back to basics

My first motored bike was a friction drive ebike. I have decided to go back to that build with a few new twists. I tried it today and it wasn't very successful but there is always tomorrow. tomorrow I am going to build a truly weird looking bike,(even for me) If I finish it, I will take some pictures otherwise no one will believe it.

pretty sure I know what it is

After chewing on it a while I have decided that a bearing is bad in the hub motor. It might have been the cause of the controller going bad but either way that's the problem now. For the time being, I'm going to ignore it.

I spend the day putting a second pusher together but I don't like it much. My welding is now on a par with my creative mind. That being the case I am going to work on a friction drive to replace the last pusher. One of those is more than enough. Not sure exactly what the design will be yet, but I have a few options. First of all I have a friction drive motor already set up. It is way small but I think I will give it a test to make a bench mark.

Well it runs okay

but man that hub motor is noisy now. I don't know if something went wrong with the motor and killed the old controller or it's just this new controller but it runs okay I guess nothing special as i had hoped but its noisy. It has a stutter sound like a gasoline motor skipping. It also has a whistling noise as well at higher speeds. All in all I don't care for it at all. I prefer my 500 watt DIY pusher motor. I have a 350watt motor. I'm going to make a two wheel pusher trailer with it. Then I'm going to kick it up to 36 volts. Nothing ventured ect.

I had it rigged as a bob tail pusher but I couldn't get the chain to do right. So since I had to take it down, I'm going to convert it to a two wheel trailer. I'll keep you posted.

welding is taking a giant leap

I found my welding problem. It was so simple I'm embarrassed to tell anyone but I will. The welder was about four feet short cord wise. I needed a short extension cord. I had a surge protector handy so I used it. You guessed it the thing popped regularly. It also kept the welder from putting out enough head to do a decent job.

The circuit is 20 amps the surge protector is probably 13amps so I was really cold welding everything. I think that is solved now that I bought an extension with 12guage wire so it should do pretty well. I tested it today and it is much easier anyway. I think the welds will hold better now.

I welded some on the hub motor bike that I am converting to a pusher the hub motor sucks. I think I am going to let it sit for a few months in a box then try it again. My next destroyer project is to push 36volts through a cheap chinese 24volt controller. I will then buy a 36volt controller. I am using a 350 watt currie motor and would like to push it to 500 watts or close to it. I think 36volts will do it. From all I have read the 350 can handle the extra voltage.

too complicated.

It's just too complicated to keep all this together so this goes back to a blog about me and the bike. More a journal than anything.

I am going to start a new story blog.

Today on the bicycle front I am going to get a frame from the thrift store and try that hub motor again. The more I thought about it last night the more I came to the conclusion that the front fork was the problem. I didn't understand the reasoning behind the was the hub motor axle was designed. Now if I haven't damaged it I can get it to work today maybe.

I have also decided that part of my welding problems stem from my using an extension cord with a 15amp circuit breaker. The welder needs 20amps and I have it on a 20 amp circuit. I just need a cord without a breaker. If it trips the 20amp breaker I will be pissed.

Anyway those are todays projects. Those and building a new blog....

pusher update

I got the lil mutha running but it twists after a while. I came back did some more welding and now I will see what happens. As it is now I may have a hard time adjusting or changing rear tires on the bike. I really hate to do even more welding but if I must I must. The pusher has to be mounted solid to perform at its best.

the hub motor takes a toll...

The hub motor took me all day to work on yesterday and it didn't do well at all. I have one more thing I want to try before I write it off completely. I want to pick up a junker bike with a different style front fork. Then I want to mount that wheel very carefully. I think the problem might be with the wheel torquing on me.

I did get the fast pusher up and running. I had to redo the mount but I hope it is ready to go again now. I'm pretty sure that it is. It was too late and I was too tired to test it yesterday, but the motor turns and that should be about all it needs to do. I am going to junk out a yard sale bike today. More later.

blogg-o-change

I have decided to move my post on a bicycle thread to here. The daily real life journal will be in bold Italic. The fictional journal in black. Hope that isn't too confusing.

Leaving town...

Leaving the small NC coastal town wasn't difficult once I decided. The decision came the morning after I realized that it actually got cold on the coast. The first chilly autumn night was the big motivator. I had a small ceramic heater which ran on house current. The trailer was wires so that a heavy duty extension cord got me powered up.

The point was that I could pull the plug and be gone in an hour. I could if I had made all my plans in advance. I began prowling the internet trying to find the best next town. I was looking for a place to winter just like the circus folks did. My first step was to find town that looked good on the maps.

I spent two days looking for places until I found St. Marys Ga. It was a tourist town for sure. Well that is how it looked on line. The temperature seemed to be in line with my desires. Highs in he 90s in the summer and about 40's for lows in the winter. It seemed like a good place to spend the winter.

I made my decision on a Friday night in October. On Saturday I took my last ride to the beach. I stopped on the pier to say goodbye. Since I brought the extra batteries, I didn't need to stay. It was a bit of a sad trip. I really loved that rundown old pier.

Sunday I said goodbye to the new women in my life. Laura seemed almost relieved. I think we both were far to independent to maintain any kind of relationship. Mary Barker was a different story. She actually cried as if she were losing a lover. Maybe she was losing her image of a lover. Either way I gave her the news and then went home to spend my last night.

First thing Monday morning I drove to the next largest town. "Hey there do you have a one way truck rental with a trailer hitch." I asked it of the middle-aged over weight woman behind the Ryder truck rental counter.

"Sure where you want to drop it?"

"Somewhere in Jacksonville Florida."

"How big do you need?"

"The smallest thing you have with a trailer hitch. I'm gonna be hauling an eighteen foot travel trailer."

I left with my bike in the back of the small van. It was only slightly larger than a cargo van you see plumbers driving. Once I arrived at the park with my rental, it was just a matter of unplugging the electric cord to be ready to go.

I stopped by the office to settle my bill on the way out of the park. As I drove through the gate for the final time, I was tempted to stop for a last look, but instead I turned the radio up louder and drove away.

Time marches on...

A week passed with nothing more exciting than a few good meals showing up at my house mysteriously. Well not all that mysteriously, Mary was dropping off her leftovers at my trailer. I appreciated it don't get me wrong, I just had no idea why. At first I thought it might be an infatuation kind of thing, but I realized what she really wanted was a fantasy lover, not a real one. I guessed the food was her way of paying me for playing along on the computer. It was more than enough to keep me interested. Mary was a very good cook.

The father of the park manager finally finished visiting all his kids in late August. My job just ended without any notice. I could not have been happier. I found a way to add lots of storage space to one of the two pusher bikes. I made only a couple of grocery runs in the park's pickup truck afterward, so the end of the pickup was no real loss to me.

The weather was still hot as hell, but I knew it would soon be changing. I knew that I would be moving at least by the end of October so I began looking for the my next home.

home again

The park manager's father came back from his fishing trip right on time. I had expected it to be my last day. Instead it became an offer to work another month. I didn't really need the money, but having use of the park's pick up made grocery shopping a lot easier. I didn't feel safe driving the truck outside the park, but since the store was open all night I went at midnight. It was pretty empty when I went grocery shopping.

With another month tied to the park on the NC coast, I settled in. I continued my almost daily trips to the pier. I was tempted to rent some tackle and try my hand at fishing. Instead I made myself content with reading while watching the waves. I had agreed to move, if a fisherman happen by who needed a seat. After all they were the real paying customers.

I got my books from the used bookstore. I bought them at half price and traded them back in at quarter price. The books were old and all paperbacks, but I read them for the ideas inside not the trimmings. It was like the bikes I built. I built them for the functionality not the looks.

I had three weeks to go on my job when I finally caught up with my mysterious cyber friend.

"Are you on line?" the message read.

"I am now," I replied.

"Finally we meet."

"Not exactly, I typed."

"Don't be so damned literal."

I began to doubt that it was Mary. I had never heard her use even the mildest curse. "Alright then, finally we meet."

That's better, so what are you up to?"

"I'm getting ready to take a drive through the park. I am the night security officer here."

"Sounds important."

"It isn't. What I am is someone to allow the park manager to sleep at night. I take the complaint calls. People who don't want to call the cops or have maintenance issues call me. Mostly I ride through the park once and come home to watch TV on line."

"Ah anything interesting?"

"There is always something interesting. IF you make a list of all the shows in english It isn't hard to find something worth watching."

"So are you married mystery man?"

"My wife died last winter."

"I'm so sorry. Why are you living at the beach. Don't you have any family back home."

"I have a daughter who is married with a houseful of kids. I wasn't ready to be grandpa just yet."

"So you are on the road."

"Not quite. I'm also not ready to live on what I can get in a backpack. I just wanted to move around a little and see things. You know one last time."

"So you live in a camper, but you don't own a car or truck?"

"No, I don't own a car or truck. As long as I can drive, I can rent a truck to move the camper around. Besides if my Doctor found out I was driving he would call the highway patrol and have my license pulled. I'm not really all that safe driving."

"Ah then when I see you driving in the park I should lock my door?"

She had let it slip that she was in the park. In which case it could only be Mary. "If I were you, I would lock the door and move to the center of the house and stand in a doorway. Me and a truck could be equal to the force of a tornado."

"So how long are you going to stay around."

"I agreed to do the park thing for another three weeks. After that I will begin to look around. Just check out my options. Just like in Midnight cowboy, I might need to move to where the weather suits my clothes."

"Or just buy some warmer clothes?"

"I guess that is an option. It might not work since the camper never did have a heating system installed."

"You could always find somewhere else to live."

"Na, I like the camper just fine. Besides that was the whole point in taking it on the lamb. Being able to pick up and move when ever the spirit moved me."

Suddenly the message window closed. I waited a few minutes to see if it was an accident or if she was pissed. After ten minutes I decided that I has said something she didn't want to hear. I also decided that Mary was a little nuts. That made her a little more interesting. I do love a crazy broad.

Todays chore

I spent the day deconstructing the store bought Ebike. I used the larger heavier bike frame to install my spare pusher motor. I went on line to order more parts for it but all in all it was a good day's work.

I began getting cutesy Email from my new online admirer. Yes the one I think is Mary. I have also found a couple of message in my messenger chat window. We haven't been on line at the same time yet but It will happen I'm sure.

The one thing I really miss about my store bought bike is that it was the only bike I had to pull my shopping trailer. I could get a couple of days groceries inside it. Now the best I can do is carry a couple of meals in the small basket on my handle bars.

I am probably going to have to build a luggage rack and basket system for the home made bikes next. Oh well I didn't want to be bored this summer anyway.

Best laid plans...

The store bought motor kit died on me. At least it was good enough to die nearer to the park than to the pier. I still had to pedal the dead weight of the hub motor home. It was a hassle both the ride home and the searching for answers. I spent all my spare time for the next day or so looking on line for answers and then getting discouraged by the prices of repair parts. Everything was much cheaper in the kit.

Finally I just gave up. I trashed all the controller related parts and put the wheel on craig's list. I almost gave it away but I had no use for it. I ordered the parts to make my smaller pusher motor. What I couldn't get on line or have delivered, I picked up at home depot. As long as I waited until the maintenance crew left the manager had no problem with me using the truck. I missed my welder but I still had my drill. Red lock tight would replace the welder for a while. The pusher didn't really require a welder but it would have made it easier.

I sat back at the end of the second day and waited for the parts to arrive. Laura and I had dinner on Wednesday night as was my new routine. In between Mary would deliver food and call me on the phone.

Mary was strange for sure... She asked for my email address on the day the bike broke down. An unknown woman showed up on my instant messenger list the next night. Too much coincidence, I thought, especially since the woman wasn't trying to sell me anything.