Little Cranks

Update on the kids bike project - 😁

Moving the project forwards with the next phase of CAD design. The task is to ; Make it Lighter. Reduce production time. Reduce production material cost. Make the construction modular allowing more size options in the future. Reduce Carbon foot print.

Weight
We are aiming for less than half the weight of the leading Light Weight Kids Bike we will see :-) - The Frog 40 kids bike at £415 RRP is 6.49Kg.

Price
TBA Its got to be realistic for time and production costs. At the moment we can say the project is viable to produce on a small production run basis.

How the design is looking at coming together
*Polished CNC Milled 6082 aluminium components we plan to machine in house or can be tendered out to local machine shops. The design currently uses only 3 different CNC mill component designs.

*Structural Carbon Tube Produced in the UK. Quality carbon product that will outperform the requirements

Pressure Forged Carbon Components. We can produce CNC moulds for the design and then make the parts in house

Laser Cut Aluminium cut locally in Lincoln

All Aluminium will be sourced local

Right its 7:38pm on a Sunday time to de-bike my brain I'll save finishing the last details for another day.

Carbon Frame head tube design and tooling in the CAD stage... lots of head scratching with this.

Update - Just sizing the frame geometry with 16" wheels with thanks to Mi RiDER for the supply of a fork and wheel to help with the design. We stock the Brilliant MiRider in our Lincoln Bikes - Cycle Shop )

Only a different stem needed , apart from that its spot on as is. When fitted with 14" wheels we need a shorter crank arm, down from 89mm to 79mm.

The next process is developing the construction to reduce machining time and cost. Looking at Many different options that are achievable with our own and local engineering options.

The look of the bike will change but the geometry is now set 😎

Right hand side of the bottom bracket machined today. Including thread milling the bottom bracket thread.

Just the other side and then some fine tuning... its nearly ready to ride😎

Another peice to the puzzle finished. Just 2 more main parts to machine to make the bottom bracket housing. Then a few small jobs. Seat post and drill and tap the rear brake mounts.

Then its the final wait for the Test Pilot to be ready.... he's currently practicing on his Balance bike....🤣😂😎

Thats the crossbar nearly finished. Still a few operations to reduce weight and a couple of holes to drill. Its starting to take shape now.

Next is the Bottom bracket housings and down tube, final job will be the correct seat post.

The Cross Bar is taking shape. Thats one side done, now to work out how to hold it for the underside. 😁👍

Also machined a couple of brackets for a KTM last week. Some times the small jobs take way to much time to get right... got there in the end.

learning curve on this is some jobs are not viable as a one off basis🧐

An update on the Little Cranks bike project. Thats the rear of the bike machined. Just the brake mount holes to drill and tap. Next part will be the cross bar section.

Exciting News.... a possability that in the future we can adapt this design and build all or some sections in Carbon Fibre... a project for another time... lets get this one sorted first.. 👍

4 more bits to machine

Its machining the rounded edges. A slow process but we like the finish and feel of the part with this extra machining.

Upright riding position with a more feet forward geometry giving better leg extension and more rider comfort. Little ones get discomfort with a lean forward riding position.

The Q factor is below 115mm (distance between the outer faces of the crank arms)

Here are 2 products we have designed and machined in store. This is a link to our stock with Amazon UK

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Machined-Billet-Derailleur-Hanger-onwards/dp/B0BBHB5VLV

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Machined-Longer-Adjustable-Motorbike-Shift/dp/B0BK1MNW2Q

CNC Machined Longer Adjustable Motorbike Gear Shift Lever for Honda NC700 - NC700X - NC750 - NC750X. Designed and Manufactured in The UK by Lincoln Bikes Ltd An adjustable length billet aluminium Gear Shift Lever. Designed & Manufactured by Lincoln Bikes Ltd to fit the 2012 to 2021 Honda NC700 & NC750 manual bikes including X models. This product started out as a project for a Lincoln Bikes Ltd family members NC750X. Replacing the short stock Honda le...

The machine has been a little busy the last few months. Making cycle and Motorbike parts which are now available to buy on Amazon and in store. The Little Cranks project continues... with a new design adapted to be produced on our machine...It's time to machine the first frame part. The stock is loaded 😎

The back side of our first ever "Little Crank".

Some still images
Little Cranks LC14 , 14" wheel first pedal Kids bike prototype

Project update - Finally we have a CNC Machine ordered that will get us cutting metal for our Little Cranks Project.

While the hunt for a CNC machine continues we have been busy building a little extra storage in the Cycle Shop. That's 20 more bikes out of the way :-) .

We are developing out own Kids Bikes here at Little Cranks. Over at our Lincoln Bikes - Cycle Shop we have brilliant Kids bikes available in store to buy today.

Happy new year everyone. A quick Little Cranks update for you.

Its time to go shopping - Build extra storage space in the cycle shop for bikes, making more workshop space for a CNC machine.

We are going to cut metal in 2022😎