"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile) 03/20/2020 at 10:29 • Filed to: far side friday

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TheRealBicycleBuck > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 03/20/2020 at 10:51

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FRIDAY!! This is an interesting Friday for me. No long drive home. Working from home. The little storage building is calling from the back yard while Rocky is being a little more explicit in his demands for attention .

If the weather would just cooperate, it could be a great weekend. At least the building has a roof and is mostly dried-in. I should be able to get the doors done and keep the rain out for good. Until then, the tarp over the door will have to do.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/20/2020 at 11:03

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I went digging into my own storage building for parts to antique two-stroke motors yesterday (long story). A little mildewy smell, but not as bad as I’d been picturing in my mind - some months ago, some vehicles were moved around and the side of the building was bumped, and I had to discover it for myself. Some krinkling of the siding and some roof damage in such a way that it’s not precisely weathertight - or not as much as it was.

facw > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 03/20/2020 at 11:18

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I use a similar gag to let people know that smbc is giving away many of its ebooks so you have comics to read while stuck at home :

TheRealBicycleBuck > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 03/20/2020 at 11:40

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That sucks. Those small leaks can be hard to find.

I spent a summer working as a camp counselor. The cabins were a long hike from the drop off area, so part of our job was to load trucks with luggage and drive it to the cabins on tight paths really meant for foot traffic. Many of the cabins were A-frames with the floor joists and rafters supported on concrete pillars. For some reason, the floor joists extended beyond the pillars.

One day I turned one of the corners a little too tight and caught one of the floor joists in the right rear wheel well of the truck I was driving. I knew it was a tight corner, so I was moving at a walking pace. When the joist hooked into the wheel well, it stopped the truck with a loud bang. I dropped it into park and set the brake to go inspect the damage.

While I was worried about the truck, the counselor for that cabin had other worries. The bang I heard wasn’t the truck. It was the rafter splitting all the way to the ridge of the roof.

I knew I was about to be fired.

But I was wrong! My little mishap revealed termite damage in the cabin . Leadership learned that having concrete pillars separating your wood from the ground isn’t enough to prevent termites. Last I heard they had to put together an inspection and treatment plan for every cabin .

As for the kids, they had to redistribute them throughout the other cabins for their week- long stay.

As for me, I was pulled off driving duty, admonished for hitting the cabin, then thanked for revealing a big problem they didn’t know they had.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/20/2020 at 11:47

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That’s falling out of a tree and hitting every soft branch on the way down, to be sure.

Chariotoflove > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/20/2020 at 12:05

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I’ve filed a work from home so I have options when there’s no lab or bench work waiting. But I’m dealing with the same weather so I can’t go for a ride. 

TheRealBicycleBuck > Chariotoflove 03/20/2020 at 12:32

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That’s a bummer. Do you have any kind of trainer set up? Perhaps a set of rollers to ride on?

Chariotoflove > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/20/2020 at 13:14

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I found out my frame builder makes an adapter to hook the axel to a trainer. I’ve emailed him about it. I also have this, but it’s pretty lame to actually use. No fun.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Chariotoflove 03/20/2020 at 13:32

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I suppose you could try building your own rollers .

These look a little rough. :D

Chariotoflove > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/20/2020 at 14:34

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That’s awesome. You can even tape on some rocks and smear in dog poop to simulate the authentic trail experience.

I’ve thought about rollers. I’d only need the drive wheel. 

TheRealBicycleBuck > Chariotoflove 03/20/2020 at 14:57

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Don’t forget about the random tree branches and thorny vines to whip you in the face!

I forget about you being so low. Dog poop is one of those things I rarely took notice of but must be a significant obstacle for you. :)

Is a standard set of rollers wide enough to accomm odate your chair? I’d think you would need two rollers - one for the drive and the other to keep your position. Basically the pair of cylinders for the back wheel of the bike. Then you’d need a block to keep your front wheel level.

There I go assuming again. Is your chair a delta trike design?

Chariotoflove > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/20/2020 at 15:13

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I have a teenager who would probably do that part for me free of charge.

I just dodge poop. Usually not a problem.

This is my trike. The back wheels stabilize it, so I think I only need to mount the front drive wheel. It’s just that I have to account for the stirrups  and brake being in the way to clamp the axel.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Chariotoflove 03/20/2020 at 15:41

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HAH! Teenagers. Gotta love ‘em.

I didn’t realize you were hand pedaling with FWD. That should make it easier to mount on a standard trainer.

I take that back. I took a closer look at my trainer (an Elite like the one below) and it would be a really tight fit if I tried to squeeze a couple of legs in there between the support arms. If you have one built like this , perhaps you could find a welder/fabricator to cut the horizontal bars and weld in some spacers to push the risers farther apart . Then you would need the additional axle spacers to match. That c ould be an easy fix.

It might even be easier to cut the risers off and have them welded to a pair of wider horizontal bars. He would also have to fabricate a mount for the resistance unit. The feet just slide into the ends of the pipes.

This could be an excuse to buy  an angle grinder and a welder!

Chariotoflove > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/20/2020 at 16:54

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They already make this adapter for their LC-1 bike, seen on the accessories page . The LC-1 is a lean-to-steer, but the front end looks built the same.

What I just noticed is their chair buddy adapter that could actually allow me to drag my chair with me on rides. It would allow me to use my bike for actual transportation sometimes! Kinda like putting a chair rack on a Miata.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Chariotoflove 03/20/2020 at 17:12

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It took a minute for my brain to parse what I was seeing in that image. It’s like a push-me/pull-you.

I took a pic of my legs through my trainer with the rear wheel of my trainer bike mounted.

I don’t know how much extra space you need for the leg supports, but with the right trainer and the adapter plates, you might fit without any modifications. I think the width is fairly standard, but how they achieve that varies widely. The gap on the left is a bit wider than the gap on the right. I think it’s to accommodate the resistance unit which is below my left calf. There’s less than two inches of clearance between my calf and the mag unit when the roller is against the tire.

By the way, I just grabbed the bike and the trainer and set them up in the garage for the picture. I don’t try to ride in this crowded space!

Chariotoflove > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/20/2020 at 18:12

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If I remove the stirrups, I think the standard trainer should fit. Maybe what I should do is go to my local shop and see in person. More likely I’ll just get one on line. My old wind trainer is in Indy.

Scooby wants to know what I’m doing. 

TheRealBicycleBuck > Chariotoflove 03/20/2020 at 20:00

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Hi, Scooby!

I think you’re right about the stirrups. They do give it a lot of girth! The mounting reminds me of the Xtracycle free radical racks. I’ve always liked the idea of cargo bikes, but I’ve never really had a reason to buy one.

Thinking about your trike reminded me of the one time I rode a tadpole trike. I was cruising along at a good clip (no idea how fast since there wasn’t a bike computer) and a truck slowly passed me on the left. It was then I realized that my head was no higher than the tops of the tires and I had a clear view under the truck. That was just a little too low for my tastes. Maybe it would be more fun on a closed track like an HPV race.

Kudos to you for riding despite being so low. 

Chariotoflove > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/20/2020 at 22:53

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It’s a little risky. That’s why I plan my routes to and around the bike paths at the lake carefully and try to be very predictable in everything I do. I also work to make eye contact with motorists when I can. 

TheRealBicycleBuck > Chariotoflove 03/20/2020 at 23:10

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Those are t he same precautions I always take. Unfortunately, I live too far out to have any bike paths nearby. I’ve ridden the local roads numerous times, but the safest thing to do is drive over to river road. The parish put signs up to indicate river road as a cyclist training area. Even so, a cyclist was killed out there a few years ago.

The best traffic calming device I’ve ever used was a child trailer. When I was pulling that, everyone gave me lots of room whether the kids were in it or not. The second best was the same trailer, converted to a flatbed, and carrying a cooler. I was preparing for an overnight camping trip I had planned and it was a convenient place to carry cold beverages. It was also my birthday, so I was sharing when people stopped to ask me what the heck I was doing. :)

Chariotoflove > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/20/2020 at 23:24

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Wow, an ambassador of good will!

I just have to get through the nearby neighborhood to the lake. Then I have 9 miles or so of paths. It’s messed up be the bridges they’ve been building for two years now. My detour is kind of hard on my wheels. Time for a rebuild this spring. 

TheRealBicycleBuck > Chariotoflove 03/20/2020 at 23:37

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I tacoed several rear wheels doing stupid stuff. My bike shop finally built up a bulletproof 36-spoke Deep-V for me. It’s heavy, but I haven’t managed to tweak it yet.

Does the bike shop take care of your wheels or do you have to go to a specialty shop?

Chariotoflove > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/21/2020 at 00:54

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I support my local shop for all but the custom welding stuff. I think that’s important. They do my wheels and replace my cables, all the stuff I can’t easily do myself. They’ve rebuilt my front wheel once already. I’m running some mavic open pro rims on Phil Wood hubs. Pretty hardy  stuff, but you jump enough 6” curbs and go down enough gravel tracks, and even those will show the wobble I’m dealing with right now. Price of doing business.