General: Rail bike part two

I would like to think that I have learned a couple of things from my first try at this. As you can see, this is mainly just another bike fitted with the previous apparatus I used on bike one.







Some of the changes I made (besides using a stronger frame and fork) are that I used a rear axle on the front wheel so that connecting and adjusting would be easier.

I also used longer bolts and spacers on the front guide so that I could adjust how close the guide is to the rail.

One problem I have yet to overcome is how to cross a portion of a rail switch known as a “frog”.

Hear you can see the frog as I approach the switch.

As I cross over the frog the guide passes easily through it, but the front wheel drops into the gap and often is unable to climb out and continue down the rail.

If by chance I do manage to clear the frog with the front wheel, the rear wheel has yet to ever make it through. The guide on the out rigger doesn’t have this problem, just the tires of the bike.

One reason I came up with the rail guides I use is that they pass through these switches and at road crossings. If I used guides on both sides of each rail, they would get caught and stop the bike



I have yet to have a derailment with this bike…

I love it, i'd like to see a quick clip of it in action!

Good luck on the frog switch issue. Looks like it's going to be a tough one.

Posted By: chkuHey, do you record your milage? I was wondering how far you have been able to ride in one uninterrupted section? It looks like you're enjoying some nice scenery. Are you a railfan apart from being a cyclist?

These tracks were disconnected from the surrounding rail system, and while they are still used by a rail club, they are nearly unused. The existing rails are a section of about 12 miles long.
I don’t consider myself a rail-fan of sorts, though I have dabbled in model railroading.

Posted By: socal3renshohaul ass and bunny hop, its all in the timing!

Yea, tried that. It’s getting those guides back into the right place that is hard.

dose the wheel allways fall of to the inside of the track? have you thought about putting guides on the bikes wheels. 2 guides to each bike wheel. if they were spaced far enough apart that when the frond guide is in the frog the rear guide is still on the track, so when the rear guide is in the frog the front guide is back on the track. it seems like train cars have clusters of 4 wheels, 2 on a side. so that when one is in the frog the other is still on the track with lips on the inside of the wheels acting as guides. i think a bike wheel is big enough that it would clear the gap in the frog it just needs to be guided across it. so if you had the 2 on each bike wheel it would act as a cluster of 2 wheels with 2 guides like a train car. just my thought on it without actually seeing it. good luck.

That must be the smoothest 12 mile stretch ever!

Awesome idea and follow through!

Great link here:

http://parallelcases.tumblr.com/