Day Nine

     Today was a productive day. I set up the shopping cart, got the handlebars off, took off the front brakes, and attached the bike to the cart.

     To ready the cart, I took off the handle's plastic guard. I did this by prying it with a solid flathead screwdriver, and it's fairly easy, once you get the right leverage. It helps if you pry it from the spots where the plastic knobs on it are, the parts that prevent the handle from rotating around the handle. Then, I cut off the seat belt part off of the cart with few deft hacksaw cuts. I don't plan on using the it at all, and if for some reason I pick up an infant (please don't let me do this), I will have better means of transporting it. However, the bumpers on the front are going to be good to keep on, seeing how dangerous shopping cart corners are. I'm also going to be keeping the folding piece of plastic on, so I can flip it up to keep stuff from falling out of the seat if and when I use it. Of course, there are a couple coats of spray paint in it's future. 

     Taking the brake lever off was a bit of a challenge. The shifter came off easily but I had to pry the ring open to get it off the handlebars, the same situation with the stem clamp. I had to pry it open to get the handlebar out, I didn't want to have to deal with getting the grips off and that nonsense. I got it on the cart, but the handle was too far open for the bolt that held it closed to reach, judicious use of a hammer solved that problem. When I was lining up the stem and the cart, there was a piece of wire bent over in the center of the cart, and that made it easier to have it centered. I put the shifter and brake lever on, and called it a day. 

I'll be keeping this, but painting it none the less.

For safety's sake, the bumpers will stay.

Prying off the handle's plastic cover, there was a gap at the bottom for me, which simplified things greatly.

The handle after having the plastic removed, those holes will eventually get covered up.

The "seat belt" that needs to be removed.













Sweet! Buckle!













Cleaner, and better.

The problem with this cart is that it's designed to be stacked in rows, I'll hold that closed either with zip ties, hose clamps, or rebar.

The Handlebars that need to be removed.

These two I'll be using on the Cartbike. I already took off the front derailleur.

The stem's bolt was rusted to near disintegration, so WD-40 and a mallet were needed.

Another angle of it.

I don't understand why GT had the cable go through the stem, and not go all the way through the fork, it made getting the front brake off unnecessarily complicated and destructive.

The brake lever and the shifter taken off.

The fork after taking off the front brake, sanding off the rust and giving it a clear coat.

The stem attached to the cart!

The shifter and brake lever, groovy right-handed operation!

The bike as of now. No where near finished, but I feel like I've hit a milestone, and damn it feels good.

Brake Thoughts

     Right now, I'm faced with the choice of what to do with the brakes. I could leave the rear brake on and just take off the front brake, or, I could take both off, and put it on the two front forks. I'm fairly conflicted right now, and for my own benefit, I'm listing out the pros and cons for both.
     For putting it on the front wheels, there's the slight advantage of forward momentum, plus, it might be more road legal, having two brakes instead of one. It could also cornering easier, being able to lock one wheel and pivot. Last, I think that it would be pretty cool to have a left brake lever go to the left wheel, and a right brake lever go to the right wheel.
     But, the rear brake should work fine, considering that this is not a speed machine. And, cartbikes have a tendency to tip over if they corner to hard, so cornering any harder than I can to begin with is probably not any better. It'll be a little bit less work. And it would reduce the risk of flipping forward. Though the wheelbase should be long enough to make that impossible, it would probably be better to keep as much torque off of the front connections as possible, seeing as they are the weakest spot in this whole project. And for that reason mainly, I'm going to go with a single rear brake, at least for now.

Day One

     I was on my way home after picking up some lube, and thanks to construction in the street, I had to turn a block early, and I chanced upon the perfect candidate for the cartbike's frame and drive train. An old GT Outpost, light, multi-geared, 26-er.








(Right) The bike after hosing it off, leaning to dry, and drain. (See the bottom picture)

I foresee some plaid duct tape and a bottle of rubbing alcohol in this seat's future.

Rusty, rusty, rusty chain.











To emphasize my point, chains do not zigzag in that fashion under anything resembling normal circumstances.








The main problem here is that the bottom bracket has come loose, there's a gap between the left crank and it, where it should be flush. This caused the chainrings to dig into the chain stay and become immobile, cause large amounts of sadness, and non-biking scenarios.







There's a better shot. If anything, that will make or break this bike, and decide whether I'm using it for parts or not.

Those are some gorgeous break pads, and the breaks themselves are just as pretty.

The cassette looks alright, it's just the chain that's got it rusted static. It's coasters work fine though.

This bike has THREE triangles. Not two, but three. Apparently that tiny triangle makes it one million times better.

I loaded it into the trunk, and it bled all over. Strange liquids came out of the frame and covered the back of the car. It may well be cursed...










Foreboding.