Grease Job

Here is a little trick that I haven't used for some time and just thought of it when reading Megan's last Wandering Time post. When I used to mountain bike alot in really wet conditions I would use this little adapter on my grease gun to force grease into the pedals, bottom bracket and hubs. (loose ball bearing days) The adapter fits on any standard grease gun, and I imagine you can get it at an auto parts store or industrial supplier.

It worked really well on pedals. Drill a little (maybe 1/16") hole in the plastic end cap and force some grease in. The only trick is you have to see a little grease come out the other end- with some of the super sealed equipment these days it may be tough.

In aviation they use a small little fitting that presses into about a 1/8" hole and has a ball and spring to keep things sealed- they accept this needle fitting. I mucked about with such devices but ended up just leaving a small hole in the end cap- maybe water worked in- but it must have worked its way out again. These pedals are probably from the early 90's and have never been apart- just had grease pumped into them. Maybe this is where I should go with the Yuba, its agricultural enough.....

Cheers,

John

The're everwhere.....

Now I must really resist.

Kona Ute Bag Repair

Kona's large Ute Bags are pretty good. It still puzzles me, however, why they sell the Ute with one bag. I guess you may not want to use their bags. So why supply any? Also, they do sell a sell a small Ute Bag. I thought that would have been the best of both worlds- you could travel balanced with 2 smalls for daily operations, and use 2 smalls and 1 large for the heavy days. This fell apart when it I discovered that 2 small Ute bags won't fit on one side.
I would be interested to hear comments on the Ute bag versus the Yuba Go-Getter-never having seen a Go Getter. The photo on the right shows how Kona looped the pull strap back on itself to keep it from dragging on the ground when a bunch of slack is taken up. Works well. Another good feature is that the straps may be buckled to the lid to cinch it down, or be buckled under the lid up near the top of the bag. There are 3 straps on each side.
One day as I was zoooming home I cut a corner a little sharp and caught one of the straps on the edge of a guardrail. This is when I found out that the buckles and slides on the Ute Bags aren't a very common style. (they are not fastex or national molding) I eventually (with the help of Kona tech support- THANK-YOU) learned that these buckles can be replaced without having to re-stitch the webbing. To repair the buckles you will need a "quick attach" buckle.
After you break a male or female buckle end you will need (1) male slide buckle, (1) ladder, and (2) female quick attach buckles. Remember you need 2, one for the lid and one for inside the lid. I replaced all 6 males and 12 females and now carry spares as shown in the picture. The quick attach is the one on the left and has a notch in it which to feed the stitched loop of webbing. You will have to cut or break the old female out. (not hard) I was a bit skeptical, but they work really well- and you can repair in the field with no tools.
The ladder slide is to attach the loose end of the strap back onto itself through a ring as seen in the first pic. Kona stitches this at the factory- just cut the stitching and put the ladder slider on before threading the female end. Cheers!

Ute at the Farmers Market

Here is a shot of the Ute and Chariot in tow at the local farmers market. (and the kids with their little Nutcase helmets)
Its a great little market, with vendors selling a good variety. The produce gets better as the summer goes on. Its very well attended, but we were probably the only ones that went by bike, yaah, its a real carfest. At least people are out supporting local agriculture- more people will bike in the future, I am sure.
I know a few of the growers, its a nice way to shop. Just beware of the reseller standing in gumboots with a widerange of produce you just know they didn't grow!
As an aside, the Chariot is a good piece of kit, but I don't like not seeing the kids. I am going to try and get them into a home-built bakfiets this summer- but lets save that for another post!

Self Propelled Egg Ranching

Well, got the first really good load on the Mundo today. 4 sacks of chicken feed and one bag of dog food. 205 pounds and the Mundo was awesome. Changing the perception of what a bicycle can do indeed! Love the wideloaders. Here's a pic of the chickens checking out their feed delivery. The bike is very stable- even on the grass- on the Rolling Jackass stand.
All of this craziness started a year or two ago when I was listening to a radio program where they were interviewing a CEO of a national organic dairy producer. The host asked the gentleman about it being better to buy local- the 100 mile diet and so on. The CEO's reply was that their transportation network was very efficient and that the most inefficient link in the chain was the end consumer driving to the supermarket to buy a tub of yoghurt. I gave that some thought- and now take to the bike much more. We are fortunate to have a farm feed distributor a few miles away- they bring in truckloads of feed- and I pick it up there on my bike. (Previously the Ute, and now the Mundo)
I still believe in local, but also now see that the big dairy CEO knew what he was talking about. Check out this post from Joe George's Urban Simplicity blog- the amount of fuel burned by Pickups, SUV's, and sedans is over the top.

http://citysimplicity.blogspot.com/2010/06/im-gonna-be-honest-here.html


Ohh, the feed is "whole earth", but not organic.(yet) The hen scratch is non-gmo. They have lots of room to roam in green grass and eat bugs and worms, great eggs, stop by and pick up a dozen.

Shopper 20

Well, here is a pic of the vintage Raleigh. I don't think it has clocked more than a handfull of miles.............

Nottingham's finest

Well........it's here. I tried my best to hoodwink my inveterate bike collector friend Kryn into buying the R20 Shopper, but he didn't bite. Being the good guy he is he bought it for me. I went over to his house tonight and towed it home behind the Mundo. (I don't plan on repainting it to match, however) Other than missing the pump, toolkit, and bags the bike is stock and near mint. Original tires, Brooks saddle, the works. Other than the extra weight on the hills you wouldn't even have known it was in tow behind the Yuba. Easy. Its a funny mauve colour- The serial number starts with NB94 which according to raleightwenty.webs.com would be a 1979. One thing I did notice is that the rear brake is on the left- is this a UK model?

Hole Finder

Here is a little gubbins I used to "find" the holes when making my Mundo footboards. Being aluminun is wasn't as easy a giving it a rap to telegraph a mark into the plywood- although I have used and like that trick.

Essentially you take 2 strips of metal- in this case hacksaw blades- and bolt or rivet them together at one end. You then drill a hole through the the loose end. The lower hole gets a rivet or screw so that it "finds" the hole under your sheet metal. The top hole is above the sheet metal and marks the spot.

Raleigh 20

Saw this on the local used web last night. Must resist or I will end up like Sheldon Brown.

Sunny Sunday-Mundo Rollout

At last a great sunny day. Got out on 2 wheels twice. Once with the Ute taking the kids to the park in the Chariot, and then again this evening with the Mundo. The 2 bikes ride very differently- and I think each are very good bikes in their own way. The Ute is aptly named, a longtail "utility". The Mundo is a cargo bike.
You can see by the pic that I have gussied up the V3 with Sweetskins, Aluminum Checkplate, Stoker Bars, Electra Fenders and a Rolling Jackass Stand. I am just waiting for a Gamoh front rack that has been backordered. Every cargo bike needs a front rack of some sort!
The Electra fenders went on quite easily- although i did have to collapse them a tad so they wouldn't interfere with the Vee brakes. Perhaps discs will be in my future after all. The RJA stand is over-the-top. Very well done Val. Glad to support someone who still manufactures stuff themselves. The stoker bar is a snap thanks to Keller74. The only thing you will need is a shim for the bars. I had to make one- but using K74's setup it only requires a small bit of 1/16" aluminum as you are shimming 1" bars into a space that is made for a 1-1/8" steerer tube. Easy. I just realized, however, that the stoker bars will complicate my life if I try and surf my Mundo. Probably just as well. Stayed tuned for more thoughts on the Mundo. John.

Wheels4Life

Hey, I just see on Yuba's webstore that they have a limited edition Wheels4Life Mundo. This is too cool- for $899 you can be riding a Mundo AND Yuba will supply a second Mundo to a worthy party in the developing world via Wheels4Life. Spread the word!

Blogging. Day 1

Okay, here goes. I get such good entertainment value from reading the blogs out there- mostly related to the Yuba Mundo- that I thought I should try and hammer one out myself.
Warning: This may, or may not, last!
My everyday ride is a Kona Ute- great bike, but I felt the need to join the club and get a Mundo. (is it a club or a cult?) I now have a BLUE (and its a bright blue) Mundo. Awesome. Stay tuned for chat on it.
Other stuff in the stable- an older Kona Chute for mountain biking, and a homemade bakfiets project bike. The fiets runs great, the bak (box) hasn't got underway yet. My wife has a Civia Loring- which I got her for her birthday- although she claims it was really for me.
The goal (for me) is to become increasingly self propelled as a family- with very young toddlers this is hard- but they are becoming better travellers for sure!
Most of my bike activity is tinkering in the shop after the rest of the household is tucked in asleep. Updates on the Mundo soon!