Nearing the end... Yeah SURE!

Since our last trial, we've made some big changes:

We've replaced the rear wheel with a smaller Mavic Crossmax SLR, which also utilises disk brakes, which will allow us to cover the full wheel with Mylar film, thus making a cheap light disk wheel.

We've swpped to a 100tooth chainring & added a chain guide. It just looks huge!

We made new handlebars, which allow us to rotate the arm, as well as lengthen/shorten it. We've also swapped to Deore shifters, onto a 34-12 cassette, giving us a 58 - 167" range, which will be good for about 90kmh at about 108 rpm.

 

  

We have a few more jobs to complete, but we are close to a finished bike. Unless of course you expect a perfectly finished paint job, no gaps anywhere,  all smooth jpons... Well, we are close to a 90% finished job.

We went a riding

Finally, after several months of intermittent shed time, we managed to drag Whoops out & take her for quite a few laps, most of the time during which it remained upright!

Here is Mick rolling around the velodrome fully faired for the first time. It's a pity you can't see his ear to ear grin! The windscreens were removed, as it was getting late in the day & there was a fair bit of glare which was troublesome... see later photo








Here's Peter Heal Going around. He didn't look comfortable, but he stayed upright & gradually started relaxing, and getting faster. He was a breeze to launch... so steady & balanced.






I crossed the blue line on the track as a result of the glare, and suddenly found myself next to the fence, which was not great. I tried to bounce off it, but just succeeded in putting it down... again. Notice the white skid marks. Notice also that if I had not gone down, I would have neatly ridden into 2 bikes parked on the fence! No damage to me, and a litle graze for Whoops.

So, now that we've ridden Whoops, we will make a few changes &  try her again some time soon.