adventure!
But otherwise it's been mild and rainy.

The other day we went from cold weather and ice to about 60 degrees F. This made for alot of muddy fun as the ice melted. Being on the trike low to the ground and with no front fenders I became covered in mud from head to toe. But I'm of the school of thought that suggests you got something done and had alot of fun if you're covered in dirt or mud. ;)

There was even a rotten tree lying across the bike path for the fair weather fans to scramble over.

Google Lively To Shutdown

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:50:00 PST

Well, it looks like Google is giving up on their experiment in virtual reality. Pity. I thought it had potential. Rough around the edges but then it was a beta.
Lively will shutdown at the end of 2008.

Press release here.

And my own keepsake of Lively.

The Addiction Begins

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:52:30 PST

Trike owners, whether homebuilt or commercial, never stop at just one. Not content to just mod one trike forever, soon trike enthusiasts have entire "stables" of trikes. Now it is true of me as well. While I still get a thrill whenever I sit on the giant 60 pound homebuilt Cadillac of trikes, I felt a need to try a commercial trike with a few less pounds on it.

In large part due to monetary constraints, I went for a relatively inexpensive aluminum trike from RecumbentUSA, being sure to get it via eBay. I paid $672 dollars plus shipping. The trike, a budget one, normally sells for about $1400. There are better $1400 trikes, but no better $672 dollar trike (except possibly a homebuilt made by someone with TIG welding skills ;p). I can always upgrade components, and could do a fair bit of that before reaching $1400.

I won't bore you with the common endless debate of cost versus quality. Suffice it to say that "You get what you pay for" works both ways- $3000 plus dollars will get you quality, but how much more? At some point you're keeping up with the Joneses. Somewhere inbetween is what we call a bargain.

So did I get a bargain? Let's take a look.

So I won an eBay auction for a "Trike II" non-suspended trike from RecumbentUSA.com.
In about a week it arrived via UPS. Let's unpack the box and assemble it:

The trike came semi-assembled and was really quite easy to put the few large sections together. Ah but it is in the adjustments that time is consumed. There were some nice inclusions I didn't expect for a budget trike, like touch-up paint and SPD compatible pedals which also had toeclips and straps. The tyres are nylon Kenda tyres I'm sure I'll replace. The disc brakes are Tektro, not the most respected name in brakes. As such upgrading the brakes to Avids is going to be my first real (actual money) upgrade.

I like that the tie rod ends have grease nipples. I'm not sure the somewhat small ball joints have the full range of motion I like though, so a simple and cheap mod in the future may be to replace the tie rod and ball joints with bigger ones.

Here we have the mostly assembled trike.

The rear derailleur and cluster. Bargain but not no-name (Shimano and SRAM). 11- 34 tooth. I'm quite happy with the performance so far. The derailleur has a very nice range of motion and shifting once the drive train was adjusted is easy and flawless.

The adjustable boom with 30-42-52 tooth rings and three piece crankset.

Now here we have a wee bit of a problem. Where the cross beam attaches to the main boom with 4 large bolts, the main boom and cross beam don't quite seat flush against one another. It's still rock solid attached, but if nothing else it is a cosmetic scar I'd rather do without, and a symptom of less than ideal craftsmanship. Six hundred and seventy two dollars. So long as it stays rock solid I'll take it. Maybe add a rubber shim. Am I worrying too much about that? Do other trikes not have the cross beam and main boom absolutely flush against each other?

The sturdy mesh for the lightweight seat is strapped on with large zip ties. Clearly a budget choice over the sort of webbing straps and fasteners other trikes have, but have you ever tried to break a zip tie? Also moddable for a few bucks.

Here we see how the mesh slips over the adjustable joints of the seat frame.

The assembled trike next to it's bigger and older (and more stylish) cousin.

The trike is so much more lightweight compared to the 60 pound homebuilt trike. It is more nimble too (perhaps to a fault), and I can ride alot further before running out of steam. Uphill is certainly more easy. I can actually coast uphill on very small grades. That would never happen with the big guy. The turning radius is worse though. The big home-perfected trike's steering is impeccable for it's size- it parks like a tourbus, huge but can almost go sideways. Further adjustments will hopefully improve the turn radius. There's significant brake steer as well which I hope to correct with more tweaking.

As of now I'm very happy with my purchase.

I'll update my satisfaction with the trike over time, and maybe upload a video or two.

More importantly, how am I going to adorn my new trike? I can hardly leave it budget-boring and modern. Not a fan. Besides I just have to be different. When Alan and I were first going to make the Brass Lion the other idea we had besides decorating it in a Neo-Victorian style was to go with Art Deco. As you might imagine all things cycle and Art Deco go quite well together. Some bicycles and accessories are Art Deco by default. Why every trike most be decorated in the same colour schemes and with logos I don't know. But you don't see a fourth the variety in appearance of trikes as you do in the larger bicycle world. So I'm thinking a wee bit of Art Deco. Bullet headlight (the guts can be any budget) and appropriate tailight, probably mounted on a very sweet shiney fender. The Honjo French-inspired aluminum fenders are very easy on the eyes. Check them out at Velo Orange. But we're talking chrome instead of brass, nice rounded aerodynamic shapes, appropriate colours (the already flat black trike is a good start). Maybe a pin stripe.

Every Anniversary Is A Brass Anniversary

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:09:55 PST

We celebrated our eighth anniversary recently, and here are the shinies!

The principle gifts were an engineer's lensatic compass and a very see-thru pocket watch, respectively. We also dined at the reincarnation of the original City Tavern of Philadelphia (a recommendation to all Steampunks), and purchased there some pewter tankards and cookbooks. Note the pocket watch still has the clear plastic protective sheets.

Fuel For The Boiler: Steampunk Cookbook

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:09:55 PST

What a capital idea!

You can buy it online from Lulu as either a pdf file or a hardcopy.

Fuel For The Boiler

Since time out of mind, food has brought man together. Over meals laws have been made,lover discovered,and families bonded. It is no wonder, then, that a community of people could and would create their own recipe book. What started as a simple idea on a forum (Brass Goggles)has become an all out literary project.

We received our copy:

Google Lively Steampunk Chatroom

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:31:12 PDT

I've created and embedded at the bottom of this page a Steampunk virtual chatroom using Google's new Lively 3D chat application. Hopefully over time more Victorian and Steamy objects will be added to the library.
Meanwhile give it a try!

http://www.lively.com/dr?rid=1467391286766872410

In Defence of Shiny

steubenswheelmen@gmail.com (Steuben's Wheelmen) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:33:40 PST

William Gibson reportedly said when asked about Steampunk which some argue he helped inspire * (the punk anyway) that among other things he wished Steampunks would make things look more aged and distressed instead of shiny new.

One thing wrong with that idea is that Steampunks do indeed often make things look distressed to varying degrees of plausibility. Distressed Steampunk stuff tends to make the rounds less than the shiney new brass stuff. Which leads to my argument in defence of all things shiny:

Look at all the beautifully preserved historical objects and machinery in museums or private collections. From hand mirrors to steam tractors and trains, they look NEW. They looked new and were very much purposefully shiny and gilded when new, then a long series of people lovingly preserved them in near new condition. Sometimes a worn part might be replaced, especially in the case of machinery, so that in fact the parts of a given object may vary in age but the goal has been to keep it like new both in terms of working order and appearance.

There is a concept called "Beausage", a combination of beauty and usage referring to the natural, slow longterm wear or patina that can develop on a given point of contact. A key, knob, corner, a leather seat or handle. Whether the material be brass, wood or leather.
Even in this case it is not the intent of the manufacturer and often the end user for the wear to purposefully be there- it is a natural consequence and in fact can develop from the very act of polishing an item for a century. I'm guessing this is the sort of wear Mr. Gibson would prefer.

I have yet to see the artificially aged item that looks this way. It's an old trick of fakery and is a way to spot fakes for a reason- it doesn't look right. New looks like both new and well preserved old. Fake doesn't look like old, it looks fake. A mistake I've seen fairly often is to age the area or even the whole item too much- as if it was dropped whole into a swamp. All the common ready made faking craft supplies achieve the dropped-in-a-swamp effect.

In a very real way patina, rust etc certainly does not show loving use but neglect.

The easiest way to make your craftwork look like a well looked after museum piece is to leave it looking as new as when you made it. With a slight bit of work you can age a corner with a few light scuffs then polish again as someone would. But the single best way is to let it happen naturally from actually using your item for a few decades.

Perhaps someone a hundred years from now will cherish a certain brass keyboard complete with naturally worn keys from actual use. But an artifically aged item will be appreciated a hundred years later in the same way it was when it was new- as a poor substitute.

* The word Steampunk in the sense someone felt a need to marry an appreciation of Steam Age technology with Cyberpunk, but Victorian age inspired fashion and other creative outlets that have grown to become "Steampunk" would have happened anyway regardless of what we called it.