So I bought a big old diesel Chevy (85 Custom Deluxe 4×4) pickup a little while ago to add to the biodiesel fleet, and it turned out to have enough corrosion in all of it’s parts to cause approximately one component per week to fail. Exhaust pipes, clutch slave cylinder, brake cylinder, etc. The radiator was of course one of the first to reveal a leak, but I’d put off buying the $400 replacement by carrying lots of water with me and topping off as necessary. Late last week it went from a slow drip to a fast drip to a near steady stream, so- it was time. Picked up the radiator and things went smoothly with the swap until I tried to reconnect the last oil cooler line and found that corrosion had taken its toll there too- as soon as I started the engine up, oil started squirting out of a little hole next to the flare nut, into the fan, and all over tarnation, including my face. Late on Sunday, I was past the parts store cutoff so I had no choice but to abandon for the day.

But today, Monday- I still had to make it to work, so with no truck to haul myself and my tools, I had to call upon the might of the cargo bike. The current configuration is a mid 90’s Barracuda frame with an Xtracycle attachment- not ideal, especially with the long travel fork up front as a load becomes very wobbly when standing up to pedal. It’s also in sore need of a tune-up (again) as the front derailleur wouldn’t give me an low gears- a bit of a problem on the bigger hills. And no back brakes. Still- it was a great ride, and of course I tell myself I need to do this more often. It’s totally doable as long as I don’t have to bring a table saw. It was right at 5 miles one way, from my house to the back end of Volcano Village and I had maybe 50 lbs of tools- one bag of hand tools, cordless drill kit, and a circular saw. I knew I was going to be doing mostly some simple plumbing and trench digging, so I didn’t need to bring much. Took about 35 minutes each way, and I’m sure I can trim that down by 5 or 10 minutes if I keep riding and get in better bike shape. It felt great to have a carbon neutral commute- motivation to get on the bike is tough this time of year, as it is cold (down to low 40’s in recent nights) and getting caught in cold rain is VERY likely. I don’t care so much for me, but I don’t really have very good protection for tools on the Xtracycle yet- other thatn trash bags. But maybe that will just have to do. It matters to me- I really do not want to drive cars any more unless absolutely necessary and I’ve fallen off the wagon lately. I’ll be taking the bus to my shop in Hilo tomorrow to fix the radiator on the truck, but I’m really hoping I’ll have the resolve to just leave it parked in the barn when I go back to the jobsite on Wednesday, and just have another great 10 mile bike ride.

The Xtracycle enabled Barracuda pauses with Mauna Loa looming in the distance.

Tags: Bikes, Volcano Life