002 - The Editorial Tricycle
It's now mid-January 2001, and fortunately
the weather for the past couple of weekends has been reasonably clement,
in that it has not been raining. The machine is now all back together,
with new cables, seat mount, chain pulley and tube, and bottom bracket,
and is theoretically rideable, though I think the rear gear cable needs
to be re-routed and I'm not entirely happy about the alignment of the steering
yet. Other work includes fitting some brackets for LED lights and
working out a cunning mounting system for a single Blackburn low rider
rack behind the seat. The biggest casualty was the seat cushion.
As it was nearing disintegration, Tina declined to allow it anywhere near
the washing machine, and the motley assortment of pieces of camping mat
rescued from the shed are not in any way adequate to cover the seat.
For now, a cheap and cheerful camping mat or two will be obtained from
the LCS, while we decide whether to shell out on the pukka stuff from AVD,
get some of that air-conditioning filter material or just stick to Karrimat.
Hopefully the remaining task-ettes will be relatively quick and easy, as
it is my intention to take it down to Bikefix for the Mike Burrows Book
Signing And Happening on January 18th. The day after tomorrow...
If that all goes according to plan, it will then most likely lurk in the
shed until April...
Well, I did get it together, though
the steering is still in "stick - slip - swerve" mode, the seat needs attention
to its padding to stop me from sliding towards the bottom bracket and the
rear derailleur needs a little adjustment. This latter became apparent
on the way home from Bikefix, while zooming down the hill past HMP Holloway
towards Finsbury Park. The traffic lights at the Holloway Road change
to red, so I change down in antici.......................................................................................................................pation.
4-3-2-1-0 - over the top of the block and into the rear wheel. The
latter promptly locks up, and heavy braking starts to make the beast go
sideways. Alas, there is too much grip on dry tarmac to allow a graceful
spin, so the machine rolls instead, leaving itself with a broken rear light
bracket and its hapless pilot with a scraped knee, a burned elbow, a torn
pair of longs and a hole in his side from impact with the edge of the seat.
Not to mention a sprained dignity... Cruise gently home and park
trike in shed. Tina remarkably unsympathetic, demonstrating
more concern for my jersey (a Christmas present from the Brandenburg/Reuter
tribe), than for me
L
Anyway, as promised, some pictures.
Better late than never.
Front view, showing left side chain path
and Burrows front derailleur
Side view, with wreckage of the GTO fairing
in the background
Rear view. Note freewheel 'twixt frame
and wheel, and rack attached to the end of the stub axle
It's now late March 2002, and 002 is no longer
the Editorial Tricycle. Why? Well, since the first paragraph
on this page was written, I rode her over to Bikefix and back, and Tina used
her as a sort of mobile deckchair at the criterium in Hove Park during the
2001 Worlds. Total distance covered: not much at all.
And Bob Dixon had earlier expressed a certain interest in buying the first
Windcheetah recognisable as such. And so it came to pass that the Deed
was Done, and on March 24th 002 went to live at AVD. Oh well.
In the meantime, Cosimo the Stealth Baron
has taken up residence at Larrington Towers, and sooner or later I'll get
round to doing a page or two on him. And the Speedmachine,
which can be seen here...
Stop
Press!!! I now have another tricycle, this being a Trice XXL from the
lovely boys at ICE, and if you're all very very good, I'll put something
up in the next decade...
