Planes, Trains etc.

Packed & ready to go

Caught up with Lisa and Sarah ............

Airport Bus.

Jetstar terminal before checking in baggage.

Crap photo taken at airport using flash, but....

turn it off,and hey presto this happens.  The long aisles to the departure gates are festooned with ecstatic pics of people on holidays all round the world, and I think I caught one of them in reflection. 

Carrying all my stuff is rather an effort, (my bike bag lacks the 2018-essential wheels) so I used this trolley to transport my stuff to the Airport Novatel where I stayed the first night.

With Bickerton travelling from.....

Airport to town, and finally to

the youth hostel.

Seats on the foreshore.

Ducks? on the foreshore.

Hi,

Most of the time, the vintage, creaky, venerable, wonky Bickerton bike I own sits on the top of the wardrobe at home crying use me, use me, I still work y'know, and mostly I ignore it, choosing to ride my recumbents instead. But occasionally it gets pulled down, dusted off and ridden on, mostly when I want a very portable bike. 

Three years ago, I visited a transport conference in Sydney, having got there by train, a year ago I used it for transport back from fringe furniture, and this time I am in Darwin, having got here by walking, train, bus, plane, trolley and lastly but not leastly mighty Bickerton. Anyway the pictures tell most of the story.  I bumped into phd students and conference presenters Lisa and Sarah on the airport bus - they were flying out an hour before me.

Best Wishes

Steve Nurse from Darwin YHA and ATRF conference.  

Timber Chainguard Part 2

An old tailbox used for research was put to the hammer....

to make the new timber chainguard.....

Velcro had been used to hold the sidepanels on, not really strong enough!

Bottom Panel marked out for new chainguard

Old version used as partial template

My wife Christine painting the new version .....

and it put into place on the bike.....

For drilling mounting holes.

Cutting in 2 with a hacksaw. The electric jigsaw was too harsh and caused parts of the timber to split.

Bracket 1

Bracket 2.

Done, the front part spins, the back part doesn't so the chainguard becomes a changing artwork.

Hi, don't think I need to add many words here.  After a trial run last time, I have now completed an "artwork" timber chainguard for my Victoria separating bike.  I didn't have any loose 4mm ply so harvested timber from an old tailbox which solved 2 problems, the space the tailbox took up and the need for timber! 

Christine painted it, and I spent a fair bit of today attaching it.  I'm not sure it was worth doing but its different!  The front part of the chainguard spins, chainging the picture made by the chainguard as a whole.  And bits don't bump into other bits, a frequent problem with chainguards.  Regards

Steve Nurse

Ride to Work Day 2018

Ok, it was me.

Lots going on!

Gayle and a helper spruiking on the bikepath, successfully getting riders across to the celebration from the bike path in the middle of busy St. Georges Road.

Popular Ice Cream stall run by Mamoth

Bike tuning by volunteers

Hi, Yesterday was local cycling advocates The Bike Network's Ride to Work Day.  Its been going quite a while, and a few years ago I helped run a stall at RMIT promoting ozhpv as part of a ride to work day.  So this year I volunteered to set up Wecycle and the city of Darebin's ride to work day afternoon celebrations, arriving at about midday to help set up for the event running from 4 - 7 pm.

It all ran well, and I put up posters, moved bikes, made a prize wheel from a bike wheel and a trueing stand, swept, held the fort for a while and generally helped the other volunteers set up, and it was very enjoyable and well attended. Thanks to Gayle Kirsten and the other volunteers for making it a great afternoon.

regards

Steve Nurse

Convent fete 2018

Hi

Yesterday I woke up and remembered that it was the day of the fete at The Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver in Cotham Road.  I ride past their building going to my mum and Dad's place, and had noted the date from the big billboard out the front. When my leaning trike design was brand new 5 years ago I had picked up a great vintage sewing machine there.  So I rang mum and Dad, arranged to visit them at 11 O'clock, and rode over. On the way over I saw: yes, the fete was in full swing, and there was a garage sale just down the road from there.

I visited Mum and Dad (we had been to a funeral in Hamilton a few days before and caught up with some relatives there, so there was a bit to discuss) and help mum with a job in the garage, rescuing a Globite case in the process.  On the way home I stopped at both the garage sale (not much good) and the fete.  The not-quite-so-good-crockery store was a ripper and were selling a small box of items for $5.00. At first I didn't think I needed a boz as I only wanted one or 2 things, but there was enough good stuff there that I opted for the box.

I had to rearrange my tailbox for the trip home and put most of the crockery in the Globite case to make it all fit which resulted in 1 breakage by the time I got home. But my wife Christine was generally delighted. Will add a bit more later.....


Regards

Steve Nurse  

New Trike Part 9 bike hack 3741

Pic shows interference between chainguard and steerer.

Hacked aheadset parts (top) allow brake and gear cables to get through, and

....... modified headsetem parts allow it to sit more vertical to avoid chainring interference.

As installed.

And the whole damn thing.

Front frame detail

Separated for transport

Front frame end details, compared with the aluminium trike shown in this post, the front frame is much more compact.

Hi, yesterday I put in some more work on my new trike, and with 2 bike hacks fixed some remaining problems.  As mentioned last time, the steerer bearings were loosening because I had omitted a few aheadset pieces from the steerer assembly to let the cables go through the fork tube.  And I discovered another problem, part of the steerer would hit the new inside chainguard if it was steered too hard.

So a couple of bike hacks were in order, the first was to mod some aheadset parts so cables could go past them, and that worked.  Taking apart the steerer clamp and a bit of grinding of parts fixed the second problem.  The adjustable steerer clamp had to be more vertical than its initial limit to avoid interference with the chainguard, and grinding away bits of 2 parts helped that.

In the afternoon I took the bike for a test rides and rode it again today, no real problems except the bell is a bit loose!

Next time I hope to report on the trike being used in competition in the 2018 Ozhpv challenge in Geelong,
 

Regards

Steve Nurse

PS, a few weeks later. October 22

What are some of the improvements of this frame design, and what could be done better?

* The front end makes extensive use of a Byk e450x8 donor cycle, using the rear wheel, forks, handlebars, and steerer tube bearings. This cost me $50.00 all up, not expensive in bike terms.

*  The narrow 451 rim front tyre improves handling. A nearby bikepath crests a steep hill, then turns left quite abruptly.  I couldn't ride this section without putting my feet down previously with a 406 rim wide tyre  (the tyre would bang into the chain).  Now I can ride it ok!

* I'm much more comfortable with 3d printing now than I was when I started making this style of bike frame, and don't treat it as being exotic or only for sparing use any more. So I've used 3d printing for the internal frame separators, and that has worked well. The overlap section of the frame is now much shorter.

* Crush bars for the bearing housings are now fibreglass, this is a considerable improvement from the timber versions I had made previously. 

More of the Byk could be used in the making of the recumbent, and I am still working on the steering arrangement.