Click on a thumbnail sketch to see the full size picture.

Philosophy

Rex improvements are on a two year cycle. On odd years we make new artwork. On even years we make mechanical improvements.

This year saw several substantial improvements.

• New front road wheels.
  The new wheels put less stress on the spokes. Toward the end of 2003 we were losing 7 spokes from the old wheels every time we took Rex out. The new wheels are also lighter weight.
• New main axles and bearings.
  The new wheels came with new hubs. The old ones had damaged the keyway of the old axles. I therefore had to replace the axles or they would damage the keyways of the new hubs.
• A new rear wheel.
  As an experiment, we installed a conventional bike wheel for the Starlight Parade. We noticed that Rex was substantially faster on the road. Unfortunately we potato-chipped the wheel in the parade.
  But that was just an experiment. It had proven the important point: the old wheel was slowing us down. So we then created a new rear wheel using the technology developed for the new front wheels.
• Better water guns and holsters.
  We now have water cannons as well as the Super-Soakers.
• Better oar holders.
  The new oar holders are metal rather than fabric. Because they are rigid, it is much easier to insert the oars into them.
• New flag.
  We lost our flag in Ventura 2003. I made a new flag that looks like a tadpole.
• New rear fender.
  The old fender had stretched to the point where it was dragging on the wheel all the time. The new fender is better secured and easier to remove and clean. It also looks nicer.
• Reinforced barnacle seats can now take >100 lbs.
  The Slug Queeen asked us to tow her at the Eugene Celebration. She also asked that we carry the previous year's queens. To do that we needed stronger seats.

Some of these improvements are not very visible. But they make a difference to those of us driving Rex. There is one improvement that required a great deal of learning. The wheels. That is why I am publishing my learnings below.

Wheels

Developing the new wheels was quite an adventure. I had actually been working on them for several years. But the increasing spoke failures of last year raised the urgency.

This link gives a bit of history plus the full plans if you want to make your own double spoked wheels.

Unless otherwise noted, all pictures above were taken by Allen Brown.

Copyright 2004 C. Allen Brown