Bike Shop
(06/02/23)
Ok the Itinerary returns. This time out I'm concerned with the fact that the Pacific Coast Bike Trail is for the most part on Hwy. 1. Many parts have little to no paved shoulder to ride on, and I keep imagining some asshole trying to run me off the road when I'm riding South and there's nothing to my right but a skimpy guardrail and a steep drop to waves crashing on a rocky scrap of beach below.
There's another route that's largely off the highway and might be a better alternative, the California Coastal Trail. It's about 70% completed, but not a continuous bike route, more a series of walking, cycling and wheelchair-accessible paths closer to the ocean and beaches than the highway, along with a few local streets with bike lanes. One big section runs through the city, from the Golden Gate Bridge and the Presidio down through the Great Hwy along Ocean Beach. There's also a map that marks out which parts are bike-friendly, though most of the trail is multi-use.
Image from the California Coastal Trail website. The site also has an interactive map and links to a number of short videos on the Trail from KCET...
Google Map's bike paths from The Presidio to Pacifica where they intersect with the California Coastal Trail. I saved this path for navigating...
Detail of the bike path near Pacifica that's mostly the CCT, off Highway 1...
=============================================Meanwhile in the bike shop, I tackled the solar frame's rear rack base mount...
Picking up from episode 44, the design for the base starts with its front end - 90° fittings hose clamped underneath the rack's back end...
A rough measurement of the gap is around 1-1/8 inches, but I'm gonna round up to 1-1/4 to accomodate the shelf standard that will run through here...
I thought of using a connecting pipe, but didn't want to have to cut a divot out of the middle...
To cut down on the mess from using the dremel, I made a mini dust box out of two big ziploc bags. It wouldn't eliminate all the pvc dust, but it should be fine for the few remaining small jobs...
The other part of the base - the 28 inch steel shelf standard - is dry fit bolted to the front of the rack...
It runs underneath the rack about an inch deep...
A pair of 4 inch mending braces will hold the standard in place just before the pvc base front end. To keep the braces from bending, a pair of 1 inch spacers should do...
The mending braces came in a 4-pack, so I ditched the connecting pipe. This way the corner fittings won't interact at all with the shelf standard...
Once the solar frame was finished, I ordered an ACA safety triangle, which arrived a couple days later. The strap is long enough to tie it to the back end of the solar frame...
Once the belt is clipped together, a couple rubber bands could keep it in place...
Using a scrap piece to space the fittings at 1-1/4 inches, drill holes are marked. 3/4 inch long 1/4 inch bolts capped with lock nuts should do...
The front end of the base with braces bolted down...
The front end dry fit in place with the shelf standard running through the gap. The pvc and the steel separately bears the light load of the frame...
The next step is installing the 90° pipe-to-pipe clamp to the seat post with the top crossbar coupling...
The frame is then attached...
After lining up the frame and the standard three times, I got an approximate marking from underneath the rear coupling to the standard. The vertical gap is much closer to 6 inches...
The approximate measurement for the base support pipes is 9-1/2 inches from the edge of the corner fittings to the edge of the three-way fittings, making the actual length 11-3/8 inches (the three-way internal depth is 7/8 inches), but I'm rounding up to 11-1/2...
The Sunday after Mother's Day, I went back to the home improvement store for 1 inch cable clamps that ended up being too small. While there, I picked up a pair of 1 inch steel spacers for the shelf standard braces...
The fixed base front end lined up with the back end's three-way fittings. The 1-1/8 inch span of the connecting pipe is where a cable clamp is intended to be bolted to the shelf standard...
The back end clamps will sit on top of the uprights...
The alignment of the mounted clamps won't accomodate a central coupling at all, so I thought it would have to go...
This pic taken for episode 44 shows the back end crossbar design I previously discarded in favor of having just one compression coupling, but it still wouldn't fix the problem...
Even if the back half of the frame was rebuilt, no amount of fudging would accomodate two compression couplings and the back end clamps, so that design is once again discarded. The only solution that will work with the current back end crossbar is to spread out the uprights, so...
The final design replaces the three ways with tees, a 3-1/4 inch connecting pipe in between, with 2 inch connecting pipes to the 90° lateral corner fittings, and two unknown length connecting pipes to the upright corner fittings...
The uprights will now support the frame with a much wider stance, and I can even bolster the upright fittings with additional mending braces tying them to the base support pipes..
Whether the base support pipes (the gap on the right) need an adjustment so a cable clamp can bolt the base end to the shelf standard, the short piece of pipe connecting the lateral corner fittings to the uprights (the gap on the left) will line them up to the frame's back end crossbar...
The base pieces chamfered, primed and cemented...
The base upright section...
The uprights with the final compression couplings. After the base cures for a day or so, the entire mobile solar rig can be mock installed to get the measurement for the final connecting pipes...
I reinstalled the frame and base, lined up the uprights, and crap. The frame and base back ends don't line up by 'that much,' not even enough to replace the lateral corners... I'm not rebuilding the base unit, so...
I moved the uprights to the next crossbar up and took another three measurements to mark the span between fittings...
It came to 5-1/8 inches, 7-1/8 including the insertion ends...
After my final session under the drop cloth, I prepped for fixing the uprights. Using leftover plastic from my Tesla Coil project, I'll hold the final pvc sections vertical...
The first section fixed at 90°. I couldn't get the base to sit properly flat with the front end braces at an angle, so I decided to flip it and reinstall the brace when the other two were done...
The other section done, with the flipped braces visible...
The finished base with vertical uprights and all braces installed. This over-designed Beta version may ultimately end up being more stable than having the uprights on the back crossbar, but this project is over budget and needs to be done...
The mobile solar rig installed in mockup form, just to get a good look at it...
It has yet to be fine tuned to iron out the remaining kinks, or adjusted to the solar panel, but it feels solid...
The remaining kinks starts with swapping out the older coupling that came from a different store so the uprights match...
Moving the base end under the shelf standard, moving the standard front end to the first mount hole on the rack, and making the 1 inch cable clamp work regardless helps level the frame a bit more...
There's still too much excess pipe on the lower part of the upright, so I snipped off the useless insertion inch...
Now the frame is balanced with a barely noticeable tilt. The vertical space above the rack is 6 inches; at the back it's about 8...
The final kink is the pipe to pipe clamp and the seat post blocking the solar panel from being installed by at least 1/4 inch. I'll have to cut a notch out of the solar panel border about half an inch...
Using a pin contour gauge, I determined that a notch half an inch deep and 2-1/4 inches long would work...
I lined up the solar panel and marked a span of 2-1/2 inches - better...
A pre-cut multimeter check of the solar panel...
Taping off the cut section...
Post-cut the laminate doesn't show any peeling or fraying...
I might put tape on the sides...
The post-cut multimeter check of the solar panel...
The solar panel was installed with minimal adjustment of the frame...
For now the mobile solar rig is done as a project, but I'll do a shakedown ride of the frame before I stash it with the rest of the Tourpacking gear...
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