My solar-assisted custom tricycle FOLLIES

[ddk]

I am invigorated once more.
-rode the trike about 100miles today and could go on and on and on like an energized bunny.
Suffering the effects of exposure to a food item I'm allergic to has swelled my body parts by a rather large facta.
It's gonna be a week before it diminishes, but until that time I ride (because I hafta)

recharging batteries atm.

 

[ddk]

HA
HAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
i LUVS BEING FRUSTRATED.

After my early afternoon ride I thought I'd start re-assembling the trike, starting with the NuVinci 171B POS
Attached the disc brake module and the disc and LOL I CAN"T GET THE TRANSMISSION INTO THE DROPOUTS
-took off disc.
-left on disc adapter-module-thingy-whatever BS failbrook calls it as it makes an ok spacer.
-removed the useless fender/rim brake thingy from the frame with my ever-so-useful grinder with a metal-cutting disk attached.
-mounted the transmission
and 2 hours later
-giving up for the time being

gonna go ride the other trike another 35 miles or so.
my swelling diminishes with each ride.
pics later.

 

[ddk]

"Attached the disc brake module and the disc and LOL I CAN"T GET THE TRANSMISSION INTO THE DROPOUTS"of course I hadn't attempted to re-install the 171B after we'd built the roof and battery case(s) supports.

The support tube (square 3/4" tube) reduced the triangle clearance just enough to require removing the unusable (on a tricycle) fender/rim brake doo-hicky. So it's no longer attached to the frame.View attachment 2
A normal bike hub with disc would have cleared the down tube but the 171B is oh so 'special' in oh so many 'ways'.

 

[ddk]

no frustrations today!
Armed with a grinder nothing gets in my way...
Found this on the ground.Haven't even sat on the trike and this bolt snapped off.
Betrays the quality of components that makes up the front fork


First off the legendary "built-in-workstand" put into play
removing an axle from a trike simply involves removing the wheels and loosening the setscrews on whatever devices are mounted. Don't forget to remove the keystock. (one per)
Takes a couple of minutes, with the help of a rubber mallet. or a hammer and a chunk of soft wood set against the threaded axle end. I prefer the rubber mallet but I've used the other method.View attachment 11

Before I can mount the sprocket and disc brake I need to make shims to fit the 5/8" hole in the mini-hubs to the 15mm axle. I'm using a brass tube for this.
After making the initial cuts with the 4 1/2" cutting wheel mounted on the angle grinder I start to really measure and shape the shims using my zuper-low-powered-toy-that-resembles-a-miniature-Dremel
Patience Is a requirement but if my hand slips (and it does several times) the force of the motor is so low I don't cause any damage to the workpiece or more importantly, me.

Some people like to use files; I don't.

All shaped up and fitted.

A tube doesn't belong here so until Tuesday it's like, gone man. (the 44-tooth sprocket doesn't clear this axle support tube - no problem *reaches for the angle grinder with the cutting wheel still attached* )
All fits with room to drop in the hub keys.



After I broke the wrong link on the chain I figured it was time to clean up and ride, so that's what I did.

 

[ddk]

too foggy for pics but

With the NuVinci in full overdrive and no chain connected to the rear axle I find it very difficult to turn the pedals by hand.
I'd chosen my gearing using http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/ calculator but I'm guessing I won't be using the overdrive... ever.

derp- I need to change my chainring from a 33-tooth to a 42 to 44-tooth if i want to NOT use the overdrive.

 

[ddk]

my quest today was in search of "the last 4mm key" -can't find the extra's I supposedly have here... somewhere
headline "local stores lack mm keys"
abysmal failure
McMaster-Carr, as usual, had what i needed in stock and shipped today.
I also bought some nylon idler wheels to replace the Purple Thing and for adding one to clear the rear axle chain over one of the axle assembly tubes (only want to have to repair one tube thankyouverymuch) Although I'm just going to use a couple of my Very Large nylon tiestraps around the tube initially. The extra idler is the "just in case of failure" solution

Riding in a heavy fog is not unlike riding at twilight.
Very Dangerous

 

[Chalo]

4mm is so close to 5/32" as to be indistinguishable. .1575" versus .1563"

 

[ddk]

4mm is so close to 5/32" as to be indistinguishable. .1575" versus .1563"

yep, but they also didn't stock that size. Most only carry over 0.250 keystock. The local small-engine repair place only carried keystock smaller or in Very Weird Shapes :lol:
I'm able to reshape lots of stuff by hand, but clamping keystock requires equipment I lack (without damaging the surfaces)
-so I can just wait a couple more days...

In hopes I've given the impression I don't regularly recalculate inches to furnigrators, here's a chart I use when challenged to "just open the calculator" (brain-fart preventing formula recall)
http://www.mgs4u.com/chart_in2m.htm
They also sell fiberglass tubes (cheaply) for building Fun Stuff

 

[ddk]

sickbike parts chainring adapter
I only had to wait a bit longer.
What I made was cheaper by a couple of pesos.
What I can buy is always to my advantage, however.

This 'lil furnigrator allows an idiot such as myself to mount any size gear on a tricycle axle.

-ordered one for the MT#1 rebuild which will use a geared-hub motor w/gearcage and derailleur arm in the mid dropouts position.
36-tooth fixed on hub of motor and 36-tooth fixed on the rear axle

 

[ddk]

[cranky old man rants on]

The Failbrook 171B is another proof to my geometric argument:
[crowd of 10000 or more chants]"THE MORE YOU PAY FOR A BICYCLE PART, THE HARDER IT IS TO INSTALL"[/crowd of 10000 or more shuts up]

after the third, failed attempt to install the 'control pulleys' correctly, the day became too cold and too dark to care.

A couple more pictures, a few thousand less words might have been a (huge) improvement to the installation instructions

[/cranky old man rants off]

 

[ddk]

today I:
installed stuff...

 

[amberwolf]

I like the different colors for the different chainlines. Makes it easy to see what's going on there.

 

[ddk]

I like the different colors for the different chainlines. Makes it easy to see what's going on there.

Yep
shore is easy to see Watts up'^'

I really only document what I building for the heck of it (friends and relatives are a partial of heck) and to provide dire warning for anybody thinking that building something similar is going to be a simple task. It isn't and requires lots of:
1. patience... I lack this sometimes
2. research... I'm best at
3. money... unless you're an amberwolf
4. time... retired means never having to say "sorry... too busy"
5. there is never a 5th reason for anything important

It's not like you can get everything you need from one store or on-line outlet.
I purchased parts and tools from over a dozen different on-line sources and every local hardware-lumber-whatever store
-and-
Spending a couple of dollars more for colored chain (LBS) to help visualize the parallel drives is worth it.

 

[ddk]

finally decided on the voltmeters for this trike
volt-amp meter
-reads amps with external (supplied) shunt
handy? maybe... but was only a few dollars more than their other offerings so why not?
I have one lousy 3-cell 5000ma battery to run these, the clearance lights and the (yet-to-be-purchased) turn signals.
I keep pretending I'll make the turn signal electronics but I know I actually won't :|

 

[ddk]

this is a [insert-mini-review-here] of the sickbikeparts chainring adapter for 5/8" axle

Beautifully machined from a chunk of aluminum
View attachment 7
I wonderz why the hub flange holes are so over-sized?


I see they used the ddk method of re-aligning a-hole initially drilled where it didn't belong.

ddk method:
step 1 -drill a BIGGER hole
step 2 -install a BIGGER washer

methinks they should be GIVING these rejects away- not impressed

 

[ddk]

time gennerpeople:
for a pragmatic review of the vendors I've done business with in the last few months

highertekbikes- initially we had werdz before the vendor realized I'm Just A Cranky Old Man whose goal is to Complain About Ever-Thang -since the first purchase I've bought four additional motor/controller or kits from him. Cheaper than cellman (with shipping added) and no wait-time on e-mails or shipping
caveat: I lack the patience to do business with cellman

Sickbikeparts- the machine work they get done for them has been twice-disappointing (as in: it don't actually fit ritez) but they ship fast and have a unique set of products (ie-only source)

affordablegocarts- needs to inform inspired purchasers whether or not their products are stocked or awaiting custom machining what I received is nicely machined but the 'aluminum' mini-hubs were made of steel. (confusing and slow e-mail)

Staton-Inc- hmmm, only bought one over-priced item and it's associated over-priced parts where the machining had to be re-done locally anyway.-phone conversations are useless. My local machine shop does higher-quality work for less and the local guy doesn't EVEN ride a bicycle, although he did build an electric-powered handtruck which is really cool.

Bicycledesigner- first purchase was iffy. They might have read my mini-review of what I bought because all my 'issues' were all addressed NOTE: they no longer sell the bent-springer fork for a 26" wheel -I didn't purchase mine from them however (see: chubbyscruisers)

chubbyscruisers-no problems. Unfortunately, their bent-springer forks have become useless because of low-quality hardware (which I don't necessarily blame the supplier of) Their prices are so-so on other items but they are THE SOURCE for purple pom-pom streamers.

amazon- is amazon -ie I don't want to do business through amazon but I WON"T do business with eeee-paypalbay so my choices are pre-chosen- at least amazon companies ship ritez

dmsolar-"I'm SO-O-O-O BUSY" needs sum employeez. Had to sic my CC company on it because he kept 'forgetting' to credit my account for products I canceled an order for and I never received (because I canceled the order 'natch)

ombwarehouse- ok-phone conversations are good-informative the website I don't trust with my personal information, however. ...they supply parts for small-engine-powered stuff.

mfg manufacturing- ok, not great but ok ...they supply parts for small-engine-powered stuff.

hobbyking- ok but stupidly frustrating if you need to re-do an order or their 'pay-buy' is screwed up (always screwed up on weekends)

epbuddy- ok and phone conversations are worthwhile- unique battery stuff for r/c

-if I'm forgetting anyone it's because the purchasing event was unremarkable- which is "the gud thang" in my estimatation

 

[ddk]

before I set out on my second daily ride I needed to do something first off...

 

[amberwolf]

Yeah, you don't wanna ride much more on that tire--I did that thinking "oh, I'll be ok to ride 15+ miles to work and 15+ miles home, nothing could possibly happen till I get home" and a few miles from home after an exhausting overnight shift the tire wore thru, the tube shredded and left me with no choice but to walk the really heavy Crazybike2 home (and IIRC I had some heavy cargo on it salvaged while at work making it much worse than usual). I just remember wishing I would just go ahead and pass out somewhere along the way, and have done with it.

i was just extremely lucky it didn't blow on a main street in traffic.

 

[ddk]

must of worn through during the first ride today...
I 'may' have mentioned I always do a pre-check before mounting the trike.
-except when I forget, which has had hilarious outcomes (involving new scars)

I'd bought a replacement tire last week but was extending this tire's life as long as it had rubber
This is my third front tire for a trike that's been operational only since March (I ride lots)
I don't doubt I would NOT be able to carry this thing even without the tool bag

 

[ddk]

-mcmaster-carr
on-line hardware store extraordinaire
like wandering through a hardware-junkies dream world.

'lil pricey but then again... if they don't have it, it ain't made.

 

[ddk]

it's too hot
too sunny
(both a rare occasion here)

my oldest (eldest) (and most accurate) cheapo voltmeter learned a new trick today, as did I

 

[ddk]

for the first time EVAH

I rode the MT#2 (manual pedal mode-only)

not sure if everything is kosher.
the chain skipped three times
which Chain? -Idunnolol.jpg-

gonna have to mount the camera where it can 'see' both chains.
but today it is (never thought I'd say this here) too hot.

Time to play
work tomorrow.

 

[winkinatcha]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!

Ignoring da fact that there woz chain skipping...

MT#2 In Da House!

Well done Grumpy Man!

joe

 

[Rassy]

for the first time EVAH

I rode the MT#2 (manual pedal mode-only)

All right, I get to see MT#2 in action Friday! Maybe even ride it? If it's motorized, because I don't do pedal only anymore.

Did you ride enough to try the NuVinci in different ratios?

 

[ddk]

I attempted a weak celebration of my BIG EVENT with a good dinner cooked by someone not me.
Unfortunately I chose a restaurant I'd visited several years ago where the food was HORRIBLE.
I don't know exactly why I did this.
Something along the lines of "how could an eating establishment remain in business if the food is HORRIBLE?"
Tonight, that question got answered with a "I DUNNO"
The food remains horrible.
Three small bites of the entree and I left speechless -paid the bill, left a good tip because food being horrible is not the fault of the servers- picked up some Michelina frozen "food" that tasted wonderful in comparison (YES, cardboard tasted netter than the restaurant's offings) and took a nap.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!!

Ignoring da fact that there woz chain skipping...

MT#2 In Da House!

Well done Grumpy Man!

joe

grumpy- no- cranky- yes
I am somewhat chuffed to be at this point of the project

All right, I get to see MT#2 in action Friday! Maybe even ride it? If it's motorized, because I don't do pedal only anymore.

too bad about the pedaling, but even 'fake' pedaling provides good muscle tone.

Indeed, it occurred to me the easiest way to check the chain action is to power up the rear motor.
I suspect my initial chain-idler-thingy is to blame for the chain skipping. Luckily I thought it wise to pursue a different idler set-up, hence my recent acquisitions from McM-Carr

Did you ride enough to try the NuVinci in different ratios?

.yes, I did and yes, it failed to downshift under load yet it will upshift under load without issue. Shifting at a standstill functions gud-enough.
Can't complain because there's really no one to blame but myself, and I gives myself enough flak as it is.