Groningen's Backyard and some maintenance

What's this? Does Groningen have a backyard, and I'm maintaining it? Relax, it's about a new TV show which will air spring 2012 on local TV. I've been asked to help and think about sketches and finding characters. Saturday afternoon there was some kind of 'audition' where we could try stuff out on a couch (no, don't overthink it). Basically it came down to us picking out a piece of wardrobe and trying to find our character and sit on the couch to see how it looks on camera. It all went pretty well and the next week I'll hear if I 'got the job'.

Afterwards I went to the recumbent garage Groningen for some maintenance on my bike (and not the backyard). There were a number of things that drew my attention this week (or before that) and those had to bee fixed. First of all my rear light didn't function (brake and fog light did). Turns out a small cable broke down. A quick fix if it weren't for the fact that it was tucked away in the back of the bike. The it was time to fix the suspension of the right wheel. I noticed it making more noise and it was making a ticking sound when I put tension on the spring. At home I did some research but couldn't find anything except my first broken spoke after almost 17,000 kilometers. Removed the wheel, checked the suspension and replaced the spoke. We couldn't find anything wrong with the suspension, so we replace the springs just to be safe and that fixed it. I also found out that the ball joints were quite loose. We, I mean Felix and myself, replaced those as well. And while we were at it we also cleaned and tightened the brakes.

When I made a right corner I could hear the rear wheel make a ticking sound and I was curious what that might be. So we removed the rear wheel and inspected it. Nothing wrong with it except for the fact that there was a shoe lace stuck in the cog. Yep, I knew I've lost it somewhere and now I know where it went. The wheel was alright, but the swingarm showed a little give. We tightened it and were all done.

During my ride though America I removed my right head light for some extra ventilation and because we didn't go riding into the night. The idea was that I would reinstall in this afternoon. But on inspection of the current light I saw why it didn't produce as much light as I was used to. There was a lot of dust inside and that caused it to loose at least half of it's brightness. So I decided to replace the current head light with a proper one. Arjen would contact Busch & Muller to see how this problem could occur (I've had problems before with moisture).

Finally I replaced the in America removed headrest by a new one. A very easy job. Clean the surface, apply some putty, let it dry for 10 minutes and put in into place.

Lastly they had lined up a lot of velomobile hoods (or "Da Hood" as they called it). I've ridden one of them for 1,5 day in America and I like it. Harry also had made a new and special wheel. It was milled to be 150 grams lighter. Also the wheel has another advantage, because of the larger surface area heat can easier dissipate. I don't know if it will work but it can't do any worse, right?

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