When Stuff Breaks: Fix it

I popped my cargobike off the kickstand on Wednesday morning and quickly realized that the rear tire was flat. So instead of giving the kids a lift, they rode their own bikes to school. We made up a song about Alderaan on the way and I forgot all about the flat tire. No worries; life is good.

The next day I woke early to change the flat tire before school. The tube had been punctured on the inner side, which was how I noticed this:

The rim is severely cracked along one of the welds. A burr of metal caused the slow puncture, and I'm guessing that this happened suddenly on Tuesday during a routine ride. These are 36 hole Velocity Cliffhanger rims, one of the "bombproof" varieties that folks talk about. I was surprised and deflated that they had failed, but more importantly, I had lost my primary mode of transportation.

As I've mentioned, I'm hopefully upgrading my Xtracycle to and EdgeRunner in January when they become available, so I didn't want to throw much money at this bike right now, if any. That (now broken) 26" wheel is actually going to be a left-over part of the build since the EdgeRunner uses a 20" rear wheel.

So I borrowed a small kid trailer from a friend so I'd have a way to transport my 4y.o. and told my 7y.o. that she may have to ride on her own more often. She's getting comfortable riding in the street and is starting to enjoy the independence of being on her own bike. With temporary solutions in place, my next project was to figure out what to do with the Xtracycle until January.

My plan is to build up the donor frame on the Xtracycle as a full fledged 29er mountain bike (sans FreeRadical.) Some of the parts for that project had already been acquired...including the wheels...you see where I'm going with this.

I installed some lightly used 700x38c road tires on the 29er wheels and made sure that they would fit in the FreeRadical frame. Installation was tricky: tires deflated and skewers removed, but I got it in there. It barely fits. 

Brake rotors and the cassette from the 26" wheels were moved over to the 700c (29er) wheels and I was ready for a test ride! Except that when I took the bike off the Kickback kickstand, I found that the non-deployed Kickback rubbed on the larger wheel. I installed a spare F.A.P. onto the FreeRadical kickstand plate to keep the Kickstand from retracting all the way back up. This bought me just enough clearance. Check out the whodathunkit look on my face: the F.A.P. has been in my parts bin for over 5 years.

Test ride time. The larger wheels effect the trail (tendency for wheel flop) and also raise the center of gravity, so cornering is much different.  Less nimble at low speed, but more stable at high speed. The skinny tires don't have much cushion to speak of and I actually had an egg in the front basket crack on the way home from the grocery store last night. Also, the clearance under the Snapdeck was so tight that it began to rub once it got a little wet and dirty under there. 

Most 700c Xtracycles are going to need the Riser Plugs that they sell. Since I knew my LBS wasn't going to have them, I made my own from a piece of 7/8" O.D. PVC cut in 1/2" lengths. (The PVC was a remnant that I had saved from making my DRT flag!)

The shims fit perfectly into the FreeRadical frame and raised the V-Racks and Snapdeck enough to give me the clearance I needed for passengering. "Whoa, this is weird!" said my 4y.o. as we headed out on the school run this afternoon. Those few inches of height make a noticeable difference. 

 

I'm still looking forward to the new EdgeRunner, but I'm really happy to have my Xtracycle back on the road.

More DIY Rain Covers: Recumbent Tandem Edition!

Back in September we spotted this cool three-person bike parked outside our school. It's a tandem with a front recumbent stoker seat as well as a trail-a-bike. Pretty sweet.

This morning I had a chance to talk with Todd about his super cool bike. Not only has his trail-a-bike rider moved on to her own geared 2-wheeler, but the tandem stoker now has a DIY weather cover made from coroplast campaign signs and a repurposed stroller cover. 

Todd said it's worked great in more than a few heavy rains. On this 35°F morning I'm going to guess his stoker was much warmer than her sister, too!

DIY Madsen Bucket Cover Frames

Folks have been asking, so here's more details.

Our Madsen rain cover frames are made from electrical conduit, specifically 1/2" EMT. It's light, cheap, durable, and very easy to work with. You'll want to use a pipe bender like this. You may be able to rent one from a home store or borrow one from a neighbor. It's a basic lever hand tool that is very easy to use. Measure twice, bend once. And make sure you are bending the conduit in the corrected direction!

The frame has only four pieces: two 10' lengths of 1/2" EMT (conduit) and two 1/2" couplers. Total cost is maybe $5. Ideally, the left and right sides of the frame are mirrors of one another and the couplers line up in the middle of the bucket. The structure sits on the edges of the bench seats; both benches must be used for the cover to stand on its own.

The frame can be covered with anything. I recently discovered that a burlap coffee sack from my local roaster is the perfect size and shape when you rip the side seams open. I added a piece of coroplast to the roof of this one to help dome the roof and take out the slack in the fabric.

To keep the whole thing from tipping out of the bucket, you need some sort of tensioner under the outer lip of the bucket to attach to the cover fabric. For our sewn covers, we used Sunbrella fabric and hemmed in a slot at the front and back to loop through a 1" web belt with some buckles.

In a pinch, the burlap coffee cover was attached with a length of rope and some zip-ties. Total cost of the burlap cover and frame: less than $10 and 2 hours of playing in the garage. This makes for a decent sun shade or windbreak, but wouldn't last long in heavy rain.

Related posts:

DIY Madsen Bucket Covers Revisited

DIY Flag Pole Holder

A reader just commented in our Show Your Colors post:

"I have been contemplating whether a big American flag on the back of our bicycles would help with one of the hazards of biking my children to work in downtown Seattle: folks in big trucks, who are not used to bicycles. One fellow yelled at my husband and 2 yr old for 4 blocks once as they all rolled slowly along 5th Ave. How did you attach yours?" - Molly

I have only had positive feedback from drivers when flying Old Glory on the back of the bike. Instead of honking in frustration, they honk and wave as they pass with plenty of room and give a thumbs-up.  I met a local couple that toured the entire United States by tandem with a small American flag on their rear rack; they testified that it may have saved them from being run off the road on more than one occasion.  Bottom line: It can't hurt.

Here's a behind-the-freeloader look at our DIY flag pole holder on an Xtracycle.

Drilled a row of holes to make a slot for the U-clamp. 

Zip-tied top of PVC to V-rack

Insert flagpole of smaller diameter and ride.

Reaper Ride 2012

The upcoming MOB Ride is starting at Broken Spoke in Hilltop. Bring some take-out from your favorite restaurant and join a bunch of costumed bike riders for a bicycle booze cruz around Tacoma. Should be a blast. Get directions here.