The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

Category: Recumbent Bicycling

Cruisin’ the streets

  • NP-BX1 Lithium Batteries: DOT-01

    A quartet of DOT01 NP-BX1 batteries arrived:

    Dot01 NP-BX1 - new 2019-02
    Dot01 NP-BX1 – new 2019-02

    The dotted lines show the results from late 2015 for a pair of then-new Wasabi NP-BX1 batteries, so the DOT-01 batteries look about the same. The F battery barely lasted to the halfway point of our most recent bike ride and the G battery now resides in the blinky-and-glowy pile.

    I’d be unsurprised to discover all the myraid “different” NP-BX1 batteries all come from the same factory. Unlike the Wasabi batteries, these lack date codes, which seems like an extra-cost option you don’t get on the low end.

  • Dutchess Rail Trail: Maloney Rd Drive-In Entrance

    Perhaps they should just saw off the bollard in the middle of the entrance and be done with it:

    Maloney Trailhead - tire tracks 2018-12-15
    Maloney Trailhead – tire tracks 2018-12-15

    Some backstory may be of interest.

  • Tour Easy Front Fender: Redux

    The front fender on Mary’s bike snapped loose while we were on our way for groceries, but my repair kit now once again includes a few feet of duct tape and we continued the mission:

    Tour Easy front fender - duct tape FTW
    Tour Easy front fender – duct tape FTW

    The final fracture seems to be just the little gray section amid the older fractures, so the Planet Bike clip was hanging on by a thread:

    Tour Easy front fender - broken clip
    Tour Easy front fender – broken clip

    Our bikes being equipped as alike as I can make them, another copy of the bracket I used on my bike sufficed:

    Tour Easy front fender - new bracket
    Tour Easy front fender – new bracket

    Stipulated: duct tape is déclassé, but it works better than anything else I’ve tried.

  • Dutchess Rail Trail: Maloney Rd Trailhead Ruts

    It seems the DCW&WA SUV makes regular trips through the “No Motor Vehicles” bike access:

    Maloney Rd Trailhead - 2018-11-07
    Maloney Rd Trailhead – 2018-11-07

    If it’s not them, then it’s somebody following their example.

    Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should … but, of course, the ordinary rules apply only to little people, not public servants.

    Someone in the bike advocacy apparat once told me I’m the most cynical, bitter person they’d ever met, at least on the subject of getting along with public servants. As I see it, I came by my attitude honestly.

  • Badger Propel Air Fittings: DIY Rubber Washers

    Unlike ordinary bike tubes, Michelin ProTek tubes have a square-ish cross section:

    Michelin Protek Max Tube - carton
    Michelin Protek Max Tube – carton

    So, having a defunct Michelin ProTek tube in hand, I cut, cleaned, and dissected a few inches, then punched out a set of (flat!) washers for the Badger Propel air fittings:

    Badger 260 Propel fitting seals - inner-tube version
    Badger 260 Propel fitting seals – inner-tube version

    As with the cork version, they fit fine:

    Badger Propel fitting - DIY rubber seal
    Badger Propel fitting – DIY rubber seal

    The picture is slightly fuzzy, because zooming a Pixel photo doesn’t magically create any new mmmm pixels.

    I tested the washer with 45 psi air (the recommended maximum) and it holds the pressure fine. Better than a fouled ProTek valve, anyway.

    Flushed with success, I preemptively replaced both OEM cork washers, an action which will surely come back to haunt me.

     

     

  • Michelin ProTek Max Tube: Autopsy

    The Michelin ProTek Max tube I installed two years ago developed a slow leak this year, which I eventually ascribed to the valve stem, because the sealant should plug any other leak.

    Cutting it open reveals the perfectly good greenish-yellow sealant:

    Michelin ProTek tube - sealant
    Michelin ProTek tube – sealant

    The sealant also carries black rubbery grit / shavings / dust, perhaps intended to jam inside larger gashes while the sealant coagulates and binds it together.

    There’s a lot of rubber floating around in there:

    Michelin ProTek tube - rubber fragments
    Michelin ProTek tube – rubber fragments

    Dismantling the Presta valve stem show the rubbery crud on and around the valve seal and seat:

    Michelin ProTek tube - fouled valve seal
    Michelin ProTek tube – fouled valve seal

    Whenever I pumped up the tires, I finger-tightened the nut to ensure a good seal, as you do with all Presta valves. Obviously, finger-tight can’t handle that much crud between the sealing surfaces.

    I’m sorry to say I was right about the leaky valve stem, because I think all the ProTek tubes will fail in exactly the same way.

    The valve has small wrench flats making it easy to remove, so I can at least attempt to de-gunk them when they develop slow leaks.

    Color me unimpressed.

     

  • SRAM X.9 Grip Shift Guts

    The guts of the failed SRAM X.9 rear shifter from my Tour Easy:

    SRAM X.9 grip shifter - innards
    SRAM X.9 grip shifter – innards

    The identical rear shifter on Mary’s bike also seems to be wearing out, as it glides between two of her favorite click stops a bit too easily. You can see the spring peeking out to the right, beyond the white tube, and the notches forming the clicks.

    AFAICT, the raised section between the notches is wearing down; there’s no repair for that sort of thing. I took this one apart to see what’s inside: now we know!

    We’ve agreed to not replace the shifter until the situation gets worse. An X.0 shifter should arrive shortly; it appears identical except for deeper scallops around the grip.