Outlander 15 was an off shoot of the bike that was going to
be originally number 13. I had originally started on a dual suspension SWB bike where I
would make the rear swing arm. But after three attempts at making the swing arm I gave up
and moved onto the next project. My problem was I was unable to make the swing arm
straight. The bike was to be a dual 20" wheel with USS. I became intruiged by the low
racer bikes but was stumped on how to build one. Since most of these bikes had a 'cranked'
frame.
I hit upon the idea of 'cranking' the frame at the head tube
by having the two tubes overlap each other and the head tube to form a solid joint. The
lower joint was a simpler because of the square down tube, I used a square tube because at
the time that was all I had. To save weight I decided to braze the seat frame to the main
frame. I used 1" 0.065 square mild steel tubing to make the swing arm. The square
tubing was very convenient in aligning the swingarm, but it was also perfect because of
the stiffness they had over round tubes. The rear suspension pivoted on an axle assembly
from an old Suntour grease guard hub. The axle bearing units were held in place by shims
which also helped with lining the swing arm up with the rest of the main frame. The
suspension was provided my two hard rubber blocks. There is about 1 1/2" of travel on
the rear.
The idlers evolved from aluminium pulleys to skateboard
wheels. The lower idlers are attached to the swing arm. This was meant to try and get the
swing arm to act as a MTB unified rear triangle design. This way there would be no pogo
effect and the suspension would be active. The jury is still out on that. The front
suspension is provided by a Pro-Forx, with brake mounts. The stem was bent freehand from a
1 1/8" 0.049 piece of chro-moly tubing.
To keep the weight down I also set the bike up with only a
single chain ring and 8 speeds on the rear. Using a 60 tooth chainring and an 11 to 30
cogset I had a decent gear range. Both wheels were built with 28 spoke hubs and rims. The
tires are Schwalbe City Marathons 20 x 1.25". The brakes are both V-brakes with the
front brake currently an Onza HOLA and an XT rear. The rear hub is a Shimano Ultegra and
the front is a Hugi. The rear derailleur is an ESP 9.0 with a 9.0 shifter, and ESP 7.0
brake levers.
The bike handles and rides like a real sports machine. With a
seat height of 16" it's what I call a semi-low racer. It was quite an experience
getting used to being even that low. The bike is stable enough to coast no hands. The
wheel base is 37 1/2" with the head angle at 70 degrees, the seat angle is 40
degrees. The BB is 5 1/2" higher than the lowest point of the seat. The bike weighs
36 pounds. My inseam measurement is at the threshold for this type of bike, any shorter
and the crankarm would not clear the tire in a turn.
The bike was built with no provisions for carrying any cargo,
so I've had to improvise with bags strapped to the back of the seat. I did later install a
cantilevered rear rack of the top of the seat support tube. I had also intended to build a
tail box for the bike but I have yet to do so.
The bike was built in the winter of 97/98. I rode it on the
first big WHIRL ride. With the two 20" wheels the bike accelerates really well, the
better aerodynamics is quite noticeable. This bike sparked a lot of interest among several
HPVSO members and there are now a number of low racers in the group. I still have this
bike in my stable, it currently has 9 speeds and a full chro-moly swing arm. I may use it
as a test bed for more FWD research.
