Indian Tadpole

[fasteddy]

The 18650 cells came for the 52V battery I'm getting ready to build. I was explaining to my brother how they just show up here with no warning labels or special container. Opened up the two boxes of Intelligent battery chargers and found them full of batteries.

Simply amazing.

Steve.

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

Thank you, Rick. Last time we had cold and snow like this was 2008. Most likely we wouldn't worry {whine?} about it so much it was a regular occurrence. It's 26 and sunny at 2:30PM. We broke 21 cold weather records here in B.C. yesterday. The Mid Western part of Canada is getting worked over pretty hard with Arctic temperatures.

Glad to hear that your getting the good weather. It's about time. Sure hope it keeps it up.

Steve.

Wish everyone a Good New Year!

Link below on a FB feed shows a bay on the English channel.

I windsurfed on Tomales Bay CA, only 2ft chop, some good gusts that I was hanging on.

The Monks bay photos from link show breakers, but some windsurfers doing loops seem to like the weather with a nice swell.

I have a few days recuperating from working on the water. Clearing winds after winter storms are all there is mostly right now. No thermal generated type wind as in the rest of the seasons which are more often available sailing sessions. Seems maybe tide and wind is all some might consider, throwing out daylight?

I finished packed up 15minutes after sunset. The showers only lasted 15minutes while I rigged, then all the rest was clear. Good Winter sailing.

Side note: It was not taken lightly by one who responded to a now long gone Windtracks Magazine, when a title of a story mentioned in a question, "Do barges run at night?" The one who worked a day shift must have also had known that tugs cable can beneath the surface at some places between it and the barges. Columbia River Gorge between Washington and Oregon sailing destination I visited back in the 90's and camped with the railroad running all day and night was a blast.

Windsurfing champion, Ross Williams, tests choppy waters off Bonchurch (photos)

The record-breaking windsurfer was spotted off Monks Bay on Tuesday by News OnTheWight contributor Paul Knights, who shares these photos

onthewight.com

 

[silverbear]

Grandpa grumpy pants here… survived Xmas and went to bed at 9:00 for New Years. -23 below the other night. Bah humbug…wake me up when it’s spring.
sb

 

[fasteddy]

Last Monday our temperature was 10F and 7" of snow. A week later it's 39F and the snow is melting rapidly. We are having a "weather event" that started early yesterday morning that we call a "Pineapple Express" where warm air from the South comes North and we enjoy better weather for a while. Still wet and overcast but warmer

On the Prairies it's referred to as a "Chinook Wind" or just a "Chinook" and going to bed with 3' of snow and -30F and waking up to puddles of water and 70F isn't unusual. High winds accompany both the weather changes and this helps speed the melting.

Steve.

 

[silverbear]

Steve,
The warming wind you describe reminds me of a January morning a couple decades ago when I was running a resort on Eagles Nest Lake 3 near Ely, MN. As you describe, the night before there was a couple feet worth of snowpack and the lake was white. In the morning I made my usual cup of coffee and went to the picture window to greet the new day… and it was like suddenly everything was wrong. There was water everywhere on the lake. The snow had all melted overnight and as I looked down the shore line I saw deer standing knee deep in water on the ice where they had crossed the lake the day before. Weird. And the following night it dropped down into the deep freeze again, snowed and it was like an etchasketch do-over.
SB

 

[silverbear]

Having just revisited this thread from it’s beginning, I am now at page 42 with a lot to go yet. At times it is like reading something new to me which is an indication of how poor my memory is…some of which can be attributed to being 77 and even more to the traumatic brain injury from being struck by lightning in the summer of 1995…but the point is that I have forgotten so much. This past summer I was going through bike stuff and ran across the Jacobson engine I recognized as from a snow blower, but did not remember what I had intended to do with it. Losing me marbles I am. Whatever. It has been fun reading about your motor and I am recognizing an old itch to get back to work on unfinished builds even if it is unlikely that the itch will get scratched much. Just so much juice for tinkering left in this old bear and probably not much sand left in the hourglass. I spent some time in the basement the other day staring at the tri-car looking sad with a deflated tire. If I remember right I only rode it once at Tinsmith’s one winter’s day in Maryland. It being pedal start I had a hard time with it. I had ideas to incorporate a smallish electric hub so that I could get it rolling for a bump start that way without having another heart attack pedaling. But that never happened and so it sits.
Steve, we have talked about giving it to your son if this pandemic ever ends. I would like to see someone ride it off into the sunset. In the meantime I can read this thread like an old diary and enjoy the building part all over again. Thanks to photobucket many of the images are either too small to see in detail or won’t come up at all… my hope is that photobucket is bankrupt and no more. They screwed a lot of people. Would you please take a few recent pictures of your build as it is now? I’d love to see it.
SB

 

[fasteddy]

I hadn't looked at Photobucket for a close to year and they have changed everything. They certainly messed up with their clever cash grab. They went from having 2% of all views on Google to 1,500th.

They aren't bankrupt but they are on life support from what I gather. Lot's of reasonable prices for joining up. After they held everyone and many people businesses hostage, people paid the $400 a year to retrieve their photos and bailed out. I'll get my nephew to help me get the photos back when he has time this summer and I'll pick out the ones that are really necessary to the build and post them with a written description of what it did.

A lot of the photos of the Indian Tri Car are missing it seems and to make it even better the latest server change won't allow Photobucket to connect to the forum.

We are supposed to have some days with sunny weather later this week and I'll see if I can get it outside and get some photos.

Steve.

 

[Tom from Rubicon]

Well I've only been begging for most of two years to safely archive this build. Thru tribulations and trials an Odyssey of human endeavor. Don't dink around Steve. We don't know if there will be a wake up call next time we close our eyes.

Weather wise, we had a brief respite from the single digit frostyness. Back at it 1/19 and on and on.
Nothing going on in the shop but splitting kindling.

Tom

 

[fasteddy]

I'm pleased with the brass headlights and tail lights purchased on AliExpress. One of the battery holders overheats when switched on and after the usual tap dance with the seller who claims that he's checked with his engineers and that's normal, didn't come up with an answer as to why the second light didn't have the problem.

More of the engineers said that's normal so I looked for replacements on AliExpress and they were something like a $1.20 each and about the same for shipping. There are a half dozen coming. They have a small electrical board in them that the headlight plugs into and has the charge port as well.

The switches are a joke. One of the wires pulled lose removing the battery. I purchased five small rotary switches with knurled knobs that you would see on table lamps.

I'm thinking that a disassembly and polish are in order.

The tail lights operate on a AA battery and are reasonably bright. The lenses are glass and full of imperfections. Push button on the back of the light.

The horn I've had for a while. The bulb will mount on the handle bars and a flexible brass hose will connect to it.

Steve.

 

[indian22]

I like all the above! Might have to get a brass headlamp for something.....

Rick C.

 

[silverbear]

The lights are great but the horn is fabulous. What a hoot! I recently bought a rubber bulb from a lady in India where they still make and use squeeze bulb horns…. Honk honk! I Plan to use one on my quadracycle… not as cool as yours but from a turn of the century automobile. Strange timing asI spent the day fiddling with headlights for the Indian Hiawatha. Must have been on the same wave length.
SB

 

[Venice Motor Bikes]

That horn's gonna look awesome!

 

[Tom from Rubicon]

Don't get up your hopes up the sexy horn will be a chic magnet Steve. A wink and nod is your best bet.
Picture in your mind, yourself doing a Harpo Marx routine whilst sporting about on the illustrious Indian Tadpole.

The head and tail lights are nice (Thank-you Pete) . It will be interesting to see how the battery holder resistance is sorted out and all the othe rcircuit weaknesses are resolved. Lucas clones?

Tom

 

[fasteddy]

Silverbear, how often over the years have we been emailing each other about the same thing at the same time? Dozens of times I'm certain. Almost like we were connected telepathically.

Steve.

 

[fasteddy]

Rick, I'm impressed with the headlights. There are a couple of things that have to be corrected. The switch being the main one since they will all have the same problem. I will get a photo of one posted later today to show what I mean.

I do plan to order another pair of them. Both the tri cars will look good with them although like Silverbear, night riding isn't likely to happen. More in place for looks and safety and any legal reasons.

Steve.

 

[fasteddy]

Venice Motor Bikes, great to hear from you as always and Thank You.

Steve.

 

[fasteddy]

Horn as a chic magnet, Tom? Only until they got a good look at the guy on the other end. Had a couple of close encounters but when they saw the best before date they put me back on the shelf.

I'd have as much luck as Harpo did in the movies only if you did what he was doing you would be in jail on sex charges. Grabbing women's legs while running around honking a horn seems to have gone out of style.

I watched a program and found out that Harpo didn't know how to play the harp. He would hire harp teachers to show him the correct way to play and they would sit and watch him because the way he played the harp shouldn't have worked and they were amazed at what he did and how he did it.

Steve.

 

[fasteddy]

There are choices when it comes to horns. I paid $75 for the straight one and $55 U.S. for the curled one. Far below what the asking price at the time. Looked up to see what was available last night and the $10 and $20 ones and often two or three horns for the same price, are now for the most part $45 and up.

In the late 1960's the curled horns were usually $3.95 and the snake style were $7-$10 in the tourist shops at any tourist area. Made in India.

Steve.

 

[Tom from Rubicon]

Horn as a chic magnet, Tom? Only until they got a good look at the guy on the other end. Had a couple of close encounters but when they saw the best before date they put me back on the shelf.

I'd have as much luck as Harpo did in the movies only if you did what he was doing you would be in jail on sex charges. Grabbing women's legs while running around honking a horn seems to have gone out of style.

I watched a program and found out that Harpo didn't know how to play the harp. He would hire harp teachers to show him the correct way to play and they would sit and watch him because the way he played the harp shouldn't have worked and they were amazed at what he did and how he did it.

Steve.

Harpo Speaks! by Harpo Marx (goodreads.com)
I found a copy three years ago, at a local St. Vincent DePaul thrift store $2.19 US. You are right about the harp lessons. One of the funnest auto biographies I have read. Harpo speaks eloquently in print. If you can't find a volume, I will send you mine.
As to Harpo's flirtation style. He was an enthusiast, not a misogynist. Ya gotta keep the eager smile going
The stories about Chico are worth the read.

Tom

 

[fasteddy]

I read some stories about Chico. I always liked when the studio had to hire guards to watch him so he wouldn't disappear and take off to a bridge game he knew about.

Such talented men in so many ways.

Steve.