February 20, 2012 - AtomicZombie - DIY Plans for Recumbent Bikes

“Love your Facebook fan page!”
~ Neil P., Delaware
NEWS
Die
n
a
S
February 20, 2012
go
AZTV
"Here's a pic of my modded Electra Ghostrider for your gallery.
It has a NOS Bendix suicide shifter, restored pre-war Mesinger long-spring saddle, double kickstand,
Harley Davidson fork bag, Puch moped headlight converted to LED, custom Electra Stream Ride ape
hangars, Electra mirrors, Nirve grips and BMX pedals.
I love this bike!
Jeb Haught", San Diego, California
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“Hi there. I see quite a few bikes in your
gallery from Illinois. You’ll be adding one
from me soon!”
~ Darby C., Illinois
February 20, 2012
NEWS
AZTV
Allen’s sick chopper only cost $40 to build, made from re-used bicycle parts, including phat seat.
Virginia beach cruiser
"Hi, my name is Allan Wunnenberg.
I live in Virginia Beach, VA. I like to build
recumbents, and I also like choppers.
I went to a police auction and bought three
bicycles. One was a three speed with a coaster
2
brake, and that FAT seat (thought that was
cool) and decided to build a beach cruiser.
I did all the welding, and it has a chameleon
paint job. I spent about $40.00 for
everything."
“Hello from your friends in Indonesia.”
~ Samuel P.
NEWS
AZTV
February 20, 2012
Homebuilt
recumbent
in
Indonesia
"Dear Sir/Madam. The
picture is the latest
upgrade since
December last year.
I have added light
(front and rear),
electric horn, mirror
etc. Total cost overall
$110 US.
Gregorius built this recumbent for only $110!
Now, I enjoy ride this bike every morning at 05.00 am for half an hour before go to the office
and in the evening on Saturday or Sunday.
Best Regards, Gregorius Teguh Liem"
Feedback
"Very neat site! Always liked recumbents, but never had the money for the pricey ones I
saw.
One fellow in town has a very high dollar bike and you can barely get his nose down long
enough to talk to him, but I won’t be that way. Hope to see if I can get several of your plans
because I have four grand sons who live next door and some of your trikes would fit then to
a tee. Thanks for your site, and we will be in touch. The Whizz"
3
“Respect from your bike buds in New Jersey.
You have some pretty shaweet rides, dude!”
~ Costas, V.
NEWS
AZTV
Hi. I am sending a
picture of my son Ray
Schwartz on our latest
bike, the Black
Lightning. It is based
on the Meridian, but
lower.
February 20, 2012
Black Lightning
He wanted the twin
hand shifters so that
the handlebars would
be clear for the
throttle of the next
improvement, an
electric motor.
This has been a great
hobby shared by my
son, my best friend,
and I. We can't wait
to start the next one!
Ray Schwartz on his Meridian inspired Black Lightning recumbent.
Illinois
Thanks, Rob Schwartz", Zion, IL, USA
From TexasTuff, AZ forum
"Good on you guys. It has been mentioned several times by others in this
forum how good it would be to have a partner to build with.
When that partnership is shared with a loved one it is most special. I, too,
have had the opportunity to build two bikes with my son and he has built
two more with his son.
Like you, it's been a grand experience for the three of us.
Life is short, make it special."
4
“I’d love to see Atomic Zombie and John Brain get
together for a build off. Yah, that would be the
coolest event!”
~ Raymond M.
February 20, 2012
NEWS
Evolution of the Marauder recumbent lowracer
By Brad Graham
I
AZTV
t's hard to imagine that
over 10 years ago I
decided to build my first
lowracer from some
scrap bicycle parts and rusty
metal tubing I had laying
around the garage.
I really had no idea where I
was going with the project
besides the fact that I wanted
Scrap bike parts and square tubing inspired the Marauder.
it to be super low, laid back,
and fun to ride. I actually had the name before I started sketching out ideas - "The Marauder".
I came up with the name while booting up my old Amiga-500 computer and found a disk copy
program with the same name. Seemed cool enough, so I found a few random wheels and threw
an old rusty 1.5 inch tube across a few bits to set up a frame concept. Yes, indeed, the Marauder
started life as a long wheelbase tadpole trike!
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So, I welded a home built rear
triangle to the back end of the
1.5 inch square tube frame and
then put a 24 inch wide T
across the front of the frame in
order to secure the front
wheels.
This thing was more like a pedal go-cart, but it was
(Continued on page 6)
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“I like Atomic Zombie!”
~ Gerard R., Berlin
NEWS
February 20, 2012
(Continued from page 5)
certainly low to the
ground and fun to ride.
AZTV
I did some initial tests
with a makeshift steering
system and pushed my
quads to the limit around
the block a few times. I
did enjoy the lowracer
trike, but something
didn't feel right.
I wanted more speed and
the ability to carve around
the corners, leaning hard
into the turns so the front Lacking a workshop, Brad designed many bikes in his livingroom.
was chopped and the
Marauder was reborn as a 2 wheeled lowracer.
Back "in the day" I didn't have a garage to
work in, so I did my thinking and layout
indoors! Here I had the basic long
wheelbase recumbent configuration done
and was working out ideas for a full fairing.
Odd that I would be designing a body
before having any steering mechanism
installed on the bike. If I remember
correctly, I was going to build the fairing
and then fit the steering bits inside the body.
Marauder version 1
(Continued on page 7)
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“Hey fellow bike freaks. Glad to see you
on Facebook spreading the bike building
love. Much respect to you zombies.”
~ Troy W., Ireland
NEWS
February 20, 2012
(Continued from page 6)
AZTV
I built several flavors of the Marauder Lowracer, and they were a great success. I enjoyed
riding the Marauder so much that I eventually forgot about the full fairing plan, and just gave
the prototypes a nice coat of paint. I must have put a thousand miles on the original
Marauder, and even burned out a set of disc brakes after a few years.
I rode the Marauder everywhere, in traffic, off road, on the highway, and on very long
commutes. It really was a great handling and easy to ride lowracer once you got the hand of
the steering and balance. I routinely rode with a coffee in one hand or with no hands at all.
The Marauder became one of the staples of our first book "Atomic Zombie's Bicycle Builders
Bonanza", and many others from around the world built this DIY lowracer based on our
plans in the book. It was great to see all of the creative mods and completed Marauder
clones from around the globe, and for years I called the Marauder my main ride. Many years
later, I decided to make the Marauder V2 and add an adjustable bottom bracket as well as
rear suspension as well as some basic frame changes. Marauder V2 was born!
(Continued on page 8)
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“Hey, when are you coming out for a freak
bike ride?”
~ Andrew T., Saint Cloud, Minnesota
February 20, 2012
NEWS
(Continued from page 7)
AZTV
Although essentially the same laid
back lowracer, Marauder V2 had
many new features such as the
adjustable bottom bracket and a
rear suspension system.
The adjustable bottom bracket lets
riders of any leg length set up the
Marauder version 2
frame by making a single
adjustment that would allow
placement of the cranks anywhere along the frame. The rear suspension and full back seat also
made the ride much smoother on rough terrain,
something I had to suffer on our badly managed city
AtomicZombie
streets.
Handling was almost
identical to the original
though, so there was no
learning curve.
Facebook fan page
Show the world that you like
Atomic Zombie and bike
building.
If you have ever
wondered how I came
up with our DeltaWolf
(Continued on page 9)
Join the Atomic Zombie family of bike builders
Send us a picture of your completed handmade bike. Each picture less than 2MB in size,
please. JPG preferred.
>> gallery@atomiczombie.com <<
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“Hi there. New builder here. Your web sites
are so great. I’m learning as much as I can
before taking the plunge. Thanks for putting
so much info. on the web.”
~ Petr Y., Czechoslovakia
February 20, 2012
NEWS
(Continued from page 8)
AZTV
Delta Racing Trike,
take a close look at
the frame; it's
basically a Marauder
frame with a delta
trike rear end bolted
on. The DeltaWolf
and the Marauder are
very similar in
design, having the
same seat angle, front
frame dimensions,
and steering system.
The Marauder inspired the DeltaWolf speed trike
Of course, the DeltaWolf can also be installed with
under seat steering because it does not lean into the
corners, but at its roots it is definitely part of the
Marauder family.
Maybe another bike or trike will be carved from the
Marauder design one day soon - we shall see!
AtomicZombie Facebook
fan page
Show the world that you like Atomic
Zombie and bike building.
Hope to see you there.
9
"I just got my Atomic Zombie baseball hat
from your Café Press store. Love it! I’ll send
you a pic of me wearing the hat on my new
chopper when I get it finished.”
~ Boris G., New Zealand
February 20, 2012
NEWS
Noob recumbent builder
Tri-tandem
AZTV
“After a couple of years not building
anything, this spring I plan to build a tri
-tandem for three friends of mine to
ride to work. Probably a mountain bike
style since a preferred beach cruiser
would probably be wayyyyyy too long.
Anyone have any helpful suggestions or
pics to help me along?”
“Hey
folks! I'm new to the recumbent
world, but have just finished major
construction of my wife's delta trike
that I started about a week before
Christmas. Now, I'm starting the design
process of my tadpole'ish trike. I have a
couple questions for starters…”
More>>
More>>
Treadmill motor on cargo bike?
“I
have built a Loderunner and covered
it with fiberglass. It is heavy and looks
like a ups truck. It is about 4 ft high and
3 ft wide and about 10 ft long.
I have four 12 volt batteries for 48 volts.
My controller is a 48v 3 amp. I am
using a tread mill motor I got for free. I
installed it on the trike…”
More>>
Warrior based velo
“I am reworking my tailbox. It was too
short, sloped down to much and too
narrow. The new one also will hide the
boxy rear end of the front section. Plus I
get to try putting some curves in my velo.”
More>>
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