RaleighSport

Now that is a blast Dan! Thank you for sharing.

IthaDan 

I broke it

Snapped the pulley axle pin right off. Looks like I have some work ahead of me. Pics to follow.

lofter

Yes please post some pics of that thing apart please. Never seen the inner guts of that model.

IthaDan 

Got it back together. Bought more 5mm hardened dowel pins from McMaster and pressed them in. Also turned new bushings for the chain pulleys from that oil impregnated bronze (I can't recall the trade name). I swapped the cables, so it's almost stops now. Next step is to get the generator working, and address the creak in the drivetrain.

This morning I paraded it around for maybe 3 miles here in town. Tomorrow I'll have it out at a street fair I've been an organizer for. Many more pics to follow.



Looks at this guy, he's a natural.

Lascauxcaveman 

My turn next! I wanna ride it! I wanna ride it!

IthaDan 

Sure thing, stop on by any time. I'm just down the road. It's MUCH easier to ride if you just commit to going straight and fast. Things only really get weird when you're maneuvering in a tight space- it's rather unnatural to have your legs and feet turn with the angle of the bars. Otherwise, there is an element of 'torquesteer' but nothing that doesn't become second nature in a couple blocks.

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Blog:

Had to get a little DIY with the boneshaker today. Loaned it to a friend and, well, he ripped the bars off:



CRAP.



I have the third installment of the active transportation party I host coming up tomorrow, and I was planning to have the gitane take center stage, so I had to do something about it. Today.

In the process of cleaning the area to weld. It seems it's been fixed [poorly] before, by fillet brazing over the original, cracked, weld. I'll be TIG welding, so it's kind of key that I get as much of the bronze out of the way before I start.



Nothing sacred here (so many alignment tweaks in the design of the stem, I'm not sweating it), so vice grips will do.



TIG



Not my finest work. Nearly impossible to get all the bronze off without heating it up too much or taking too much off, so it came out a little chunky. No matter, it'll work.



A bench grinder mounted Scotchbrite wheel is the most amazing thing. This area was chromed 40 years ago, heated and fillet brazed maybe 5 years ago and TIG welded today. The shine doesn't 100% match, but it's close enough that nothing is obviously repaired at a glance.



All better:

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DiegoFrogs

It looks neat, but must feel really weird. I also think it's kinda funny that they put fenders and a generator on it, like it would be a super practical form of transit!

IthaDan 

I get so much mileage out of this observation when showing the bike to people for the first time.

It's such a bizarre beast.

thirdgenbird

I so desperately want to try this.