A few updates in one

Wednesday 18th November

The much needed front derailleur's arrived at Woods Cycle Shop in Cleethorpes. Now I can finally finish off the gearing system. This is the third set of derailleur's I've bought and thankfully these will be the last due to them being the correct ones. I did have to make up my own bracket to fix the derailleur's too, from scrap metal I had left from the main frame. It took me about 3-4 hours to make the bracket and line up the derailleur, the second only took 1 hour 30 minutes to make the following day. With them finally sorted the next test ride will be a lot smoother and easier on the legs.

Sunday 22nd November

This was the day of the second test ride. This time with much needed improvements from the first test ride, and a wider range of gears to choose from unlike last time. I managed to get two good friends from Grimsby to help me out and pedal with me. Lee who was up early and round with out any hassle and Paul who was nursing a hangover and a bad back after walking in to a sign while slightly intoxicated on the night before.

While waiting for Paul to arrive (time unknown) Lee and I made some last minute adjustments and the two of us set off on the bike to Waltham, the next village to were I live. With only the two of us pedalling it was hard work with a nasty headwind, but we pushed on up the hill and down the next. We decided that with bad winds and rain on the way, we best go back home and wait for Paul to arrive. This was mainly due to me feeling rather sick and a little tired from the pedalling (note to self join a gym). Lee is super fit compared to me and the bike does need 3 or 4 people to get the best out of it.

Paul turned up on his bike looking rather sorry for himself. We only rode a 3 mile loop up to my old school, Waltham Road, Toll Bar, then down Louth Road and back home. We didn't get one bad vibe from cars passing by as we cycled down the road, or from people on the foot path as we passed them. There were even a few times when passing people would shout out asking for a lift. A 2 minute video and photo's will be on our web page soon from this test ride.

Monday 23rd November

Today was our first interview with the media. My local paper 'The Grimsby Telegraph' came round to interview me and take photos of the bike. I wont lie, I was rather nervous as I've never done anything like this before. The reporter was asking question after question and I was answering as well as possibly could.

At one point when the reporter asked about who the other two people were and where they are from, I started to stutter and I totally forgot what Neil's last name is! Thankfully I had my trusty laptop next to me to save the day opened on the riders page of our web page.

Once the reporter was finished with me, I went outside with the papers photographer to take a few pictures of me next to the bike (with my lucky hat on). I'm hoping they do a good job and that I didn't come across as a crazed nut. As soon as it's in the paper I will get a link/ copy posted on our web page.

Test ride photos

Here are a couple of photos of Paul and some friends on a recent test ride.

Troubleshooting

On the Saturday the day after our first test ride, I had the bike stripped down and started drilling new holes for the realignment of the crank sets.  I worked out a new way to tighten up the chain, by using some the left over aluminium channel and making 1" slits in the frame.  When the rear bottom brackets are in place, they can be moved back and forth slightly and will tighten the chain to stop it slipping off.

Today I have placed an order for more aluminium to fix the problem with the seats.  Later on I will be going to BnQ to get more nuts and bolts to fix the steering.  I'm happy that I found all these faults on Friday's test drive, it's given me something to do over the next week.  I'm hoping I will have her up and running again for next weekend, and might even start on the canopy and roof frame.  Also, I must put in an order for the front derailleurs so the second test run has full gear range.

Will keep you posted on how things are going throughout the week, and also new pictures will be uploaded of the changes.

Its ALIVE!!!

This blog is the story of QuadEPIC’s first ever test ride! I hope you enjoy....

On Friday, 6th November 2009, the bike took off on its first ever trial run. Before this day I had only taken it 20ft down my driveway, with just myself riding her.

At about 11:15am this morning, my friend George arrived with the help of his friend Ash Corner. Someone, who I will not name, let me down, big time. This ‘so called friend’ was supposed to take me to York, to meet up with George and the ‘3 Blind mice’ crew on Thursday night. This 'friend' left me stranded at the last minute, so sadly I couldn't make it. Thankfully on Friday morning, Ash came to save the day with his white van and a hired trailer.

We got the trailer loaded up and the bike strapped down, and were on the road to York at 11:30. During the drive to our starting point, I had the most random feelings throughout my body: pride, nervousness, and that sick feeling you get when you go pick up that girl you met out one night for the first ever date. I had so many people relying on me to make this work right… I was super scared and didn’t want to let them or myself down.

We arrived with enough time to spare, and had a chance to test her out at a fire station car park. I won’t lie, there were a few problems to start with, but we sorted them out.

Helmets were on and cameras were rolling… we were off! Cars passing by, along with people walking, took a huge interest in what they were seeing! Cars were beeping their horns… having them wave us on was such a great feeling. It felt so good that people I have never met were taking so much interest in what I had built.

We got an hour out of town and then the chain popped off once again on the right rear! We pulled over and re-attached the chain.

Once again we were back on the road, and things were going great. We were getting some good speed, even though on one side we had 6 gears and the other only 4. The fronnt derailleurs haven't yet been installed. Suddenly, George told me to have a look behind us. I did and couldn’t stop laughing. There were about 25-30 cars waiting to get by (haha)! We pulled over and were waiting for the nasty hand gestures, but in our amazement people were laughing, waving, beeping and offering words of encouragement.

Eventually, we arrived in Hull and did a kind of victory lap in Hull city centre before returning home to Grimsby. I’ve learnt a lot from the first ever test ride, and I have more experience as to noticing problems before they occur.

The video of this day is coming soon, so stay tuned. I can wait to share it with you.