Buckeye Arizona trail ride anyone?

[waynebergman]

I am in the Buckeye Arizona area for a couple of months and I have brought my ebike along. I have scouted out some trails the other day that look good for some off road fun on the ebike. The "White Tank Mountain" area off of Highway 303 loop has some nice trails that are bike and horse freindly that I want to ride this week and also the "Fins" network of trails out of Goodyear Arizona looks really nice.

If anyone is wanting to meet up for a ride in the Phoenix - Buckey area over the next while send me a PM. Also I have my electric tadpole with me if there was some recumbant freindly scenic roads to explore I would also be into that. This tadpole is new to me and is really cool but I am not comfortable riding it in a city street inviroment with cars all over the place. I try to stick to the back roads or bike lane freindly routes.


Wayne

 

[amberwolf]

I know your post says by PM, but I didnt' see any particular reason not to reply publicly. If you prefer to reply by PM, that's ok with me.

Also I have my electric tadpole with me if there was some recumbant freindly scenic roads to explore I would also be into that.

There are canal paths that are pretty nice. Along the New River / canal, over near the western part of the loop 101 area, Dogman said that was nice when he was out here last February. That canal also joins up with the Arizona canal that runs diagonally southeast from the Arrowhead area, down to Metrocenter where I am (some several miles north of Buckeye).

EDIT: Somehow I got confused between Buckeye the city and Buckeye the road.

So, I'm actually quite a ways east of you, and depending on where in Buckeye you are at, could be anything from far north to directly east to far south of you.

Metrocenter is here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Metro+Center+Mall/@33.576459,-112.121813,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x872b6c6853017dd3:0xaf51d1a477fb9444
and I am about a mile south of the center of the mall, half a mile south of the Arizona Canal where it passes the south end of the mall.




I'm free this coming Tuesday, ATM, as well as next Sunday and Tuesday, if you'd like to meet up around this end of the valley.


CrazyBike2 has a range with the main pack of at least 20 miles, probably 30+ (havent' tested that in a while).

With it's extra battery pack(s), something like 50 miles for sure, potentially 60+ depending on how the cold affects my packs and traffic/speed/etc., so I could meet you as far away as 10 miles from Metrocenter and have plenty of riding distance before having to head back. (though the extra pack weight affects handling and startup/hill power usage, so I don't get as much range most places in town as I'd get on straight level paths with no stops).

I can't really ride off-road, but anywhere with a paved path is doable.



There's also Evoforce down in Ahwatukee area, probably at least the same distance east of you that I am north of you (but I think with "mountains" in between you two, mostly flat paths/roads between you and me). But he's been pretty busy for a while now, so dunno if he'd be free for rides. You might PM him to check.

I dunno who else is in the general area at present.

 

[waynebergman]

Howdy Amerberwolf
A tuesday ride sounds great. I would like to meet crazy bike 2, I can pack my trike in my mini van and head out your way. I have about a 30 mile range or so on my trike so I am glad to just head out where ever you think will make a good ride. Lets finalize things tomorrow as to what time etc for Tuesday........wayne

 

[amberwolf]

Ok. I'll PM you phone/etc contact info.

 

[dogman dan]

Best road in the area I saw for a road ride is on the other side of Phoenix. Hwy 79. Particularly nice, the section from Florence to Oracle. Decent shoulder, fairly low traffic count. Lots of pretty saguaro's.

Now that it's a bit cool here, I'd love to make a road trip to a warmer place, but ideally for me that would be much later in the spring. Likely this year I won't make it to AZ, or very far into it. I'm looking at Douglas, and the hwy 80 route back to NM for a weekend tour.

If you feel like a nice loooong drive, there are some awesome single track trails here in Las Cruces NM. Come out for a weekend.

 

[waynebergman]

Dan the ride in NM sounds very tempting. The drive here from Vancouver was nasty with snow on the road almost the whole way. Just out of Vegas we took 3 hours to go 5 miles to make a 17 hr driving day so the mini van is needing a bit of a rest for now but who knows maybe I will get itchy feet in a month or so, we are down this way for 2 months.
Thanks for the tips on Highway 79 I did not know about this route. .....wayne

 

[waynebergman]

Had some tuff luck on the tadpole today. One of my welds has broken shown with the purple circle. I have brought along some of the 3M epoxy that Dr Bass recomends for his TA installs. I actually used the stuff on my torque arms for this bike and had some left over so glad I packed it. I also may look for a welder in the area that is good with aluminum. Sorry Amberwolf I am thinking our ride is off for now. I am sure I will get it back on the road shortly. The tadpole is super fun to ride so I will want it working again soon. For know I have my trail bike so glad for that, things could be much worse

 

[amberwolf]

If it was steel we could weld it here. I have a HarborFreight MIG (but no gas; I use the fluxcore wire) you're welcome to use if it would help.

I also have hose clamps; I am not sure but it looks like you could clamp around that piece to the bottom tube, and it would stay for one ride at least. I have other clamps that could be used to secure it while epoxy hardens, but that wouldn't be something to fix it for tomorrow's ride I expect.

Alternately, we could probably weld a steel "box" of sorts around the section to secure it until the aluminum could be directly welded. I have a lot of stuff that could be used for the purpose.

Since you have the other bike, you could still ride that tomorrow, but I have a feeling we could do something temporary about that trike.

Either way, I'd still like to meet up; I'd love to see the trike even if it can't be ridden yet. (was following the whole build thread)

 

[waynebergman]

Thanks so much Amberwolf but I will epoxy it back together tomorrow out in the garage at our rental place here in Buckeye. I would rather ride the recumants when we ride out your way so lets keep in touch and plan something for next week. I should be back in biz by then.....wayne

 

[amberwolf]

OK. Sunday will probably work better for next week, though it might be Tuesday; I am still waiting to hear back from the rescue about Tiny's vet appointment for her checkup this year, and on Bill for if Tuesday will work for him for our weekly lunch.

 

[Doctorbass]

Wayne

You can use epoxy to attach pieces together but you can not use it in the same way as a weld bed.

Epoxy need surface to be effective and is more effective in shear strengh than pulling strengh.

In other words, i would not recommand use epoxy to fill the same and volume area as a bed of weld is made, it will not hold

But you can use additional metal part to epoxy on better surface around the broken area with better surface.

Doc

 

[waynebergman]

Hey thanks DoctorBass. Timely adivse and this is kind of what I was thinking but was not sure. I have found a welding shop 8 miles from the place where we are staying and he will weld it back together for me later this afternoon. Awesome!

Good thing I brought enough tools and odds and ends to take things apart and all should be well come tomorrow. Shown in this second photo you can see where the failure occured. It comes back to me now what went wrong. The little assembly that has been hacked off the donor bike has some plastic bushings in it for the swing arm pivot pin. The aluminum piece encasing the bushings is on the thin side and I did not want to weld too much in case of distortion around the bushing area. Also I had things lined up so nice and straight for the rear wheel assembly fitting I went skimpy on the welds as I was worried about things twisting out of alignment. Then when I first assembled everything after the inital welding together I saw that I needed to gring off some off the little weld I had to allow for full travel on the swing arm assembly.....big mistake. I got my full travel but weakened what would become a fairly stressed component in the process.

I seem to have a lot of mechanicals with my ebikes on trips away from home. A few years back in Canmore Alberta I blew a clutch in my Mac 10t right at the trail head on day one so the electrics were down for that trip, last year in Sedona Arizona the campground soaked the bikes with an overnight sprinkling system (lost $1500 in batteries on that one) and now this. My wife is starting to think I should maybe get a new hobby

 

[amberwolf]

I have found a welding shop 8 miles from the place where we are staying and he will weld it back together for me later this afternoon.

Probably means too late for the ride this week, but at least it should be good for next week.

The aluminum piece encasing the bushings is on the thin side and I did not want to weld too much in case of distortion around the bushing area.

For that kind of thing, you could put a piece of copper pipe thru the bushing area, as close as possible to it's ID, and run water thru that while welding. It should keep the bushing area cool while welding, without keeping the welding from working as it should, and let you weld as much as you need to.

Also I had things lined up so nice and straight for the rear wheel assembly fitting I went skimpy on the welds as I was worried about things twisting out of alignment.

That part I don't know specifically what to do about, other than having good clamping jigs until it cools, perhaps.

My wife is starting to think I should maybe get a new hobby

If this sort of thing stopped me, I'd've been just walking (or in a wheelchair with a trailer, more likely) everywhere for years now. :lol:

 

[waynebergman]

Good tips Amberwolf. Things went smooth today. I found a welding shop that droped everything for me and welded up things better than new. Super guys, and they only charged 55 bucks an hour which I feel was a bargain. I did a major tear down on the bike before bringing it into the shop as I did not want any electric components hanging off the bike to get damaged or in the way while the fix up was done so I will slowly put things back together to be back on the road by tomorrow.

Amberwolf, lets plan on Tuesday after you look after your dog for our ride and I that will give me time to work the bugs out of the trike as well. I only have about 30 miles on it since it was completed a few weeks back so more stuff may still fall off or brake yet.

Thanks again Doc for chiming in on the epoxy because if I used it it would have just made a mess for clean up etc for a proper weld repair not to mention all the tear down and put back together time.

 

[amberwolf]

Amberwolf, lets plan on Tuesday after you look after your dog for our ride and I that will give me time to work the bugs out of the trike as well.

Ok. We'll see how it plays out.

I only have about 30 miles on it since it was completed a few weeks back so more stuff may still fall off or brake yet.

Heck, I have more than ten thousand miles on CrazyBike2, and I still "uncover design flaws" now and then. :lol:

 

[waynebergman]

My four wheeler is back in business now. The rubber maid on the trailer is filled with tools,food and water so Tuesday is looking good Amberwolf!

 

[amberwolf]

My four wheeler is back in business now. The rubber maid on the trailer is filled with tools,food and water so Tuesday is looking good Amberwolf!

Nifty.

Thankfully I've got the cargo pods for stuff like that, so unless I need camping gear I oughta be ok. If we need to haul more stuff I've got the kennel trailer....


YOu might wanna put light rain gear in the box (or wear it), as it's presently predicted to be slim possibility of rain. Was supposed to be sunny until today's report came out, so it could get even more certain of some rain, though when it will happen I dunno. Tends to be in the morning or the afternoon, or late evening and closer to midnight and after.

Doubt it'll be much or for long even if ti does happen.

 

[waynebergman]

Amberwolf the photos attached here shows a section of bike paths that look interesting if tomorrow works for our ride. The number 4 on the map shows the location of the bike path photo. Not sure, but it looks like around 5 or 6 miles from your place. I will let you pick the route but thought I would throw this one out there in case you have not ridden it before? Talk to you later.....wayne

 

[amberwolf]

It does have some pretty spots, especially around the mountains. I haven't been that way in a while, so I don't know how much of it is paved now, and how much is still just gravel/sand/mud, but I guess we can find out.

I also emailed and PM'd you the below, hopefully you'll get it soon:

Sorry for not calling you back yet; I was working when you called and just got home.

I tried to call you (both numbers) from my phone before I left work, but apparently my Tracfone can't call your phone number, it says "check call restrictions 5-6", which tracfone "support" refuses to tell me what it is, or help me with it.

I tried to call from the work phones, but it just sits there waiting for a long-distance calling code available only to managers. :/

So if you call me back, I can probably answer it; I just can't call you.

I'll probably be up quite a while (am often up most of a night, dozing here and there when I can).

 

[amberwolf]

My connection is so slow I couldn't preview much of the path at a high zoom level on satellite view, but what I did see looks paved on at least one side (south) of the canal path. The other side mostly looks gravel, once past the area near 23rd Ave & Dunlap where it starts curving southeast again after splitting off into the northern route.

 

[dogman dan]

4 is a nice ride, down towards that little mountain. Sort of East, or southeast.
Back the other way, more or less west? is also very nice. Once the ditch stops being paved, it gets much prettier, but that is quite a distance from AW's house. Later in the spring when I rode it, it was loaded with blooming wildflowers.

The path to the north, from AW's place turn right on the canal, then turn left up another ditch, is nice too, but full of road crossings that are a bit of a pain. That route goes right through a golf course at one point.

Staying on the main path, northish or southish, very few road crossings, mostly underpasses.

 

[amberwolf]

Wayne should be here shortly; we'll see what path works out best.

Expected to be rainy off and on; something like 30% chance, which really means that it *is* gonna rain but probably only over 30% of the valley. :lol:

High will be mid-60's F though, so unless we're wet it shouldn't be too cold; I've got my chance-of-rain commuting gear on and am bringing the actual rain gear too, just in case. Figured I should wear the army boots from Bill in case we get where there's mud, cuz my regular shoes would just slip (and they won't keep out water at all, unlike the boots).

A regular hat ought to keep my head dry enough, though, and there'll be the hood of the raincoat if I really need it.


Should be fun, either way.

 

[waynebergman]

Technically I guess we did ride our bikes today but it was more of a show and shine than what you would call a riding advetrure. Amberwolf was game for the ride but my bike is not set up for wet weather so we came up with alternate plans for the day. The rain did clear so we could do a quick wizz up and down AW's street. I found riding the CB2 was a little terrifing actually, I kind of got the shakes and I was glad I did not crash it. I was cool to see this bike and to think Amberwolf has over 10,000 miles of fun and function on it is awesome.

 

[amberwolf]

Was fun, got to try Wayne's trike out--I'm not used to that type so didn't wanna try turning at speed (whcih will result in flipping my tall shortwheelbase Delta Tripper, which has happened a couple times and wasn't any fun).

I also didn't wanna zip down the street like I would like to have tried, because it has independent brake controls for left and right front wheels, and not yet any rear brake, so it brake-steers and I wasn't sure I could control it.

I forgot to take any pics, though I'd meant to. Hopefully another of my days off will coincide with better weather for riding, while he's still in town. It poured pretty hard for a short time right after he got to my house, and looked like it was going to do it again even though it's sunny in that pic above. It hasn't rained again yet, but might still do so later.

 

[BikeFanatic]

Is that Wayne riding crazybike2? Looks like fun, I would love to ride that rig.I hope you get better weather next time out.