Tale Of Two Victories

Well, yesterday was a day of two small victories, but I'll take those victories where I can get them, ya know? The first up was a "take two" on the stove/pot stand test firing.

Brought water to a boil in 10 minutes

The new pot stand was made from a can of Bush's Baked Beans. I cut it down, then drilled six holes near the edge of the opening where I can use these stainless steel spokes I modified as support for the cup, or as in this case, the stainless steel martini mixing cup.

I placed the alcohol stove I made inside the bean can, then filled it with fuel. The nice thing here is that if I spill some fuel, it stays contained in the bean can. Then I lit the stove. It gets going rather easily, by the way.

Then I threaded in the stainless steel supports through the holes I drilled, then the cup went on top. I had enough water in it to make a nice, standard cup of coffee. Then, I waited...

It took about ten minutes to get a "roiling boil" going on, so I was pleased. The stove and pot stand are totally stable too. Not like attempt #1! That's for sure! This should cook anything well, as long as it is for one, and the pot I use isn't bigger than the pot stand in diameter. I plan on using a cup anyway. Smaller, lighter, and forces me to pack less.

I snuffed out the stove easily by dumping out the boiling water and turning the cup upside down over the stove-pot stand. The stove, which had been burning for 20 minutes, still had plenty of fuel left inside of it, so I figure I could have cooked up another boiling cup of water, or two, easily. Then I discovered the spent Foster's can I tried my first stove construction with fits neatly over the bean can with a bit of slight modifications to both cans. Now I have a sleek, neat, lightweight storage system for all the cooking stuff.  Victory #1.....

Got 'em set up and rolling!

With that under my belt I moved on to the Velocity A-23 wheels and Clement X'Plor USH tires I had been wrestling to set up tubeless over the past.....what has it been now? A month? Nearly so, I think.

Well, some consultations with my good buddy, MG, gave me some new ideas to try and after applying those, I had some good signs that I was on the way to success there. Overnight pressures held up, and after a three day pressure test, the tires weren't flat. Good.

I decided to take the wheels out for a ride Wednesday, since it was very nice out, and I had no other pressing things to do. I headed straight out North of town. On the way, it was apparent that the brakes were not happy with the new wheels. I had REALLY LOUD noises from the front and back. I decided to get out into the country before dealing with it though.

Funny thing was that by the time I got out of town, the front had bedded in and was fine. The rear wheel brakes were horrible, chattering so badly I thought my nether regions were going to go numb if I used the brake. I stopped by the big rock, namesake for Big Rock Road, and dug out my tools. 

After several attempts, I finally struck upon a reverse toe-in set up that was really quiet, so I went with it, then rode on in back to town. Tubeless wheels set up, and brake noises subdued. Victory #2.