Tailbox and Fairing Shelf

 

Repositioned brake cables don't interfere with the Garmin so much.

Preparing to work on brake cables.

The first load for the parcel shelf.

Actually out and about, depositing some Garlic Chive seed at a local seed library.

Bosses for shelf in place at the ends of the timber fairing support hoop.

Cutting timber for bosses.

Retiring the "old" speedo

Drink bottle and mat in place

Drink bottleholder and mat.

Drink bottle holder screw.

Old drink bottle holder nut

New drink bottle holder nut: T-nut in timber surround.

Ventisit pad for tailbox - top with stitching hidden,

and bottom showing stitching.

Hi

For a while I have been wanting to complete the Great Southern Randonee and have started training and working on my bike as part of attempting this year's ride. During training I get a bit of time to think, and in the last few rides resolved to use a bit of dead space inside the fairing.  

So I have made a corflute shelf, and the intention is that this be used for storing food to be ridden while riding on long stretches.

And I've just started using my Garmin regularly. The speedo I had on wasn't reliable, and it's better that I practice using the garmin as I will eventually navigate with it on longer rides.  To better accommodate the garmin, I've rearranged the brake cables, moving them above the steerer.

 I extended the Ventsit padding in the tailbox, and lastly for this set of mods,  made a new mount for the drink bottle holder. This means the holder can be removed easily for cleaning or replacement. The holder and bottle are both made from old 2 litre milk bottles, with a bit of extra hardware (cable gland and plastic tube) available from hardware chains such as Bunnings.

Regards  Steve Nurse

Fixing 50 bikes, bikes 12 and 13

 

This is #13, a Giant Yukon which I fixed while at Wecycle last Saturday. Like 11 and 12 it had been donated by a couple from Balwyn. It only needed a clean, brake tune, and the seat needed replacing.

#12, a Spectrum Escape. The gear controls were nice and easy to use. No fiddly indexing on the front changer. Whoopee!

I rode it home from Wecycle, this helped a bit as I could work out what was wrong (not much, just cleaning, bell, set replacement and tidying cables). But for some strange reason, I really like riding and pushing a bike along at the same time, which very pleasantly occupies the mind.

Great Southern Randonee 2021 Intro

 

359 wheel with shutter Precision dynamo. The dynamo suits 15mm thru axle and 700c wheels. So it will be running overspeed and I'm not sure about its generating or friction.

Back of tailbox with Ventisit / ACS10 on the base. This stops vibration and rattling of tools and seems to be doing the job sofar.

Trike out the front. The one in front is my regular ride, and I plan to use the one behind as a test rig for the dynamo.

Speedo just visible between handle bar and fairing and ...

Mounted on timber fairing support.

Rumble Shoes, top is what I use now, bottom arrived today.

I used the old rumbles today, here you can see my sock poking through on the left hand side of the shoe.

Starting the tailbox surgery. This is a box that was stacked into and later repaired, so as slightly damaged goods I don't mind ripping into it and modding it.

Rubber tube-section in lap-counter mode

and in handbrake mode.

Hi

Back in 2008, I attempted the 1000k Great Southern Randonee, a long Audax ride on what I consider home territory stretching between Anglesea and Hall's Gap in Victoria's West. 

Although I didn't finish that ride, I have since finished two flat 1200k rides, and have come to see the Great Southern Randonee as unfinished business.

The ride's only held every four years. Last year the ride was cancelled due to covid, and this year the ride is limited to local (Australian and maybe New Zealand) riders.  

Anyway  I'm keen to have a go at the event again, and have been bike tweaking, and training on the Kew Boulevarde, an unbroken 6.5k stretch of hilly, windy road located close to where I live and close to Melbourne City. Rather stubbornly, I intend training for and trying the Great Southern Randonnee on my own tilting trike, and am using Simon Watt's SABOT rule for finishing hilly long Audax rides.

SABOT (my acronym, you get to think a lot of useless thoughts when riding)  stands for Stay ABOve Ten (kph on hills). So instead of just riding, I fitted a wireless Speedo, so I could SABOT. It seems to be working sofar. To count the laps I do on the boulevarde, I am putting my handbrake (just a bit of old bike tube) to a second use, rotating it 90 degrees in its home to indicate 1 lap done.

For the GSR itself, lighting need not be a huge issue. There's 10 hours between sunset and sunrise, and a bit of twilight before sunrise and after sunset, so maybe 8 hours when serious lighting of the road is required. This could be covered by battery lighting, and I'm quite prepared to use that if my generator hub doesn't work.   

Actually I'm not really obsessed by the GSR, but if it happens it would be nice. Other good things that could happen would be a phd study position or regular work, and those would probably trump finishing the GSR.

Regards

Steve Nurse

Fairing repair, I glued and screwed plastic plates under the top of the fairing to repair fairing cracks and missing pieces 

Update, April 25, 2021

For better or for worse, I have signed up for the Great Southern Randonee 1200k ride. Now I am going through Audax and personal calendars looking for opportunities to ride and qualify. Qualify means a 600k Audax ride by August 31. In the near future I want to do 100k on the local hills, and am continuing with bike tweaks. Regards  Steve Nurse

Fixing 50 bikes, bike 11.

 

Interesting tensioner on the

rear cantilever brake.

Nice cable guides too, and the

cable guides are all away from the down tube.

Bike set up for fixing in front of Saturday night TV, this is "Death in Paradise".

Nice turnout at Wecycle today, we helped quite a few people out with their bikes at the Darebin Free Monthly Bike Check

An Obike on Offer, It was an hard rubbish I think.

Hi

Yesterday was a bike check day at the Wecycle Charity where I spend most Saturdays, so it was quite busy. Late in the day, a couple fron Balwyn came in and donated 4 bikes, which all looked like good mountain bikes.  

One in particular, The Wheeler was good and close to being ready, so I decided to take it home with me. At home I set about fixing. The cable ends were frayed and I put stops on the end of them, and the pedals had way out of date toe straps, and I removed them. Added a bell as well.

Tomorrow, I plan to take the Wheeler back to Wecycle and maybe swap over for another bike to fix. Will have to add front and back reflectors.

Regards  

Steve Nurse

Here is some of the business end of the Wecycle operation, Jackie checking out the Wheeler's size while Mike works out who it could be allocated to.

Mike, Gian, Jackie

 

Fixing 50 bikes, bikes 9 and 10

 

Repco Sumo 29, it is advertised for $159 here . I found the one I fixed for Wecycle had worn tyres, worn brake pads, loose bottom bracket, and a cracked brake lever.

The Sumo's rear wheel had a broken spoke, which I couldn't fix at home. This is bringing the wheel to the Wecycle bike shed where I managed to fix it. Some of the tyres in the tailbox were recently sourced from the Yarra tyre recycling centre listed here .

Tyres used to repair Sumo, they were ....

free, left outside a local bike shop. they were tubeless but I did surgery on them and removed the valves, the fitted tubes inside.

Raleigh Pioneer

Hi, 

I fixed a couple of bikes as shown above, and delivered one, the Repco Sumo to the Wecycle shed today.  I used a few found parts including a bottom bracket shell from Wecycle, found tyres, and brake pads and levers from the shed.  The bike is a cheap current model, and components seemed cheap too, the seat uncomfortable, the front suspension not working, and the pressed steel vee brakes wobbly.

A contrast was the Raleigh Pioneer, a bit old but with good bones. I swapped out its tyres on Saturday, and now its only a clean, chain and lube away from being on the road again. And maybe a handlebar grip or two. So I won't be in this Saturday to finish it off and maybe it will be gone soon but I managed a picture of it anyway.

Regards

Steve Nurse

Steve Nurse