Today was only the second day since I built this thing that I didn't go for a ride with electric power. I did tool around on human power, however.
Lots to report on:
1) Rear rack. I ended up picking up a Tubus Cargo for 26" wheels at a local REI (Seattle is cool enough that we have at least 4 within 25 miles). Furthermore, despite what I initially wrote, I decided to warranty the broken rack. After all, it _was_ rated at 25 kg and failed with a 10 kg load, as I can't see how the load on top would have increased stress on the pannier bars. REI had no qualms, and allowed me to credit the warranty amount towards the Tubus rack. (All said and done the Tubus was $77: $120 with 15% discount code, $25 warranty credit, and $0 tax since I'm technically an Oregon resident.)
The Tubus didn't bolt right on, however. Its tubular design stays triangulated all the way down to the dropouts, and in stock form the rack could reach the rack eyelets on the dropout only if it were angled back about 20 degrees. This clearly wouldn't do, so I filed away material on the dropouts, drilled several pilot holes on the offending rack tube, went to town with metal clippers, and finally bent things into place. Now the rack sits comfortably and jauntily at perhaps a 4 degree forward slope. It feels VERY solid and seemed lighter than the solid aluminum rack it replaced, too! I'm impressed so far.
2) Controller location. Recall from
my most recent e-bike version that I had the controller mounted on the side of the rear rack, with the assumption that I'd mount the battery in the main triangle. Given the complete failure of my execution of this idea :x I relocated the controller to its original home in main triangle. It sits now with the power button facing down so as to make a drip loop, with it secured at this bottom end by one of the water bottle cage bolts. The top end is padded with double sided foam tape, and secured by both zipties through the controller's bolt holes and a firm wrap of duct tape. The duct tape also serves to weatherproof that end of the controller a tiny bit more, or so I tell myself.
3) Gearing, part one: the crank chainring (38t stock, replaced with a 48t chainring). Replacing chainrings is no big deal. I cannot recommend the
Park Tools Chainring Nut Wrench enough, however. It holds onto the slotted backside of chainring nuts, which can otherwise be infuriating and difficult to tighten. I can now report that the Novara Transfer frame with a stock BB has no problems fitting a 48t chainring in the middle ring position (i.e., on the inboard side of the crank arm spider, for purposes of a straighter chainline). The only catch is that you must mount it such that the little nub points laterally, away from the chainstay that it otherwise will catch with each revolution. This nub's purpose in life is to to prevent chains from falling between the big ring and the crank arm.
4) Gearing, part two: the rear hub's cog (21t stock, replaced with a 16t cog). This was no mean feat given that my Transfer has a Nexus hub. I HIGHLY recommend looking over
the Nexus service manual at the departed Sheldon Brown's site. Getting the cog's lockring on was a huge pain. Getting the cassette arm's lockring on was 10x as difficult again. Although replacing it won't be hard now that I've figured out the tricks, muddling through on my own was up there as one of the most frustrating things I've done with a bicycle.
For the curious, here's my ultimately successful technique:
i defeated the scourge that is the Nexus lockring after probably an hour of scratching my head and trying over and over. now that i have a better idea i'm sure i could do it in five minutes, but it's really a cumbersome procedure: you need to secure the axle from spinning (12" crescent on the other side propped against the floor); you need to have everything lined up just so (inner yellow dots on the cassette arm with the axle's yellow dots, AND the outer yellow dot lined with the inner dots -- not in manual); you need to apply copious inwards pressure to the lockring and cassette arm (8" crescent held in right hand); and you need to apply a strong twisting force to the lockring (large flathead screwdriver in left hand). ugh.
5) Taller gearing miscellany. After mastering the lockring at long last I was able to deal with the more mundane issues of gearing: lengthening the chain (I used a 9-speed Shimano chain I had lying about the toolbox -- no issues to report); tensioning the chain after approximating its length (the Transfer's semi-horizontal dropouts make this easy); and remounting the fenders using zipties so as to accommodate the newly lengthened wheelbase courtesy of the chain tensioning step. Zipties rock, simply put.
8)
After all this work I rode the bike around the block as a shakedown and to "get back on the horse" after yesterday's mishap. Things seemed to work fine except that I apparently have only 6 of 7 gears in the rear hub. Tomorrow, in good light, I'll
learn the art of adjusting internally geared rear hubs. The one gear that I think I lack is the shortest/easiest one, and I think the swap in gearing from 38-21t to 48-16t should be enough to let me spin along at close to 30 mph. I'm psyched, even if I will be accelerating easy with no torque arm for the next few days until my machinist buddy comes up with a good solution.
