BIKEE R/X – modified factory bike – CLWB (Compact Long Wheel Base)

One design that particularly caught my eye incorporated a mid-drive and two chains instead of one long chain. Information had surfaced about the company closing its doors several months earlier and a wide variety of parts started showing up on Ebay. The most interesting piece was the main frame of the bike, a long rectangular aluminum beam, which was acquired for just $30. It was a BikeE RX model and with frame acquired decided this was my next project although I planned to change their original design slightly.

The bike was engineered to use a fork for a 16” wheel and had a 1-1/4” steering tube and headset. Determined to use a 20” fork I found there were none with that size steering tube. I finally stumbled across a headset reducing shim from Tamer and could install a fork with a standard 1-1/8” steering tube. I wanted to build my fork, as a fork jig had been created on a previous project. I added generous rake to a set of 26" chromo forks from an old Trek and cut the blades off with a hacksaw. I picked up a 20", 1-1/8" threadless fork and cut the blades off just above the brake pivots. The Trek blades fit snuggly inside and they were mig welded together. No grinding was done on the weld at all to pretty it up, just cleaned the weld and used a product call FastSteel (sort like JB weld be not as messy) to put a smooth covering over it before painting.

During this time I collected the rear wheel, handle bar stem, pedals, SRAM 7.0 brake sets, shifters, and derailleurs, all new original parts for this bike, from auction. Also picked up several new and complete tandem crank sets at only $13 a set! I was unable to locate a rear swing arm or its 4-gear mid-drive crank that used a one-sided bottom bracket cartridge. It was time to be creative!

The mid-drive had an easy solution. Use a standard bottom bracket cartridge, a mountain bike crank for the right side and a piece from a tandem set for the left side. The crank arms were removed from their spiders, cut, ground into a taper and replaced in the spider. A tandem set, with the chain ring on the left crank was used at the front and Wellgo clipless pedals finished that part of the project. Sounds a little complicated but it took less than an hour to do. The pic above shows the completed bike and how the mid-drive assembly turned out.

I found a rear swing arm several months after everything else on the bike was completed. A kind person who had replaced it because the shock mounts had broken gave the swing arm to me. Using a mig welder a new plate and shock mounts were attached and she was ready for flight. A little over $200 was invested for a model that was selling at that time for about $1200, in pre-owned condition. Many people have commented on how much nicer it must ride with the larger front wheel. Yes, it does, especially on trails.

Comparison between the factory built RX model from

BikeE on the left and my much improved version below. Notice the factory bike has a wimpy 30 tooth chainring on the crank while mine uses a 48 tooth. This gives the bike some REAL speed but surprisingly doesn’t sacrifice its climbing ability.

Look at how short the seat back is on the factory bike above! This is a definite contributor to a well known problem on the BikeE known as Seat Creep! Hard acceleration, long or repetitive hill climbing causes a little more pressure than the locking seat sliders can accommodate and the seat starts to move rearward. It’s only a few millimeters but that’s all it takes to move uncomfortably outside of your x-seam length. This part of the problem is easily rectified by adding short extensions to the seat back frame and lifting the mesh fabric just above your buttocks to substantially reduce the force placed against it.

No welding is needed for this for this mod just cut 2 pieces of 1” id tubing approx 9” long and at one end cut a ½” notch as shown in the pic at the right. I drilled a small hole at the opposite end of this tube and attached the picture hanger with a rivet. More on that in a minute.

Now remove the fabric from the seat and with a knife, razor blade, small scissors or whatever cut the stitching along the top (not as easy as you’d think) so that the fabric opens up as shown. This allows you to flip the mesh upside-down when you re-attach it for the correct positioning around the steel cross brace as in the pics below.

Slide the extension tubes down over the existing frame and line the cutout notches to the steel wire cross brace. This will keep the tubes from spinning the seat mesh around. I just taped the extensions in place but you could epoxy, braze, or use spitballs if you like.

[ Notice the picture hangers work great for attaching seat packs. This is one I made from an oversize fanny pack ]

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The other contributor to the seat creep problem is the plastic slider itself which is very prone to distortion and splitting. A replacement slider with a metal ring around the outside diameter (looks like a key ring) also helps to alleviate this problem. I have found incorporating both concepts eliminates the creep entirely. Sliders can be found on eBay.

Something I invented for the BikeE from a $10 multi-purpose safety light. It was made to be worn on your sleeve or clamped to the seat post on a diamond frame bike. Discarding all the connectors and clamps I used a small L-bracket, piece of mending strap, a little epoxy and a couple of small fasteners to create this tail light that really looks like it came as a stock item on the bike. The mending strap was cut just long enough so it wedges tight in the seat rail gap. This keeps you from drilling holes in the frame for attachment. Ya don’t want to void that frame warranty!

Creating your own CLWB

I’ve been collecting recumbent images and entire sites since the end of 2000. I’ve well over a gigabyte of info stored because so many sites come and go. I’ve recently tried to keep notes on where individual pics have come from. It’s frustrating to search for something not knowing if the site has disappeared or if I’ve just had a serious lapse of memory. Below is one of those pics. If someone knows where this drawing came from contact me so I can credit the person for their work.

BikeE ended production back in August of 2002. Picking up a used model on Ebay is easy enough but for those who might want to try building one from scratch (and adding your own mods) take a look at the drawing below. Someone has created an excellent schematic of a BikeE with all the pertinent measurements. A great reference for building either a hardtail CT model or a suspended AT model. Take this one step further and add a bottom bracket assembly to the center of the frame to create the dual chain RX model as above.

To compare the different recumbent models produced by the former BikeE Corporation a copy of their original website is available with photos and specs. Click on the logo.

Another great CLWB design is this one from Brian Hartnett of Harnett Cycles. Brian has several interesting bike projects but this is my favorite. Click on the picture to see more on this cool bent!

The bent to the left I have no info on except that it was built in 1997.

This industrial green bent is called the Naboo CLWB and it’s creator still has an active and very informative website.