2WD Semi-Recumbent Recycled-Parts Cargo eBike: "CrazyBike2"

[amberwolf]

If I have any problems getting the package once I get a chance to go by the PO again, then I will try that.


I posted this to the 1000 mile club thread first, but crossposting here so I'll have a record in the build thread itself:

As of today, I've got another 1300 miles on CrazyBike2 since the post above from Sept 10th. So that's 2300 miles since July, most of it in 10-mile increments, twice a day, for my 20-mile work commute's round trip. Probably about 6800-7300 miles total on the bike since I started building it.

Since *this* CA's regular power supply still works (cuz I haven't blown it up yet), it does save data properly at shutdown, and so I am more easily able to keep an exact running total of mileage on it now (instead of haivng to write it all donw in a log that I can (and do) lose track of).

 

[amberwolf]

Still haven't made it to the PO. Started to a few days ago but there were major accident leftovers forcing a detour around the area, and I decided to just skip it that day...then the weather turned wet and I am all hurty and achy and really don't want to do anything at all that I don't absolutely have to. (I am only here on wifi for the forum right now because I'm at BK across the street from work, on hte way home, cuz I have BOGO coupons and am tired and hungry and needed to sit down for a while anyway before riding home...and it is POURING outside with lots of people that don't know what water on the road means, so I am at the least waiting for traffic to die off by the time BK closes at 10pm).



FWIW, the laptop running on the EIG cells via the AC-adapter input jack works great. Uses up a bit less than 1Ah per hour, when it's internal battery is fully charged. Almost twice that when it's charging the battery, but normally I would not be running it that way (only tried it as a test). Pics of the re-installed balance plug and charging process are attached to end of post, including a pic of Tiny being bored to sleep with the whole process.



Oh...and I almost forgot to post the other reason I didn't try for the PO again yet: I noticed that same day after feeling something odd about the ride that the Maxxis Hookworm 20" on the rear is splitting the casing just outside the ribbing of the bead. In at least four places (three on the right side, one on the left) it's already ripped wide open, and is tearing on the rest of it. Pics are attached at the end of the post.

The inner casing has not shown any sign of damage, so the tube wasn't (yet) in danger of herniating, but I figure it's only a matter of time until the whole sidewall separates from the bead, and I have no idea what would happen while on the road at speed at that point, but I imagine several scenarios, some of which would not be very happy.

I run it at 55-60PSI--maybe that's too *low* for it? It says 80-100PSI, I think. I forget. I dunno. No problem with it on the Crystalyte rim which is a teeny bit wider than the regular bike rim it was on when it failed, so perhaps somehow there's too much stress at the bead or a wrong angle or something with this narrower rim? Only thing that would make sense, really. Even that...I dunno.

Bothers me most because it sitll has plenty of tread left! I could've probably gotten at least another 2-3000 miles out of it at the present wear rate.


I replaced it for now with one of the Maxxis Ringworms that I'd put on Tiny's trailer, which means I can't use the trailer (well, *shouldn't*--I do still ahve the original tires/tubes for it) until I either buy another Ringworm for the trailer or something else to put on the bike itself. I should buy something decent for the bike that will work well enough on the regular bike rim that is my "spare wheel", presently on the bike becuase the HSR3548 wheel is still not ready for use (hall sensor and spokes).

Then I should buy a moped or motorcycle tire/tube for the wide ex-Zero 20" rim that's now on that HSR3548 motor wheel, and have done with it.




One more little thing, but really annoying: I'd sprayed those firefighter pants with a water repellent, per the instructions and everything...but it doesnt' appear to have done a thing to help with water resistance at all. I wasn't wearing htem on my way *to* work yesterday, or I'd've found out a lot sooner. But on my way home last night, the wet parts of the road let the rear tire throw a lot of water on the back fo the seat (I totally forgot to put the coroplast "fender" back on after changing the tire), and as it soaked thru the seat back it then ran down on the seat of the FF pants, and soaked instantly thru them, then thru my work pants. Cold stuff.

Then the rain started to burst out in just sprinkles at first, and shortly after it did the tops of my legs were getting wet thru the pants. Only places that it didn't get thru was where the pockets are, cuz it's double thick cloth, and even that soaked thru as soon as it rained in earnest, and where hte knee pads are (or rather, the one that didn't shrink up in the house fire).


So...I guess i'm gonna see which brand of water repellent I used, then go buy a different one and see if that works any better. Cuz I'd rather wear these pants than plastic raincoat pants, but if I have to I'll go buy them, instead. (I don't know if mine still exist, but if they do they're buried in a shed I won't have access to till next year anyway).

 

[amberwolf]

I keep forgetting to actually write down and post the CA data. But basically Wh/mile has been anywhere from 22Wh/mile average for the 20-mile round trip work commute, to upwards of 37Wh/mile, depending on traffic conditons more than anything else. The more I have to stop/start or ride at less than ~19MPH, the worse the efficiency is.

Wind makes some difference, but overall less than the traffic variations. Some days I manage to make nearly every light, and some days I get to each light just *after* it turns red. I still always have to completely stop at almost every one of the half-mile points, because those are not lights but rather stop signs, but a few don't have stop signs for my direction, thankfully. Most days I have to slow to 15MPH for several school zones, and infrequently have to stop and wait for pedestrians crossing there, or crowds of vehicles picking up or dropping off kids. Metrocenter area is still the worst for stops, just as in my normal old work commute--in that 2.5 miles one way, there are around a dozen full stops and starts, most of which I can't avoid or don't get to go thru.

But on days when I do manage to time things right and make it thru all the avoidable stops, wh/mile goes way down.

On the very few days I've had to ride thru really strong head and side winds from oncoming storms, wh/mile is horrible, but on those days I *also* usually end up not being able to make the lights either, due to having to be more careful in avoiding other traffic on the road that cant' see as well (and/or isn't paying attention becuase they're concentrating on the storm).

That is all just using the 9C 2806 26" front, controlled by the 12FET, with a regular bike wheel on the rear, 55-60PSI in each "road slick" tire.


As a side note, the V2 CA reads just a bit lower than the V3 CA did, using the same shunt (which is soldered into the battery wiring). I thought I had set this CA to the right shunt setting, but perhaps I did not. I can't compare the V2s' setting to the V3, directly, htough, because the V3 is still fried, and I dunno when I'll be able to deal with fixing it, yet.


Since the controller rollback/surge (underspeed/overspeed) issue is really getting to annoy me, I created a new thread for it and put all the relevant info and links I could think of into it:
Grin Tech 12FET Throttle Rollback/Surge Issue
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=55444

 

[amberwolf]

On pretty much any other bike I can think of, the structural failure CB2 had sometime day before yesterday would have been catastrophic, and likely to cause an interesting crash.

Thankfully, having my cargo pod rails bolted to the dropouts with 1/4"-20 bolts on what used to be the "rack mount tab" of the dropouts prevented actually having the rear wheel come off.


Pics first:
Red circles around breakage, green circles aorund bolts holding dropouts to cargo pod rails.





View attachment 7



View attachment 5










Basically, both chainstays are broken off right at the dropout connection, and the leftside seatstay is also broken off there. Only the rightside seatstay is still intact.

From the rust on the cracks, at least one of those has vbeen broken partway thru for a while now. Too bad I didn't see that when I was doing the other welding repairs on the bike--I might have had time to fix that at the time, too, but I don't, now.



The bad part is I can't fix any of that for at least a month, until I am living back at the house and will be able to unpack the shed with the welder in it--the welder is buried almost at the back of the shed becdause of the unplanned emergency packing of them i had to do on my "vacation".

So the bike is gonna just have to not fall apart until that happens. I don't have any other options right now.



Well, I guess I could buy another crappy 110V welder (that I don't want or need) from Harbor Freight, but I cna't use it at the apartments, and I can't risk hauilng the trailer and Tiny to the house, so I can't go to the house to do the repairs. I'll have to wait till Bill is back in town and see if he and Anna are willing to let me weld in their backyard. That's next week sometime, assuming no further delays.

I might be able to do it at Mark's place--I'm supposed to see him today, since I invited him out to a Thanksgiving day meal, but haven't heard from him yet this morning.

For now, I am probably going to see aobut putting some cargo straps tightly around the rear axle to the "seatpost" of the rear frame, and hope that keeps the stays tight enough against the dropouts to at least not stress the cargo rail bolts or rails or the remaining stay any worse than they already are.



Oh, and I got hte hall package yesterday, finally, haivng finally gotten to the PO when it wasn't crowded and picked it up. But now, of course, I don't have the itme to fix that motor, cuz I have to deal with the frame first. And I can't risk putting the motor back on anyway, since I would like to disturb the frame as little as possible til I can reweld it.





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[amberwolf]

Looks like Mark is going to be able to help me today or tomorrow with picking up a welder and doing the work at the place he's staying at.

For yesterday's commute ride to work and back, I used cargo straps along the chainstays to create the tension they would normally have done, and neither broke during the ride itself. But one did break at it's hook just tightening it on installation. Supposedly good for "1500lbs" max, 500lbs normal load--but it wasnt' even really tight-tight yet, when it snapped. I suspect angle of load across the hook was an issue, so I changed the way and place I put it to make the load straight across it instead, and it was able to be much tighter without breaking. Could've been a defect in the hook, too, but I dunno. It looks "sintered" in the crosssection of hte break, but I don't know metal wokring/casting that well to be sure.

View attachment 8









Pics of the actual installed ones. I managed to *barely* make the rightside one clear the chainline on hte return side, though the chain does touch the straps themselves, it doesn't seem to rub on them even enough to leave a mark. Still, I am not pedalling at all except when on the bike path section of my trip, and even then because my knees (and the rest of my joints) are killing me with the weather changes I'm not putting even a tiny bit of load on the chain.





View attachment 4

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[amberwolf]

Pics attached of the repairs at end of post.

Mark came thru for me and late yesterday evening, we loaded up CrazyBike2 into the back of his truck,then we went to Harbor Freight, and I bought this (before going back to his house to do the repairs):
http://www.harborfreight.com/90-amp-flux-wire-welder-68887-8494.html
which is basically a black version of the first crappy blue welder I bought there a few years ago, which was used to build pretty much everything I'd put together for my bike projects that needed welding, even after it was so crappy that I couldn't really get it to work anymore (wire feed problems mostly). Same blue welder I had to move parts to from the slightly better newer 220V version a few weeks (couple months?) back when i did some of the frame repairs to CrazyBike2 on the battery section in the middle frame, and the seat (cuz I couldn't use the 220V welder cuz the temporary 220V power at the house didnt' have any voltage at all, and the landlord never responded to my message I left him about that).

It came with a small roll of the crappy fluxcore wire they sell, and a very basic welding mask, just like the others, so I didn't have to buy anything else to do it. Came to just under $100, just like the first crappy welder did.

But it did let me do the work needed, and so was "worth the money", in that now I don't have to worry the bike will fall apart on my work commute (at least, not from THIS problem :lol.

I added a couple of braces along the bottom from the dropouts to halfway along the chainstays (I dind't have enough tubing with me to be able to go all the way to the rear BB shell, which is what I'd like to have done). I would've prefered to put the tubing on the outside of the stay tubing, but it was too small to fit over it, and I'd've had to take the whole bakc end of the bike apart to do it. Wanted to just weld it and be done with it, until I am back at the house and can build the whole replacement frame or whatever I end up doing. Preferably something with rear suspension.


For the actual breaks, I just welded across the cracks in a zigzag, although you can't see that in the pics, cuz my welding is not great to start with, and I couldn't really access the tubes very well without taking the pods and rails off, which I dindt' wanna do (cold outside and dark, and would add at least a couple hours to the already-too-long project).

I also built up the metal around the dropout/stay interface where I could, to "brace" it against flexing as much right there. I doubt it will acutally help, but it's worht a shot. Even my added bottom braces won't do much, but they should pass along some of the stress load across the weakened broken areas of the chainstays to parts that aren't damaged yet.

Teh pedal chain just barely clears the righthand added brace tube at it's front end.


Oh, and today, I thought that the 12FET had died, no blinky light, just as I was about to ride off to get groceries and do this wifi session, but it turned out it's just the "power switch" on the front of it--if I press it just right at the "on" end, it will blink, but the contacts inside must have some problem--possibly it's not as waterproof as it's supposed to be, and there's corrosion on them--the spray from the front wheel probably wets it down quite thoroughly on those rare rainy days we have, like the ones last week. No sign of water or corrosion inside the controller itself, from the little I could see from that end whiel I had it open to deal with the switch. To fix the switch I just stripped a little of the insulation on the yellow wires to it, at the still-soldered connections at the switch body, and twisted them around each other. I didn't disconnect them from the switch itself, as I may be able to open the switch and clean it's contacts as a better fix. So it works again, for now, it's just always on if the main breaker is on (like during charging, when normally I'd switch it off).


So now, the next step is to replace the bad hall in the HSR3548, and get that back on the bike, assuming the Ringworm tire will fit on the much wider rim like the now-bad Hookworm did, without coming off. If it won't, I'll have to find that moped or motorcycle tire sooner. Have been trying to find something in-town but it's really hard to get anyone to answer a phone at the various MC shops in town, and the few that have answered keep putting me on eternal hold, or saying they're going to go check and then hanging up on me. None of the ones that have email ever reply, either, so far. Probably am gonna just have to ride around to the different ones with the unlaced rim and ask "do you have a tire to fit this?" and then make sure it will while I'm there.

 

[amberwolf]

well, nothing broke yet, either in the ride home from wifi yesterday nor in the to-work commute today. backend feels nice and stiff again, about like it did right after i added those cross braces between the cargo pod rails.

have been pondering how i could replace the present rear triangle such as it is, with a suspension arrangement--given the weights and whatnot involved i would just about have to use that motorcycle shock off the 80's suzuki dirt bike, assuming it's still in one of the sheds and wasn't stolen by looters yet or won't be by the time i get to move back in.

i don't have anything else that would actually give me any useful suspension--the very few bicycle shocks i have are all cheap garbage, and the orange "mx" shocks, if they still exist, are unknowns--i don't think they'd work either, though, despite my prevoius plans to use one--the springs are probably not good enough if i only use one, and two of them are heavier than the single suzuki shock, which is even adjustable to some extent with an air reservoir.


well, it's just pondering for now anywya, cuz i can't do any of the actual work till i'm back at the house. by then i may have a whole new frame idea anyway--i have thought of severla possible ideas, though unfortunately most of the parts i would have used don't exist anymore, having either been stolen by looters or scrapped by the landlord during the city-complaint cleanup recently (a number of things i had specifically set aside and said i needed to keep disappeared during that, including a big really heavy lockable rackmount cabinet and a smaller cabinet, both of which had other things stored inside them, and my bbq grill that had batteries in it (many from methods), and some power supplies and bike frames/parts, etc.).


eh, anyway, enough griping--i really need to just accept what's gone as gone, and live with it, and work with whatever i hvae left.

at least the bike works now, and isn't as likely to fall apart during my commute. :lol:

 

[amberwolf]

Still not falling apart anywhere else, but there's a new rattle in the right rear that I can't find the source of yet, which worries me. Is very intermittent, and nothing feels loose, nothing unbolted, etc., so I dunno yet. Hopefully it's something as silly as a pebble inside the cargo pod styrofoam lining rattling around sometimes, or a bit of welding spatter inside a tube, but wiht recent events I somehow doubt it.

 

[The Stig]

Hmm... did you try bouncing the bike on its tire, with your ear close to the source, to try to locate it?

 

[amberwolf]

There's no way for me to do that, unfortunately. Especially in the state I'm in now wiht the weather the way it has been, I can't even lift either end of the bike off the ground, much less enough to bounce it. Even if I could, I can't do the bouncing and hte listening at the same time.

I don't know anyone that can help me with it either--the ones I'd trust to do it without breaking something or hurting me with it either aren't available or also can't physically do it.

This weekend I have off so I am hoping to be able to just take some stuff apart around the cargo pods, taking them off, too, and see if I can find it that way. That's assuming I can work the wrenches....

 

[The Stig]

Unless you could tap parts of it with a hammer or rubber hammer to find it... It's probably not worth the trouble, it may be just a harmless rattle that will never give you trouble. ...good old: "if it ain't broke don fix it"

 

[amberwolf]

I usually operate under the motto "if it ain't broke, improve it till it is". :lol:

No, really, I would normally just not worry about it, but after this recent frame failure I'd REALLY rather find the source before it fails, assuming it is an actual failure and not just an annoyance, like a bit of slag rattling around inside the tube somewhere (which is probably what it is).


Oh, also, I had a thought about such failures, and of total rear wheel failure should I have a massive spoke breakage problem for whatever reason. The kind of failure that would leave me dragging the back end down the road, walking the bike miles and miles to get to where I might be able to fix it or whatever.

If I put heavy duty casters on the bottom of the cargo pods, one or two each side, they'd keep the pods off the ground and let me at least ride the bike (which for my knees and other joints is FAR FAR easier than walking it, no matter how broken it might be) slowly on the sidewalks, if the roads weren't flat enough, to get it somewhere.

An additional benefit is that if I put them at the corners of the pods, they coudln't dig into the ground anymore during sharp turns.

A negative to the idea is that the casters' height would be that much less I could lean the bike into a turn.

A further negative is that it is possible the caster could hit the ground in a tight corner, bounce the actual wheel off ground just a bit, and I'd lose traction completely on the rear end, with the casters then letting it swing out wide, then the rear tire could catch again and inertia cause the bike to roll outward away from the direction of the turn, or some such disastrous movement.

If instead of casters I used part of a little razor kick scooters' rear end, with the rear wheel(s) only, aligned parallel to the regular rear wheel, it wouldnt' be able to spin around and let me slide like that. It would also probably be stronger...but it would also be vulnerable to side loading. Much easier to steer, though, since all steering would only be happening at the front wheel, like normal, and not have the back end sliding around toward wherever the downhill is, should I end up having to ride on them. :lol:



All in all, probably not a good idea to implement in any fashion. But...i'll keep it in the back of my mind along with all the other junk ideas, just in case.

 

[amberwolf]

I finally added "windshields" for my handlebar grip areas. Crappy job but I am not in the best shape right now (see the housefires thread). I may need to add some flaps to help cover my hands more, maybe from cloth with a string pull around it, like a hood on a jacket has. Not sure how I'd pull the string on the second hand though. :lol:




My hands have been hurting so badly by the end of my work commute, day or night, that I had to do something about it. Goretex gloves didn't help--I have these loose-knit gloves meant for wiping cat hair off that work almost as well as the goretex ones that are three times as thick, because the wind just cuts thru the cloth on either one, carrying heat away. Since the goretex are tighter then there's also less circulation, making the problem worse since less heat gets to my fingers in teh firs tplace. So by the 7th or 8th mile of a ride, even at 16-17mph instead of 19ish, i can only feel stabbing pains in my fingers and much of my hands, and cannot feel anything that i'm doing with them, can barely squeeze the brake lever or operate turh signals, etc.

All the rest of me is so warm with mulitple clothes layers that I'm actually sweating a little, and the FF helmet with visor down is a problem at stoplights--I have to lift it so i tdoesn't fog up before the light changes!

So...the windsheilds..they help, quite a bit, but still, by that 9th mile's last bit, I'm starting to hurt just like before, at night--usually it's 11pm before I am home, so it's pretty cold by then, especially oncompletely clear days/nights. More pics at the end.


I found a much lighter cane that I can fit on the bike, for when I really can't quite get around cuz of knee/etc pain, for $5 at goodwill. I actually have (or had) one just like it in brown at hte house, but even if ti's still there I can't get to it tilL I move back in. So...now I have this one. It works.

 

[amberwolf]

Havne't gotten around to any improvements on the hand-windshields yet.

I improved the cane a little, though--it used to rattle/clunk at every lift and set-down, which is damned annoying, and spooks Tiny too. So I wrapped some layers of electrical tape around the bottom tube's outer diameter in two places (top end and ~middle) to *just* fit inside the top tube's inner diameter, tightly, then used dish soap to lube the inside of the top tube, to let it slide up inside easily enough without peeling back and sticking to it (as it did the first time I tried without doing that).

So now it doesn't rattle/clunk anymore, and is nearly silent in use, so it doesn't bother me or Tiny anymore.

Now I just wish that A) I didn't need to use it, and B) that it didn't hurt my hand/wrist/elbow/shoulder in place of my ankles/knees. And that I could properly use it with my left hand to support my left leg, since the left knee is the worst one, but my left hand is also worse than the right, and less coordinated, too, so even if I tolerate the extra pain from it I still wind up missing hte mark wiht the cane tip and either kicking it, tripping, or haivng it slip, all of which cause me to fall. Getting up after that is less fun than just getting up off the floor after kneeling down *without* a cane at all.


So...my next project is a bionic body--do you think it will work? :lol:

 

[The Stig]

Oh yeah you could fab up an augmentation to your leg! like a knee brace or something

 

[The fingers]

I've fashioned several walking sticks from old graphite golf driver shafts, adding a rubber tip and nylon wrist strap is easy. They are extremely light weight, but fragile. You want to use the cane in the hand opposite of the leg you are favoring so as to reduce the weight the knee has to bear. So if your left leg is hurt, every time you step on the left foot use the cane in your right hand to take the weight off of the left leg. It takes a little getting used to, but really works better that way. Praying you get back home real soon.

 

[amberwolf]

Cane I am using now is aluminum an dworks well enough, very light. Am presently using it the way you describe, though it's more because my right hand and arm/etc are much more capable of taking the load than my left, than that I knew how to do it correctly in the first place. :lol: (cuz I didn't)

Some days I'd rather use a wheelchair cuz both knees (and ankles/etc) hurt so much, but not moving htem at all makes it much worse after a very short while, and I'd still have to get up and down from the chair to do things at work, so...better just like this. I have a walker too, that someone threw away here at the complex, so if I *have* to have better support then I can use that. Hopefully it won't come to that. Not this year, anyway.

 

[amberwolf]

A few days back, I finally got to fix the hall sensor (replaced the center one, on the "green" wire) on the HSR3548, but I still haven't ground down the spoke tips that stick out from the new hub by several mm, so I could then put rim tape on it and a tube and tire.

I am also still looking around for a local source for the Pirelli moped tire mentioned in one of the threads about such tires, which I think is going to be this one:
Pirelli ML75 (2.75-16 46J REINF)
based on Rkorosiek's post there, as he has the same ex-Zero rim I do from Ypedal. I would like ot use the 3" version of that tire, if there is one, if it would fit and stay on the rim I have.

If I could be *certain* that that tire would fit my rim I'd just find one on Amazon or similar and order it, sent to Bill's place, but until I am certain I would want to take my rim to a local shop that has one to be sure it'll actually fit on there. I may just order one anyway, since I've been trying off and on for months and been unable to find any of the local shops that don't either hang up on me, or put me on eternal hold (for the ones that even bother to answer their phones). (well, there have actually been a few that simply said they don't carry moped tires at all, but that doesnt' help either).



It started raining again last night, a few hours before I left work. I've been parking the bike outside in a regular car space for a week or more now, cuz I have hurt too much to get it around all the corners of the tortuous path from front door to breakroom at the store. When i realized it was probably going to rain last night, I moved it under the awning on the sidewalk, since while I know it will handle *some* rain, it's not totally waterproofed, and I didn't know if it would take a few hours of rain or drizzle and then still work like it should for another hour on the way home.


It did just fine, though, having started out dry, and only riding thru drizzle on the way home itself, for almost all of the commute. The throttle, which has been the only real problem, is now partially shielded by the hand-windshield, which actually works so well that it kept my hands almost dry even though I only wore the light knit-type gloves for the ride (since the goretex ones don't keep water out at all, and are just tight enough to cut off circulation after a while, making my hands hurt even worse than normal--so I don't wear them unless the other ones simply don't work at all for some reason).


Today it has only sprinkled off and on, and was actually mostly sunny on my ride to BK across from work, where I'm posting from today since I go in midafternoon instead of midday, today, and have BOGO coupons making it worth eating lunch here (cuz it also buys me dinner), as I am now able to finally eat more-or-less solid food again isntead of just soups (gums are healing up after tooth extraction in front). Have to tear it up since I can't bite it off, but I can now at least chew it once it's in there.


One issue though wiht the rain is that both last night and today I forgot to put the fender on the bike's rear tire, so it soaks the back of the seat after a while, which then runs down and thru the webbing and padding, and soaks thru the totally-useless 3M "waterproofing" spray used on the firefighter pants, and soaks my butt. I had to wear the raincoat last night on the way home, but today I didn't so I stuck it between me and the seat after I realized I'd forgotten the fender again (I guess I never put it back on after replacing that defective-sidewall Hookworm), before water off the road got a chance to soak thru the seat itself.


Will have to salvage some cardboard from boxes to be tossed out at work, to make a temporary fender for the ride home tonight.

 

[amberwolf]

Fender was unneeded...I guess it was sunny enough for long enough that afternoon/evening, despite clouds here and there, to dry out the roads. Was pretty clear thru the night, too, and got pretty cold (51F per the sign across the street). Last night was even colder, 46F. Tonight will probably be colder still, since it has been clear all day and probably will be tonight, too. But today at least is sunny, and is a really nice day for riding, and for walkies with Tiny.


But...it would also be a nice day for welding a new break on the bike--this time on the seat itself, where the rigthside vertical tube joins the horizontal side tube. Because of the way the seat mesh is laced around that area, I can't acutally see the break, so not sure exactly what it looks like/where it is, but it appears to be just above the weld itself. Since the rest of the seat is fine so far, and the back of the seat isn't structural cuz I don't really lean back into it heavily anyway, then it'll be fine like that till I am up at Bill's, if nothing else happens. I'm just not sure what broke it, cuz it was fine when I went into work on Friday, and was not ok when I left work. I would guess someone messed with it, somehow, but because of threat of rain I had it parked under the awning at work, directly in front of the glass storefront. Maybe someone somehow fell onto it, or tried to catch themslevles from falling by grabbing it, or whatever. It's strong enough for *me* to move the bike around by it, if necessary, so that shouldn't hurt it, but with all the other age/stress-related failures it's had in recent months, this could just be one more of those sudden let-gos of an existing fracture.

Anywya, it'll need to be unlaced and rewelded, so I'll need to get my "new" welder from Mark, and weld it up over at Bill's if that's allowed there, or ride over to Mark's and do it if not.


For now, it'll be ok.

I've been checking the rest of the frame when I get home each night, after Tiny's walkies and dinner, and so far not seen any sign of impending failures. Haven't been checking the seat, until now, so wouldnt' have seen this coming even if it was an existing fracture.

There is one thing that is getting worse, and that's a wobble durring braking of the front fork--I *think* it's the headset bearings (which are a "sealed" type) having a teeeeeeensy bit of play in the top of the headtube--but there is no sign of it when I just tie the brake lever closed and move the bike back and forth while watchign the headtube top and bottom up close while stopped, either off or on the bike.

Yet when i am riding and brake, if it's daylight I can see the top of the steerer tube "vibrate" just a bit.

The headtube itself shows no sign of being 'loose", and is quite securely welded to the frame, and the front frame/triangle shows no sign of problems, nor does the steering mechanism or clamps to the steerer tube itself.

The fork doesnt' appear to have any more stanchion play thna it did originally (which is a lot more than I like, but is typical of this level of fork). I never have gotten the time to try swapping out the fork for that white one, because testing it, working out any bugs, etc., is necessary before I could trust it for a 20-mile work commute. I'll basically need a little vacation to be able to do that, and it'll have to wait till I'm back at the house, I guess, since I didn't get to do it during my previous ones. It'll only take a couple of hours, maybe three, to actually swap out the fork itself, but if I run into any problems during a test ride it could get complicated dealing with the results, and might take at least all-day to get back to the apartment and revert back to the original. If something actually breaks, and damages the motor wheel in any way, or something else on the bike, it could take mroe than a day to deal with. So that's why i haven't tried to do it yet.


Also, I put one of the old tires back on the trailer, and stuck the thick tube in it, and put the other old tire plus both thin tubes in the bottom of the trailer under the thick blankets Tiny rides on, so if there's a problem on a trip we'll have spares. I expect to be taking her up to Bill's place via the trailer, so it's good to have it working again.



So...at least the bike is still working to get me around, and the trailer is ready for Tiny. Let's hope it keeps going for another few months, at least, till I can build the next one.



In the meantime, I'm still pondering what the "ultimate" redesign of this particular style of CrazyBike might be, incorporating fixes for the various failures I've encountered so far. I have a feeling I really need a structural engineer to do it, though, cuz while I have a good feel for this kind of thing, I'm obviously no expert at it!

 

[amberwolf]

On the way to work Tuesday, I had my first actual flat tire in what seems like ages. It was on teh rear, and was a sidewall puncutre of something. There was nothing actually left in the tire or tube, but it must have been really tiny, maybe a syringe needle or similar, cuz I couldn't find a hole in the tire sidewall, just a little scratch that if I stretch it just right shows what might be a puncture. The tube hole was easy to find, when I tried re-airing it up after stopping, calling work to tell them I'd be late, then pulling the rear wheel off to figure out the problem and patch it. Patching was easy with the kit I carry, then I was back on teh road about 45 minutes after the flat (meaning I was half hour late to work instead of 15 minutes early).


As a side note, I put a thermometer on the bike to see what temperatures are like during a ride. At night, between 940-1045/11pm when I am on my way home, it's getting down to about 45-50F not coutning windchill, wich probably takes at least another 10-15 degrees F off that. Daytime it's around 60F-65F, midday on the way to work. Same thermometer left sticking out a gap in the window reaches belwo 40F, but not quite down to freezing, just before dawn.

 

[The Stig]

I had forgotten what life is like without having ~80mL of sealant sloshing around in all my tubes, but it sounds like things worked out for you just fine

 

[amberwolf]

Yeah, well, I didn't use any sealant in these tubes, mostly as an experiment to see how things worked without it, as I have used it for so very long. Now, I just ahve much thicker tubes, plus hte liners, and better tires.

Since it was a sidewall puncture I don't think the sealant would have helped anyway.


Maybe if I had the Pirelli moped tire on there it would have deflected whatever it was, but I don't know.

 

[The Stig]

With 100+ ml (4oz) you could expect it to get splashed onto all interior surfaces of the tube. I've fixed pretty bad pinch flats(tube would not hold any pressure at all) with sealant.

 

[amberwolf]

Probably would get splashed around, dunno if it would've stopped this one, though. Hopefully now that I'm up at Bill's and can do more work on the bike than I could at the apartment, I'll be able to set up the HSR3548 with the Zero rim and a Pirelli tire soon, and not have to worry about that sort of thing for a while.



Today I'd planned to ride CB2 down to the apartment to turn in keys and do paperwork/etc., but Bill also wanted to do shopping at some of the same places I was going to go (like goodwill and dollar stores) so he drove his truck and I rode with him. But when we got to Goodwill after the apartment stuff, I'd sort of wished I'd had CrazyBike2 with me, cuz there was a fellow DIY ebiker there, apparently. I didnt' actually see the builder/rider around though, so didnt' get to talk to him, but his vehicle, which reminded me of my early DayGlo Avenger builds in style, was parked out front of GW. I rmeembered to take a few pics, but I forgot to leave a note (don't yet have cards, need to make some, keep saying that and not doing it) about ES on the bike to invite the builder to come here.


It looks like one of the bikes built to work as an ebike to start with, with space for battery behind the seat. It's also got a drum brake in front, and typical hubmotor wheel in back. Has a lot of little 7Ah-sized SLA taped to the frame above and below the top and downtubes, and I think a stack of those is also what is in the original battery spot.


He's added a front "fairing" and windshield. I wonder how well it helps efficiency, if any? Or maybe it's just to keep the cold wind off.

 

[marty]

Do I see duct tape? Could this be Xyster's bicycle?