I got a new part for the Sprint-T yesterday

I bought an assembly from the jungle store, that was intended for semi-trucks that holds 2 4 x 6 headlights. It’s a bit wide for the Sprint-T, but I can trim it down to fit better. It was serendipity that I found this as I was just looking for the headlight buckets to fit the lights I already purchased, expecting to have to fabricate the backing plate and the adjusting screws and springs, now all I have to do is assign wire colors to the headlight pins to connect the existing harness to the rest of the car because this is buckets, adjusting screws and springs and backing plate all together in one inexpensive assembly. That and make the structure to mount these assemblies to the fenders. Also I won’t need to make a waterproof structure to protect the wiring because the bracket already is a waterproof structure that I just have to seal against water from the tire inside the fender.

The assemblies have the three-wire headlight harness but the wires aren’t pinned to the included sockets, so I’ll have to decide which color wire goes to which headlight pin. I have black, red and green wires to assign, the black is easy, that’s ground. The red and green are less easy as I want to make this repairable but any klutz with a pair of wire pliers and a soldering iron who knows the automotive color code. And from what I can find there is no universal color code for headlights beyond making the ground wire black the rest of the wires are of any and all colors and some with white or black stripes. So future mechanic trying to repair a broken Sprint-T the low beam positive is red, the high beam is green.

Now as I was saying the big bracket that holds all this mess is a heavy injection molding about 15.5″ wide by 6.5″ tall with all the wiring inside the bracket, while the usual street tires I’m going to be running are a bit more than 10″ wide (255/60R15), meaning there’s going to be some excess width either to the outside or inside of the tire, or split to either side. Actually I was going to trim this mess so that the fender sides just clear the adjusting pivots on either side of the headlights, and the top was just clear of any adjustment screws. That makes it “only” 14.5″ wide by 6.25″ tall. It’s important to make this as small as possible to minimize frontal area of the tire fairings. The other consideration is the bottom of the headlights has to be 24″ from the ground at rest to pass inspection in Texas. If this was an airplane I would make the fenders only as tall and wide as needed to cover the tires because there would be nothing else to take into consideration, but on a car they’re an ideal place to mount the headlights because they’re both the widest and most far forward places on the car. So I have to make the top of the fenders tall enough to make the bottom of the headlights 24″ high, where if I was mounting the headlights anyplace else I would just have to make the fenders so that the tire would just kiss the inside of the top at extreme jounce travel.

The problem is there isn’t anyplace else to mount 4 headlights and still make them far enough apart to pass inspection in Texas. If I mount them in the only other logical place on the front of the car they would be practically a solid light bar on the front of the car 31″ wide across the nose, because that is how wide the nose of the car has to be to clear the tires at full lock and cover the radiator. In the fenders they have enough separation to make 2 distinct lights and also make it possible to determine how far away the car is at night to allow pedestrians to estimate speed and distance before trying to cross the road in front of the car. Headlight mounting width was a problem with the first Baja Bug conversions, because some states didn’t approve of the 2 lights in the nose that were even closer than the early Jeeps. I’m not sure about if Texas was one of those states, but a Google search says it was as it requires headlights “on either side” of the motor vehicle. (TXVC547.302) And after measuring the bracket and doing some quick arithmetic of the wheel travel and diameter I can say the bottom of the headlight will definitely be above 24″ from the ground at static ride height if I make the top of the tire just kiss the inside top of the fender with the headlights mounted as high as possible in the fender and the ride height at rest of 6″, or 3″ at full bump travel. Woo! Still legal at minimum frontal area!

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I can’t wait any longer

As much as I do not want to expose my massage tech to infection, I’m to the point that if I don’t get a massage very soon I won’t be able to function. I had to take a break from dinner tonight because I was having problems getting food into my mouth, which is a sure sign I have something wrong with me. The neck problem is making it hard to use my phone, my laptop, watch TV, fool around with my wife. Basically everything but use the toilet, so far. I don’t want to jinx it because I know I’m going to have problems using the toilet at some point because of this neck problem, I just don’t know how at the moment. And right now it HURTS all the time.

No kidding, every once in a while I move my head just the wrong way and I get tears running down my face. It’s really sudden, I’m just tootling along minding my own business and WHAM! it feels like I just took a 2 by 4 across the back of my neck and everything locks up for a second and tears are running down my face. While the pain is going it’s like I can’t move because it might make things worse or something, like my fight, flight, or freeze kicks in and sets everything to freeze.

On more pleasant fronts, I got another package from Speedway Motors containing the seat mount I have been waiting on. Now I have something to bolt the seat to and mount to the inside of the car. And I will have a way for other skinny-assed people like me to sit in the car and it won’t matter if they have long or short legs because the seat can move forward or back so they can reach the pedals. The package also had the gas pedal, taillights, mounting pads for same, and some stickers and a Street Rod parts catalog. The gas pedal is really neat with a clockable arm to connect to the throttle cable and everything works smooth as butter and the whole thing costs less than the local cost of buying the raw stock locally and that doesn’t even count the bushings. Now if you’re wondering how they can do this, a big part of it is they buy raw stock in ton lots, while I have to pay retail prices for a few pounds of stock at a time and because of minimum purchases I wind up with a lot of scrap left over that may or may not be usable in another project down the road. Anyway for the Sprint-T the arm has to be on the right and the pedal on the left of the bracket to keep the pedal from hitting the transmission tunnel and also leave room for the throttle arm to not hit the steering column or the brake pedal bracket because there is just that little room between the transmission tunnel and the inside of the driver’s side of the body, even with the engine moved to the right for balance.

The taillights I’ve linked in the past, but basically they’re round and red with chrome bezels and a black mounting gasket and enough bulge to have some function as sidemarker lights. Obviously I need to install a red marker on the rear fenders and an amber marker in the fronts, but these have a little more for a little extra margin of visibility.

I’m still thinking about DRL and fog lights (which are allowed to be the same thing under the regs) but my Scrooge Genes kick in every time I look ones up that meet the regs for dual use. Seriously they’re like $60 a pair, which is more than I spent on all 4 headlights, which can also be used as DRL on the high beam circuit. So that one is still up in the air. I can buy a headlight controller that only lights the high beam part of the headlight while still leaving the rest of the headlight off, but the thing is I don’t know if the headlights I bought have that ability until I can get a 12V power supply/battery charger to test them. The web page didn’t make that explicit when I bought them, just that all 4 lights were high-low beam.

Something else I’m thinking about is getting the steering around the radiator and getting the radiator cap under the bulge in the nose so it can be filled without removing the nose by opening a flap in that bulge, and putting a funnel into the radiator neck… Woo. (Tom Slick unenthused crowd noise) If I have the numbers right I can sneak the pittman arm out in front of the radiator from the side without having to do anything that interferes with either cooling or steering, by putting the steering box right beside the radiator so the steering column is clear. Still thinking, still planning, still working…

Working on the look of the front of the car

I have been looking for smaller headlights for the Mid-Bucket (aka Thunderbolt Grease Slapper 2) because the standard 7″ round headlights make the poor car look like it has a bad case of the Girly-Eyed Measles . A standard T grill and radiator look normal with the 7″ headlights, probably because the stock model T had 10″ headlights. But for some reason they are just too big when I put them on the TGS2. I would like to be able to just install a single high-low LED projector unit in a bullet housing but they don’t seem to be available as single units, and I lack the tools needed to spin a sheet into a bullet housing.

Getting smaller lights in a configuration that is street legal is not hard, but not cheap either. This is the best bang for the buck I have found so far. Drag Specialties 5 3/4″ LED Headlight Assembly . As you can see compared to a standard 7 inch sealed beam in an aimable housing it’s rather pricey, especially since I can go down to the local autoparts store and buy a sealed beam for under $10 (the previous link was just for the bucket but add $10 for the light and you see what I’m saying).

What’s really annoying is there are 4½” LED spot and fog lights available that look like the larger 5³/₄” lights but are either spot or fog not high/low. The manufacturer even calls them “headlights” in the part description, but they’re not, they’re just driving and fog lights.

Well I have to get up early for another trip to the Lab Rat Keeper in the morning so I’ll end this now.

Lots of church today

We had lots of church today and I had a lot of e-mail and never got around to making the post. Also the cats tore up my office when I couldn’t get them out before morning service, and the cops asked Mrs. the Poet if she was OK when I was doing a burn test on the strobe setting on my new light. Yes, it’s that bright. BTW the strobe setting lasts about 1.9 times as long as the “high” setting, so the duty cycle in roughly 50% ± a bit.

Other things happened, and I missed dessert.

PSA, Opus

Moar cat pictures, and the Feed

We had a call from the Daughter In Scotland this afternoon and when she was informed we had kittens she requested I post pictures where she could find them. So without further adieu, when the cats stopped bouncing around the house like guided fuzzball missiles I snapped a shot of each.


Enjoy your cat pictures.

Up first are links from opposite sides of the country about the same subject. UPDATED: Driver Who Struck, Killed Bicyclist in Bethesda Won’t Face Criminal Charges and Why Jolene Friedow only got a traffic ticket in the collision that killed Mark Angeles Same problem in two different states, dangerous driving that breaks traffic laws and gets people killed is not an actual crime that can get steep fines and/or prison time. So the “cure” is to make a death as a result of a traffic violation a misdemeanor that carries mandatory loss of license for a period of time with loss of vehicle if caught driving during that time. I leave the amount of time as an exercise for the student.

After that we need something less upsetting, like our Daily Ted. Morning Links: LA’s Mobility Plan up for review today, and a call for to join or renew membership in LACBC

Still in CA. Cyclist injured in Oxnard accident Can I just say this narrative makes no sense? The cyclist was riding north on one street while the driver was driving east on the other, but the cyclist was hit “after entering the roadway.” At what point did the cyclist leave the roadway? The street view shows a quiet residential neighborhood with on-street parking and long straight streets.

Cycling in NYC can get a little hairy. Losing Your Fear Of Biking In NYC: Are Stop Lights Optional? Most of the article is basically saying “Pay attention to your surroundings!” when you ride and noted she only runs reds in places where she would feel safe jaywalking.

Still in NYC sometimes it ain’t safe to walk on the sidewalk. Pedestrian Killed, 3 Injured When Driver Jumps Brooklyn Sidewalk “No criminality suspected” in spite of the fact the weapon vehicle was upside down and flying when it hit the victim. And the fact the driver was driving on a suspended license…

Still in NYC and yet another pedestrian is killed with a car. Cab Driver Had Been Working 16 Hours When He Killed UWS Great-Grandmother Run down in the crosswalk by a driver at work 4 hours longer than legally allowed. And if you’re wondering why I’m including all these pedestrian fatalities, well they would have been just as fatal if a cyclist had been there because every one went through the bicycle area of the road (bike lane or no) before killing the pedestrians.

Another SWCC wreck in IL. Bicyclist killed in crash near Oakbrook Center and Lombard man on bicycle killed in Oak Brook crash The only surviving witness claimed the cyclist ran a red light. Since there is nothing to corroborate maybe he did, maybe he didn’t but either way cyclists have to be ready for drivers on intercept courses in intersections.

I think this was one of those scooter things and not a bicycle in spite of the name. 2 hurt as taxi and e-bike collide in Guelph Since there were two on the bike I’m pretty positive that’s the case, but the speed range is the same for those scooters in the Great White North as it is for e-assist bikes in the US, so everything in this blog applies except the not riding two up on one bike (except for tandems). Looks like a hit-from-behind wreck.

Example of UK clickbait article. I want to be nice to cyclists – but I’m sick of the kamikazes Oohh, surrounded by soft squishy people while in a light armored (excuse me, armoured) vehicle. The horrors. Teh bike cooties might get on you, or something. Seriously woman, get a grip. BTW don’t read the comments section if you like your brains to stay between your ears.

Speaking of crazies, someone needs to slap some sense into this plod. How I was threatened with arrest as a terrorist for trying to take a photo of a police car parked in a bike lane Sounds like this idjit got his training at the NYPD academy…

Nutter kills cyclist with knife several times over, gets long term vacation in the funny farm. Jason Voong guilty of ‘motiveless’ manslaughter and assault Seriously, the man was deranged.

I thought this link was connected to the previous paragraph until I took a good look at the URL and discovered they were not even in the same hemisphere. Man charged with attempted murder over cyclist stabbing Another less than sane person attacks a cyclist for nonsensical reasons. I blame Rupert Murdoch.

Also from Oz. Cycling stars ride to raise safety awareness Maybe they can do something about Murdoch…

More on the Enn Zed cyclist who was walking his bike because it was too dark to ride. Pedestrian killed near Nelson named

Really? ‘Beyoncé On A Bike’ Opens Sexualized Can Of Worms Sex symbol rides a bike, a sensible bike with fenders and a front basket, and everyone goes ape over the picture? Because sex symbol, therefore sexualized. Another example of people just “not getting it”.

I have been making the point for years that while helmets might be useful for individual cyclists, helmet laws just make things more dangerous for cyclists as a whole, and now there has been a study that proves me right. The Latest Evidence That Helmet Laws Don’t Help Bike Safety

And last link another front on the lumen wars. The Case Against Bright-as-the-Sun Flashing Bike Lights I can’t say as I have ever had to deal with one of those bright blinkies, every time I have encountered another bike at night they had reasonable lights or none at all. Most had none at all, nor did they have reflectors. My bike resembles Tokyo at night with all the lights.

And I’m all outta links again. Go do something useful.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Blue is back in the garage somewhat the worse for wear, and the Feed

First the good news, Blue is sitting next to Francis/es in the garage and is in repairable condition. Now the bad news, he was not well cared for while he was away. He is missing the kitty litter bucket panniers I built, and also the taillight I added. Apparently whoever removed the panniers just ripped the brackets apart which had the side effect of also removing the taillight that was bolted to the back pannier bracket. The headlight still had the NiMH cells I had in it when Blue was stolen which means those cells haven’t been charged since 08/2013. I have them in the charger now and the charger indicates the cells are in at least halfway decent condition, so we will see what condition the light is in after the cells come up to charge. The tires are flat, so I will probably need to get new tubes. The worst things are the seat cover, shifters, and rear derailler. I’m pretty sure the rear derailler was ruined after the police got the bike because it was left without putting the wheels back on after the officer had to remove them for transporting Blue to the evidence locker. The rest of it is because I’m pretty sure Blue got left outside and uncovered most of the time after he was stolen. So, the repair list so far is two shifters and a rear derailler, seat cover, probably a new chain and rear cluster (they were on the verge when Blue was stolen), tubes and maybe tires, and a new taillight and NiMH batteries for it. I will also need to get a battery for the computer and repair the mounts for the speed and cadence sensors. Lots of work to do. Lots of parts to buy.

Up first, more on the doored cyclist in Oz. Cyclists ride in memory of Italian killed in Sydney Road dooring incident and Riders pay respect to Alberto Paulon, killed in Brunswick dooring I don’t get the reduction of the speed limit to 40 km/hr because the speed limit was already reduced to 40 kph for the time period the cyclist was killed (daylight). The speed of passing traffic had nothing to do with the wreck, what caused the wreck was allowing parked cars to place the advisory bike lane (the dashed line made the lane advisory i.e. be aware there might be bikes present) completely inside the door zone. What made the wreck fatal was the size of the vehicle which was traveling at between 20 and 25 MPH when it hit the cyclist. The cyclist barely hit the ground when he was hit by the truck, meaning the truck driver had no time to react to the cyclist falling in front of him, and unless the speed limit was reduced to 10 km/hr (6 MPH) there was no way for any driver to react to the cyclist. Remove the parking and the danger goes away. This is almost 100% an infrastructure problem caused by over-allowing for cars.

Also a semi-big story is a cyclist killed in Canuckistan. City will see its 16th ghost bike in 8 years and Family of Edmonton cyclist killed still waiting for answers

FL is starting to realize that they are killing cyclists, and their [$DEITY]-awful infrastructure has a lot to do with it, that and their really crappy driving. Florida bike crashes: 7 things that may shock you The handlebar camera and rear-facing camera video was very unnerving, particularly when you realize how much further away the wide angle lens makes close passes look.

East Canuckistan fines a driver a small amount for being at fault in a fatal bike wreck. Driver fined in death of cyclist I don’t know exactly how much the driver was fined because the article was behind a paywall. But from the first sentence I knew the driver was at fault in the wreck.

They caught another suspect in the knife murder of a teen cyclist in Jolly Olde. Fourth arrest over cyclist Alan Cartwright’s murder

And can you believe this? John Oliver Created a Summer Blockbuster to Make You Care About Our Infrastructure “If anything exciting happens, we’ve done it wrong.” This is critical to cyclists as they even mentioned in the video, where a cyclist dies because of a pothole that tossed him off the bike.

This just in, the old batteries in the headlight took a charge and the headlight works, Yay! XD

And I’m outta links again, see you on Sunday.

Another caffeine-fueled day, and the Feed

Just not feeling the need to eat today, so I’m working the second half-gallon of coffee instead. I have to do something to maintain my “girlish” figure, right? I mean I have found where all the new pounds are going and there is literally nothing I can do about it short of starving myself periodically. The extra weight is coming in my chest and shoulders, unless Mrs. the Poet has found a way to make all my shirts tighter up top and looser in the middle. And I’m sure that lump on the back of my neck has something to do with the weight gain above and beyond the fact that I can’t ride a bike because it exists on my neck. The thing is huge now, and is seriously interfering with my daily life. And it has to weigh at least a pound all by itself.

Up first is an arrest in a drunken vehicular assault down in the RGV of TX. Three Cyclist Injured, Suspect Faces Charges I think whoever supplied the minor with alcohol needs to be charged in the crime also. And something needs to be done to keep drunks off the roads. I’m in favor of taking the cars away from drivers caught driving drunk, but I don’t know how that would keep people from driving drunk in the first place.

And over in Houston they are building something approximating Dutch-quality infrastructure. Take a Look at Houston’s First On-Street Protected Bike Lane and New Green Bike Lanes Downtown And they need to put another protected bi-directional lane on the other half of the couplet so that people can access destinations on the street going the other direction. But baby steps…

And some people are just scum. ‘GHOST BIKES’ VANISHING FROM HOUSTON STREETS

And from a link gleaned from the previous paragraph, Denton and Lewisville are going to get connected by bicycle infrastructure getting round the I35E blockage. Path offers ride alongside rails This fills a critical gap in getting around the north central part of the Metroplex. Until now cyclists wanting to get from Dallas County to Denton had to either take the A Train or go through Frisco and cross over on 380, neither of which is ideal.

Next state over is an update on a wreck from a few years back. Severly injured cyclist says his life was ruined by drunk driver in fatal 2012 Perkins Road crash This guy was messed up even worse than I was, and the other guy died. The driver had a BAC of 0.307% which means that if he wasn’t an alcoholic he would have been unconscious.

A little PR from CO. Crammer: You know me, I ride a bike Making cyclists “human” instead of “other” makes some drivers think twice about running one over. I hope so anyway.

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: LA finally gets tough on hit-and-run, Calimesa driver convicted in fatal DUI hit-and-run

I question where the thrust of this “enforcement” push will be directed. UAPD awarded grant to patrol bike, pedestrian violations I’m thinking they will go after imaginary bike and pedestrian violations while ignoring motor vehicles because chasing down motor vehicles to issue tickets is dangerous while stopping pedestrians and cyclists is much safer.

The Chinese BSO Wal-Mart sells will get painted and partially assembled in the US before getting boxed and shipped to Wal-Marts. Made-in-America bikes hit Wal-Mart “Assembled in USA from components manufactured elsewhere” bikes come to Wal-Mart…

A “rah, rah” link from CA. Attorney Ramin Soofer of the Soofer Law Group Praises Operation Firefly Yay! Headlights.

A cyclist in Canuckistan gets an unpleasant surprise after a right hook. Cyclist Rylan Kafara gets $6,000 bill after collision with SUV

Another protest I was invited to attend and cover over in Jolly Olde. London Cyclists Stage Protest in Memory of Greek Bike Rider

Some infrastructure news from Jolly Olde that does not bode well for the future. Taking Cyclists Off Roads Is No Way to Improve Transit As the article points out there are a number of proposals that spend buckets of money to just get cyclists off the roads but not let them get to where they need to go.

And I have run out of links again.

Billed @ €0.02, Opus the Poet