Ratillac has hit the road. Finally.
I did quite a lot of work today. Still stuff to fix around and few parts are still missing, but its on the road now. Fenders will take few more days as I'm letting the paint dry for a good while. For some reason the back rim still needs more truing, something made a slight bump in there and I'm not sure how that happened, I was sure I had it done well yesterday. I guess its just the old as heck rim and new tire and all settling in place... Anyway, there's some minor truing to be done.
The feel of this bike is so weird, its definitely not rigid. The sissy and the springer fork both have some 'life' in them which took a while to get used to. But this bike is probably the most fun thing to ride I've ever had under me. And its FAST, its so insanely fast I don't dare to try full speed. There isn't a long enough straight road close to my place. I rode back home, about two miles and I didn't use the third speed at all. The gear ratio is just too much to be practical. On third speed its like a racer and this bike is not built for that. So 16T gear has to go, I think 18T would likely be the best option. Now the first speed is like ordinary one gear grannybike, second is already fast, good for most areas without steep hills and third speed is total insanity. I don't there is a place here to go full speed with it, no long enough straight road and no hill I would dare to go down full blast.
The springer works, I was amazed on how well it responds with bumps. Smaller ones completely disappear and larger ones make the fork kneel nicely. The spring is definitely sturdy enough. The fork has the weird sooth and lively feel, definitely not even close as responsive as rigid fork, but what a pleasure to ride.
Tires are nothing short of amazing, the 2,35" was definitely a good choice, they could use higher pressure though, specially on the back. I think I'll visit a gas station and use the compressor and see how much is good. They're rated for 2-4bar and I'm sure they're not even close to the limit yet.
Shifter is great, no looking back, the old model just rules. Interesting little detail, the old model requires the cable to be exactly right tightness or the hub will start bouncing to second speed all the time. This is different from the newer one which seems to be more forgiving. Overly tight and there's no way to use the first speed at all, too loose and the hub will start going nuts and bounce between first and second. After little testing I found the sweet spot for it, thank god there's the quick lock for the cable so its easy to adjust if needed. (Thanks German engineers, well thought.)
Oh yea and I got a mascot too, found a cool plushy toy tiger on the front. Oh and that fur thing on the backrest, that's what my grandmother used to wear on her neck back in the day. I wonder what she would think to see it like that. I miss her.
Yea, tomorrow, its fenders, chain guard, toolbox and all the little tweaks I've forgot about. Oh and its likely that I need to buy one more kickstand which fits, I can't be arsed to tear down half of the bike to get the original in place. I must say this is the most fun bike I've ever built so far. And definitely turns heads out there.
I love it. Its pretty much everything I wanted it to be and turned out pretty good after all the trouble.
