C5ALIVE Forum

C5Alive General Category => C5 Chatroom => Topic started by: coverman on 13, July, 2010 - 16:13:42

Title: running at last(well for a few yards anyway)
Post by: coverman on 13, July, 2010 - 16:13:42
At last the thing conveyed me under battery power along my drive, but, when I came to u turn it up the slope the wretched chain came off the front sprocket under the strain of my leg power.
Title: Re: running at last(well for a few yards anyway)
Post by: Karl on 13, July, 2010 - 22:43:29
I usually take that to mean the chain is past its best - same happened to me on the Royal Run. Chain kept falling off of Voodoo , but then it has been on there for a while and taken part in about 3 years worth of meetings and events so not too upset..
Title: Re: running at last(well for a few yards anyway)
Post by: coverman on 14, July, 2010 - 09:01:33
The chain tensioner chassis clip had departed from its mounting so that may have something to do with it. Will try it again tonight if not raining now that the clip is attached by cable-tie. If it fails again I'll be going next door to the bike shop for a new chain.
Title: Re: running at last(well for a few yards anyway)
Post by: coverman on 15, July, 2010 - 09:28:26
Tried it again last night between thunderstorms, so was just using the width of the drive by the garage, no more than 7 yards to play with and any of 4 cars to hit if i got it slightly wrong but was anxious to conduct the test before it rained again, which it did soon after.. Placed driven wheel in depression in tarmac so that the chain would be under more strain when starting off but accidentally pressed throttle switch before commencing pedalling, there was an almighty cracking noise, which hopefully may have been the chain resettling on every sprocket tooth having just been put back on, and the thing moved off under electric power. I haven't examined the gearbox iternally to see if it broke;it was still seated on the flimsy mount, the metal strap having done its job on that occasion.
I had a Berkeley sports car as a teenager,built down to a weight limit,(63/4 cwt with a 700cc RE motor) but even that badly engineered rubbish was more robust than the C5 appears to be
Title: Re: running at last(well for a few yards anyway)
Post by: Karl on 15, July, 2010 - 09:35:48
Once you've got a c5 properly sorted, they aren't too bad. The London-Brighton run proved they can be reliable and usable.

It is getting to the "properly sorted" stage that's so frustrating  ;D