The frame was pretty much complete except for the boom, which Larry had re-worked for another project.  The first thing I did was use a piece of salvaged lawn swing to make the boom, which coincidentally was a perfect fit in the outer boom tube.  I gathered up 4 roller blade wheels and turned them into pulleys and then ran the chain line to make sure that when I made the lower seat mount, the seat would clear the power side of the chain.  The rear forks were pretty badly warped and twisted, likely due to the frame being shuffled and banged around, so with a little help from my son, I torqued it back straight and level.  I welded a 1" box tube stiffener between the rear fork legs, just ahead of the rear wheel, for stiffness.  I tweaked the V-brake posts on the rear end and added the salvaged brakes off of my original Python rear end that got trashed in a wipeout.

3 May 2006

     In preparation for the first velodrome race of the year on the 7th of May, great progress was made.  A front derailleur post was added, chain tube for the power side near the seat, pulley guards/chain keepers, and I two-way taped some closed cell foam from a camping foam to the seat.  I added a number of miscellaneous cable stops to get the derailleur cables both front and rear, and chopped the ends off the handle bars to try to make them more compact and get the arms in closer to the body.  While I was planning to use Diacompe bar cons on it, I found some nice downtube shifters that I liked instead, so I mounted them on the steering stem right in front of the handlebars.  They are very smooth, have great leverage and can be shifted with the tip of the thumb.  The shifters can be a little in the way of the stomach and/or thighs for more portly riders, but paying attention to gear combinations keeps them out of the way.  Still might go to bar cons though . . .

     I got a brand new, high pressure, Maxxis Miracle for the front wheel to replace the old 45psi Mongoose, and hooked up the single rear brake for the interim.  The seat is very laid back compared ot the other bents I've ridden and built (about 30 degrees) so it has the feeling of possibly being a little tough on the front neck muscles for a while.  I could put a head rest on it, but I just haven't decided on the best type and method of mounting one so far.  It handles very nicely and feels smooth and fast, which isn't bad considering it's got an old rusted steel 20" front wheel. :)  It feels a little hard on the legs due mainly (I think) to the very laid back seat that uses different muscles than what I'm used to.  Windel will be the tale of the tape though.

8 May 2006

     The Bowden Baron performed quite well at the track allowing my brother to shave a fair amount of time off his personal best.  I tried a few laps on it too and while it felt like a wild thoroughbred, I attributed that to the high downforces while cornering on the steep banking and my limited amount of riding experience on the bike.  As it turned out, there was a little more to it than that.  While steaming around the track, coming into corner 3, it felt like it was pulling a little to the left, so I compensated a little.  As the corner progressed into 4, now, it felt like it was pulling hard to the right - which I thought was weird for it to change the "feel" that abruptly.  While musing on the strange handling, all of a sudden I noticed the front wheel AND the fork whizzing off to my right, while I was apparently sliding on my back to the left, down, and off the track. ???  After some investigation, I/we discovered that the steerer tube had been modified and re-welded, but when the bead was cleaned up a little with some grinding, one section was ground very thin.  Even though a steel tube had been used to reinforce the steer tube, the grinding and lack of weld penetration had caused it to fail while racing.  Foolishly, I had never removed the forks during the modifications and just assumed everything was fine.

     While I was disappointed that the Baron had a less than stellar debut, I quickly located a replacement fork, that was a perfect fit and required no modification.  With the new fork, the Baron handles so much better, that it's very likely that the old fork was cracked the whole time we were test riding it during all the mods we were doing to it.  I'm very happy with the handling and with a little practice, I think you could even ride itwith no hands.  That's a pretty good compliment for a SWB low racer, I think.  It handles really well and is very fast with the 48/38/28 152mm crank set and a 11/34 cassette on the 26" rear.

     So, I want to clean up a couple of the beads, switch the shifters to the bar cons, install a front brake, and then clean it up for painting.  Flat black and gloss orange, I think. :)

More to follow . . .

23 Sept 2006 - el Tigre is done!

     After almost 2 years in the garage, and after about 6 months of being assembled and rideable, it's finally done!  I'm very happy with it too.  I changed a few last minute things and added a couple more.

• swapped out the 10 speed friction shifters for some Diacompe bar end shifters
• added a bike rack for the rear end to either be the base for a tailbox, or just a standard spot to carry items or mount saddle bags.
• added a good and strong BMX sidepull brake for the front wheel which conviently runs the cable on the left side.
• painted the frame gloss orange and all the rest flat black, including blackening the AL tabs and guards as well as the pulleys and boom.
• trimmed the ABS boom shim to make it easier to adjust the boom length
• added teflon tape to a couple frame areas where cable housings and chain guards might cause paint wear
• added a front wheel disc from Cabellas

     I took it for a test ride before mounting the rack, and unlike other lowracers/two wheel bents I've ridden and built, this one can actually be ridden with no hands.  That speaks to Larry's skills as the designer and builder.

30 Sept 2006

     I took the Tiger for a friend to ride when a bunch of us went on a 25km at lunch time.  It's a much faster bent than I originally thought.  I have a lot of mileage on the bents so far this year and my friend rode the Tiger for the first time, for 25km, at 30+ kph and in the end, for the last 2 or 3 km, he pulled away from me at over 45kph and I couldn't keep up.  He was so impressed with it, that he wants it.  Another bent rider - it's a good thing.  :)  He has a neck problem so I made a head rest (my first one) for it, added the flag holder, a rear fender and a small AL tab on the right side of the seat edge so he can mount a bidon.  Hopefully he'll be able to take it to Windel for the races in a couple weeks.