This is my newest bike, and frankly, its about the worst handling bike in my fleet. I can't really think of one that requires more attention and "presence" than this one actually. I though sidecars would be rather cool, and wanted one.
To start with, side cars can be a lot of fun, as one can tell.
(click to go to the site I got this from)
I seem to have much to learn, as this guy can "fly the chair" higher than I can. He must be a pro. Of course, it would appear that his car is more substantial than a shopping cart. Which brings me to the shopping cart that was at Karen's for the last 3 or 4 months. I'm not sure who put it there, though I remember someone telling me they put it there. Amanda and Zach were eyeing it, and I was content to let them have it, though I suggested they not build another 3 wheeled bike as I had a large one and Fort Collins didn't need another. Then I realized it was a better car body than the trash can I was thinking about using. If I had a lid, I probably would have used the can but the cart was there.
Start time +0:00 I grab the grinder.
**************************
**************************
**************************
Start time +0:45 later, I roll my new side car out.
Right away, I can see my first mistake. I meant to put it on the right side, but instead I put it on the left. (The first photo was "mirrored" to better compare lean angles with the motorycle.) DOH! I must have been sniffing zinc fumes or something. In the States, the car is put on the right for three reasons. First, you must pull out less when passing to see whats infront of the car in front of you. Not terribly important with a bicycle though, but the principle of the matter still stands. Seond, roads are typically crowned to allow water to run off either size into the gutter. The side car is able to support the rig when on the right. When on the left, you are more likely to tip it over. Finally, its probably better on the passenger to have them away from cars. However, my last passenger screamed the whole time anyway, so I'm not sure how much she appreciated the fact that I chopped my cart apart for her and put the cart on the right side. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
It was a bear to get it through Karen's side gate. Its the widest thing in my fleet I think. So I had to lay it on its side, and drag it through. Aside from the cart being on the left side, another problem was that the third wheel was way ahead of the rear axel. This meant that when turning right, I was more or less dragging the wheel to the right, and when left, the third wheel was being pushed across the ground. Of course, the wheel was also pointed slightly to the right to start with, so it wanted to make the rig turn right. When turning left, it was even easier to left the wheel up. The final problem was that the handle bars would begin to widely oscilate if I let go. Within seconds, it would get so bad that it was downright scary. It took a lot of force to keep the handle bars in control, but still it shook like crazy. The left brake lever was not hooked up, and clacked quite a bit, thus earning the bike the name "Clacky the Shaker Wagon."
I rode it to the Co-op, and showed off the new rig. Karen' took the photos.
On the way home I found that the trike wanted to turn right. On one occasion, I didn't dare turn left for fear of tipping it. I safely spun out in a yard along the way. The next time I rode it, I again found myself turning right, and the rig rolled up a curb before I could straighten it out. I found myself heading right for a bush at probably 8 mph. I hit it with the basket, and thought I would run it right over. At that moment, the trike was stopped and was tipped forward. I was about to be pitched over the handle bars but managed to put a leg out and save myself. I heard a loud crack and figured the trike was done for. Instead it was the bush that cracked. I finished my ride to school but kept it much slower. I figured I must fix it.
So I sawed the whole thing apart, and mounted the car on the right this time. I also moved the 3rd wheel back so that it was in line with the bike's rear axle. This time, I think the rig was even wider, so it was really hard to get it through Karen's gate. I found the shudder in the steering was still there, but not as bad. More manageable. I think the bike was tilted to the right a bit. This time I found some people to ride in the basket. I find that when empty, the rig handles better. There is no shuddering, but it still wants to turn to the right slightly.
Finally, Amanda and I think we'll turn it into a quadcycle with the cart suspended int he middle and a bike on each side. This way, two riders can ride the thing. More on that to come.
Well, work commenced on Clacky on Saturday. We chopped of the red frame, installed pedals, front wheel etc, and then rewelded it onto the cart. Here Amanda works on Clacky.
Amanda then had to go to work but I needed to finish the steering which was not cooperating with us. I did and the bike looked something like this:
I have to admit, I had to test ride it, and John was around, so I grabbed him. Sorry Amanda! I know realize I shouldn't have tested it without you. But since that's out of the way, I can tell everyone how fun it was. There were no brakes on it at this time, so John, being on the smaller frame, would put his foot down to slow us. It required team work. Off we went. First I had the controls, and I made a couple of gentle U turns. Then I had John take the controls on his side and he made the same U turns. Once that was done, I decided to take it around the block. With John still at the controls, we made a couple of right turns over side 1 and 2 of the square course. After turn 2, I took over again and began to make S turns. After turn 3, I had John lightly hold his side of the bars. I was about to turn up the heat, and should the bikes seperate, I wanted both wheels to be covered. I turned the bike harder each turn, and we reached a point where the whole rear of the bike would slide out. It was getting to be great fun. Then we broke a weld (Amanda's side) and stopped the S turns but continued back to base. We slowed way down for turn 4 as I wasn't sure what broke, but you could sure feel the change of handling when it did. Turns out, it was the rear connection bar on Amanda's bike. I also think we broke one of the welds on the front connection bar for my bike. Thing was, I only realized it later, and it was too late. I fixed the weld, and put a brake on. Then I headed home. It was only then that I realized that there was another weld broken. By the time I got home, the flexing had gotten so bad that I tore the metal from the weld on my bike. The weld held, but the metal just ripped loose on the bike tube. It will be challenge to get it back today.
******
Got the bike back, and once I duct taped the busted weld together, it all worked out well. Amanda arrived, and we began. I repaired the weld, and then amanda took over the welding. We added more bracing, fixed anything else that looked like it need to be fixed, and set off. The first 2 photos show Amanda welding on the cross braces on her side. We took it for a ride and spun it out to test it out. We found that we destroyed the wheel (Photo 3) but the funny part was that Amanda never realized what we had done. We tossed another wheel on that was probably going to fall apart and explode, took a quick picture of Amanda on the rig (Photo 4) and then set off to pick up Angela. In the next photo, Angela shows mock terror about the rig, but later, her terror would be real. We first blew the messed up tire that we put on and then pulled over to replace it. Luckily we had though to bring along the old bent wheel, some tools and a pump. The problem was that we didn't realize that the bent wheel and the blown wheel used two different tire sizes. We replaced the tube, but not the tire ( 6 & 7) and then set off. It also blew so we cut it off and rode on the bare rim.
By and by, we came to a red light. Angela was sure the wheel was about to fall off, so Amanda got off her bike to tighten her wheel up a bit. At this point, a cop rolls up next to us and begins to look over our strange contraption. I begin laughing hysterically, Angela is sure we are about to get into trouble for riding this bike, and Amanda finished her work and gets back on the bike. The cop says just one word: "Nice." The light changes and we set off again. All told, quite a day.
