A half-day of twiddling… making a new, thinner, front plate for the alternator… attaching the racers rear-wheel cogs again… balancing the turbine with bits of lead flashing… and it is paying off. Because most of the thumping and thudding is gone when I pedal.

I say ‘most’  because, when pedaling fast enough to produce more than 13.5v, there are still times when the chain skips over some cogs. The resulting thud and jolt is nerve-wracking to say the least. Never mind what it might be doing to the bike, chain, turbine or floor!

In case you are daft enough to take on this project yourself, what I think is happening is that the alternator is being pulled forward, toward the bike, with every down-ward pedal. As this is when I’m applying the most force, and that force has a beat / pulse in it, a pulsing momentum begins to build up in the turbine.

Then, not being a robot, one of my downward pedals is slightly weaker/stronger or slight out of rhythm and !!-BANG-!! the chain skips a few cogs on the alternator. At a guess, that problem is exacerbated by the fact that the wood in the pallet might be bending slightly allowing the turbine lift and tilt toward the bike with every downward pedal strokd.

But what it all amounts to is that the chain sporadically slips/skips a few cogs and there’s a massive chunk from behind me. Which ain’t good for turbine, bike or rider!

So the next step is to brace the alternator against the bike training stand. Once done the unit should finally be functional enough to allow me make electricity  in comfort. Without fear of chains jumping or alternators getting thumped to bits!!