The Scam-Bent project started when a riding friend encouraged me to try his homebuilt recumbent. Since the beginning of our rides together he had always ridden a recumbent. The time finally came, after spending over $400 for a new bike, that he came with the spare recumbent for me to try.

We rode 38 miles that day in some hilly countryside. Normally after a ride like that on my new bike, I would be tired and ready to call it a day. Not this time! I was flabbergasted because there was still energy to ride some more!

This was amazing…and convinced me this was the way to go. That was all there was to it! I was sold and there was no turning back. All the discomfort endured for those 5,000 miles was placed in the “this is nuts!” category.

The discomfort I experienced on the DF bike, from my neck to wrists and other parts of the anatomy was not apparent on the recumbent at all. None! Nada! Zilch! This really caught me off guard, which made it all the more impressive.

I had been reading about the comfort of the recumbent style bikes and it made sense. It’s one thing to read it, and quite another to experience it.

The one ride convinced me I had to have one. The average price for any LWB recumbent at that time was in the $1000 + category. I was not patient enough to wait until I had that kind of money to invest in a recumbent.

So I was very interested in how difficult it had been for my friend to make his. After asking about tools, parts, where to find things, and how much time it would take to build one, the die was cast.

Since there had been some conversation about making a homebuilt recumbent, and that it was made from two, old DF (diamond frame)road bikes, I had been on the lookout for some. I saw two old Raleigh road bike frames sitting by the side of the road while out riding one Saturday morning. I made a mental note to come back and see if they were being put out for trash pick-up.

I finished my ride and drove the car back to that same spot. On checking with the homeowner closest to the bikes, I learned they had indeed put them out for trash, so I laid claim to these two rusty old bikes as potential donors for the homebuilt recumbent frame.

I was able to convince my friend to loan me his homebuilt as a model to make my own. Since he had a factory made recumbent that he rode most of the time I was in luck. He also had a diagram with measurements of the recumbent frame. This diagram showed where to cut the donor frames to adapt the parts needed for the homebuilt model.

Into the garage with hacksaw and tape measure I went. The Raleigh frames were very old and rusty, and I didn’t know if they were really good enough to use. Once I sanded off the old paint and rust, there appeared to be enough good metal left to use. Since I had nothing invested, I figured I also had nothing to loose and at the very least it would be good experience.

So I cut, measured, sanded, filed, measured some more, added additional tubes for the new part of the frame, borrowed a tube bender to make some curves, added the additional triangle to be used for the rear wheel, and it was ready for welding.

My riding buddy had also been kind enough to offer his expertise in welding the frame when I was ready. So with all my parts off I went. There was some mitering and aligning that needed to be done, but the moment arrived and welding commenced.

While the welds were not necessarily the prettiest by professional standards, they got the job done. Some additional sanding and painting and, enter the Scambent

There have been a few modifications on the frame since then, the most significant being the addition of remote steering. This was necessary to avoid steering problems when riding with the bike fully faired.

With the fairing in place, tiller steering became a real issue while riding in areas where sharp turns were necessary. The handlebar would butt against the fairing making some turns a “white knuckle” experience. In the streamliner fairing, this was even more hazardous since there was even less room to maneuver the handlebar.

Remote steering was an absolute necessity. Adding this to a completed frame was not so simple, but the application works great. More importantly, I was able to do the welding myself.

The satisfaction of building this bike can be fully appreciated every time I participated in a riding event with those who have paid many dollars for their bikes and factory made recumbents. In many instances my bike out-preformed them.

That is not because mine is so much better, but in many cases because I was using a homebuilt fairing. With the fairing the total weight is between 45-50 lbs. I am riding against bikes that weigh 18-24, which is a huge difference, especially when pedaling uphill.

Add to that my more “mature” legs and other body parts, and I feel like the fairing is the “equalizer!” It is the greatest feeling in the world to keep up with the young, testosterone filled riders, grinding and hammering to the finish.

I always get some strange looks, or they do their best to outright pretend they never saw me. Occasionally, another DF rider will come by and say something about how they were trying to keep up with me, figuring they could draft only to discover they couldn’t.

The bike is not as fast as the ones coming from the factory these days, but it’s faster when I put on the fairing. It’s confining, and can take away from the joy of the ride if I let it. To me, there is nothing that can replace hitting speeds of 27-30 mph on the flats using the same effort as I would to go 20-23mph.

Add to that the thrill of passing so many others and the feeling of confinement is totally forgotten. When there is a good downhill, if the speed is fast enough the bike will coast to the top of the next hill, while all the others are struggling as they exert the energy to pedal up.

Then there have also been those times when there was nothing but flat road before a huge hill, and I was the one sucking wind. That’s when it sinks in how heavy the whole thing is, and I have to keep reminding myself there is a downhill!

The Tour Easy style frame is very comfortable to ride. The frame allows a certain amount of “flex,” so when you go over bumps and the like you can actually feel the “bounce” like you might from the suspension of a luxury car.

It really smoothes them out. Gardner Martin began building these frames back in the ‘70’s, and if you compare this to the Velocar you will notice many differences rather than similarities.

Frame technology continues to improve, but as some builders will clearly admit, some styles you just can’t improve on. There is no clear cut explanation of why they work so much better than others, so it becomes a case of ”let well enough alone!” Compare the LWB to the Short Wheelbase or SWB recumbent.