Collapsible stoker bar

[veloboy]

After getting my shins barked on the stoker bars every time I mounted or dismounted the X I got to thinking and came up with a removable option.

I used a chunk of kids seatpost and 2 spare handles from one of those razor scooter clones. These handles are great cos they've got those little buttons to release them and nice soft pads for the kids to hold on to.

The seatpost had the perfect outside diameter for the bar stem and the perfect inside diameter for the handlebers, so all I needed to do was drill holes in each end of the central bar so that the quick release buttons would engage, and then secure the whole lot in the barstem (which is attached to my seatpost)

So now when I don't have a passenger I can take the obtrusive handles off and stow them in the freeloaders. The stem and short piece of bar make an excellent T-handle for dragging the fully loaded beast up my steep front path!

BTW - If you carry little ones it's a good idea to make the middle section of the bar wide enough to accommodate a bell (I forgot this much to the ire of my 3yo!)

Enjoy,
Veloboy

[parepidemos]

What a great idea! Can you post photos of it? I'm ready to dig out my hacksaw and make mine now!

[veloboy]

Here's the bars without the grips (nice and tidy and away from swinging hairy legs)


Here's the bars with the grips on


Full size pics in the gallery http://xtracycle.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=public&page=13

Now get hacking!
Veloboy

[Rider]

Really nice installation. Very neat!

[parepidemos]

Thanks for the excellent photos to go with the instructions. Looking at how sturdy it is, I'll bet it doubles as an excellent rope cleat too. That will come in very handy with my bulky loads.

[The human car]

FWIW I found this little thing that work as stoker bar (though not designed for this purpose)
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?cate ... &pagename=

Cheep and no hacking required.

[RJL20]

FWIW I found this little thing that work as stoker bar (though not designed for this purpose)

Maybe the one you've got is made of stouter material, but the one I've got wouldn't last five minutes as a passenger handhold. It's designed to carry the weight of a headlight and a computer--a few ounces. For that, it works great. But I wouldn't trust it not to snap off in a passenger's hands.

[Tone]

I tried using one of those handle bar accessory mount mini-Ts as a passenger handlebar on the back of my seat post. I do not recommend it. It eventually broke while a passenger of mine was holding on to it!
As RJL20 pointed out, they tend NOT to be that strong since they are meant only for such things as lights and cycle-computers. I seriously suggest people do NOT try mounting one as a passenger handle bar!

That idea of using the snap-in handles on a scooter sounds awesome. I got a defective scooter in a thrift shop for $3, which needed some minor repair, but now I think I know exactly what to do with it!

[The human car]

Sorry about the duff advice. My stoker bar hasn’t broken but it was totally useless when I had an adult passenger on and my kids aren’t using it any more as they just sit and enjoy the ride. It seemed to help when I first started getting the kids on the X but it has fallen to disuse so it is now off the bike.

[mmoulton]

Hi,

I bought two stoker stems and used the silver one with a standard size
seat post as the bar. It is a Cinelli alloy tandem stem and the bar
sizes it handles worked out well. There are some left for $20 shipped
on ebay action 270102602754. The result is relly solid. Here are some
pics I pu up on the roots radicals group gallery.

http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/rootsr ... se/a773?c=

The other stem I bought (the black one in the picture gallery) turned
out to be nicely adjustable but too long for what I wanted to do. Let
me know if you want to buy it for $12 shipped to you. I though I'd
offer it here and on roots radicas before putting it back on Ebay where I got it. It is an adjustable stoker stem. Post size is 31mm, bar size is 25.4mm extension is aprox. 9" to 12" and 45degrees. Stem is made from Ch/mo and powercoated black.

- Michael