I used the title for this journal article with reference (in my own mind) to the Willy Nelson song I really like called On the Road Again. I am on the trike again because I have been off the trike for a couple of months owing to the rear axle breaking while out riding, resulting in the right hand rear wheel falling off.
It took so long to get on the trike again because having the rear axle repaired was harder than it originally seemed to me like it might be. I asked the local “repair everything” guy to do it and his repair was not satisfactory. I took the axle to Bundaberg and received a couple of “second opinions” from engineers both of whom referred to the problems associated with using a lathe on such a long thin piece of metal.
In frustration I brought it back to Gayndah and decided to go back the the “fix everything” guy who locals assured me that he really does fix everything (and call him “Happy” – I don’t know what his real name is) and asked his advice again. He still was not sure that he could fix it but asked me to bring the whole trike out to him and he would work on it. He assured me that he had worked on everything from the large farm/orchard machinery and bulldozers on down. But he had never worked on a trike.
You can assume that given the work required by local farmers and businesses, he did not have the time to get to it immediately. But he assured me that “when he had time he would have a go at it”. It took several weeks for him to get to it and when I went out last Friday to see how he was going, he had it repaired. It was not exactly how the axle was originally manufactured but looked stronger to me. He had added extra support and spacings that should make sure that it does not break in that place again. All done at a very reasonable price.
So I took it all home and put it back together on Saturday morning. Everything except the rear brake works. It was probably damaged in the loss of the rear wheel. So I will have to order a new brake fitting from Temu. I will also need a couple of new tryes for the rear wheels relatively soon. Also the phone holder that I had on the handle bars was damaged so I will try to get another one of those.
I am on the trike again and Lorraine and I will be able to get up at 6.15am each day and go for our usual morning 12k ride. We went for a shortened ride this morning so that I could try everything out. It worked well.