On Saturday morning, I headed into town with the customary stop at College Coffeehouse. BruceW from Ketchikan had sent me one of the few Alaska Airhead belt buckles still around. I needed a new belt so I planned to go to about the only leather shop that I know of in town.
I still have the chains on the pusher due to the heavy, wet snow on top of ice. But as you can see in the video, it is really bumpy going with all of the ice under the snow. Very bumpy especially when going over bridges.
I had gone into town to take advantage of the "Local Saturday" sales at the leather shop off of 2nd St. One of the few times when I actually went into town. Most of the video was taken while leaving the downtown area and circling back towards the university then home.
The next couple of pictures are for a post on SovietSteeds, the Ural forum, about my replacement straps for the chains.
This is the 1" x 12" heavy duty nylon cable tie with Velcro. The last 2" or so is the hook portion of the Velcro and the rest has the loop Velcro sewn on. The straps are too short to reach both of the chain bails so I sewed some nylon extensions between one of the bails and a stainless buckle I attached to the cable tie. The other end of the cable tie has a rectangular steel ring sewn onto the end.
I have my 1" long extension on the driveshaft side of the wheel since it is thinner than the cable tie strap when doubled over, Thin is needed to clear the driveshaft.
This is the other side of the chain. The rectangular ring is threaded through the wire bail on the chain and the free end of the cable tie with the hook Velcro is threaded through the rectangular ring and doubled back fastening the Velcro.
Maybe it's time to back off on the preload on the Ural springs. I haven't ever adjusted them and just left them the way it was set when I picked it up.
forgot to add, FB should present a "remove preview" option when posting a blog link...this removes the header pic? It may also present other pics from the site, I just click the X on the upper right corner to remove those.
I think that you really do eventually get used to it. Today, I forgot to plug in the heated gear again and I didn't notice it for the first ten miles or so. And even then, it was more of a "I wonder if this is working" rather than an "I feel cold". And it was -8°F.
Great belt and buckle, Richard. Will we see you wear it, too? ;-)
ReplyDeleteA bumpy ride indeed. There is one thing about how the Ural handles it but how about yourself? Any back problems resulting from this?
I'm wearing the belt & buckle right now.
DeleteMaybe it's time to back off on the preload on the Ural springs. I haven't ever adjusted them and just left them the way it was set when I picked it up.
Nice buckle!
ReplyDeleteThe road conditions seem similar to the washboard we encounter here on the mountain roads....not fun and bad for the kidneys in my case.
Good pics re the straps for the tire chains.
forgot to add, FB should present a "remove preview" option when posting a blog link...this removes the header pic? It may also present other pics from the site, I just click the X on the upper right corner to remove those.
DeleteThe buckle is pretty nice. They were designed and made by Jeff DeFreest in Ketchikan and I think he made about 40 of them or so.
DeleteI thought that I would take some more pictures after the email exchange regarding the straps.
The snow makes it look so cold, but it always looks so pretty.
ReplyDeleteI think that you really do eventually get used to it. Today, I forgot to plug in the heated gear again and I didn't notice it for the first ten miles or so. And even then, it was more of a "I wonder if this is working" rather than an "I feel cold". And it was -8°F.
Delete