Ice Bits Riding, Missed Snow Day, More Project MB-1

This past week started out with nearly 24 hour local news of the big storm coming to town. Monday, as you can see from above, we got something, it was not really snow and not really ice, snice? While cold, it was not bad for the morning commute, not slippery like our earlier frozen frost mornings. Well, it was so cool out with the ice bits, that I took some on the bike shots, too.

The trick with the moving shots was I had some camera button issues because of the winter gloves I was wearing. Danged buttons are pretty small and close together. Several times I shot the camera off when I was trying to push the shutter button.

After Monday's snice, Tuesday was just kinda wet, with some coldness. Then, Tuesday night we got our snow. It was wet snow, I could tell by the way it droooooped off the car in the driveway.

I like the snow. I love the quietness it brings. I went outside to take this shot at around 11pm something. So . . . . . quiet. And, pretty.

Well, very, very shortly after I shot this . . . BAM . . . no more electricity. The wet, heavy snow was starting to take its toll and areas were blacking out.

Now it was even quieter . . . and darker. It was still amazing how bright it was though. If you look closely, you can see how the snow was drooping off the rear window of my car. Can you say, wet snow?

Project MB-1

As has been said many times before me, "A project bike is never done . . ." I decided to refine the headlight battery mount just a little, as it was not as tight as I would like.

(Fabrication pictures: Project MB-1 Battery Mount Pictures)

The refinement is a bit subtle, but remember, I be a perfectionist, lol. The key change was to lengthen the lower support piece and use a small piece of double-sided tape to reduce twisting and offset the jostling happening while avoiding road junk and hitting driveways and ramps. Also, I added a upper lip to do the same thing.

Installed, you cannot really see a whole of difference, except the bracket appears a little longer, which, of course, it is.

Overall, the bike is working out great and is fun to ride. The geometry and fit feel good and I just like looking at it, so that is a good sign, too.

The only sad thing is that I missed the chance for a snow ride, since I ended up getting sick. I think the issues of harder breathing in the cold recently finally caught up with me, plus, apparently a bunch of us in a meeting Monday were dropping out sick, so I get to blame someone at work.

Project MB-1 - DiNotte 300R Tail Light Mount

Frame is still with my  painter, it had to be back to the frame builder for a minor fix up. Having a perfectionist painter is a good match for a perfectionist bicyclist. Since I cannot assemble the bike, yet, I can work on some of the smaller design details with what I do have.

In my desire to have less wires and such, I have upgraded my tail light from my original DiNotte 120R (AA batteries) to the 300R, built-in lithium model. It is both quite a bit larger and quite a bit brighter.

I spent today fabricating a mounting bracket to securely attach the light to the seat rails. This keeps the seat post lines clean and puts the light just a little bit higher for visibility purposes. I love the fact it can be charged via a standard USB cable.



I started with a trip to my local hardware store to get cushioned "P" clamps, some fasteners and some aluminum flat bar stock. Then, cuz it's cold in the garage, I take the seat off and do some design work. The clamps? Pretty straightforward. Now how to bend the bar stock to go from the seat angle to a near vertical?

To get the primary bend angle, I used a cardboard template, attaching it to the back of the light. Holding it up I made the first bend near the light, which sets the base angle. As I played with the second bend, I noticed it would be easier to bend a curve rather than another sharp angle. The advantage would be the ability to fine tune which is harder once I do put a sharp bend in.

As you can see,  it came out pretty well, okay, at least that is my story.

Here the light is attached to the bracket. Fairly simple, clean, secure. Not a bad DIY, heh? At least the tail light is ready to go for Project MB-1.