Recent content by zerodish

I got interested in suspensions when Dan Henry said tires and bearings last twice as long when you have springs. In the past the fork was designed as a spring. Then mountain bikes came along and they got rid of the spring to make them stronger. Sprung forks have a bit too much dive for me. So I...

Think simple. The old style generators that ran on a bicycle tire were nothing more than a spinning magnet in a coil of wire. The current was AC and depended on the speed of the bicycle. At 40 mph they would produce 40 volts and 4 amps short circuited. I dumped this into 4 sub C batteries in...

These should be easy to make since those shake up flashlights use this technology. I'm not expecting high efficiency or even control just proofe of concept.

I knew this was a problem but thought it was exaggerated. I made 4 panels to prevent my bags from getting into the spokes and had a bit left over so I made a spoke protector. I fixed this in place with copper wire. This bent it into a shallow cone. I knew Lexan could take a cold bend without any...

This tool was never designed for bicycle chains the pin is too fat. However it can be made to work if you are careful. Instead of pushing one chain pin almost all the way through you push two chain pins just through the outer link. Photo below. The reason I am bothering you with this is they...

Here is what I mean by cross spoking. The spokes form an X pattern instead of a V pattern when looked at from the front. https://www.precisiontandems.com/cat_pics/whshimano16.jpg

If you are going to use the lite or XL you could cross spoke it. Use the spoke holes farthest from the flange. This will increase the strength by about 7 percent. The brass ferrels allow you to pull the spokes tighter which also makes the wheel stronger.

What you want is hill holding technology. If the wheel senses it is rolling backwards then the controller uses just enough torque to stop the wheel. Then when you are taking off it will feel like starting on a flat road. The problem is web sites that talk about this talk about brake based hill...

https://techxplore.com/news/2022-08-wheelbot-symmetric-unicycle-reaction-wheels.html

I got ahold of several books on bridge design from 1880 to 1920. The old timers built rivited plates and pulled the apart. The rule of thumb for drilling holes in thin sheets is the holes should be 2 hole diameters apart and 1.5 diameters from the edge. Bicycle wheels are way past that and there...

Myrons Mopeds has done an excellent job of discovering old spoke sizes on mopeds. There are several gauge system some of them going the other way. I would like a complete list. I measured spokes on a Chinese tricycle with 28 inch wheels and 40 spokes and they were 4.0 mm on the front and 4.6 mm...

It looks like 13 gauge spokes use 4 and 5 mm wrenches. That is actually very close to the standard .156 standard so some one needs to do some measurements. Custom builder Ron Boi told me Paramount tandems used 13 gauge spokes but the nipple was 14 gauge sized so it was impossible to true the...

I have been up to 56 mph on a heavily loaded touring bicycle some where on the Alabama Georgia border. Tour de France riders go faster. One rider had his brake melt so he layed the bike down and skidded to a stop. Tandems are 20 percent faster than singles. The Romp family said they routinely...

I tour. I don’t carry the absolute minimum but just a bit more to help people out. I had the 3 corner and broke every size. Also it hurt to use. REI gave me a full refund. I carry a Park .127 these break also. The round ones never break which means the hole in the center can be larger which...

Flywheels are designed with the idea hyperbolic shape. This is not only the fastest shape but also the one that stores the most energy. When they come apart they turn to dust. https://grg.org/OneHossShay.htm