More rattle management

Rattles from the rear continued to irk me on the monday ride to the gym, so today I had another look around the back.

With the battery out, I shook and banged everything. Some sound was coming from the luggage rack. The BionX rear rack includes a "rat-trap" spring-loaded clip, of the sort found on rather lame balloon-tired errand bikes. It was definitely producing some noise, so I removed it. Should I ever need to attach something to the rack, I'll use the bungee that I routinely carry in the bottom of a pannier.

Then I once again checked every threaded fastener in the rear rack, and found one screw that wasn't fully tight, allowing a little motion in a brace rod. In the process I adjusted the rack to make the battery exactly horizontal. It had been pitched a little forward.

With the battery out, I rode around the block and everything sounded quiet. I put the battery back and did another circuit. Oops, some clcks on bumps.

I shook and pounded things and determined that the only possible play was a little up-and-down motion at the tail of the battery. This is held in place by a clip, and in order to get at the clip I had to split the battery case. Which turned out to be easy to do: loosen two bolts.

With the clip out I could see how it is supposed to work. It should grab the back of its track in a friction fit.

This was where there was a millimeter of play, so I carefully crushed that clip in my bench vice juuuusssst a little bit so it gripped well.

Reassemble the battery box, reinstall, take another test ride. There are still a few clunks to be heard on the very sharpest bumps, but all told the ride is much quieter now.

Mo' Maintenance

I also installed the Terracycle chain idler which arrived last saturday. Using puh-lenty of blue thread-lock, I might add.

Still pending: find a replacement for the cadence magnet. I had a couple of spare magnets but none that will attach nicely with a zip-tie. Need to actually buy a Cat-Eye cadence kit, I suppose.