The Dutchman

 

I heard this yesterday morning on Birdhill Radio broadcasting from Galway, Ireland. Saturday mornings, my time, they play American country and folk music - older stuff that I can't find on any station on the dial around here. It's ironic that I have to listen to an Irish station to hear decent American folk and country music but I suppose nothing should surprise me in this day and age. I hadn't heard this song for quite a while, and even though he didn't write this one, it's probably my favorite Steve Goodman song, the other being City Of New Orleans, which he did write, but the best known version  would be Arlo Guthrie's. If you look closely at the album cover you'll see John Prine and Jimmy Buffet on there, by the way.

Here's another version, this time presented by a couple of Irishmen. Liam Clancy does a little lead-in offering what may explain the Dutchman's mental state. "Long ago, I used to be a young man." While I haven't lost all of my marbles yet, the tune is starting to strike a chord with yours truly. Regardless,  lovely version of a lovely tune.

Also, the term dutchman is used in several trades such as woodworking and boilermaking to describe a  procedure used to repair a small section such as a leak in a boiler tube or heat exchanger. I believe the term originated with ship builders but don't quote me on that. Maybe the Dutch weren't much as shipbuilders. Around this area, however, the saying goes: "You're not much, if you're not Dutch." Of course not everyone subscribes to that school of thought. As a welder, I'll just say I've installed many a dutchman and let it go at that.

Rather than making a big project out of the tire levers, I found a piece of 1/2" ID plastic tubing that was a nice snug fit on the levers. I slipped it on, welded a washer on the end, turned the OD of the washer until it was just a bit larger than the tube, slid the tubing up tight against the washer and it was done. As little as I use these things, probably a lifetime fix for me. Note the new chain that showed up Friday.

When I put the tire levers back in the tool box from my racing days, I got out the trammel points. I used these to align the rear wheel when adjusting the chain. The idea is you set one of the trammel points in the machined center of the swingarm pivot and the other end in the center of the axle. Get the chain tension set pretty close and then compare the distance from one side of the bike to the other. When the distance is the same, do the final tension adjustment by turning the adjusting nuts an equal amount, tighten the axle and re-check the center to center distance. Repeat if needed.

I chucked the Rickati axle up in the lathe and machined a center in both ends. The swingarm pivot bolt already has a hole in both ends but the holes are too big for the pins in the trammel point. I need to machine a point that will work with the swingarm bolt so I can get the rear wheel aligned parallel with the frame. When I get that done I can line the sprockets up and make the spacers. I drilled and tapped the swingarm for a grease zerk and finished cleaning it up, so the back of the bike is about done.

Gonna be a cute little thing.