Clunkerbike

No, they really do! As a weird example, I've been "researching" Arduino-based, robotic drum machines - Heath-Robinson affairs that allow a drum machine to play a real drum kit, instead of stored sounds. How do bicycles make this better? Bowden tubes. "Bowden tube" is the engineering name for the outer sheath of a bicycle's mechanical brake cable. You might call it "the hose" or just the "outer." The whole mechanical brake cable has not been used on one, single robotic drum system I've seen, yet, for the hi-hat, the upper and lower cymbals that a drummer operates with a pedal, as well as hitting with sticks, all have these complex linkages and gadgets and firmware code that gives the effect of half-pedal, rather than an actual half pedal. They using car door lock actuators (solenoids) to do this, these things are on or off, they don't have a half position. Or do they? Spoiler alert, they do, but the solution is mechanical. The...

I'm wondering if building a conventional tadpole trike, with "sports car" steering geometry is the right way to go. For the last few days I've been trying to reverse engineer the lean steering of an AR-3 trike, yeah, maybe for shits and giggles, but seeing the basic frame parts "move!" Wow! Update: I'm now seriously considering this steering pattern for my trike build. A decision that pretty much throws out everything but the parts list. Update 2: I'm sold! This is it. Not shown is how to lean the front wheels, but that's just horizontal kingpins at the end of the transverse beam and tie rods from the chassis to an upright wheel boss at each end of the transverse beam that pivots on the horizontal kingpins. In theory. Still some work to do, but I've cracked it! This is parametric, too. I enter a turning angle and it calculates the pitch of the transverse beam in order for it to stay horizontal. I might be making some design changes before ...

Hmm, the test hub I bought is a 130mm. However, I may be able to reduce the spacing on the non drive side to shrink it enough to fit. And probably relax the bearings a little, which are way too tight! It's not QR, so that won't be a problem, it's bolt one, so there'll be a tad more protrusion, is all, and that'll be handy for mounting the derailler hanger. Will need to dish the wheel a tad more, though, as a result.

This is Rosie and yes, she is riding me. She's my fixie. Rose gold, chromed, chromoly frame, manipulated seatpost, tight geometry Potential of Hydrogen PH01 Sulphuric Acid. A discontinued brand and, by extension, model. She was a bit of an impulse buy. She's riding me because this is the 2012 Melburn Roobaix and riding a fixie up that year's "Koperberg" was a fool's errand. (Some did, many of them fell, some hard.) And no, the fixed cog hasn't had any wear, I run her "flipped" - freewheelin'. (Photo credit: Creux Cycling.) Right now, she needs tyres, new bar tape and, if I can find an affordable solution, 2x5 derailleur gears. Melbourne doesn't have many really steep hills, but when you hit one of the ones that passes for a minor Tasmanian or Blue Mountains grade, an 80 inch gear breaks the spirit. If it's pavé, and cat 3, you'll suffer more than groin omlette, you'll suffer defeat, especially if you're a commuter hack, l...