Mandrake1051 Mixes It Up!

Well, Happy Belated Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you're all enjoying your Black Fridays fighting the crowds and standing in line to score those doorbuster deals!

Me, I decided to hang out with the family and chill. Maybe even tinker a bit on Franken'bent!

A little update here. David Hanson, Mandrake1051 on BROL, has joined the Franken'bent Family of supporters with a kind donation of the parts you see here!

They include a a conplete Suntour crankset, a pair of Dotek crankarms, a couple of pedals, a much-needed 'bent-length chain and some new cable housing! And, on top of that, Dave popped for the shipping! Thank you, Dave!

Everyone, be sure check out David's website, Boise Rents Tricycle Rentals!

Bent Up Cycles Joins The Project!

With Franken'bent now sporting a sturdy RANS Force 5 spine, it was time to seek out the other parts. While still needing a seat to go with the dual density seat pad, it was obvious a clamp would be needed to attach whatever seat Franken'bent came across.

Not wanting to risk catastrophic failure, it was determined that the platform for a Franken'seat should incorporate a seat clamp designed for the F5 frame.

So, a quick email to Dana of Bent Up Cycles seeking pricing on a clamp received a generous offering from Dana of a RANS two-inch rad-lock seat clamp to the Franken'bent Project! Very cool. So, I grabbed my oldest son for Carpool Lane Duty and headed up to the Valley, where the air is extra chunky!

There, we wandered around Dana's newly-expanded shop, ogling all the sweet hardware while Dana ran around dealing with various customers. There were like five or six VK2's floating around. As well as a bunch of Bacchettas, a few HP Velotechs, a bunch of RANS 'bents (my kid dug the Zenitek) and a whole bunch of trikes. Nice.

Dana then handed me the 2" RANS Rad-Lock clamp. Sweet! And , THEN, he handed me a 26' Velocity front wheelset! Awesome! Franken'bent's got a front!

Thanks Dana!

Stay Tuned. More to come from the Franken'bent Project!

Franken'bent Stirs!

Well, I said there would be a HUGE, HUGE donation arriving shortly, didn't I? It came! Fred, my friendly UPS dude, brought this loooong box to my door tonight from a kindly benefactor over at Hoback Sports in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.


See how Buddy, the ever-vigilant, takes the handwritten note on the box to heart?


And, what is on the other side? Why it's an homage to the monster!

FRANKEN'BENT!


And inside is what is so HUGE! It's the very backbone of what makes Franken'bent exist! A SWB frameset from a RANS Force 5LE donor! The frameset includes a couple of idlers with chain retainers, the aluminum seat rail, an aluminum fork, rear brake with cable, steering riser and handlebars, a couple of 650/25 Bonti tires and a keychain from a deaf person. (That's what the card said!)

So, there you have it. If you're following along, you can probably figure how close Franken'bent actually is to becoming a reality. But we still have a ways to go. With this donation, Franken'bent is now an SWB High-Racer. I had originally posted that the goal was to build a low-racer, but that will have to be Franken'bent II!

If you have anything you don't need and want to donate to the Project, please let me know. I'll give you mad props and post a link to your website. Thank you for tuning in!

Welcome to The Franken'bent Project

So, it all started when I made this post on the 'BentRider Online Forum.

I made that post announcing the birth of the Franken'bent Project after a forum member, Ron (rjzastaury) offered up his Large Volae Dual-Density Mesh Seat
Pad and another BROL member,
John (JohnBoddie), offered his
RANS V-rex fork to anyone who
wanted it.

I thought this could be a fun experiment. What could be built with nothing but parts people were willing to give away?

And it seems that Franken'bent is really coming to life! I dubbed it the 2007 Franken'bent because
I doubted I could actually collect
enough parts to birth Franky this
year. BUT, something amazing
happened. People got involved!

Multiple donors have come forward. So far, in addition to Ron and John, Jeff (Indiana.Jeff) donated a bunch of parts, including a brand new rear derailleur, a complete 20" front wheelset and a Cateye computer with cadence! Another HUGE donation is coming in shortly. I'll post that information with pics when it gets here. It's so big it'll deserve it's own post.

Other parties, including some shops, have expressed interest, as well. But, I won't name any names because I don't want anyone to feel pressured.

So, sit back and enjoy the fun as Franken'bent comes to life!