Human interest story

[Reid Welch]

Today while riding I chanced to come across Joe's trailer once again.

Detail shots for the home constructors:

 

[Elmweaver]

Great thats what I thought he might have been doing.

It also shows the fault in the design since while it can move left and right , up and down are what has caused the pin to bend at the saddle post.

 

[Reid Welch]

It's possible too that he deliberately bent the loose-fitting bolt to get the angle right.

"how old is your trailer, Joe?"

"Seven years"


"and the bike?"


"Oh, mon, I do not know. I have had the bike for seven years also."


He's now got the ordering information for the Currie comfort ebike, and it is on order.

Hooray!


"I tell you one thing, if you can come to my house--the neighborhood,
they will not bodder you. You say 'I am here to help Joe',
and they will not bodder you at all."



So when it comes, I will help Joe get the new bike tweaked up (in stock form).

We'll surely want to graft in a cable to run to his trailer, for extended range (car) batteries.

More pictures:

 

[Reid Welch]

The more I look at Joe's original design the more I am impressed by his genius.
And to think, we'd never crossd paths before
even though I have lived in this area for 25 years.

Two chance meetings in two weeks








His clients--they are nice people too.







A farewell shot...




...until we meet again, and have put a new ebike into gainful work.

 

[Elmweaver]

It's possible too that he deliberately bent the loose-fitting bolt to get the angle right.

Yes seeing the whole thing in the farewell shot I think your correct. I guess making it all loose is what allows for the lifting of the trailer when going over things like speedbumps otherwise it would lift the back wheel off the ground which is what I had assumed bent the bolt.

He did a great job making it all work and I think the fact that he has used it 7 years proves it does work.

Would be interesting when he gets the new bike to try putting some kinda universal joint into the connection.

Thanks for all the pictures, nice to see what someone can do when they put their mind to it. Tell Joe we all said hi and wish him a merry christmas and happy new year for us. - Dan

 

[Mathurin]

Bike is awsome, alloy(?) back rim and seat stick out but woah, I love it! The trailer looks pretty heavy duty, here's hope that the motor'll be geared allright...

What kinda mods/tweaks were you thinking about for the new owner?

I'm guessing tune-up/ajustments + battery care & feeding?

 

[Lessss]

Somebody shoot me in the head but I thought this might be interesting to post.

http://www.e-ride.ca/Electric_Bikes/Electric_conversion_trailer.htm
Notice the asterisk.

 

[Lessss]

With the amount of load that Joe is carrying you might want to insist that he rig up a blower to cool his motor, and if can afford it slap on a front hub wheel as well. I'm sure that sucker can get real heavy on hills.

 

[Lessss]

Then again here is adumb idea for recycling old bike frames. Take 2 weld on a few bars to connect them togetther and make a square cage.Bend up the front forks and connect them for a connecting arm.

I'm not an artist.

Hehe. you could even go all out and make the wheels hub motors and store your batteries in the cage. Why make the bike electric when you can make the trailer electric?

 

[Reid Welch]

Bike is awsome, alloy(?) back rim and seat stick out but woah, I love it! The trailer looks pretty heavy duty, here's hope that the motor'll be geared allright...

What kinda mods/tweaks were you thinking about for the new owner?

I'm guessing tune-up/ajustments + battery care & feeding?

Hi Francois,

It's an all-steel Schwinn, three speed hub.
He can do fine with the Currie drive and this heavy load because
a)the terrain is pancake-flat here
b)he's assisting the gearmotor/the gearmotor's assisting him.
c) it does not take a lot of power to roll along once rolling a load.

The new bike, even without motor assist, would be much easier for him to start up--it's got more and better gearing.

The Unite motor gives great torque.
It will start that rig up on its own power, on the level, just fine.


I don't advise a lot of mods for Joe--battery in the trailer if he needs the range.

I wonder what that trailer, loaded, weighs? 300 lbs?
It's because it's flat here that he can handle such a haul.
And even if the Currie only made the pedaling half as hard...great!
But it will def. move that rig along just fine, on the level, at 10 per, without straining. I'm intuitively sure of that.
Gear motors offer grunt.

<a href="http://img136.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot520bq1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/1427/screenshot520bq1.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at http://www.ImageShack.us" /></a>

 

[Reid Welch]

With the amount of load that Joe is carrying you might want to insist that he rig up a blower to cool his motor, and if can afford it slap on a front hub wheel as well. I'm sure that sucker can get real heavy on hills.

We're going to keep it simple :lol:

I'm sure that sucker can get real heavy on hills

:lol:

Whenever I leave Florida I get a reality check: most folks have to deal with hills! Not here. Let's see... We have one mountain, is all. One of those mount trashmores. Dump trucks only.



BTW, your artwork and design--j/k: It highlights how well Joe invents things in his head! *forgive me for pulling your leg?*

:wink:

_______________

Dan, I'll relay your kind greetings to Joe!


Reid

 

[Lessss]

Any news on Joe's bike??

 

[mlrosier]

Aaaawwwww. I read the whole thread, only to find that there is no ending to it. I was hoping to see picture's of him with his new E-bike.

 

[How2]

Aaaawwwww. I read the whole thread, only to find that there is no ending to it. I was hoping to see picture's of him with his new E-bike.

Same here.. this story needs closure.