Track Check | Bülk Velomobile Maintenance

 

Track Check (EN) | Bülk Velomobile Maintenance

Article made after the text from video. Enjoy!

 

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Hi, I'm Jan from VelomobileWorld.com and we shoot here a maintenance video, so have fun.

 

In today's video I wanna explain you how to check your track. So you drive, let's say a couple of thousand km and it's good to check the track if you have for example some space on your bearings, if all the screws are still attached properly, so come a bit closer and I will show you.

 

So the first step to verify is if you have play on this angle joints, I think it called. Could be that it has another name, but these parts. So I check here and I check here and this is a new bike, so I don't have one (play), but it can be, there is for example play on the screw on this angle profile, so what you do in such a case you take the angle joint down and let me see if this fits, yes it fits... Let me get an inbus key (Allen key), I forgot to get that one... So here on this side there is an inbus and ... I tighten this one, in this case it was tight, but in case it's not tight, you tighten this one up pretty strongly and put these back. So first a small washer, than the angle joint, a small washer, a big washer and then tighten this one, make sure in case you took this down and you're not sure about this break, this... if it has still power, better change it or put some Loctite 243 on the thread. It's also very important to check the counter nuts if they are tight, if they are not then... this is a bit... not so easy to reach. Probably it's better to take it off again and then you can tighten like this, so it's tight towards each other, then here, this longitude bar is going through the wheel well and I check if it's not... I take it like this to pull and push in that direction if it has no play. Also it's important... I take this off again, it's not taking that much time to do, so... I check if this play goes easy... because if this goes very difficult then if you are steering this longitude rod will be bended and that's very bad because it will tire the metal and it will break, so this needs to go up and down easily and in case of you have a bit of play like in this way, then on this side there is a screw nut that you tight a bit, but don't tighten too much because then this play will be to difficult and then you get this bending force on it.

 

Now I Will take this one out to show you how it's assembled, in order that you better understand how much you need to tighten it or not to tighten it. So now I take this off, with one hand I block this rod, otherwise it might be that... It doesn't want to get out. It's always nice for the video to do everything perfect and then you don't manage it...

 

So... As you can see here we have two rubbers, than there is, I think it's called tule and then the rubber again. Here you see a little space, this one is in the wheel well, so these two rubbers are more a protection if you drive through pothole and this rubber dams the shock, in order the shock doesn't come on the carbon fiber. It could function without these rubbers but as I told you, if you would drive through a pothole this is not a great thing for the carbon fiber because it comes real shock on it and you might destroy the wheel well which will corrupt in time the quality of your bike, it might break through the carbon, so make sure to have two rubber washers, then you have the tule that you push in the carbon fiber in the hole and then this one.

 

I will show you also how to replace this bar end or angle joint and then we put everything back again. So if you need to replace this one because you have play you can... So you untighten this and then you can take it off, put the new one on, tight it again, this needs to be tighten pretty strong. Let me see... So, this is tight, we put this back and I wanna give you still one tip, after on the end where you have to look at.

 

To put it back it has to be put back here, but because the camera film anything because my hand needs to be in front of it, I found at the bottom of the bike an exactly the same size of hole, so I show you how to do it there, but I put it of course here in. As I told you the tule need to be assembled there, but I have here exactly the same size hole and here we can show you. So it's a bit of... yeah, a bit of work to get it in, use a screwdriver, not to pointy because otherwise you will destroy the tule. So, it's in. Before you put it in, always check if it's not broken. If it's broken always replace it, there is a link in the description to the technical page where we have exploded views, article numbers, so there you can find which part to buy. This is a part that can often be bought everywhere in the world, so buy it localy or buy it by ...

 

So, put this back in and make sure you have the right order, on the technical support page there is more information how to do it or what is the right order in the exploded view, check that one out, push this one in or turn it so it goes in the tule which is in the wheel well. I use this wrench with clicker, I guess it's called, which makes this job much easier. So, you put the rubber washer, I have to do it now in a tough angle, and the this washer has a rounded edge and a sharp edge, so the rounded edge towards the washer and then put the screw nut on, and then with the key that I showed you, you can tighten it, just enough, so it's not having this axial play, but still having this flexibility to move like this. So you tighten it like this, you hold it with one hand and other hand... make sure to put some oil on the thread because you might have sometimes Inox on Inox that is kind of attacking each other or out of the blue block and it's not so funny, then you need to cut it with a flex or something, which is really annoying to do. So it's better to put a little bit of teflon spray, teflon, yeah, teflon, in order the inox is not gonna bite in each other because that's really not what you want, then make sure that this bar end is straight aligned with this one.

 

So that one is tight, it's important that these two, this bar end and the bar end in the middle are aligned with each other, so if they are not straight then untighten this one and retighten in order this one and that one are in the same line and this one and this one is the same thing, then you have to check still by putting your fingers between the wheel and the wheel well to see if you change the longitude axle or you worked on it or change the rubber, that you make sure that the wheel is still in the middle of the wheel well, this means that the distance between the wheel and the wheel well on the front and on the rear are similar and it's not like it needs to be millimeter precise, you just measure with your fingers or you make a little piece of wood which you try to fit between it to see if the front and rear it's the same. If it's not the same, here in the front you can adjust it, to untighten the front screw and tighten the second screw, then you go backwards, so like there you can play to adjust the position of the wheel in the wheel well.

 

So there are three methods how to check your track. First is just measure the middle of your tire front and rear. That's obviously... If you have it like toe-in then you untighten this one, you untighten the screws and you tighten that one or one and half turns or two turns depends how much track in and out. If you have a lot of difference make sure you do both and if you have a lot of difference check if the bars are straight because maybe you drove in a pothole and you bent one of these bars, because normally it's straight when we deliver and if it's really off or we made a mistake, or you drove through a pothole and something is bent. To heave a new bar end, I think it's called bar end or bar with fillet (threads), again it's on the technical page, you can find that very easily there, it's something you can buy at almost every metal store, metal parts, so that's nothing special. Also the original lengths are on the websites, so check that one out.

 

The second method, I've made a video I think last year, we drove downhill and we drove without cycling and then a little slope and then we change the track and then we see how far we came and then we change the track in a different direction and see how far we came. That's the most precise method to check your efficiency, if you have the most efficient track, I have also in the description a link of that video, but that's something it takes for ages to check and I want show you now the third method.

 

So this is the third option, buy a tool that we have available on the website called track measuring tool, something like this, we did not gave it really an official name for it and it works like this... The best to do it is with a second person to hold one person, to hold it here... It's easier if one person, the hold it here on the rim... On the other side I turn this until the rim and I check like this back and forth if I have a little bit of play, so now I have a little bit play and now I can pull it off without damaging my rims... and I put it back on the rear here and on the other side I put it on and I feel I have almost the same play as I had in the front. So in this case I have a little bit outside toe-out like maximum one millimeter, it's better to have like a millimeter toe-in because of the rolling resistance the wheels will toe-out a bit. So in this case I will take one of the bar ends and I will twist a half turn outside in order the wheels will get a little bit of toe-in but like one-two millimeters toe-in until zero that's fine, that's a pretty ok tolerance. Of course if you wanna have the optimum, then try and tune it a little bit better, but between zero and 2 mm toe-in that's fine.

 

I hope you enjoyed the video about maintenance, if you have still some ideas please let them in the comments, but before you add the comments have a look to the other videos, maybe we uploaded your question already, don't forget to subscribe and have fun, see you next time.