Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
I was chastized tonight for not writing in my journal about the Xtracycle build. Allow me to correct that!
I have been making slow but sure progress. It seems like most of my progress is being hampered by a lack of parts, at this point. Something about using specialized parts like tandem hubs and disc brakes makes everything more complicated.
Two nights ago, I had a very frustrating evening of working on the thing. I had just received the adapter which would allow the rear hub to use a disc brake, and eagerly spun it on. In my eagerness, I also cinched down the set-screw, and immediately bent the hub enough to cause considerable drag when spinning the wheel. I swore under my breath, and tried to get the bend out, but only succeeded in making it worse. Totally grumpy, I strapped the raer wheel onto my shoulder bag, and rode over to Recycled Cycles for help -- I was missing one of the wrenches I needed to take things apart enough to fix it myself. 10 minutes of work later, and the problem was sorted out. I was not best pleased with that little episode, although the tech at Recycled was (as usual) great to work with.
Yesterday, my new tires finally arrived (again, using funny parts means waiting for things...). I brought the bike, sans tires, down to the shop at my work on Sunday night, and very gingerly set it down with glorified paper towels wrapped around the rims and a large "please do not touch" sign laced into the spokes -- I could just imagine someone rolling the bare, aluminum rims across the hard, knobbly concrete and making them impossible to ever true again. Fortunately, there was no problem.
Once the tires were on, I gingerly sat on the saddle and paddled down the length of the bike cage -- no chain, no brakes, only one derailleur hooked up. It was still pretty cool to be rolling on this weird frankenbike. The rear disc rattled slightly as it wobbled on its un-tightened bolts (I couldn't find a Torx driver among the bike shop tools, so finger-tight was the best I could do). Fortunately, the bike looks a bit more normal with tires on the rims. The bare rims looked weirdly small, particularly with the huge 8" brake rotors on them. My other bike, with 29" wheels and 6" rotors, appares to me now to have comically small brake rotors.
I've been taking pictures as I make progress, and I'll try to get them posted later.
Right now, although it's not done, I've got the cargo carrying hoops attached to the rear frame for Bike To Work Day tomorrow. I'm going to bring the mostly-complete bike up to the lunch and show it off. Already tonight, I've spent a good solid 30 minutes talking to 5 or 6 interested people who were passing by. I figure at lunch tomorrow, I'll be lucky to shovel any food in my face for all the talking I'll be doing about it.
As it stands right now, the bike has the following major problems to address:
Once I get those things taken care of, the bike will be essentially done. I'll have lights and such to install, but nothing else will prevent me from riding the bike around normally.
And now, downstairs to take some pictures!
Posted at 20:06 permanent link category: /bicycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater