April 25, 2015

It is all over. The final touches have been made, and Campbell and I are happy with our work. We met to finish the slides and rehearse a bit for a presentation. I feel really good with what we have. I can’t wait to show off the bikes to the members attending our defense. To have a final product that you can turn on and demonstrate is pretty cool. It should be a pretty fun presentation.

April 24, 2015

Not much was done today. It was senior chapel and I had to leave early for a tennis match. However, Campbell and I did make good use out of our time and worked on our presentation together. The presentation is looking pretty good, and we have a lot of information to share. The year is finally wrapping up. I can’t wait to share all of our accomplishments to the school.

April 23, 2015
            We were finally able to present our project today. The day began at Patrick’s garage where Campbell and I tested out the motorized bike to see if our fix for the carburetor worked. It did. Even with the intense vibrations the carburetor refused to budge. Patrick also educated us on the purpose of the choke. We want the choke to be closed hen we are starting the engine in cold weather because with less air coming in it provides for a richer mixture. Otherwise you want the choke open. After all of this the bike was ready to go. We warmed it up and headed over to Lovett so we could show it off.   

            It was really fun to be able to show everyone at Lovett what Campbell and I have accomplished. The people loved it. At first, I thought the lower schoolers were simply uninterested after they showed no signs of coming up to us. However, once Campbell and I took a lap around the circle we had kids surrounding us. I was literally in a mosh pit of lower schoolers trying to answer all their questions. It was fun. The different waves of students from all grades and teachers rolled through, and all were very impressed with our work. It felt good knowing exactly what I was talking about and being able to answer all the questions. Also, I think we can all admit that it is fun to show off sometimes. A lot of my friends knew what I was doing for a senior project, but to actually show them was pretty rewarding.

            We wrapped up our very long day and headed home. This cook out has restored my confidence for our future presentation, but we still need to gather all our material and finish our PowerPoint. We have a lot of work for tomorrow and this weekend. I believe the teachers will really enjoy the presentation and I am excited to answer some questions. This whole process has been amazing and it is sad that it is finally coming to an end.

April 22, 2015

            Patrick is a wizard, more of a Gandalf than a Harry Potter though. Campbell and I showed up at his garage before he had arrived so we decided to try to handle the gas bike situation on our own. We did not get too far, and James is more of a fuel injection kind of guy rather than a carburetor expert. All I know is that we messed with the choke and something happened. When Patrick showed up he was there to clean things up for us. I am still a little confused, but from what I understand I believe that we started the bike originally with the choke almost closed just to warm up the engine and then we ride the bike with the choke down for the rest of the time. Our main problem, however, is that the carburetor refuses to stay put. The vibrations from the motor are too strong and the cheap clamp from the kit is too cheap. After some tests runs, we have resorted to some final fixes. We used some glue so that the bolt on the other side of the screw will stay tight, and if that does not work we will have to look for a heavy-duty clamp that will fit the bike. Hopefully the glue works.

            Campbell and I then realized that the electric bike might be feeling a bit neglected after all the attention we had given the gas bike. We took her out for a spin. We were able to get some good footage of how the electric bike can perform on flat ground, up hills, and down hills. One of our cooler shots is a side-by-side duo featuring Eli on bike and Campbell in car, both going 30 mph #woah. Hopefully we will be able to get the same footage with our gas-powered bike. However, either way it will be great for the presentation. Next, Campbell and I headed to Starbucks to further work on our PowerPoint.

            At Starbucks we were able to compile our data and begin writing up some slides. We found more data to compare the bikes to cars and equations that translate watts to gas. This will all become very useful for our presentation. Our project is wrapping up and the deadlines are approaching. Campbell and I feel pretty confident with ourselves and our progress. Hopefully everyone will enjoy the presentation and be able to see the work Campbell and I put into this. It has been a lot of fun, and I am pretty excited to show off our work tomorrow at the outdoor barbecue.

April 21, 2015

            Just because we have assembled and ridden both the electric and gas powered bikes it does not mean that our work is done. Today the gas powered bike decided to act up. The problem is still under surveillance, but I will write more about that later.  On top of the bike problem, Campbell and I also have to prepare a presentation. This will take up a lot of time so I am now getting worried about our commercial we planned to film. I personally do not think that we will have to complete it properly so it may not be worth doing. We can put the work for the commercial into the presentation and just make a super awesome presentation that our fans will not forget. We will figure it out.

            The morning was great. We came back to my house after class to pick up the bikes and ride them to school. We flew. I rode the electric bike, and it is for sure the easiest and most comfortable. From my house, it took Campbell and I the same amount or even less than the usual time it takes to get to Lovett. We were at first timid about our speed, but when the cars started coming we had no issue with going full throttle. Campbell and I had no issue keeping up with the cars. We turned into Lovett to begin our timed trials, and this is where the problems began.

            The carburetor on the bikes is very loose and we have already had issues securing it, but this time it just fell off… not good. Before that however, the engine was having trouble starting. The choke is not supposed to be adjusted, but that was the only thing that would get it to start. Even when we were able to get it going, Campbell and I agreed that it was not getting up to the speed like it used to be. Patrick was able to help us with some suggestions, but after going out to buy and try a new spark plug that led to a dead end, we decided to just handle it tomorrow.

            Every day we have had to come up with a new plan for the next day. Things just keep popping up. We will fix the bike tomorrow and hopefully get to some presentations work. Campbell and I will decide whether or not to make the commercial or not based off of how long it takes to fix the gas bike. Hopefully we will be able to get a lot done and feel better prepared for the presentation. The electric bike is performing like Rick Ross, ‘cause it’s the boss. The timed trial showed us that the electric bike can get up to 27mph on flat ground. The gas powered showed up at 22mph. When we first tested the bikes we believed it to be obvious that the gas was much faster than the electric. I guess we will find out tomorrow. Hopefully everything goes as planned.