La Tempestad
Custom Low-Rider
Original design by Brad Graham
as the Marauder
Visit his website at http://www.atomiczombie.com
Build it yourself with plans from his book:
Bicycle Builders Bonanza
My version of
the Marauder:
La Tempestad
Starting with 1 1/2" square 16
gauge tubing...
With the angles all cut it is ready for the
welder...
after clamping, the pieces were welded with
oxy-acetylene and high tensile strength rod. Diamond shaped 16 gauge
steel pieces were also welded on the seams needing the greatest strength.
.
The handle bars still need work at this point!
Still a bit to go... I have to put the proper idler sprocket on yet but I have taken it for a spin and it is fun! The built-in suspension is great! In 1 week it will be close but I need to wait for the Greenspeed idler sprocket to come in so I can finish it up.
Some photos of the nearly finished La Tempestad!
It is almost done... just to finish up the seat and a few minor adjustments... :)
The seat bottom has a higher density foam than what
the back has...
It is very comfortable!
After replacing the steer rod with a Chromoly tube rod the bike really handles nice!
Ok, here we go again... This is what you might call a
Work In Progress!
There are a number of items that I am not satisfied with so it is back to the
drawing board!
One problem that developed is a crack in the rear triangle. I replaced the tubing with heavier tubing and welded sheet metal in the front of the triangle. I changed the idler sprockets to larger cable pulleys for a weight machine, these I had machined out so the chain would lay flat in the groove.
I welded on brake bosses for linear pull brakes on both the front and rear. I then modified the triangle and moved the brake bosses to accept a 700 wheel instead of the 26 in wheel I used earlier. I am using a 9 speed cassette on it.
The derailleur and rapid fire shifters were also changed to the SRAM
XR-7.
The front crank is a Tiagra road crank.
I also added 1 in square tubing 3 in above the main frame so I could replace the seat with the adjustable EZ-1 seat, This ventilated seat will be more comfortable in the AZ summer!
I noticed that the headset by the seat was not quite straight so I modified that so it is right.
I added a number of water bottle bosses to the frame that made attaching a fairing much easier. The fairing is 8mm coroplast painted with Krylon Fusion paint for plastics... this is an excellent paint and new to the market. Ace hardware let me try out a can it was so new.
The powder coating was done at Arizona Powder coat!
The speedometer is a wireless flight deck by Pyramid. The front headlight is a Cateye with 5 LED's for great light with up to 110 hours of run time. The rear strobe light is also a Cateye and there are tire flies as well to make the 16 mile commute a bit safer!
And yes, I couldn't resist putting on the Model-T
horn I picked up at Harbor Freight a year ago!
This bike was ridden in the El Tour de Tucson in Tucson, AZ on the 81 mile portion. The bike delivered a very comfortable ride and we hit just over 40 mph coming down one of the hills! That was fun!
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