Steering and TEST DRIVE!

We finished up the steering setup after replacing the bolts on the tierod ends. The discs are not permenant but worked very well to help with alignment. We took two shorter pieces of 1/2" square tubing and clamped them together to tie the two sides together then eventually tacked them together.

We cut the handle portion off of one set of the handle bars long enough to have the shifter and brake assembly. We took an old set of handle bars and cut then slit the end to fit over the new, shorter handle bar. This was done to allow the handle bar clamp to hold the new bar.

After this I took my first test ride on the machine. The first thing I noticed was that it pedaled like it was in high gear. The next thing I noticed was how smooth this thing moved. I eased out of the shop and down into the yard. The steering was cool but may need some tweaking. Don't get me wrong it handled great but could be adjusted. The problem came when I started putting the pressure to the pedals I started getting a popping. This came from what I learned later was the chain that tied the intermediate assembly to the axle. I did some adjusting to the axle to line the sprockets up and adjusted the intermediate. The next test produced the same results. This isn't the big problem. I can work through that. The problem is right now I have everything set in low gear and I'm still having problems pedaling. I believe my problem may be with the small gear coming off the intermediate to the large gear on the original bike setup. I think we're going to have to remove the large sprockets down to ones the size of the sprocket on the middle of the axle. I'll have to find another doner bike to pull the sprocket from. Looks like its back to the thrift store.