Tag Archives: electricity

Chain tensioning

Leave a reply

Spotting my chain problems, one kind visitor took the trouble to make contact and give me this tip. It’s made a big difference to my confidence while pedaling. So I’m sharing it in case it helps others.

The chainwheel inserted here is from a kid’s bike dumped at the local authority recycling yard. It is a bit heavy and you can see the effect on the chain. Mountain bikes and racers would have lighter pedal sprockets. So I’ll be checking the recycling centre often. Sure, I could probably buy one. But I prefer the idea of rescuing / re-using parts from bikes others think are only worth throwing out.

Meanwhile I can relax while pedalling and make electricity in comfort 🙂

The racer! Finally-!!

A few hours measuring, looking and drawing suggested it might take two or more days to break apart the old and invent a new bike stand. Fine if one has the time; but I don’t.

So I ditched the M18 and M20 nuts idea, and moved toward a turbo trainer stand. Jumbletown and Freecycle couldn’t provide so I went shopping. But. given their weight & size, when postage was added to even the basic models I was as well off buying local.

So I did!

Was sorry I didn’t do this months ago-!! Because barely 24 hours after getting it to the house I’ve managed to fit my racer up and finally can pedal the turbike in comfort 8)

 

However, mounting the whole lot on this particular pallet is not ideal. Because the gyroscopic forces mean the alternator unit tends to jerk toward the bike with each pulse from my pedalling. Which might be okay if the back-end of the pallet didn’t also lift of the floor!

The jumping is tolerable at lower pedal rates. But when pedalling at 13.7 volts or more the distance from alternator hub to bike-axle shortens too much during some of the jumps. Which causes the connecting chain to jump and clunk badly. This means that not only might the chain fall off at any moment, but the alternator is receiving regular jolts and bangs… not good. Not good at all.

So I’m considering two things.

  1. Find a good euro pallet (they’re much heavier). Put some serious weight on the back-end of it.
  2. Brace the bike stand and alternator unit away from each other. Perhaps a metal bar between the two (but how to do this without damaging the turbo trainer…?)

The fun will continue it seems-!! 😀

P.S. The original mountain bike is on it’s way to Galway courtesy of a fellow Sligo Freecycle Member who had a friend in need there!