My experience with slime is (a) it doesn't help reduce punctures, and (b) it makes a real mess when you do get a puncture. I must admit my experience is quite limited; after two messy failures in rapid succession I gave up.

Was your slime tube really soft? (sorry - sounds a bit rude)

 

I tried to try slime tubes and tried to support my local LBS by buying from him, despite the fact that he's a total crook. While trying to fit them, I ruptured both within minutes - a very rapid waste of money. It could have been my being hamfisted, but I don't think so... my theory is, that they had been on the shelf so long the slime had softened the rubber. Well, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it. And the ruptures didn't seal themselves either. Maybe I would have had better luck with fresher slime tubes bought online?

It came in a bottle to dose the wheels with.

It came in a bottle to dose the wheels with.

 

Slime ended up all over the place... and then I spotted a warning on the slime website which stated it weakens metal, and they don't recommend it's use for more than some number of years. Washed it off best I could, bought new wheels since. [mention=11305]soundwave[/mention] uploaded a pic of his shattered rim a while ago, having had used Stan's tubeless concoction.

Yep they sure are.

They aggressively protect their nest within 10 - 30m and dessimate all insect life, esp honeybees.

 

I have heard naby a case where fit people with no past history have reacted badly and die from one sting. Generally away from the nest they pose normally little danger.

So far over the last six years all inccursions have been dealt with, if they do manage to get established they will cause not only big problems for the honeybees and other insects but will likely be an issue for humans over hear due to the housing density.

 

A nest of these buggers in full swing can be some 1m in diameter and they build the nests near to their main prey so within 0.5 km. Honeybees are their main prey.

 

They have had a time of it in jersey where they have become established and in france and portugal. The limiting factor over here may be our autumn weather being to cold and wet for them to get going properly.

 

Tarantulas aren't a threat to bees, but may be indicative of a warming climate

 

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/mum-whos-terrified-spiders-finds-7735465

The Homcom did this year's final pumpkin haul last night, when the roads were quiet and emptier. Despite the pumpkin cargo being heavier, it was easy to haul over 12 miles, because I wasn't dragging a trailer which had a completely flat tyre this time lol.

 

I had difficulty lifting two of my largest pumpkins - must weigh those. The rest are pretty small in comparison, and easy to carry back in a rucksack. Small pumpkins are everywhere this year, due to the hot dry summer.

 

 

[mention=34503]matthewslack[/mention] 's excellent GuerneyCar Deflectors did a marvellous job of keeping cars away. Handily, the pipe lagging arrived as packaging for my new wheels last year.

 

Edited October 27, 20223 yr by guerney

I've just weighed the heaviest of this year's pumpkins: 19.8lbs. Most of the first wave of crown princes are around that weight, and the rest are smaller. About 28 (I think) in total, which is less than last year due to the insanely dry weather. What's surprising is that the two heaviest, are from the later planted second wave. I would have had to have made many trips to get that lot home without the trailer - water carriage would have been much harder too... this cheapo Homcom trailer was well worth buying. The tyres and inner tubes it comes with are utter crap, but the rest gets the job done.

 

As expected, the steel tubing has some rust spots where various things have scraped or pounded the paint away. Hammerite obviously, and white - but I'm also thinking about applying highly reflective paint of some sort. I don't know if anyone else here has tried this stuff, which might be laquer with tiny reflective beads? I might use this as a top layer to improve visibility. The photos are from a user review, looks like it might be of use. Black is a stupid colour for a trailer.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reflect-Light-reflective-lacquer-spray/dp/B000O5248M/ref=

 

 

Also on ebay

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/293860010374

 

Well, that's me sorted for winter veg, plus spring and much of summer - I was still eating the last of last year's harvest at the end of August this year, because they keep for ages if kept in cool, dark and dry conditions.

Edited October 29, 20223 yr by guerney

I've just weighed the heaviest of this year's pumpkins: 19.8lbs. Most of the first wave of crown princes are around that weight, and the rest are smaller. About 28 (I think) in total, which is less than last year due to the insanely dry weather. What's surprising is that the two heaviest, are from the later planted second wave. I would have had to have made many trips to get that lot home without the trailer - water carriage would have been much harder too... this cheapo Homcom trailer was well worth buying. The tyres and inner tubes it comes with are utter crap, but the rest gets the job done.

 

As expected, the steel tubing has some rust spots where various things have scraped or pounded the paint away. Hammerite obviously, and white - but I'm also thinking about applying highly reflective paint of some sort. I don't know if anyone else here has tried this stuff, which might be laquer with tiny reflective beads? I might use this as a top layer to improve visibility. The photos are from a user review, looks like it might be of use. Black is a stupid colour for a trailer.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reflect-Light-reflective-lacquer-spray/dp/B000O5248M/ref=

 

 

Also on ebay

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/293860010374

 

Well, that's me sorted for winter veg, plus spring and much of summer - I was still eating the last of last year's harvest at the end of August this year, because they keep for ages if kept in cool, dark and dry conditions.

My daughter got an extra pumpkin for Halloween one time, left on top of wardrobe and forgotten. Till it did what they do, foment in the warmth, explode and spread it's seeds and gloop across the bedroom.

My daughter got an extra pumpkin for Halloween one time, left on top of wardrobe and forgotten. Till it did what they do, foment in the warmth, explode and spread it's seeds and gloop across the bedroom.

 

You've got to watch out for those Narnian pumpkins - wardrobes are their kryptonite

 

Those cables that my Dahon Helios has sticking out front, are a nightmare when power cables have to be soldered to exact size for lights and switches on the handlebar, so that the bike folds neatly. It's taking ages... And 3mm thick walled alumium rectangular section arrived today, which I was thinking of replacing the pallet wood with, upon which my battery is resting on the rear rack... but it seems too heavy - I'll stick with thin, light and rot proof pallet wood for now, I think.

Amazing, this is the third time I didn't manage to kill my controller while adding lights. I might actually be getting the hand of this soldering lark. All lights work as intended. Now if drivers worry me, I can suddenly bathe my Homcom trailer in a red bright or bright flashing halo (the light will likely be hidden behind larger loads) without making myself nauseaus because the front two headlights are also flashing (or one flashing, other dim or bright etc.) If I contain the cargo with a large white rubble sack, my back will also be bathed in bright red light. Now all I've got to do, is plaster self amalgamating waterproofing rubber tape over all my soldered connections... then I'm ready for winter...

I see these pumpkin hauls seem to be being carried out under the cover of darkness.

 

Are you a pumpkin thief ?

Here's a daytime view of last year's pumpkin patch. Bamboo poles indicate where to water - in rainier summers they grow so vigorously, it's imposible to see where they start or end.

 

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/766465080

My latest effort at high-visibility: I applied reflective orange tape to the sides of my Zefal Dooback II wing mirrors, which in bright light looks yellow. It's tape stuck to itself; reflective on the opposite side. Because of the mirror angle, they're also visible from behind, for passing cars to notice the width of my bike's handlebars. They'll fall off... could replace with plastic orange reflectors, if I can find a pair with the right shape to be filed to fit well on those mirror sides, to then stick on with araldite. The white front reflective tape could do with replacing - it's looking a bit tatty after two years.

 

 

The white relective rolls underneath are Dahon's excellent self-coiling £2.99 ankle reflectors - springy, long, very reflective, completely waterproof and they stay on, but I decided they'd more useful on the handlebar. They can coil around most parts of the bike, be placed on rucksack straps etc. - I'll buy a few more.

 

 

https://foldingbike.biz/epages/7665e38c-067c-4fa0-9037-afac2266f927.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/7665e38c-067c-4fa0-9037-afac2266f927/Products/DAHTROUSERBAND

Edited November 14, 20223 yr by guerney

[mention=9614]Nealh[/mention] - This amazing looking and quite lustworthy full sized titanium framed folding bike, with it's single sided axle - reminded me of a Mike Burrows designed bike you linked some time ago.

 

Once I've done my next bank job, this looks like an ideal donor bike for conversion to an electrified bike trailer hauler. Aside from the absence of mudguards.

 

 

 

https://helix.ca/

Still uses a traditional rear drop out, other wise not to different to a cannodale lefty design.

Cannondale being the only large producer employing the lefty fork, though MB used it's conception well before them on his prototype and low production run of bikes.

 

The 8 freight being a prime example of the front and rear single side forks.

I believe Giant ditched the concept and went back to std drop outs .

Still no mudguards, doesn't fold, but has very interesting front suspension:

 

 

https://www.mbr.co.uk/news/rocksled-linkage-fork-394787

No mudguards on this new folding electric bike either:

 

https://insideevs.com/news/618711/oxfo-ox1-folding-electric-bicycle/

 

 

What happens to them when they get home?

 

They become months of "free" weird breakfast

 

 

...and months of "free" lunches and dinners, in many many different ways...

They become months of "free" weird breakfast

 

[ATTACH type=full" alt="49641]49641[/ATTACH]

 

...and months of "free" lunches and dinners, in many many different ways...

More of a sweet potato, butternut squash kind of guy myself, but looks tempting!

More of a sweet potato, butternut squash kind of guy myself, but looks tempting!

 

Lovely with a huge knob of butter, salt and pepper, and a tiny drizzle of soya sauce on the side... Crown Prince pumpkin tastes a bit like butternut squash, only richer and a bit sweeter, with a Maris Piper-like crumbly texture. I'll be eating these till the next harvest - takes a fair amount of creativity to prevent being bored, but like last year, I won't need to buy much veg.

For the short term at least, I'm going to switch off the bike battery, connect a waterproof extension cable and simply relocate my 1800LM red rear flashing light from my bike rack, to the trailer's passing corner - this will be easy to secure to the Homcom trailer's tubing. The same light can be easily secured to the Carry Freedom Small Y, because it's just two M5 bolts (I'll add two washers), which could be bolted up from underneath through two small holes drilled through the platform.

Having lost a very carefully waterproofed cheapo Blackrock leather glove, I scored a pair of these Aldi "Waterproof" winter gloves - they feel warm and have smartphone screen swipe-friendly index fingertips. I bet they're just as bad as the last synthetic ones I tried:

 

https://www.aldi.co.uk/all-round-winter-gloves-mix/p/817746677599800

Although my BBS01B Dahon Helios folding bike conversion vanquishes all hills, even while dragging heavy bike trailers - with the extremely steep ones I sometimes get a little miffed at the lack of speed while doing so (52T>32T, I won't fit a smaller chainwheel, as I need speed on the flats), and it's in those moments I consider increasing controller amps from 15A to 19A. The controller can be set to 20A max, and the battery BMS is limited to 22A, but I have an independent circuit for lights soldered to my battery (3 X 1800LM plus another) which use <1A in total (I think), and I'm leaving 1A out of caution = 19A. If I were to reduce the lifespan of my battery by demanding more amps, I'd increase beyond 15A in small hops. But at the moment, more speed up extremely steep hills isn't needed, and I'd prefer my battery to live long and prosper. In use, I don't actually need 9 levels, the final 3 would be Hillspeeder/Megahaul modes:

 

 

Edited July 7, 20232 yr by guerney

[mention=9614]Nealh[/mention] - This amazing looking and quite lustworthy full sized titanium framed folding bike, with it's single sided axle - reminded me of a Mike Burrows designed bike you linked some time ago.

 

Once I've done my next bank job, this looks like an ideal donor bike for conversion to an electrified bike trailer hauler. Aside from the absence of mudguards.

 

 

 

https://helix.ca/

That is a nice bike.

Still no mudguards, doesn't fold, but has very interesting front suspension:

 

 

https://www.mbr.co.uk/news/rocksled-linkage-fork-394787

Reminiscent to the early USE Sub fork

SUB stood for Stability Under Braking, as they tried to develop tech back then to counter brake dive.

 

My fave was the Amp F4 BLT as shown mocked up on my RSP 550 dyna-tech titanium. Great looking fork, but dived a bit on braking which took a lot of getting used to.