SWB0 CobblestoneRat - Done, but still getting little upgrades... ;-)

[SwissGuy]

Another little tweak got finally dealt with today. In the last few weeks the CobblestoneRat got quite a lot of roadtime an most of the times with a convertible backpack attached to its rack. Yesterday I had big trouble shifting and when I checked I saw that the little shifting chain had rubbed through parts of the padding and that probably caused my shifting problems.

So today on my way home I scouted several little bike shops (the big one nearby had nothing) to find a protective cage for the shifter. Luckily I found a used one in the third shop I checked out...

 

[SwissGuy]

Two little upgrades today:
First I finally managed to mount a different hitch to the trailer, thus making it compatible with all my bikes that have the fitting counterpart which are as of now almost all the bikes I keep here at home...

The other upgrade needed a bit more effort.
First I bought this bag

Then I dug out this sheet of hard foam PVC from the basement and cut and bent two fitting inner stabilizers

Then I dyed the bag pitch black

Ok, not pitch black, but good enough for my purpose.

I also had purchased these two parts.

Throw in some screws, sweat and swearing and you get this:

It fits perfectly

I might add some color to it later on...

 

[SwissGuy]

Done!
I think like this it will go well with the stickered frame and fenders...

 

[SwissGuy]

It fits the bike very well...

 

[SwissGuy]

I just came back from a long (and still ongoing) protest ride through Berlin. I think this one needs a little political context to fully get it. Several years ago, Berlin has given itself a mobility law that sets certain parameters how the various modes of traffic should be prioritized. Public traffic first then bike and pedestrian infrastructure and then privat cars. So much for the theory. As if the last elections we have a very conservative (car centered) government that wants to get rid of all this and bomb Berlin back into car traffic stone age.
Also a few years ago air quality was very bad and the government then was forced to limit the speed on several roads to 30 km/h. No the air quality has improved and they want to turn back to the regular 50 km/h speed limit (it's a bit like if you take medicine for a chronic disease and after getting rid of the symptoms you stop taking the medicine and expect to stay healthy).
So than one guy had a crazy idea: Why not make a 30 hours protest bike ride for a 30 km/h speed limit?!?!
Today that ride started at noon and it will end tomorrow at 6pm. It's split up in two alternating routes, one leading into the north and one two the south, both around 33 km long.
So today I rode the CobblestoneRat for three rounds, one north and two south from 3 pm to midnight. With the way there and back a put another 126 km on my clock...
Here are some impressions from underway...
My ride

The pack leaders

This bike is a regular on our monthly protest rides. They did two rounds today

On the road

Todays track

 

[BobbyStillz]

I just came back from a long (and still ongoing) protest ride through Berlin. I think this one needs a little political context to fully get it. Several years ago, Berlin has given itself a mobility law that sets certain parameters how the various modes of traffic should be prioritized. Public traffic first then bike and pedestrian infrastructure and then privat cars. So much for the theory. As if the last elections we have a very conservative (car centered) government that wants to get rid of all this and bomb Berlin back into car traffic stone age.
Also a few years ago air quality was very bad and the government then was forced to limit the speed on several roads to 30 km/h. No the air quality has improved and they want to turn back to the regular 50 km/h speed limit (it's a bit like if you take medicine for a chronic disease and after getting rid of the symptoms you stop taking the medicine and expect to stay healthy).
So than one guy had a crazy idea: Why not make a 30 hours protest bike ride for a 30 km/h speed limit?!?!
Today that ride started at noon and it will end tomorrow at 6pm. It's split up in two alternating routes, one leading into the north and one two the south, both around 33 km long.
So today I rode the CobblestoneRat for three rounds, one north and two south from 3 pm to midnight. With the way there and back a put another 126 km on my clock...
Here are some impressions from underway...
My ride
View attachment 269717
The pack leaders
View attachment 269716
This bike is a regular on our monthly protest rides. They did two rounds today
View attachment 269718
On the road
View attachment 269719
Todays track
View attachment 269715

Bravo

 

[SwissGuy]

I just came back from a long (and still ongoing) protest ride through Berlin. I think this one needs a little political context to fully get it. Several years ago, Berlin has given itself a mobility law that sets certain parameters how the various modes of traffic should be prioritized. Public traffic first then bike and pedestrian infrastructure and then privat cars. So much for the theory. As if the last elections we have a very conservative (car centered) government that wants to get rid of all this and bomb Berlin back into car traffic stone age.
Also a few years ago air quality was very bad and the government then was forced to limit the speed on several roads to 30 km/h. No the air quality has improved and they want to turn back to the regular 50 km/h speed limit (it's a bit like if you take medicine for a chronic disease and after getting rid of the symptoms you stop taking the medicine and expect to stay healthy).
So than one guy had a crazy idea: Why not make a 30 hours protest bike ride for a 30 km/h speed limit?!?!
Today that ride started at noon and it will end tomorrow at 6pm. It's split up in two alternating routes, one leading into the north and one two the south, both around 33 km long.
So today I rode the CobblestoneRat for three rounds, one north and two south from 3 pm to midnight. With the way there and back a put another 126 km on my clock...
Here are some impressions from underway...
My ride
View attachment 269717
The pack leaders
View attachment 269716
This bike is a regular on our monthly protest rides. They did two rounds today
View attachment 269718
On the road
View attachment 269719
Todays track
View attachment 269715

We even made it into the news and you can see me (or better my flag and the orange helmet) passing by the camera...
https://www.rbb-online.de/abendschau/videos/20240615_1930/nachrichten-eins.html

 

[SwissGuy]

And another little update: I finally got the perfect bell for the many upcoming protest rides: a storm bell (or continuous bell). I had mounted it already on the fly on Saturday but quickly realized that I needed to tweak it a little.

To mount it securely I countered all the fixing screws (tip from someone with the same kind of bell):
The original handle was very flimsy and the cable was so short that I had to mount it to the seatpost. Not very comfortable to handle and ugly...

So I dug through my parts and found an old Simplex shifter lever that had the perfect look. With some shimming (with tape) I could mount it right next to the shifter:

I kinked the cable a bit while trying it out, but replacement is almost ready. I need to file the cable stop a bit to make it fit into the shifter. What I also need is some zip ties to fix the cable housing to the frame. Today I only had tape ready...

But it works and the sound is really nice and loud:

 

[MattiThundrrr]

a storm bell (or continuous bell)... it works and the sound is really nice and loud:

So much fun! I just added that to my Christmas wish list