The boys and I are still planning on building a rowbike of some kind — at least I am, but they’re getting a little impatient wondering when we’re going to get started. I’ve been trying to source cheap/free frame materials and trying to figure out in my head how to construct the thing, and think I’ve come upon an idea that will finally get this project rolling… build the frame out of plywood.
Plywood construction in bikes isn’t a new idea at all; I found plenty of links online from people who have gone through similar projects, apparently with a decent level of success. This site is a build diary of sorts where a number of students built recumbents using a laminated plywood & foam sandwich construction… Very cool.
One other site I found that’s worth mentioning is the manytracks.com Woody Project. There he took stock bike parts, made some modifications to them, built a frame from lumber & plywood, and it looks like it’d work.
I really like the plywood/foam sandwich construction for the rowbike concept because you don’t have the twisting that happens on a pedal bike in the area of the bottom bracket; all the torque in a rowbike is linear. Sounds like a match made in heaven for a guy with few welding skills and less welding equipment, but wields a pretty mean scroll saw.
That same group also built recumbent bikes using carbon fiber a couple of years later; perhaps that’ll be our next garage project…