A Rebuilt Bike and Two Doggies

Today's GPS Tracking via Ham Radio and APRS
My rusty trusty 2-wheel recumbent bike has been giving me trouble lately.  Actually, it started being difficult to shift gears both on front chain-rings and rear derailleur a couple years ago, and I just kept riding it and making do with fewer and fewer available gears.
I'd adjusted the cables and connections a few times but the results were never satisfactory.  The handlebar shifters that came with the bike were rotating "twist" style shifters, sorta like on a motorcycle, but they were plastic and neoprene arrangements.
I have several "donor" bikes and frames decorating my side yard view and decided to rob parts from them to replace the worn stuff on my ride.  Two had later-model Shimano derailleur assemblies but they were the type with a 3/8 X 24 threaded mount on the lower rear hanger.  Mine was the older style that mounted with a bracket, and did not seem as smooth and slick as the newer Shimanos.

Original "Straight-Throw" Shimano Derailleur

Newly Installed "slant-parallelogram" Shimano Derailleur

I decided to try some cutting and welding to accomodate the Shimanos.  I hacksawed the hanger stub off one bike and removed the rear wheel from mine and cleaned off the paint and filed the surfaces to expose bare metal and used my acetylene torch to weld the 'new' stub to the older frame I'm riding.
After some bending and  breaking and adjusting and re-welding the part I got the newer Shimano derailleur mounted.   It required more shifter cable travel so I had to relocate my cable ends and sockets to accomodate it.  Then I painstakingly removed the old twister-shifters off the handlebars to replace them with Suntour X-press lever shifters that "click" and "ratchet" when each gear-step is selected.  Robbed from the same donor-bike junker....

Old New Suntour X-Press Shifters

 Google hits suggest these Suntours are old and outdated, but mercy, compared to what I replaced them with, they are FABULOUS.
I can now access MOST of the available gear combinations, except the largest gear ring on the rear cassette ("Grandma Gear").  This is no big deal since with the old arrangement I could never access this gear either AND trying to shift to the 2 gears closest to it would result in chain-hopping, sometimes chain losing, a very frustrating way to try to climb a hill.  Now with the new derailleur and shifter when I select a gear it's not only EASY to select (a couple or three easy "clicks" of the shifter) but it's reliable... it stays securely in each gear.  I can also now access the highest speed gear (large ring in front, smallest gear in back) which I could rarely do before.  YAY
Jacque is working an extra long day today at the primary polling station in Tijeras, so I got to babysit both doggies today.   I contemplated leaving them both behind while I rode around, since it is so heartbreaking to just take one and leave the other jealous girl behind, but decided What the Heck.  It's gonna be HOT today but I'll just take them both.  These gals seem to read our minds, and they both eagerly followed me to the bike to be harnessed in,  no dawdling or shuffling around.   Tinkerbell got to ride in the back basket and Jazzy rode in the chest/belly harness helping keep me extra warm during the ride.  It was worth the trouble.

Tink's Head is behind Jazzy's

We did a 10-mile loop around the neighborhood.  Though it was getting mighty warm, I rode past our turnoff and decided to ride on the extra 5-ish miles to pick up the mail.  After maybe another mile I stopped for a water break and realized, if I kept going, we would run out of water long before we got home for refills.  I could have made it by hogging the water (I only had two bottles;  one was already empty and the last one had maybe a quarter fill left) but the dogs were obviously as hot and thirsty as I was even though they always freeload and contribute nothing  but cuteness to the ride effort.  So I lost interest in the mail and turned around to come home.  It is now hours later and I have experienced no regret for the decision.
I see my average moving speed has bumped up a couple miles per hour.  Hopefully this is due to the gear improvements....

Trip Started:  9:26 AM    Trip Ended:  12:29 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage:  13.8        Ending Voltage: 12.9 
Lowest Temp  82 F      Highest Temp:  98 F (OUCH)
Stats from the GPS:    Total Miles:  12.55
Overall average speed            Moving Avg               Max Speed
  4.6 MPH                                8.1 MPH                    27.2 MPH
Total Trip time                       Moving Time             Stopped Time
2 hours 44 mins                     1 hour 33 mins           1 hour 10 mins