When I first thought of the idea for ‘Velolution’ I knew that for it to be practical things would have to fall into place fairly simply, this they did on paper though getting it to work in practice was a little more tricky........

To switch position

To change position from semi-recumbent to upright - simply push the bars forward until they click into place, then stand up on the pedals and the seat will move up, about the main frame pivot until the catch engages, the back moving simultaneously.
To move back - release the handlebar catch while taking your weight off the seat letting yourself gently down.
With a little practice both these moves can be done ’on the fly’.

The frame

This is essentially a crucifix style frame made of 4130 tube. Rotating around a central pivot are the seat and bottom bracket. The seat back is attatched to the seat/saddle by a sliding mech and to the frame by another pivot. There is a catch which locks the frame in the upright position, this is released by a lever on the handlebars. The handlebars are attached by a pivoting stem which locks in both positions.

The seat

This was one of the first things I had to get right as it needs to work equally well in both positions.
Basically its a cro-mo frame with webbing stretched over in a pattern to form a saddle like shape widening out to about 300mm at the back. This is covered in foam with a cover stretched around.
The back rest is foam covered plywood and provides support either side of the spine, despite being fairly minimal it makes a comfy support.

The stem, bars & shifters

This was another area which needed to work well in both positions, I decided on the SACHS 3 by 7 transmission (as I needed to run the chain over a pulley fairly close to the chainwheel so a triple chainset would not be possible ) which fortunately works with Shimano STI levers. The handlebars rotate through about 90degrees and the STI levers are ideal as they are designed to be used from two positions i.e. on the drops or on the hoods.