Cart Assembly

[revchris]

I put the wheels on the frame,
then we figured out how long to make the draw bar tongue so that the cart would be approximately centered on the bike and would be close, but not too close that it'd hit the rear tire of my bike if I had to tow the cart (there's about 15" between the car and the bike axle in the current setup).

The we went to Middleton Cycle to get the hitch bracket for teeka's bike. It's a receiver for the hitch connector that replaces the quick-connect nuts and connector from the original axle. The whole purpose is to be able to mount what teeka calls

'the rubber cart dildo'
to the bike. This connector is part of the regular ($20-35) Burley hitch, and you throw the rest of the hitch away because you don't need it. Burley also wants you to throw this bit away every 4-5 years and buy a new one.

We came home, clamped the draw bar to the frame, mounted the hitch, and

let Teeka pull it around the driveway
to check handling and maneuverability. She didn't have any trouble with it, so I put a piece of plywood on the frame and told her to see if she could move it. She started right up and went cruising across the driveway fast enough that I couldn't stop her before the draw bar shifted in the clamps, spun 90 degrees (so that the bend was up and the bar was dragging on the ground), and shifted enough that the back end bent a few spokes just enough to make the wheel wobble. The trailer guys at Budget Bike wanted to see the whole thing anyway, so we'll have them retrue the wheel when we bring it in to show it off.

The good thing was that Teeka says that I'm no trouble to pull with he wagon, so hopefully the cart (which way about 100# less than I do) shouldn't be a problem.

misteropinion is coming over tomorrow to help with the woodworking, so hopefully we'll have the rest of the cart done this weekend. If all goes well, Teeka plans to give notice on Monday and then start selling jewelry on library mall two weeks after that. Also on Monday, the State Farm guy stops buy to look things over and finalize the liability policy. Then Teeka needs to meet with Warren (the city's mall vendor guy) and see the city clerk to finish up all the paperwork and she's off and running