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

  • Tour Easy Rack: Front Mount Screw

    Long ago, I conjured a front rack mount from an aluminum bar across the seat struts on our Tour Easy recumbents, with a spherical washer soaking up the angular misalignment. The rack on Mary’s bike developed a serious wobble due to a missing screw, which was easy enough to replace:

    Rack mount screw - rear
    Rack mount screw – rear

    From the side:

    Rack mount screw - side
    Rack mount screw – side

    It’s a 2 inch screw sawed down to 1.5 inch, ground to shape, then run through a die to clean up the threads.

    The nylon lock nut over on the left should keep the screw from working its way out of the tapped aluminum bar. On the other paw, a dab of Loctite survived nearly a decade of heavy loads and vibration.

  • Bike Brake Pad Wear

    The rear brake on my bike wasn’t stopping nearly as well as it should, even after cleaning the rim and pads with brake cleaner, so I pulled the shoes and replaced the pads:

    Bike brake pad wear
    Bike brake pad wear

    It’s down a bit beyond the --WEAR--LINE-- indicator, of course.

    New brake shoes on clean rims work exactly like they should!

  • Gamified Cycling

    OK, it’s not as exciting as a Strava KOM:

    Sheriff Speed Meter - 8 mph
    Sheriff Speed Meter – 8 mph

    Apparently folks have been going around the curve in front of the Dutchess County BOCES site at a pretty good clip. I didn’t spot any scars in the grass off the high side, but ya never know.

    We’re at the top of an uphill section and, riding together, we’re not sprinting for town line signs.

  • On Being the Biggest Clown in the Parade

    On the Dutchess Rail Trail, just north of Page Industrial Park:

    Biggest Clown in the Parade - Photo Op - 2018-06-17
    Biggest Clown in the Parade – Photo Op – 2018-06-17

    Ya gotta admire the confidence of anyone manipulating a kilobuck of slippery glass while looking backward over his shoulder. I’ll take a helmet camera any day, if only because it’s really conspicuous.

    He’s leading a group of four riders, all on spendy carbon-fiber bikes:

    Biggest Clown in the Parade - Peloton - 2018-06-17
    Biggest Clown in the Parade – Peloton – 2018-06-17

    Presumably they’re all smiling at the sight of a recumbent towing a trailer of garden tools topped with two bags of just-picked lettuce. I’m definitely the biggest clown in this particular parade!

    I wonder how they would have reacted to a propane tank in the trailer?

    We’re ticking along at 18 mph and, as it turned out, drafting a quintet of upright bikes is surprisingly easy. If I weren’t towing the trailer with Mary just out of sight ahead, I’d have had some fun until they decided they’d had enough.

    It’s good to bring such happiness into the world …

  • Too Many Deer: Roadside Attraction

    A mutual staredown during a utility bike ride:

    Roadside Deer - Rt 376 Marker 1111 - 2018-06-20
    Roadside Deer – Rt 376 Marker 1111 – 2018-06-20

    This is just after noon, when deer should be snoozing, north of Paula’s Public House, with the deer on the creek side of the road. I’m towing the trailer with an empty propane tank, coasting down from 18 mph, and expecting the deer to jump in front of me, because that’s what deer do. It waited patiently until I passed, hopped the guide rail, trotted across the road, then clambered up the steep hillside away from the Mighty Wappinger Creek.

    Searching for deer will reveal many more encounters.

  • Power Line Inspection

    We heard God’s Own Weedwhacker off to the right as we approached Jackson Drive on the way home:

    Chopper over power lines - Vassar Rd near Jackson Dr - 2018-06-11
    Chopper over power lines – Vassar Rd near Jackson Dr – 2018-06-11

    The chopper followed the power lines, just over the treetops, with the downdraft thrashing the leaves:

    Chopper over power lines - Vassar Rd near Jackson Dr - rear camera - 2018-06-11
    Chopper over power lines – Vassar Rd near Jackson Dr – rear camera – 2018-06-11

    Long ago, I attended a talk about using choppers for power line inspection and maintenance. Apparently, someone with nerves of ice can replace insulator supports and aeolian dampers on high-tension lines while perched on a chopper hovering very very close to the conductors. Pilots with experience getting troops into and out of hot LZs are in high demand.

    I’m sure they give the E911 call center a heads-up before taking off …

  • Turtles All The Way Down

    Spotted another big turtle ready to cross the Dutchess Rail Trail along Daley Rd:

    Rail Trail Turtle - 2018-06-04
    Rail Trail Turtle – 2018-06-04

    This must be the best season ever for turtles crossing vast expanses of asphalt, because I don’t recall seeing this many turtles during any previous spring. Confirmation bias in full effect, to be sure.

    The picture is a dot-for-dot crop from the Sony HDR-AS30V helmet camera, demonstrating why image compression has more to do with resolution than the number of dots.