The Flying Duchess
From ibikeu Wiki
The Flying Duchess is a tall bike (and Angelope) built by Spook. Since her construction, Spook has used Duchess as his primary mode of transportaion and has put almost 500 miles on the bike.
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Construction
Duchess is actually made from four separate bikes: two frames and two donor bikes (for tubing).
Frame
Duchess was built at the Bikerowave in late December, 2007, by welding a 58cm Senator road frame (with near triangle removed) to the top of a 63cm Raleigh road bike. The two bike frames are welded together at two points. The first is between Senator's bottom bracket and the Raleigh's seat tube opening. The second point is between the head tubes, by using an additional piece of tubing.
Due to the use of two larger-sized bike frames, Duchess is actually a bit taller than a lot of other tall bikes.
Fork
To accommodate the now 30 inch head tube, a standard fork was cut between the threads and the crown. Then, a length of top tube, from a donor bike, was welded between the cut.
Drive Train
Initially, the bike had a drive train which ran from the upper bottom bracket directly to the rear wheel. This method proved difficult to fully utilize the rear derailleur. Later, the drive train was essentially split in two: one between the upper and lower bottom brackets and a separate drive from the lower bottom bracket to the rear wheel (as a normal bike would have).
As is, Duchess has three available variable gears, with the shifting lever still mounted in it's original position, on the downtube. Shifting can only be done with your feet, assuming you have long enough legs to reach.
Wheels
The wheels on Duchess are both standard. The front is 27" and the rear is a 700c, 5-speed wheel.
Failures
In April of 2008, Spook was riding Duchess West-bound on Santa Monica Blvd. While crossing the Wilshire Blvd. (a notoriously bad intersection. Read), he hit a pothole and quickly realized he had no control over the bike. A quick dismount prevented a vehicular accident and any injury. He came to realize the one of the steerer tube welds failed. Duchess was repaired shortly after and has had no failures since.
