We thought that the weather would put an end to quadracycling this past week when we got 11 cm (4 1/3 inches) of snow. We even had some drifting snow as well! Yes this is pretty early for Ottawa, we often don't have snow actually accumulated on the ground until just before Christmas. Climate change is certainly taking its toll.
Of course the climate is more unstable than anything and so after a couple of days where the temperature didn't get much above freezing, today we made it up to 14C and all the snow is gone. It was just about "T-shirt weather" outside in the sunshine.
So, given this respite from an early winter, we decided to get out and do some quadracycling. We waited until after lunch, when the weather had warmed up near the high for the day. It was truly nice outside, only a small amount of cirrus cloud in the sky, portending tonight's cold front and a return to high temperatures near zero for the weekend.
Besides that, we wanted to get out around the neighbourhood to see some of the Hallowe'en decorations. Yes, some people around here go nuts with inflatable jack-o-lanterns, cotton wool, orange plastic bags full of leaves and plastic gravestones. I guess they then feel all warmed up for Christmas.
We had a nice ride, went south from our house and then back north with the intention of crossing Hunt Club Road and making our way to Loblaws to pick up a few heavier items. But then, while about 6 km away from home, I felt something not right with the Rhoades Car - my left-hand pedal was coming loose! Gordon Koppang had recently related a story where the same thing happened, also far from home. He mentioned that for some reason the crank-sets are installed backwards on Rhoades Cars. In most bikes the cranks are installed the other way up, so that the force from your foot tightens the pedals on the crank arm. Instead Rhoades Car installs them the other way around and puts a big split lock-washer on to stop the pedal backing off. I told Gordon, too early it seems, that I hadn't seen the same problem.
I always have lots of tools with me, so I tightened the pedal carefully and set off again. About 300 meters along the road it was loose again. I tightened it again and the same happened right away.
Time for a Plan "B".
We decided that we had better head home and only have the right-hand seat do all the pedalling. That was Ruth in that seat and we started off up a good hill. The results were not pretty or very effective. So we pulled over and adjusted the seats so we could swap; she would steer and I would pedal. Unfortunately adjusting the seats takes a while to do. Our Rhoades Car seats have to be removed and re-installed as we have two separate range holes, due to our height disparity. Fortunately I always carry rubber gloves to do this as the seat adjusters are right next to the chains and it is impossible to carry out this operation without getting covered in grease, hence the gloves.
The seats finally adjusted, in a less-than-totally-good humour we set off again with Ruth steering, but not pedalling and me providing all the horsepower. We had some good hills to take going home and it was hard work without Ruth's help, even in first gear.
Finally we made it home. I pulled off the offending pedal, cleaned the threads carefully with degreaser, toothbrushes etc. When the surfaces were all clean and dry I re-installed them, without the lock-washer. The washer actually reduces thread contact area and I think makes it more likely you will have a pedal come loose. In place of the lock-washer I applied a generous amount of Loctite "blue" thread locker. Loctite is essentially metal glue. As long as the surfaces are clean then it will stop the pedal from coming undone, hopefully.
The next step is to wait a few days for the Loctite to fully dry and then try it out. If it works well I will probably remove all the pedals and Loctite them all. I would hate to be far from home and have another pedal come loose.
Overall this was not a big problem to solve, but it was really unnecessary to have to deal with it in the first place. Why not put the cranks and chains on the correct side in the first place? Perhaps there was a design reason, but I don't know what it was.
In the end we did do our grocery run, but on foot instead. Tuesday is supposed to be 17C, so perhaps we will take the quadracycle out for another run then and see how it performs.
Pedal with lock washer
Loctite blue on the threads, ready to be tightened
Price of gas locally today $0.869
Total quadracycling for 2008 so far - 481.4 km
0 Comment(s).
Bravenet Blog 
Blog Community
Get a Free Blog
Manage your Blog
bravenet.com