Riding in the hood.

deacon · #**101** (**permalink**) 03-02-2008, 04:13 PM

I got my son in law up on the bike tonight. He was suitably impressed. With a little luck I'll have him on his own bike and someone to ride with. I'd like to get a few of us so I can find someone to joy ride with.

**Norman** · #**102** (**permalink**) 03-02-2008, 09:40 PM

Deacon
Thats great you are just the man to show him the ropes as well you now have a good working knowledge of the bike and how to make it work. How thick of a base gasket did yo go back with when your did your tear down?
Norm

deacon · #**103** (**permalink**) 03-03-2008, 06:06 AM

I reused everything from the original build. I was lucky nothing had to be replaced except the rings. I just slathered all the gaskets with bearing grease.

deacon · #**104** (**permalink**) 03-03-2008, 08:49 AM

I just realized something this morning.. it is ten am and the temperature is over 50. I bought and built my bike so I could run errands, and now I don't have any errands and I still want to ride. I am trying my best to think of an excuse to ride. I know I don't need one but still lol.

I think i need to test pulling a trailer with the bike, yeah that's the ticket test the trailer pull.

deacon · #**105** (**permalink**) 03-03-2008, 04:37 PM

every time I have a bad day with the bike I still learn something. Yesterday my son in law rode the bike and the brake lever broke loose and got stick against the side of the bike. I freed it today and then had to kick the brakes a few times because they got locked. Had other strange noises off and on, so I decided to pull the wheel and see it I could loosen the brakes.

Then I found it. One of my bolts that holds the rear sprocket on got sheered. No telling what other damage it did but I replaced the bolt with a quarter inch one inch long hex head bolt and it fits perfectly. Not only that but the bent coaster brake clears the hexhead just fine. At least it did on the test ride.

Can Harm Hen · #**106** (**permalink**) 03-03-2008, 11:25 PM

Phew, tarmac embrace avoided! For another day...

I'll have to remember to keep an eye on my sprocket bolts from now on.

deacon · #**107** (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 01:28 AM

I have no idea what really happened. It's also possible the nut fell off and it worked itself our far enough to be popped off. I found the head of the nut in my drive way but I never did find the nut. At least I think that's what I found.

**Bikeguy Joe** · #**108** (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 07:40 AM

Are you saying your brake arm for the coaster brake came loose?

I made a strap out of heavy furnace strapping metal (technical term there) and used a heavier nut and bolt.

deacon · #**109** (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 09:10 AM

yes it either broke loose or the bolt came out not sure which. When son in law got back the brake arm was pointing straight up in the air an in the wrong direction. I made a heavy duty strap from a pipe clamp and found a heavy bolt for it. I'm going to keep an eye on it from now on.

I'm learning as I go along. Next time I build one i'll have all this crap figured out. then I can have new crap go wrong lol.

**nogoodnic** · #**110** (**permalink**) 03-04-2008, 11:44 AM

Deacon, you will want to check your wheel to make sure its not loose or too tight. I sheared my brake bolt one time while a car was trying to check me out comming toward me in my lane

, I locked up the rear wheel, snapped the bolt, missed the car, and continued to ride for a short ways. All of a sudden my rear hub locked up and my bike started ridding like a fixie with my pedals spinning at speed. My coaster brake had spun four full turns tight, clamping the bearings down so the wheel froze up...Kelly