Gotte

Here are some image of footdecks I cobbled together for my Kona Ute. They work really well, and were pretty easy to do. Just a couple of stems, a couple of shims, some angle joints and abit of MDF.

Morgan23

Nice!!!!

bikinpolitico

Well done.

poopisnotfood

Really cool

vik 

Bravo...

kevbo

Most RV stores sell self-adhesive traction tape for slip safing metal stair treads. Could work well on those running boards.

penexpers

Very impressive!

Gotte

Thanks for that. Keybo, yes, I wanted to add some tape. I can;t actually find any near where I lived (Manchester, UK) RV stores are a little thin on the ground. I'm thinking maybe a scateboard shop, or internet.

vik 

Deck tape for a skateboard will work just fine. Not sure about the UK, but hardware stores here will sell non-slip tape for stairs and non-slip paint for stairs - either of those would work as well.

Gotte

Ahh, thanks for the advice, Vik. There's a big hardware chain near me that will almost certainly do the non-slip paint. Again, many thanks.

bizzz111

I see how you attached the front, how about a pic on how you attached the back?

How much pressure can you put on the them before they get pushed down? Can people stand up on them?

badmother

Great job.

Nightshade

WOW!! THAT'S professional grade work, mate!!

kevbo

RV store is American for a caravan dealer with service facility...but the skateboard shop is a good idea too.

Gotte

thanks chaps. Vik, I put a small notch in the board, which fits into a metal loop on the frame. I also had a couple of smallish clamps with bolt eyelets, which fit much the same as the stems on the chainstay.
It can take the weight of my daughter standing on it without moving. One board alone has to take her weight as she climbs on, so her weight distributed between the two is no problem. The stems are shimmed to fit the chainstay, and once tight, don't go anywhere. I've not tried standing on them, myself, as I don;t know the tollerances of the chainstays to twisting deflection. I imagine it would be okay, but I don;t want to try and be proved wrong, especially when putting my full 12 st on one to climb on.

Nightshade

I doubt very much that the chainstay would fatigue enough to fail with the intermittent loading
of getting on and off the bike. There simply isn't enough twist to fail the steel during that brief
second ,or two, of loading.

Now fastener slippage is another matter. You must check to ensure that the support bolts are
holding the necessary torque to remain safe.

Gotte

Thanks for that, I will.

greggb

Is that the WeeRide Kangaroo you have on the front?

If so, how is it working for you and what age/size child are you carrying?

I'm thinking about mod'ing a seat with pad and backrest to strap to the deck, but my wife is more comfortable with this sort of option for our 2.5 yr old. He is light, but long.

I'm 5' 8" and wonder too about clearance around the child...

politicalgeek

How are you using the Ute? I know it's gotten a bit of hate here and there, but I am really liking it as a do all city bike when I have the cash available. Clearance for snow tires in the winter, plenty of versatility it seems.

Mr. Jim

The more pics I see of a ute the more it grows on me, I have a bad feeling about where the tax return will be going this year.

politicalgeek

I love it but may have to rethink. I've been looking for a new apartment to cut costs and found a nice student efficiency in a great location. They'll let you tack hooks up to store bikes, but I still think the Ute would still be a chore to lug in and out.

Gotte

It's a Quocka minus the front rest (which is actually quite useful, but really ugly). It rests on a bar that runs from the downtube to the headtube. I had to mod it a bit to bring it forward. I don;t like cycling with my knees bent out, it can do too much damage, esp when cycling a heavy bike with low cadence. Here's a link:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Quokka-Forwa...6356320&sr=8-3


My daughter is 2 years 2 months now, and enjoys being at the front. I did recently try and move her to the back, by attaching the seat, minus the foot rests to the back board. It wasn;t a great success as to stop her feet banging on mine, I had to move her seat quite far back, and the further back I put her, the further back I had to put my eldest daughter, wanting her to go behind my youngest for safety reasons. This unbalanced the ride, and while it was not dangerous, it just felt better with my youngest daughter up front, where she tends to balance out my other daughter.

I do find though that you have to be aware of getting your knees stuck between the sides of the child's seat and the handlebars when steering. It has caught me a couple of times, and while it's not generally a problem, it;s a bit like toe overlap - irritating when it happens.

I still find the bike great, though I am a bit stumped with having both daughters on the back. To balance the ride more, I'd need to have my youngest tucked up quite close behind me, but then her feet clip the back of my legs when I peddle, which is really irritating. To do that, I'll need to fit a second set of foot rests, higher for her shorter legs, but I'm a bit short of time at the moment to do it properly.

Politicalgeek, I'm using it mainly to ferry the kids to and from school, and from some grocery shopping. It works really well, though with a full week's shopping on the back, it can get a bit less fluid when cycling.

After all this time, I still love the ride (when balanced), and think it;s a great bike. It's a compromise when it comes to utility bikes - you won;t be carrying paving stones with it, but I happen to like the compromise - it's shorter and more manoeverable than other utility bikes, not as heavy, and, I just find, more like a normal bike with a lot more carrying capacity.

All in all, I still love it, but I do need to sort out the problem with spacing the kids at the back.

politicalgeek

Thanks, thats what really attracts me to it. I just don't think it would play well 150 square feet of living space. I'll have to check out folding bikes and trailers.

bikecopXXX

hey Gotte did you make the top deck also? very clean looking. what material did you use? thx

Gotte

Seems the original pictures have been lost. I've uploaded them again for Calos from Boulder, who emailed me. Hope it's a help.







Just to recap, Carlos - I got two normal stems, and, from memory, shimmed them and put them on the chain stays, they attached L brackets to the headset ends on the stems (you can see them on the last pic). I was lucky in that I had some old smallish clamps with bolt eyelets, which fit much the same as the stems on the chainstay, but are shorter. I then just bolted two preshaped, painted and varnished MDF pieces to the clamps and stem brackets.
It's been good for two and a half years now, with no problems.

All the best

Phil