Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Delta Handcyle on Rollers

The shoulder is healing.  At this point, I am allowed to ride 8 minutes a day at about the lowest pressure. It's a bit hard to suck up to the fact that it hurts more to do 8 minutes of riding on rollers than to do a 12 hour cycling event.  But then again, it better to be doing 8 minutes than nothing!  I finally have my newest DIY handcycle on an old set (25 year old!) of rollers that have been accumulating dust for far too much time.  The bearing are good, and the rollers spin like a charm.  And they are very quiet.

Over the last weeks, I have been working on a self-righting mechanism for the steering.  I have tried very heavy rubber tie-downs (not bad), stainless steel spring (not bad), and a carbon-fiber composite spring (needs some work).  I may use two stainless steel torsion springs -- one on each end of the steerer tube to self-center the steering/fork.

If the weather is warm this upcoming weekend, I will be using some acetone to dissolve the foam inside the rear horizontal cavity.  It is there that the two 100 oz. hydration bags will be placed.  The holes are drilled in the carbon-fiber to fit the mouth of the bags (see picture below).  Otherwise, the bike is ready for the road!