After opening, I bought some small buckets from the hardware shop with lids about the right size for what I had planned. I cut these into rings with a slit so the ring could be stretched apart and slotted in between the chain rings either side of the gear I intended to use.
After getting this sorted out I took my new single speeder for a spin...a 25km loop, first North back up the trail I should have been on today, then onto back roads rejoining the trail a few kilometers south of Burra and back into town.
One ring forming a side of the chain guide was too small allowing the chain to skip over it occasionally. So on returning to Burra I made a slightly bigger guide ring. I took this arrangement up a badly corrugated road to the Burra Mine to give it a real shake up. It didn't slip once.
So it was all systems go to get back on the trail tomorrow towards Clare. I'll have to come back and finish off the Spalding to Burra section of the trail another time. In the meantime at least I can keep going.
Had a look around Burra for the remainder of the afternoon. Fantastic town with lots of history. Poked around a couple of antique shops to kill time and followed this up with scones and cream at a cafe. My shorts are getting a bit loose so hopefully the cream etc. will help correct this.
NO WAY you are a dude. Top job you bush mechanic. There's a blog that inspired me to ride, but it is long gone now, but that guy I remember he had a photo of his tyres, both of them, the tubes removed and the rubber crammed full of dry grass to simulate the inflated tyre. He had gone through so many puncture repair and tubes it was his last option. Hall of Fame for you!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jez...the beauty of the pushy is that unlike a modern car they're simple enough to get going after most breakdowns.
ReplyDeleteI think I remember reading about the grass in the tires. Legendary stuff!