A Lengthy Insanity

[Ulu]

There is a bike shop in town that deals with recumbent bicycles, and amazingly he had a very nice chain tensioner for sale. I figured he was going to have to order such a thing.

I don’t know if it’s going to have enough range to allow me to use it with two front sprockets.

Another thing I cannot find locally is 3/8 x 26 TPI taps, dies, or acorn nuts. I guess I will have to start looking online for that stuff.

 

[Ulu]

I almost forgot. This delicious Tokyo Bell from the Frozen bike is going to go on my project. I might mount it into the handle bar end.

 

[Ulu]

My brother in law passed today at the age of 91. It was pretty bad. End stage diabetes and dementia, heart failure etc. They sent him from the hospital to hospice, and he didn’t make it 24 hrs.

Sic transit gloria…

I wasn’t motivated to ride or work on the bike today, but I did both anyhow.

The plastic clamp on the bell was cracked. I trimmed it off, opened the bell, cleaned it up, then got it dirty again drilling and tapping the post for a screw.



This is tempered alloy. It was the seat post clamp from the aluminum Trek BMX frame I picked up.

Somebody had beat on it with a hammer, and here I’ve been shaving the damage off with the belt sander. I’m planning to use this as part of a shifter.


That bearing in the middle is actually a motor from my collection of computer hard drive motors.

 

[Captain Awesome]

My brother in law passed today at the age of 91. It was pretty bad. End stage diabetes and dementia, heart failure etc. They sent him from the hospital to hospice, and he didn’t make it 24 hrs.

Sic transit gloria…

I wasn’t motivated to ride or work on the bike today, but I did both anyhow.

The plastic clamp on the bell was cracked. I trimmed it off, opened the bell, cleaned it up, then got it dirty again drilling and tapping the post for a screw.
View attachment 204290
View attachment 204291

This is tempered alloy. It was the seat post clamp from the aluminum Trek BMX frame I picked up.
View attachment 204292
Somebody had beat on it with a hammer, and here I’ve been shaving the damage off with the belt sander. I’m planning to use this as part of a shifter.

View attachment 204301
That bearing in the middle is actually a motor from my collection of computer hard drive motors.

View attachment 204302

Condolences on your loss

 

[Ulu]

Thank you sir. I did what I always do in these times: stick my nose in my work and keep it there. I don’t want to dwell on mortality and chill the room.

Today, I spent a lot of time on the stick. I broke this kickstand off my buddy’s little trailer in 2005. This chunk has been kicking around in my shed for years. I decided to sand off all the marks.

I had to make these parts fit with a grinder and files.



I designed the joint so it would pull the stick in as you tightened it.




It’s more solid than I thought it would be: Horrendous impalement solid! So I decided to put this rubber stress head on top.

Hmmmm…Maybe, maybe not….

I still need to create a housing and mount.
Much to do before I decide on the ball.

 

[RustyGold]

My brother in law passed today at the age of 91. It was pretty bad. End stage diabetes and dementia, heart failure etc. They sent him from the hospital to hospice, and he didn’t make it 24 hrs.

Sic transit gloria…

Stay strong, best wishes to you and your family.

 

[Ulu]

Thanks Rusty.

I took a very long ride this morning. Twice as far as usual.

I don’t live around anyplace where there are historic mansions. Closest thing to me is this community of gated 1990’s McMansions.



I worked for the parent co of the project developer, doing commercial jobs, back when these places were built. The same guys built my bungalow in ‘94.

 

[Ulu]

Stringing the shifter thu a modified brake lever base.



Hard drive chassis meets angle grinder.

 

[Ulu]

Roughing out.



This is going to go on the handlebar.

 

[Ulu]

Crappy indoor photos from Way-Past Midnight Modifications. . . . . .

Here’s the shifter complete, except that I don’t have a gate. No detents either

Right now I rely on really good bearings and a stiff rubber clutch made from a green sink trap washer.

I sure don’t like the black phone holder, or having the water holder on the bars. The water is going to go back on the downtube. It’s all too cluttered right now.

The traditional Schwinn water bottle holder. This was on my motorcycle for about 15 years.

I’ll probably ditch the golf ball. I needed something quick and easy for tomorrow’s ride.

This could all use more buffing. Here is the left side.

(By the way, I made that brake lever from a combination Shimano shifter & lever, which came off the fake Schwinn.

That side could use some more buffing for sure.

Right (Drive) side: There’s still a little red anodizing on the inside of the clamp and you see reflections of it here. Also you can see the green rubber sink washer.

Oh yeah, I put on some new clamp-on handle grips, but I forgot to put in the plugs. They need glue.

I really wanted to build a shifter gate for this tonight but it’s just too late to continue working. I have to work on that tomorrow.

 

[Ulu]

I should’ve gone out and taken a midnight ride but I don’t have any lights on the bike yet. Now I’m all amped up and I can’t sleep because I wanna go ride tomorrow.

I spent a lot of time grinding and sanding and filing these parts, and some of the work is not visible. I didn’t take photographs of the special notches and slots I put into the parts to locate the cable and secure it.

Possibly I will do that when I take this apart for the final buffing. First I have to know that it works.

My hands are freaking tired from all of the grinding and sanding on the belt sander and the repeated assemblies and disassemblies making everything fit.

I did 10 miles on this bicycle this morning. I thought my legs would be more worn out but I’ve been working up to this. I didn’t try to go from 2 miles to 10 miles overnight.

Here’s a wheelie photo of the sunrise over the burbs. I’m just sitting on the bike but I’ve got the front wheel about 2 feet off the ground to get the shot.

 

[Kevin B]

All the polished components give it a Pro Street hot rod vibe.

 

[Ulu]

Thanks Kevin. It reminded me of the three cars that I’m not working on right now so I can build bicycles.

 

[Ulu]

I went for a nice long ride this morning and the bike worked great and everything worked well except my golf ball came off because I didn’t bother to glue it.

I do need to make a detent to hold it in second gear. I positioned it so I can hold it with my finger as I ride.

I mentioned before that I live in a rodeo town. Well it’s true, and one of the town statues is this fairly non-life-like replica of a cowboy. This fellow is totin’ a six-shooter and spurs, and he was Marshall Dillon’s sidekick.

Anybody ? (. . . you have to be pretty old to remember that.)

This is our town museum. It’s not open every day. Two or three days a week except during the tourist season.

This is a monument at one of the small parks, dedicated to railroading.


It was put up by a legendary and historical drinking society. Or maybe it’s a legendary drinking historical society. It could even be historical legendary drinking society.

Anyhow it is called E Clampus Vitus (“The Clampers”) and I’m sure the members will figure out what it is as soon as they run out of drink.

 

[Ulu]

More pics from Way-Past Midnight Metrics-R-Us . . .

I don’t play golf. Not even computer golf, so I got rid of the stupid golf ball. This is the ball from my boss’s old Logitech trackball from work.

I ground down the tip of the shifter by eyeball until it was round enough to thread with an M8x1.25, and I tapped the ball out the same.

I had this rubber sink washer in the assembly for tension but it was insufficient and wearing out quickly so I took it off.


I made this leaf spring out of part of an old windshield wiper. It took about five tries to get one bent that worked. I snapped two of them. This is strong spring steel but it is quite brittle.

It’s painted black and I need to trim it & buff all that black paint off of it.




This might hold the transmission in gear, but there’s no positive detents yet.

So….. Nobody remembers this whiskered deputy? The actor that played him was born here and he’s kind of the town mascot.

I guess ya gotta be over 60 . . .
A couple more views of old town Clovis.

 

[Ulu]

BTW, As I was putting the last bolt in and tightening it down I broke the shifter right through the bolt hole. I was tired and I forgot I was working on a soft alloy kickstand.

I fired up the grinder in my garage at 1 AM & I shortened it up about half an inch, re-shaped it and drilled it.

I might hear about this from my wife in the morning.

 

[Kevin B]

"So….. Nobody remembers this whiskered deputy? The actor that played him was born here and he’s kind of the town mascot."

Looks like deputy Festus Hagen played by Ken Curtis on Gun Smoke.

 

[Ulu]

I was hoping you couldn’t read the sign.

 

[Kevin B]

I couldn't. You just can't miss Festus.

 

[Ulu]

Well Festus has stood there in front of the teachers credit union on Polasky Street For as long as I have lived in Clovis. Over 50 years.