Bike Blender!

Thought about making a bike blender for a while- read a bunch of stuff on the net, and studied the Rock the Bike offerings as well. http://rockthebike.com/ As a side note I bought a Down Low Glow from them, and found them excellent to deal with.
I then came across this little gem at a thrift store for $10 and the plan was in motion.



An old exercise bike- Made in W. Germany-it appealed to me as it was made with real bike parts, old cottered cranks, nice old rubber block pedals. I then attached a base from an old Osterizer blender onto an aluminium bracket I scabbed onto the crown of the front fork:


The drive is a hard rubber cork attached to an piece of 1/4" threaded rod that runs in a couple of pillow blocks I scrounged out of the shop. The whole gubbins actually works really well. I was concerned about the 20" wheel not spinning the blender shaft as quick as a 26", but it works fine. If I stumbled on a bigger chainring I would change it however. At 30 mph on the speedometer it makes quite a vortex if you can keep the cadence up!

I don't think I would use pillow blocks again- I have since seen photos of one that utilized a high flange front hub- fasten one flange to your plate and use the front axle as the drive. Nice.

I also have the rig fixed up so I can pop the Chariot wheels and towbar onto it and tow it along to self-propelled parties!