A Recumbent Bicycle From Recycled Parts

Reader Contribution by Adam Lafferty

Riding a bicycle is good exercise and better for the environment than driving a car everywhere you go. But if you find the uncomfortable saddle on a regular bike to be a strain on your spine, perhaps a recumbent bicycle would be better for you … that is, if you don’t mind spending hundreds of dollars on a commercial model. Luckily, there’s another, far cheaper way.

In this article from 1999, learn how one man built his own recumbent bicycle entirely out of parts of recycled bikes for only $18. The only tool required was a hacksaw; no drilling or welding is necessary. By attaching the back end of an old children’s bike to the front of a regular-sized adult bike, the homemade recumbent becomes a front-wheel drive vehicle with no long chain to the rear wheel seen on most commercial recumbent bikes. Also, combining the back of a discarded chair with the seat of an old exercise bike gives you a comfortable seat that won’t give you back problems.

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