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| Sicknote cuts ... |
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| ... and welds |
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| 'I think it's funny as well, but it's you that's got to ride the thing'
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| Jonah tinkers with one of the internal braces |
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| Penfold makes precision adjustments to the chain drive |
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| The completed monowheel |
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| No shortage of advisers ... |
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| ... but no room for passengers |
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| Gangway! |
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The Tunnel Ratz' diary
Build day
We'd decided at the outset that Steve, Mark and myself (James) would all be called by our nicknames: Sicknote, Jonah, and Penfold respectively. The reasons we have these names is secret and must never be disclosed, although if the price is right and the drink is free, one of us will probably end up telling you.
On the day of our second build I was a bit nervous. I was really looking forward to doing the challenge, but was thinking that because we had progressed to the next round, the challenge would be that much more difficult. And how right I was. When we were told, my jaw dropped.
Once again we had a brilliant technical consultant. Geraint was a well-known builder of monobikes, so our confidence levels were boosted. The idea was to construct a wheel from scratch. It's not as if the challenge would not be difficult enough; he wanted us to make a wheel round enough to roll without throwing off the poor soul who was balanced within it!!! But he assured us it was possible, and we knew that Sicknote was a good welder and cutter, so that left Jonah and I to hunt for the parts.
KIS and CPUs
Our main concern was the power source. When we found what we were looking for, we were over the moon – a chain-driven 90cc moped, perfect for hacking up. But then we saw the major problem. It had a CPU, a central processing unit. But our main rule, we had decided, was to be KIS or Keep It Simple. That way, should anything go wrong it would be easy to fix. CPUs are notoriously not KIS-compatible, and we were really unsure about sticking with the machine. But it was the only bike that was capable of running.
Sicknote was having difficulty in cutting out the wheel: every time water dripped on the metal, the line he had marked became harder to see. But despite this what he cut out was nothing short of brilliant. Geraint did a blinding job of constructing the drive mechanism. Once the wheel started to take shape, Sicknote had the unenviable task of welding the chain onto the inside of the rim. That was a lot of chain. Now all we had to do was to mount the bike within the wheel. It sat in perfectly.
We all set to constructing a frame which would hold the bike in place, the theory being that as the rear drive-wheel moved, it was the outer wheel that moved and not the bike/rider. Surrounding the bike were three sprockets. The idea behind these was that they would hold the bike in place. They were to run in the chain, and because of this the chain had to be welded dead straight. Any links that were out of line had the potential to throw the sprockets out. We tried and tried to get the bike to run OK in the chain, but it would not run smoothly enough for us to be confident that it would hold together on the race day.
Plan B
We needed a major rethink. By now it had been raining solidly for eight hours. We were cold, we were wet and morale was starting to ebb away. A canopy had been erected over the work area to protect us and the power tools, but every so often, several gallons of water would overflow from the canvas, usually on top of one of us. We decided to ditch the idea of the sprockets and go for a more conventional nylon roller arrangement. The idea behind this was that not only would it give a smoother ride, but it would hopefully hold the bike in place better than the sprocket system.
When the end of the build came, I think I can safely say that none of us were sorry. We were all cold and wet, but at the same time happy with the machine. Now all we had to do was to see if it could stand the pace.
Test day
We were allowed the usual tinkering time, then it was our turn to try and ride the thing. The concept is easy, but in practice it is very different. Sicknote lost control and, in his words, took a sharp right and headed for Mexico. Jonah managed to gain control and looked fairly confident on it. I kind of got the hang of it and as time progressed became equally confident.
During the lunch break, the heavens opened. After lunch we had major problems with the bike. It was very temperamental in starting, and once running the throttle played up something chronic. We think that water had got into the electrical circuits, and possibly shorted out part of the CPU. This would only add to any problems we had controlling the bike.
By the end of the relay race we were a minute and a half in front. We were over the moon. It seemed possible that we could win.
The Rat gerbils
The next race was to be a circuit. We nominated Geraint as the driver, but the other team lodged an objection to this and we had to change drivers. I said I'd give it a go. We decided to go for completing the course in one go rather than go mad, lose control and waste time trying to set the bike straight again. When the horn went, I must have had the bike in the wrong gear, because I nearly ended up going upside-down (which is apparently called 'gerbiling'), much to the amusement of everyone else. Once I had regained control I set off. It took longer than I wanted, but I managed to keep the bike upright, which was in itself no mean feat.
There were two factors that we thought might hinder the other team's performance. We wondered if their engine was big enough to drive the wheel that they had obtained. And due to their machine's sheer size and mass, we thought that it would become unstable in the winds that were blowing up. But when they set off it was clear that their machine was better. It handled better than ours. It seems that the very things we thought would hinder them were in actual fact helping them complete the course.
It was then that we knew it was over. I was gutted. But we were lucky to have had two bites of the cherry. I know that it was an experience that I will never forget. We had so much fun during the two builds, and met some great people.
We met the challenge, and that is one thing that cannot ever be taken away from us.
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