Howard Heikes' Amazing Folding Recumbent

Howard Heikes' Amazing Folding Recumbent

When it became apparent that we had little for show and tell, Howard Heikes brought in his folding recumbent. While the bike has been around for many years, most of the people at the meeting hadn't seen it. Suspension medium is off a car, but unlike Jon Nygren he didn't find it laying by the roadside. When asked "How many hours" he just replied “Oh, a lot. Not a great deal of planning. I just put things together and hacksawed off anything that didn't work.”

It folds in about 30 seconds. He had to do it again, more slowly, so Mark's digital camera could keep up.

"In my opinion, this it the most cleverly designed folding bike in existence. It is heavy, but only because it was built from heavy materials. Green Gear (Bike Friday) should have licenced Howard's design instead of producing the silly Sat-R-Day." Mark Stonich

Seat folds flat, and comes off with a QR.

A QR allows the fork and headtube to fold back, and a spring loaded clip allows the bars to fold down.

Suspension pivot is also the folding hinge. The pivot axis is not parallel to the axels, so the rear wheel ends up next to the frame, instead of under it.
Seat mount bar telescopes into the main frame member, for both packing and seat adjustment. When extended, the pressure of the suspension against the bar creates enough friction between it and the main tube to lock it in place.

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Seat folds flat, and comes off with a QR.	A QR allows the fork and headtube to fold back, and a spring loaded clip allows the bars to fold down.
Suspension pivot is also the folding hinge. The pivot axis is not parallel to the axels, so the rear wheel ends up next to the frame, instead of under it.	Seat mount bar telescopes into the main frame member, for both packing and seat adjustment. When extended, the pressure of the suspension against the bar creates enough friction between it and the main tube to lock it in place.