Mark Stonich's Wedgie!


Mark showed a wedgie (?!?) he built a few years back, partly to show what kind of wedgie a long-time recumbent builder would make. He took the rear section from a crashed Schwinn MTB and stretched and curved the frame to get a configuration that is about as comfortable as he thinks a wedgie can get. (ie. Not very! Mark) It has a shallow 67 degree head angle and semi-fat tires, so the ride is pretty cushy. A 45 inch wheelbase, gives a very stable ride, and enough front wheel clearance with the rear-set SPD cleats he has found work best for him.

Because HPVs are so different from one another, this bike probably looked much like any other upright bicycle to the assembled multitude. But to my traditional framebuilding friends it's pretty radical, probably to the point of being being silly. To them, 71 or 75 degree head angles are pushing the envelope, and wheelbases range all the way from 38.5 to 41 inches. HPVers all get to think outside the box, because the limits of our box haven't been defined yet.

The top tube is a piece of 1" x 0.035" 4130, curved on an oak bender Roger Sperling made for me, back when I was making Jane's bike. The 67 degree head angle was achieved by using a MTB top head lug on the down tube. The fork is a lightweight road fork. Mark

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