14 May 2008

     I've had a good run in the garage lately and have made a bunch of updates on the site as well.  I got a tailbox and some rear wheel discs made for the Raptor 74.  Ground off some cassette teeth in a cheap immitation of the SRAM Red and am working on a set of front wheel discs for it as well.  All this in preparation for a couple upcoming races.   Updated the Chart page, made new bars and stem for the Raptor 44, plus mounted a rack on it.  Updated some shortened cranks and some more oval chainrings as well as updated the Speed's page.  Made a new seat for the Nitro clone but still need to do a couple small tweaks on it and update its page.  Also working on some info for wheel discs and the page for building the Raptor's tailbox.

8 Apr 2008

     Had a bit of a hiatus . . .again, but I was still tinkering.  Just not at a rate I normally do and not doing much on the updates.  That has changed though!  Possibly due to warmer weather slowly but surely trying to arrive.  I finished the new 20/20s and updated the page but haven't got it on the chart page yet.  The Nitro seat mods went fine, but there are some ergonomic tweaks that need to be done yet like a slight angle mod and tweaking the bar position as well.  I'm also finishing up a triple set of 10% ovals with 145mm cranks for the Raptor 44, building up a new 9 speed rear wheel for it and then will convert the bars to praying hamster and add a rack and some under-seat storage.  Might need to make some bidon extensions for it as well.  After that, I have a long list of bents that I need to and want to build and hopefully will be able to get some good progress on them.

     I have also been compiling a photo essay of a complete build but I'm not sure how I should format it yet.  I was thinking a start to finish explanation with individual links on the side for certain parts to quickly jump to them.  Still considering the options . . .

19 Nov 2007

     Finally finished up a long standing 20/20Hi trike project and added it to the chart page and updated a couple other details.  Also doing a seat upgrade on the Nitro clone and started another 20/20 trike but with 1" tube instead of 1¼".  Page updates for those later.

23 Oct 2007

     Finished the Raptor 44 and updated the page.  Added the '44, '44i and the Uniframe to the Chart page and updated a couple links.  Finishing up a seat mod to the Nitro and another 20/20 trike.

2 Oct 2007

     Done lots of riding, and not much building unfortunately.  The chainrings were completed and installed on the Speed and after about 500km, I'm going to adjust them back closer to default because they don't feel like they're "working".  I finally got the Uniframe finished and my daughter is now happily buzzing around on it.  I also added the measurements to Larry's small trike.  I broke the right fork leg on the Raptor going for a track record at Windel Park during testing, but it has since been repaired and back on the road.  Lastly, the Raptor 44 is about one day away from finally going in for powder coating, then it's assembly time.

24 Aug 2007

     The oval rings for the Speed are almost completed and I should have them done, mounted and test driven tomorrow.  I need the Speed for a ride on Monday, and possibly one on Sunday as well.   The '44 is pretty much complete and assembled ready for a good test drive.  Tomorrow the seat will go on the '44i (hopefully), the handlebars will be made, and the stem will be trimmed.  Might even be able to fully mock it up if all goes well.

19 Aug 2007

     A few other commitments limited the amount of building time I had, but I managed to get the 44i fully welded and assembled into a rolling chassis as well as get the brake mounted on it.  I had a frame failure on the '74 due to some hard riding, rough roads and a little too much grinding (I think) but it was easy and quick to repair, and it's back on the road.  I have some parts coming in to move the '44 along and will adjust the boom position a little plus add the front derailleur post.  I also want to shorten the steerer tube on the '44i and make an adapter for the head tube.  I've also got some oval rings on the go for the Speed and all 3 Raptors, plus 3 more seat frames - possibly an Al seat frame too.

15 Aug 2007

     Got a rolling chassis far enough with the Raptor 44 to give it a good test drive, and have most of the frame parts welded up for the Raptor 44i Al version.  Started laying out some oversized Al chainrings for the 3 Raptors and the Speed.

11 Aug 2007

     Updated the Chart page.  Spent the last couple days doing a few small tweaks to the Raptor 74's idler, and making some progress on the '44.  Also did a final 3D drawing of the Raptor '44i, built the forks with my friend and did some preliminary part preparation.  The '44i page will be up tomorrow or the day after.

8 Aug 2007

     Been a long time since I did any official updates to the site.  I've spent most of the time on smaller projects and working on a trike that I still need to add a page for.  I also did a lot of riding and rode in a number of charity rides.  It was a nice change from having my head stuck in the garage all the time.

     However, in the last few weeks, I have started to ramp things up again with my "new" series of bents called the Raptor.  I built the Raptor 74 in a couple weeks and it is a smooth, comfortable and fast bent!  I look forward to laying down a bunch of new PBs with it plus I have been racing with the local bike club and would like to see if I could set a 20 minute range time for the club's 15km TT.  Later on, likely next year, I'd like to see if I could campaign it down in the northern U.S. at some of their bent races as well.  After finishing the '74, I started on the Raptor 44, a dual 451 version of the Raptor with a few minor mods.  I also built a new fork jig to help standardize and speed up the process of building and modifying forks, and I added a few more forums, groups and personal pages to the Links section.  I also made a few chain idlers with sealed bearings I had kicking around.  I'll post their pictures later.

27 Mar 2007

     Ice races have come and gone both in Brantford and in Toronto.  The Zephyr worked great and while I added more screws for extra traction, I wasn't agressive enough with the pivot angle to fully utilize them, so I was still sliding out and scrubbing speed in the corners.  Oh, well, there's always next year.  The FReD worked great, all the way around, and both trikes are now completely finished and converted back to "normal" road trikes, but I'm keeping the ice racing conversion kits for both of them.

     I switched out the 60/40 chainrings on the Speed and installed a 70/44 oval on it instead.  As the weather is slowly getting nicer, I'll see how the new double works on my commute but I'm ready to add a middle ring somewhere in the 50T range if need be for a better mid range.  I'm looking forward to trying out that oval on the hills too.  After nearly a year of hanging on the wall in the garage, I pulled the Python 2 down, cleaner her up, pumped up the tires and got it back out on the road.  It rides great, and thankfully I still remember how to ride it.

     I also started to build two more trikes based on the 20/20 heavy.  One is a slightly modified version with a few minor tweaks, and the other is going to be a 1" square tube version mainly so I can use up some 1" box that has been in my rack for a while.  When I get a little more progress on them, I'll post their own pages.  After that I have a couple mini-Baron clones to build plus a back to back tandem trike, hopefully by mid-May.  Oh yeah, and I guess I still need to finish my daughter's trike too . . .

13 Feb 2007

     I got FReD and the Zephyr built in time for the ice races, got blade adapters made for my brother's trike and fabricated new blade sockets for the trike rack on the back of my van (pictures to follow).  Both trikes were very successful and handled better than I could have hoped.  I look forward to the weather clearing up enough to get wheels on them both and see how they take to the road too.  Race results are here, and some race pictures are here.

     Next on the block are a few more quick tweaks to get the trikes ready for the Toronto ice bike races on the 24th of Feb.

• check the screws on the Sabre and the FReD because they both had flats in Brantford
• add some more screws to the Zephyr's rear tire as I was doing power slides in the corners
• modify the blades and their placement on the adapters for the 20/20 and then test them
• shorten a set of cranks to 140mm and swap out the 62/40 ovals on the FReD
• the FReD is out for powder, so it'll have to be re-assembled too
• do some final paint touch-ups on the ice racing parts

After all that, start laying down some steel for some new trikes.  I'd like to have at least 4 more built before May.

24 Jan 2007

     The TST went in for powder coating, and in the mean time I've been working on a FWD RWS delta trike/ice racer.  Added the info on the 62T and 40T oval chainrings I started and two more sets of cranks I shortened to 140mm.  Added the last set of rollers I made before Christmas holidays.

15 Jan 2007

     Did some more building and reworking of the web pages, just not much updating of the main one :)  I added a few more links that I stumbled across, especially those regarding traffic bylaws and bikes.  Added a few more jigs to the jig page, started a wheel page and changed the Tips/Tools/Help page format so make it easier to navigate and easier to update.  Still have a couple small link bugs to sort out though.  The 70T chainring is done and I started some 62T and 40T oval chainrings, but they had to go on hold while I quickly try to build a tilting tadpole trike for the ice races on Feb 4th.  I also made two new sets of rollers and modified a wind trainer so the indoor training could go along full speed, but don't have the final roller pictures up yet.  Tool page still isn't online yet but I'll get on that as time permits.

11 Dec 2006

     Been fairly busy and added a bunch more information and projects.  Finally added the Python crate that was made in May '06.  Added the final mods on the Mk 3 before selling it.  Finished up the ice racing page.  Added some initial info on some big chainrings I'm trying to fabricate.  Added another set of rollers and a wind trainer mod, and added some more builders, commercial trikes and clubs to the links page.  Started work on the tools page and the jigs page, but still not done them.  Currently making a beefier boom for the 20/20 and will try another dual roller with some commercial rollers for use over the holidays.

24 Oct 2006

     The 20/20 heavy is complete and has a few KM and a few TT's under it's belt now.  Did more re-vamping of the Links page so most links open up their own page, plus did some re-organizing.  Added some more seat cover details and a few more bents to the bottom of the Gallery page.  The Projects link is now functioning as is the Windmill info.  On to a few tweaks/updates to the Mk 3, then to finish up the Uniframe as it has been sitting too long, much to the dismay of my daughter.

     I still want to put the delta python with the delta info, and update some of the prototype links.

30 Sept 2006

     Progress is coming along nicely and the el Tigre is completed with a few final mods.  The 20/20 heavy is completed and ready for powder coating on Monday.  The Links page has had some minor organizational changes and a DIY headrest has been added.

23 Sept 2006

     I thought I'd updated this earlier as I've been pretty busy building.  Apparently I did not . . . :)

     The Nitro is finished and the page is completed.  Built a trike for my friend's wife and daughter, and it's done and rolling.  Started on the trike (finally) for my daughter and got a fair bit done, but got side tracked on another trike so it's been dormant for a little while.  Started on a heavy duty version of my twin rail design that is 60% stronger and about 5% lighter than my previous trikes, plus it has a folding boom to make it easier to transport/ship.  Added a quick set of plans to the Tips/Tools/Help section.  Finished up just about all the tweaks to my Catrike Speed except for the wheel discs.  Finished the Bowden Baron . . . finally, and the pictures will be uploaded tomorrow.  It will officially be renamed "el Tigre" - you'll see why :)  Finished the additions to the trike rack section, the crank shortening experiments and an AL chainring adapter. Fixed most of the broken links and missing pages in the individual trike links, and I want to re-organize my Links page - but that will have to wait for a bit.

     I have another trike to build a new seat for and do a few tweaks on, but I also need to get the 20/20H online for velodrome races in 2 weeks.

31 May 2006

     All the Nitro clone progress is now listed here.

28 May 2006

     Been a busy few weeks.  Got to the track at Windel with both the Bowden Baron and the high racer.  Been repainiting and tweaking the PC2 to get it back on the road in original trim instead of as the tilting delta.

     We're quickly bilding up a Nitro clone for my friend Marcel as we're planning to ride the 50km Ride 4 Heart in Toronto ON.  We're making great progress on it and it should be test-ride time tomorrow or Wednesday if all goes well.  After that, finish up the PC2, finish up the Baron, and start on a few tweaks and mods for my Catrike Speed.

16 Apr 2006

     Finished a few tweaks and final mods on the BHP and took it for a 15km ride this afternoon with some friends and family.

     Did a few more hours of work on the high racer and installed the shifters and brakes, and let my brother take it for a break-in ride on our little 15km bike ride.

     Did some unofficial testing with the 130mm cranks I made.

11 Apr 2006

     Got the final pictures and stats for Marcel's final-mod python.

9 Apr 2006

     Finished up the 24/16 trike's page with the final pictures.

     Got another 14 hours of work done on the high racer and took it for it's first test ride.  Very happy with it and definitely a different feel than the python.  The high racer rolled very easily and I had to coast a long ways and drag my one foot to get it slowed down as I don't have brakes on it yet.  That's the next priority - controls :)

5 Apr 2006

     Been busy with post-ice races activities like cleaning all the road salt off the trikes, and converting them back to standard road tires.  Transferring all the files from bikes.jkcc.com to this old domain of mine so I'm not maintaing two sites for virtually the same thing.

     Finished up the 24/16 and final pictures will be up shortly.

     Modified the front fender on the BHP so that there is less "sail" effect with strong winds from the sides.  It's working quite nicely now.  I also plan to take the delta rear end off the PC2, modify it slightly, and install it on the BHP.  Pictures when that happens.

     Finally got back on the high racer project and have the seat on and mounted.  Ready to run the chainline and make the handle bars.  Will build the bars in accordance with the principles set out here.

     The first race of the season kicks off on the 7th of May so I want to have as many bents online as possible by then.  Plan is also to finish up the Baron clone and have it on the road too.

6 Feb 06

     For the last two weeks I've been working fairly feverishly at completing the ice racers and doing final testing and tweaks on the handling and traction.  Now that the ice races are completed, I'll take a few days off from building to finally to some webpage updating again.

     The 24/16 performed excellently on the ice.  I was very happy with it and it was nearly as fast as the ice trike.  Final dimensions and specs were recorded on the trike and its page has been updated.  Final pictures will be taken when I remove the ice tires and install the roadies with the fenders.

     The last mods were completed on Marcel's ice python and it was successfully raced.  A little bad luck prevented him from doing as well as I think he should have done, but there's always the next race. :)

     The python delta results and latest pictures are here.

     Details on the trike carrier for the van, and a how-to on ice racing preparation will be uploaded hopefully tomorrow, along with a link to some of the ice race results at Georgian Bents.

19 Jan 06

     Been working on the python delta conversion for the last few days in the hopes that it will be ready for the ice races as well.  The conversion is coming along nicely, and if I can get the parts I need, it should be roadworthy by the end of the weekend.  We're still waiting for some cold enough weather to test the ice trike and ice python mods on the local outdoor rink.  Also get to pick up the 24/16 trike from the powder shop tomorrow and will try to get it assembled tomorrow night.  Once everything is set up and adjusted, I'll put the spike tires on it and see if I can get some ice testing done on it too.

14 Jan 06

     Built a skate rear end for my friend's python so he can use it for ice racing on Feb 5th.  Will see how the traction on the front and rear works out and get ready for any mods.

13 Jan 06

     Finished up work on the 24/16 trike and will take it in for powder coating in a couple days.  I'm also planning on throwing some ice-ready tires on it so it can be raced at the local ice races on Feb 5th.

5 Jan 06

     Modified the blade position on the ice trike to make the steering more stable in the corners.  Will see how the trike handles and if more screws are needed in the rear tire for traction on high speed cornering.