Author Topic: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...  (Read 86293 times)

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
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Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #400 on: 17 November, 2011, 11:28:21 pm »
If Barakta does decide to have a crack at Southend next month and wants somewhere to recuperate before the return trip to Brum, she's welcome to come to our place for a while.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Kim

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Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #401 on: 17 November, 2011, 11:42:19 pm »
Thanks for the enthusiasm guys, but she's really not going to be up to that sort of distance (or even that sort of pace) that soon.  Certainly not at night, in December, which I'd be thinking twice about if I had any sense.

Southend in May next year ought to be a goer, though.  And I am planning to organise some sort of barakta-friendly forum ride once we've had a proper opportunity to see how much she can realistically do (which is the plan for this weekend).

Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #402 on: 18 November, 2011, 08:33:14 am »
Southend in December is possibly not the ideal ride to start with. :)

You're going to have practice things like Mordor central as well, and work out optimal stations, which presumably you've done with your recumbent bike anyway.
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Kim

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Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #403 on: 18 November, 2011, 08:22:37 pm »
Today, the dreaded disability mod:





Works nicely with me doing my human turbo-trainer impression, we'll see how it goes on the road, and maybe shorten it a bit.  When we're happy, I'll give it a nice coating of Sugru, so it's grippier and doesn't look like a sawn-off Entific Cochlear toothbrush.


While we're on the subject, demonstration that the parking brake pin is actually easier for barakta than for normal people, due to her incredibly strong little finger (and of course easier than a friction shifter would be):


Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #404 on: 19 November, 2011, 08:24:24 am »
That shifter extension looks like it grew there!
I re-locate back to Blighty from France next week, I could make you some mirror pylons in light tube if you found that you wanted the mirrors a bit further outboard.
It's a great looking build all round.
Many happy miles.

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #405 on: 19 November, 2011, 08:26:04 am »
Mirror pylons - sounds good!

I'm beginning to wonder about some kind of mirror mount from the top of the kingposts... i assume this is possible but obviously the mirrors would need to bend outward a bit from that starting point.
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #406 on: 19 November, 2011, 08:42:36 am »
A mounting that clamps around the top spacer and then a braced tubular arm to mount a mirror just above the mudguard.
The main criteria is to damp out vibration.

Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #407 on: 19 November, 2011, 08:58:34 am »
Have a look at the Terracycle cockpit mounts

Not cheap, but well designed and adaptable.... may give some inspiration


Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #408 on: 19 November, 2011, 10:29:25 am »
Have a look at the Terracycle cockpit mounts

Not cheap, but well designed and adaptable.... may give some inspiration

That's quite neat.  It positions the mirrors nice and widely away from the arms, and allows mounting of other items on additional "bar" space.  It would be quite exposed if you have to dismantle the bike for transport or storage, and you may find yourself repeatedly loosening and tightening the clamps, with consequent eventual damage to the threads though.

It looks like it would work quite well for light loads like computers and mirrors, although I suspect if you put anything too heavy on it, like a GPS or light, you may find that vibration caused it to loose rigidity, and rattle itself into another position (although that may depend on how tight you can adjust the clamps).
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #409 on: 19 November, 2011, 12:39:22 pm »
Cunobelin's lnk doesn't work for me   :(
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk



Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #411 on: 19 November, 2011, 12:50:09 pm »
Del! You still exist! I thought like Enoch you had been taken away...
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #412 on: 19 November, 2011, 05:30:02 pm »
Terracycle stuff is VERY good. They would be my preferred solution.
Your Royal Charles are belong to us.

Kim

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Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #413 on: 19 November, 2011, 07:18:44 pm »
Terracycle stuff is VERY good. They would be my preferred solution.

We'll see how the Cyclestar works out in the current position, first.  It's a bit small, but its a very tidy solution, and the couple of washers and bolt required are a fair bit cheaper and lighter than the Terracycle stuff.

The Cyclestar went droopy on our ride today, but at the ball joint, not the mounting (which is still nice and solid, as is the mudguard bracket it's bolted on to).  I don't think I'd done it up especially tight to start with, so have nipped it up properly.  We'll see how it goes - I know the one I have on the Streetmachine occasionally benefits from having its ball joint tightened after getting bashed about on trains, but is otherwise well-behaved.


Today's ride was 20k, half of which was on real roads with lumps in.  Barakta had a hard time on the climbs, but seems to have got the hang of the front shifter (after an epic chain-suck incident on the first attempt to change out of the granny ring that required the removal of the chainring guard to un-jam), if not actually the use of gears.  She seems to be coping with traffic okay, considering that she was barely riding above walking pace for much of the time.  If anything her road positioning tends to the overly assertive, which around here is liable to lead to excessive hooting and shouting abuse, but relatively little splatty death.  She needs to learn the art of looking like she's making an effort to keep left, while still being far enough out to prevent overtakes at pinch points (thus causing the driver behind to think the road is too narrow, rather than there's a cyclist in the way).  It'll come.

Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #414 on: 19 November, 2011, 08:25:12 pm »
Today's ride was 20k, half of which was on real roads with lumps in.  Barakta had a hard time on the climbs, but seems to have got the hang of the front shifter (after an epic chain-suck incident on the first attempt to change out of the granny ring that required the removal of the chainring guard to un-jam), if not actually the use of gears.  She seems to be coping with traffic okay, considering that she was barely riding above walking pace for much of the time.  If anything her road positioning tends to the overly assertive, which around here is liable to lead to excessive hooting and shouting abuse, but relatively little splatty death.  She needs to learn the art of looking like she's making an effort to keep left, while still being far enough out to prevent overtakes at pinch points (thus causing the driver behind to think the road is too narrow, rather than there's a cyclist in the way).  It'll come.

Congrats on the ride ............  ;D

I remember when I first got my trike 2 years  and ~15k miles ago.
Half the time I was in the granny ring and any hill, not matter how steep, I ended up climbing it in first at ~3 mph.
It took me ~6 hours to cycle the 40 odd miles to Peterborough and thats only 1,400' climbing and nothing much over 5%.

Kim

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Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #415 on: 19 November, 2011, 09:51:02 pm »
I remember when I first got my trike 2 years  and ~15k miles ago.
Half the time I was in the granny ring and any hill, not matter how steep, I ended up climbing it in first at ~3 mph.
It took me ~6 hours to cycle the 40 odd miles to Peterborough and thats only 1,400' climbing and nothing much over 5%.

Yeah, it's always hard work at first.  If she manages to keep things up at the current rate she should find it getting a lot easier fairly soon though.


Today's fettle: shortened the toothbrush handle on the bar-end shifter and applied Sugru...


(slight focus fail, but you get the idea)

Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #416 on: 19 November, 2011, 11:45:39 pm »
Cunobelin's lnk doesn't work for me   :(

Fixed!

Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #417 on: 20 November, 2011, 11:16:02 am »
Yeah, it's always hard work at first.  If she manages to keep things up at the current rate she should find it getting a lot easier fairly soon though.

Aha, so whilst she may not make it in time for the next FNRttC, we could go go for a replication of the infamous January 2009 WARTY. ;D


Apologies to whoever's picture this is, I managed to loose the details.

The controls look quite professional now, although I suspect they'd confuse the blazes out of anyone expecting more traditional recumbent gear controls!
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Kim

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Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #418 on: 20 November, 2011, 02:34:58 pm »
The controls look quite professional now, although I suspect they'd confuse the blazes out of anyone expecting more traditional recumbent gear controls!

Yes, I keep reaching for the bar-end and pushing it in the wrong direction!

On the other hand, the brakes are more intuitive than the normal ICE configuration.

Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #419 on: 20 November, 2011, 03:28:05 pm »
Kim - you appear to have missed your calling as a constructeur. That is some epic fettling.

Kim

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Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #420 on: 20 November, 2011, 06:40:55 pm »
Some minor ergonomic jibbling today.

The finished bar-end shifter:


And creative application of part of an Ergon GC2 on the left, to give two comfortable hand positions for a fairly non-standard hand:




I know that second position looks unnatural, but it's the way barakta would instinctively hold a bar.  Nearly all the strength is in that little finger (the thumb is pretty much cosmetic, the middle finger is permanently bent, and the wrist doesn't rotate).  The key thing here is keeping her shoulder in joint through the range of steering motion, which thanks to the adjustment of the ICE handlebar, is much easier than we expected.

Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #421 on: 20 November, 2011, 07:15:05 pm »
If anything her road positioning tends to the overly assertive, which around here is liable to lead to excessive hooting and shouting abuse, but relatively little splatty death.  She needs to learn the art of looking like she's making an effort to keep left, while still being far enough out to prevent overtakes at pinch points (thus causing the driver behind to think the road is too narrow, rather than there's a cyclist in the way).  It'll come.

MrsMekon is the same. She rides our trike right in the middle of the road. Her reasoning is that there will never be an opportunity for drivers to safely squeeze past, so she does absolutely nothing that suggests at the hint of such an opportunity. She doesn't expect drivers to pass her like a car - she enforces it. I've given up riding assertively behind her when she's on the trike, as it looks ridiculous with me riding in the right hand tyre well.

Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #422 on: 20 November, 2011, 09:44:39 pm »
Kim - you appear to have missed your calling as a constructeur. That is some epic fettling.
Indeedy.
I hope Barakta appreciates it all in the best possible way- with lots of riding.

Regulator

  • That's Councillor Regulator to you...
Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #423 on: 21 November, 2011, 07:25:27 am »
Today, the dreaded disability mod:




Looking at the photo I thought "Ooh look - a cochlear implant..."


That's my jacket...
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I completely agree with Reg.

Green Party Councillor

Re: Ready the flashing lights, party poppers, dancing girls and brass band...
« Reply #424 on: 21 November, 2011, 09:07:11 am »
after an epic chain-suck incident on the first attempt to change out of the granny ring that required the removal of the chainring guard to un-jam

This is not a Barakta specific problem - this exact thing has happened to me one all but one of my rides so far (though yesterday I managed to rescue it before it jammed so completely). I've been using bar-end shifters on my Longstaff for the past 14 years, and have never had this problem, so it's seems unlikely that it's down to mis-use of the leavers, though I can't think what else it could be. The position is rotated 90deg on the ICE which I suppose might be influencing my use of them.  Only think I could think of yesterday was that maybe I'd overshifted slightly.