Semi-Recumbent Recycled-Parts Cargo eBike: "CrazyBike2"

[amberwolf]

Pics of the difference between the old room and the new one, on the front of the house. Old room has lots of exposed wall for sun to hit most of the day, and new room is shaded very well. Plus a pic from the same point as looking out the window would be, if I didn't have th window casement filled with insulation.

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new room

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Storm rolling in today as I was watering and doing yard work:

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Loki was not happy about the storm rolling in,

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But he thought the cool breeze prior to the sandstorm was nice

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Fred just ran around sniffing things like usual.

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Nana and Hachi pretty much just chilled out in the breeze

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until the sprinkling started, and then they followed me around brushing my legs trying to get me to go inside. When it actually started raining they went in and stared at me from the doorway (but I dind't want the camera wet so I didn't try to take a pic).

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Just as the sprinkles started, right before the main storm hit. PIcs look a LOT lighter than it actually was--was very dark by then, with almost black skies where the clouds are.

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[amberwolf]

I seem to have misplaced my camera after trying to get more moon pics last night (partly successfully), so no new pics for this post.

I got the welding as finished as I can on CB2 for now. I think i will need to make gussets to make it any better, for up at teh BB on the black stiffener tubes.

I did not fix the chainline issue yet, but I was able to pedal-assist a bit on the test ride without issue other than hearing the chain rub on the tubing (which it would probably cut thru eventually if I kept that up long enough).


I also welded up a replacement bar on a dog crate for our rescue adoption partner up at work, http://www.AZFurryFriends.org as I guess one of the previous occupants of the crate didnt' want to be, and severely damaged one of the vertical bars on the door, to the point where a smaller animal like a kitten could probalby just walk right thru.

So I took a bar off an old retail fixture I'd saved for other parts, and spot welded it in place of the old one, and ground all the welds smooth so kitties and puppies won't hurt their widdle paws on dem.

I will deliver the crate back tomorrow (was supposed to be tonight but there's no way--I'm jsut totally wiped out), using CrazyBike2 this time. I brought it home with the Fusin Test Bike:
viewtopic.php?p=617754#p617754

but since CB2 is mostly fixed, I would like to be riding it for a while.


I did run into a MAJOR problem, though: I noticed something wierd when I was wheeling the bike back out front to do the test ride--I couldn't steer it very far left without the linkage bar being forced *rightward* past the toptube at it's front link with the actual fork's steerer tube. This is bizarre, as it did not happen before the failure and fix, and nothing has changed in any of that linkage or geometry or even that section of the frame.

So a closer look reveals the rear one of the old welded-closed eyebolts I used for rod-ends has bent badly on the threaded section, about a little more than 1/4" from the end of the threaded part. I tried to gently bend it back, but it snapped off there.

I took the whole tie rod off, worked out the broken-off threaded rod from the back end, and threaded the rod onto the stub there. Fortunately, these are very long, so there was enough threaded rod on the front one to still make the right length linkage. This fixed the problem for now, but I am worried now that the linkage is going to come apart again.

If it does, it will happen on the road in-use, probably during a hard left turn as that is when it is stressed by the tie rod striking the frame itself. I don't normaly need to do that, so it woudl only happen in a situation that is already bad. For now, I will simply try to avoid any possible situation taht could lead up to that...but that's the thing with emergency turns and such-you can't really predict if it is going to happen--you can only try to lessen your chances of encountering the need for one.


The two-mile test ride was successful, with no linkage or frame problems I could detect, and the ride is different a little--the frame is definitely stiffer with these new black tubes in there re-triangulating the center frame. I guess it's a good thing, but it does make the bumps on the rear wheel a little harder than before, and even just noticeable on the front.

I went to the Safeway shopping mall a mile or so from the house for the ride, and picked up enough groceries from there and surrounding stores to fill both pods up to around 55lbs of stuff, and another 5lbs in the center frame between those new stiffeners (which do make ok tie-bars to secure grocery bags to, for the small stuff you can fit between them). I could definitely feel the stiffness of the frame with all that stuff in there; usually the bike wiggles around with that in there, and now it doesn't quite so much (still has side-to-side wiggle caused by the pods jiggling around at the bottom, but no up/down wiggle like before).


Anyhow, I will need to make a new steering linkage soon, but the rest of the bike seems to be behaving. For now.

[amberwolf]

Camera was still sitting on the chair outside; glaid it didn't rain.

Broken eyebolt piece, below the remainder now threaded into the tie rod:

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Comparison to unbroken one in front, showing amount of thread still remaining inside tie rod on front:

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Problem found with CA buttons:

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Other than the bike not failing, today has not been a particularyly good day; started off with ruining my chili I made last night,
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/vi ... 34#p619034
or really before that where something I ate before I made the chili gave me mild food poisoning, and I had the runs all night and morning; thought they stopped but after I got to work midday, they restarted, and I got worse and worse thru the day, finally toward 6pm I started having chills, and finally got to go home shortly after that (haivng wished I could go home right after I arrived).

I made it home, after a few stops due to dizziness and cramps. I found the front screen/security door closed and locked, but the inside door was wide open--I am SURE I closed it wehn i left, but I guess I diddn't pull it ocmpletely shut. So it was 99F inside (except for the bedroom with the window AC and blankets across the door, so teh dogs can stay cool).

I let the dogs out back, and opened up the windows and left the back door open, so that the slight breeze would help cool the house back down after it got a little cooler outside as the sun set...but while opening the back room's windows, I got dizzy again and fell against the window, breaking it and cutting my hand slightly:

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Of course, it had to be the big pane in the middle, rather than the ons on the sides that I might actually have glass salvaged from something else to replace with. I *think* the last glass pane off the add-on back screen door might be cuttable to replace it; not sure. Have to measure when I am feeling well enough to not break it, too.

The window normally looks like this one (on opposite end of same room):

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but now it's like this:

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After treating my hand, I fed the dogs, "fixed" the chili as noted in the link above, answered a call from a friend and talked a short time, then went to bed, where I napped a little and woke and so on, like usual; here i am nearly midnight and I feel a little better, but I still feel like laying here for the next year.



I leave you wit the moon pics I was trying to take, with the best one first, then the other attempts.

[texaspyro]

For Amberwolf, a day without blood loss is like a day without sunshine... (but that is probably a good thing where he lives)

[amberwolf]

Yes, to both.

All worthy projects require blood sacrifices, anyway.

[ohzee]

Love the pics of the moon. I was checking it out this week while out on a ride that puppy was pretty damn close to full.

Getting a telescope and camera to capture pictures thru it sounds like something id like to do some day.

Sorry you hurt your hand. I am pretty good at putting in vinyl windows to bad you don't live closer. Luckily it was not worse
that glass can be pretty mean.

[amberwolf]

A friend once did something similar, but he had a hospital trip from it. I got lucky.


I wish I could manually focus the camera--it is my biggest pet peeve about it. It only gets the focus right about half the time on stuff that's either really close or really far away, and in poor lighting pretty much can't focus at all and gets it right maybe one in a couple dozen times, if that. Even in direct sunlight it has trouble figuring out what I want it to do on close-ups, with or without the macro fucntion on.

So I have a lot of problems trying to use it for astronomical stuff. I tried to get pics of Jupiter and the Galilean moons, but it is just one smear of globby light, even though I can see it clearly enough with my own crappy eyes to see the four moons plus vague stripes of color.


I always wanted to be able to do this sort of thing, but never had ascope and a camera that could do it at all, much less this good. Couple decades ago, I did once try the Quickcam DIY thing, which lets you capture multiple images and stich them or stack them up and whatnot, and it was kind of ok, but I could see better than that with binoculars so I gave up. I have lots of ideas on how to improve this stuff, some garnered from websites years back and some improv ideas form the last couple weeks, but I really don't have time to try them out, especially with the major problems I've recently had with this bike.


What I really need to do is finish up the new bike, so that is what I have decided to do. It probably will not be as nice or as complex as I originally planned, but it will be a first version, at least.

[Solcar]

I can relate to problems getting camera focus. The little manual for mine is about a hundred pages long and I really give them huge credit for that. Hope you stay safe from injury despite the vertigo thing.

[amberwolf]

Manual for mine is pretty short, not counting the several languages it's repeated in. Doesn't really have any manual way to control the focus.

Injuries seem to be healing ok this time around.


Couple of care packages arrived from Bikefanatic yesterday not long after I got home from work, but I was so wiped out I just brought them in and set them down. Had to leave after a fitful nap to help someone with a computer problem, and when I got back just fed dogs and went to bed, usual wake/sleep/wake/sleep routine all night but didnt' get out of bed for fear of waking up too much to get back to sleep, and then I finally slept hard till an hour or so ago. Just got ready for work, and not enough time to really check out the boxes till I get home, at the earliest...but I close tonight and have to open again tomorrow at work, so I won't even have enough time to get enough sleep as it is, so unlikely to check them out until some other day this week.

[amberwolf]

Little problem with the disc brake started last night--began squealing even when not applied, as for some reason the inner pad was always rubbing on the rotor. I turned the pad (it's round and threaded for adjustment) so it didnt' contact the rotor, and it was ok for the rest of the ride home.

This morning it started up even worse again a half mile into the trip, and when I stopped the pad was screwed all the way down against the rotor. I turned it back again, and made it about halfway to work before it went again, repeat ad nauseum.

At lunch I played with it a little, and thought I might've fixed it, but on the way home, after stopping at Fry's had a bit over 50lbs of stuff (including some small bag dog food on clearance at work) loaded up, and half way home it started again, lightly, then very quickly became active drag on the wheel, with intolerably loud squealing, heating the rotor past boiling (insta-steam when I put water on it and the caliper to cool it enough for me to work on it).

THis time I just took the whole pad off, as it's obviously going to need some goop or something in the threads to keep it from turning.

I think it actually does have something there, but it has been so hot last two days (never going below 90F even at night, just before dawn, and as high as 121F out in front of where I work, with 130-150F air temps just above asphalt) that perhaps it no longer does what it is supposed to. I doubt this, simply because momentarily that whole rotor and caliper gets way hotter than that during braking, but it's the only thing realy different about after the problem started vs before.

FWIW, it does it's magic self-misadjustment even if I don't apply that brake at all, probably from road vibration.


Anyhow, it's just one more little thing about that cheapie YUS caliper to hate on.

At least the rim brakes still work fine.



It is too hot right now (a bit after sunset and not quite dark out) to do anything about it, at 102F inside the house and 108F outside, with just a slight breeze, and *maybe* a storm coming in...it might just go around us instead, which would suck--I'd much rather have the rain to cool the house off, humidity be danged.

[amberwolf]

Ok, this is just silly: Just past 11pm, and it is now 99F outside and was 105F inside before I opened the doors and windows after a couple of involuntary naps. A very slight breeze is pushing the "cooler" air thru the house now.

Am very glad of my closed-off window-AC-cooled bedroom, which is only about 85F right now. (even on max cool for the last few hours, the poor little window unit can't do any better than that).

It was so hot in the livingroom where the bike was charging that the charger itself was too hot to hold onto! It is normally pretty toasty when it sits there after it's done charging and it's fan shuts off, for whatever reason, but this was scary hot.

Dogs don't even want to leave the room for potty breaks; have to force them to go out and stay long enough to do their business. Can't blame them, either.

Tomorrow is probably going to suck; the clouds have settled overhead just enough to block heat from radiating to space, but not enough to do anything else--I can even see the glow of a couple of bright stars/planets thru them.

So it will probably stay hot, and maybe even get *hotter*, throughout the night. Then tomorrow it will probably clear up at dawn like usual, and let the sun add more heat. Probably be 110F by 10am, and 120F by 2pm or earlier, and stay that way thru evening, maybe drop to 110F by sunset, maybe 100F by midnight, and maybe 90F by dawn, if it repeats the pattern it's had the last couple days. This is the part of the year I'd like to fast-forward thru.

[amberwolf]

Good news: I am actually posting about the bike today.

Bad news: it si becuase the steering tie rod got wiggly on the ride to work; I found the nut on the bolt at the rear end (the end that had broken earlier) had worked it's way almost 3mm loose, just during the time I went from home to about 3/4 of the way to work, something less than 2 miles. (becuase it was fine when I left home, as I can always feel any looseness in it as I back it over the doorsill of the front door; it makes the handlebars feel loose).

This is very unusual to happen, and I do not recall it happening anytime this year, maybe not even last year, though it has happened once before after I'd worked on it and probably not fully tightened it or something. Cant' recall the details.

I suppose it's trigger is probably whatever twisting around I did of the joint while twisting on the tie rod to the stub of the linkage threads. I only looseneed the *front* end of the tie rod to do this, so I see no other reason it would happen. The front was still completely tight when I checked it.

But this is just one more thing prodding me to work on the other frame and finish it. :/


In weather news, while it did get so hot that people were complaining as they came in that their cars' temperature displays said it was 125F+ out there (probably it was a few degrees cooler than that, at least, but I wouldn't doubt 118-120F), it actually is now 97F and it isn't even midngiht yet (about 1030pm), and although rain is predicted within a few hours, the sky is cloudless and pretty dry, as I can see many stars I often can't see in the city haze of pink light. Tempting to take the telescope out, but am too tired to do that *and* make dinner, so I chose dinner instead. (sometimes I pikc the activity and skip food till later, and usually regret it). I did see a tiny faint streak of light for a moment, probalbly an early Perseid; it's about time for those.


I dozed off a couple times typing this up, so now it's a bit after 11pm...still 97F though.

[amberwolf]

When moving the bike out fo the way of the front door today, I noticed that the same nut had worked it's way loose just a tiny bit since tightening it yesterday, so I added a second nut (found yesterday at work when we took out the trash, was next to our dumpster) as a jamnut above it on the bolt, and took it for a test ride in the noonday sun. Thermometer says it's only 108F out there, but that's a lie--it is at least 800 or 900F.

Test run went fine for a couple of miles of puttering around the neighborhood, twisting and turning a lot in case that is what causes it to work loose, as well as hitting all the little bumps and vibrations I could. This is harder to do now that they finally repaved the area north of Butler (where they have been doing water main/drain work the last few months), all the way up to Dunlap. It is noticeably hotter on those now-darker-colored streets than it is on the older lighter-colored areas south of Butler. I need to mount a thermometer on the bottom of the bike to measure ground temperatures vs one up at say head-height to measure air temperatures of wind in my face and on my hands (nearly same level on this bike), just to verify my feeling.


On the run, the mileage has rolled over to 4001 miles total on this bike frame, using conservative numbers for a few times when I messed up odo data in the CA switching it between bikes, and times I lost the VeloAce data prior to getting a CA. It could actually be as high as 4200 miles or so. Only one major breakage of the frame in all that time, given what I have put it thru, and what it is made of, is not too bad.

[Solcar]

I know what you mean about no manual focus on your camera as mine is like that too.

At least the healing of the injuries is one good thing and it could be said that we're scraping the bottom of the barrel to consider the normal course of nature good, like we have nothing better to appreciate.

120 degrees is dern near the figure I recall as the all time high for anywhere in the United States, which if memory serves me from times past from the old World Book Encyclopedia or the Guinness Book of World records or whereever I saw that many years ago. I recall a figure of 123degF at Death Valley, California recorded many years ago. Don't know if memory is serving me and its funner to be sentimental by not doing an Internet search. Though maybe the figure could have been 127 degrees.

[amberwolf]

It's been "officially" 122F at least once here in Phoenix, in June in the early 90's--people were even selling t-shirts with "I survived 122F in Phoenix" or something liek taht.

It's been *actually* 122F (and higher) here in various parts of the valley many times, depending on where you measure the temperature, just not at "official" stations.

I don't remember the details, but the highest I've ever read of in the USA is over 130F, probably in Death Valley but I don't recall.

[texaspyro]

I don't remember the details, but the highest I've ever read of in the USA is over 130F, probably in Death Valley but I don't recall.

Nope, there was a recorded "heat burst" in Texas that reached 140F-150F for a couple of hours.

[amberwolf]

In some places there, I wouldn't doubt it. I suspect similar bursts have happened here in AZ, not counting in the middle of stopped traffic but I dont' know of one for sure.

[Sancho's Horse]

"heat burst"...ha...I love it. I think I will be putting this in heavy rotation at my house.

[texaspyro]

"heat burst"...ha...I love it. I think I will be putting this in heavy rotation at my house.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_burst

That big one in Texas killed most of the plants...

[amberwolf]

Speaking of hot weather, here are a couple of examples of what asphalt does here. These are common problems on valley roads, especially the ones that get used a fair bit but are not maintained much, if at all, like most everything around Metrocenter.

Since the actual problmes are harder to see because othe angle of lighting (about 830am) I've outlined dips with ellipses, and used straight lines where possible to indicate ridges and/or what *should* be the flat surface level, or edge of sidewalk/street interface.


The first is a pothole that started out a long time ago as a repaired area (that lines up with the asphalt-filled sidewalk). It wasn't done well, and eventaully chunks started coming off the pavement because of heat and cars braking, causing the asphalt to buckle at the righthand edge where it meets the concrete gutter/sidewalk. Then a while back, when the hole was as big as a car tire, someone filled it in badly with some asphalt, but didn't pack it down. Very quickly it became a less jagged pothole than before, but still quite deep and large. Someone put a traffic cone in the hole at some point to try to warn people of it, and that was run over and squished into the asphalt, eventually pulled out and it's been on the side of the road since then, some time ago. Months at least. You can see it on the right in the first pic.

The red arrows at the top middle-ish are the curve of the ridge described further on in the post, and the line leading off to the lower left from them is the left edge of the lane both of these problems are in.

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This is the pothole from the POV of the top edge of the sidewalk just before it starts, camera pointed across the top of the pavement; sidewalk curb is only at most thrice as high as that "cliff" of asphalt on the left.

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Then there is asphalt on the other side of the lane a little further on, pushed up by the braking-turning action of cars. It runs in a large ridge around the corner, making a big bump (about as bad as some speedbumps!) across the lane, worst at the left side, becuase *many* more cars turn right there than go straight thru the intersection.

This shows the ridge and dips, approximately:

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This is a big pic because of it's width, so I had to turn it on it's left edge to get the board to display it. You can see the "mountain range"-looking ridge of asphalt, with the pic taken from about curb height at the sidewalk. I drew a line in red showing the actual "level" it should be at. Click on the thumbnail to show the full image.

This is not a ridge you wanna run over with a bicycle, electric or not, especially if you are not expecting it. It's bad enough in a car at any speed; I've seen one almost flip over becuase they started to make a right turn from the left lane (that happens a lot in the valley), then changed their mind and went straight again, and the right wheels went up on the ridge and they went up in the air a little bit before bouncing back down. If they had continued the hard right turn, I'm not sure what would've happened.



This is the western exit from my workplace's parking lot. It's got a bunch of ridges and potholes, from where cars slam on their brakes just before they'd end up in traffic (as many normally drive thru this part of the parking lot at 20-30MPH+). Again, the dips are ellipsed and lines added to highlight the ridges. It's hard to see how bad it is; I couldn't get a pic of it at curb height across it due to angle of sun; it glared out the camera, and there were too many cars zooming thru there to go where it wouldn't be a problem. Again also, the pic had to be rotated on it's left edge at bottom to fit.

Click on the thumbnail to show the full image.

A quick snap as I stopped to wait for passing traffic, while sitting over the problem area. Note the huge bulge of asphalte that has been pushed out onto the sidewalk from the parking lot.

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[Sancho's Horse]

texaspyro- I was in the heat burst mentioned in the wikipedia write-up in Indiana. Only I was in Muncie. However, I distinctly remember what it felt like. It was accompanied by a wind that was like a wall. I said to myself, "this is different." I have been around tornado weather all my life, but this wasn't accompanied by cooler weather, but a blast of even hotter air.

Amberwolf - hard to tell from the pictures, but I am afraid Muncie potholes may be far worse. Makes me worry more about suspension more considering the weight of my rig.

[amberwolf]

I don't doubt that these are minor compared to some places...but they sure make it hazardous even as they are. I've broken many wheels on ones like these, when unable to avoid them due to traffic.

[The fingers]

Turning transit buses tend to create those humps. They can get pretty big over time. Hot weather helps to soften the asphalt. The hottest I ever saw it was 118F on the highway sign thermometer at Ryerson Concrete between Holtville and El Centro, CA. and the humidity had to be near 90%, rendering AC in cars and buildings practically useless.

[amberwolf]

humidity had to be near 90%, rendering AC in cars and buildings practically useless.

Interesting; I have found in my own experimentation that my house A/C (both window units that I use nowadays, and the main house unit I used to use years back) work *better* when it is higher humidity outside. I do not know exactly why, but I suspect the higher moisture content allows better heat transfer, or maybe the air can hold more heat better with the higher humidity, etc.

Either way, generally not only do the units run for a bit less time (I've forgotten the exact percentages, but I think I posted a few results up in one of my threads here on ES, maybe even this one, but might've been on my Electricle blog prior to ES), but they also blow a little colder air, when it is very very humid, compared to when it is very very dry.

It might be caused by some other effect, rather than the humidity directly. Could be that I curtain across the rooms not used or cooled, and try to keep airflow in or out of the rooms/house to the minimum possible so that once the units remove humidity from the air inside, it stays much much drier inside than outside.


Regarding the buses causing the problems, that is certainly a contributor to many of the places I have problems, since they are on many of the routes I must travel, although they are not a contributor to the second area shown above, in the parking lot exit; few large/heavy vehicles beyond SUVs and pickups travel thru there. Only ones that regularly do are Fedex/UPS, and the rentacenter assholes in their delivery trucks/vans; the latter do not usually stop at that exit, or even slow down, often they just barrel out (and have caused numerous near-crashes, probably have caused crashes but I haven't witnessed any). More often they exit via Peoria, since they can drive faster on it.

(please note that I do not normally use such language to describe people; it takes a fairly extreme problem to cause me to do so).

[Sancho's Horse]

They had a bit on npr today about Phoenix city planning, and how it is ineffective at helping the city deal with heat. They had a weather/climate expert on who predicted that long stretches of 114+ degree weather would become the new summertime norm.
That is terrible. Do your dogs crunch ice? I had a dog that loved to crunch ice in the heat.

I don't think I would want to live in Phoenix. I have had too many jobs in those conditions.

Not sure where the best places to live will be...post climate change.