Custom stoker bar and stem

[PhilGE]

OK, the bike is now complete except for Heavy Loaders. The new stoker bar is made from an old Ulix(?) aluminum seat-post mounted rear rack, some 1" aluminum tube, and grips. The rack stem was cut at about 6" from the seat post. The tube is about 10" wide and runs through the stem. A local welder did the modifications. It's very solid, feels great, and doesn't get in the way. I can't recall the cost of the original rack, but the tube and welding cost $20. The grips were $10.

I chose this method after discovering that threadless handlebar stems don't expand to 31.6 mm, the diameter of my seatpost. Stoker bar stems aren't manufactured to this width, either. The only other choice was to buy a seat post shim, a narrower seat post to fit into the shim, and a stoker bar stem - at least $100 in parts. Thankfully, I had the rack mount on hand.

Since taking the photo below, I moved them up the seat post for easier grasping. My son feels very safe with this rig.



-Phil