Retro Rocket

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A little in-progress of the brakes. Had to get flexible noodles for the V-brakes and had to use a second rear brake cable for the front due to the length. I'm also using leather straps to hold the doors closed. The rear brake goes through the rocket tube, so that extra housing in the second pic is just me trying to figure the shifter housing length.

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Yes. Time will tell how durable it is.
 
Shifter assembly is basically set. Still need to paint the handles turquoise, wire the switches, and cable the shifters, but it's rideable as a really low-geared single speed for now. When I rebuild the rocket body out of fiberglass, I'll shorten the forward hatch and move the shifter assembly back a little over an inch for less interference with the handlebar and brake cable. I could've just made the shifters shorter, but that would be less ridiculous and ridiculous > function.

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Took it for a ride as a single speed and it's smooth with no rattles and nothing even fell off! The front brake even works great, which I wasn't sure about with the convoluted routing. Some dude-bro fishing at the canal seemed confused and a bit threatened—mission accomplished. But, it's way too small for me to ride and real distance.

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I didn't have a chance to add the ACME with the warm day running out. It also still needs the shifters and electric wired up (the headlight behind the removable nosecone tip and the taillight in the exhaust nozzle triggered by switches at the tops of the shifter handles). The delay is in building unobtrusive retainers for the outer section of the shifters as the rotating part is normally held in place by being sandwiched between the grips and the fixed portion of the shifters. The retainers need to rotate independently, allow the switch's internal wire routing, and be adjustable for tension externally (though from within the rocket body). After about five ideas, I finally have a solution in mind that I like. For such a goofy custom that almost looks like it was cobbled together at the last minute for a local parade, it has required a deceivingly high amount of engineering!
 

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