24.10.2024 Urbanising the Trykit trike.

 ~o~

  Thursday 24th 49F/9C [6.40] Cloudy but dry with light winds.

 Up at 6am after waking at 5.30. A quiet night with only three trips to the fire bucket.

 A busy day ahead. Physio exercise class in town. Then deliver the trike to the bike shop for conversion to flat handlebars for more comfort. Then onto cooking class. Thankfully I have the car back to cut travel times.

 For the trike I'll need new brake and gear levers for an "urban" conversion. I am unsure whether I'll need a new rear gear changer. There is an 11 speed, wide range Shimano/Sram cassette fitted but with Campagnolo 'Athena' gear changers front and back. Indexing was never perfect at the rear using Campag Ergo levers. The flat bar gear levers must obviously match a Shimano rear gear changer and cassette. 

 No need to stick to 11 speed if [say] a 10 speed set-up is easier. That would mean the cassette must be changed. Road and MTB gear changers and levers aren't the same thing when it comes to cable pull ratios. The actual number of gears adds further complication.

 I'll have to take the Trykit slide hammer just in case. To partially remove the Trykit rear axles. So the Trykit 2WD free-hub can drop out. It's only a matter of releasing the outer spring circlips in the back axle bearing housings. The wheels are self extracting with a large hex key. The cassette is fitted to the splined, Trykit 2WD [two wheel drive] free-hub as normal Shimano practice.

  Whoops! I managed only a couple of kilometers before the petrol pump gave up again. So I had to call the rescue service [again] and the car is now back at the workshop [again.] There is a back order on Morris Minor fuel pumps from the UK. So it could be ten days or more before I see the car again. Luckily the rescue service dropped me at home. So I have my e-bike for shopping and transport.

 14.30 Or not. The Morris Minor expert doesn't drive his own car in the winter. So he donated his own fuel pump to my car to get me mobile again. What a nice gesture! After returning him to his workshop in my car I went on for a spin to Odense. Where I bought a very short, straight, handlebar stem for the trike. 

 The idea is to swap this in place of the long stem on the drop handlebars. Hopefully bringing comfort from the shorter reach to the brake hoods. It still felt as if my nose was on the front tire. The trike felt incredibly light after riding only the heavy e-bike for so long. 

 I hadn't lost my ability to ride a trike. It just felt incredibly rough on the gravel and potholed drive. The large pedals would actually bottom on the ground if the were turned the wrong way. I didn't dare go out on the road in the speeding traffic. Not without the rear view mirror.

 Dinner was a salmon pasty with peas and boiled potatoes. I deliberately overcooked the pasty after previous struggles to cook thoroughly.

   

 ~o~