I noticed that the tracks made by the rear tires were wider than the tires. Ahah, the tires are under inflated. Closer inspection of the new rear tire indicated that the recommended inflation was 45/65 psi.
I hooked up my air compressor and inflated them to 55 psi. They felt a lot firmer than before.
Jumped back aboard and twisted the throttle to full on and nothing happened. I got out and tried to push it and it wouldn't budge. Inspection revealed that I now had no clearance between the tire and the rear support tube.
Should have designed in much more clearance!

I deflated the tires until I could turn them by hand or with the throttle. Used a real coarse file to remove thr rubber at the crown of the tire. Twisterd the throttle and filed until I could see about 1/16" clearance. When I inflated to 55 psi, I had 1/32" clearance. It was ready now for a real "Field Test."

I started in the morning and took notes as I traveled:

• Left home at 8:08 milage read 0
• Traveled dirt roads to Highway 18 Mileage - .2 miles
• West to Johnson Road - Mileage - .9 miles Average AMP reading - 40 Average Speed - 7 mph Time: 8:18
• South on Johnson to California Aquaduct Mileage - 2.7 miles - Average AMP reading - 30 (pedal assist) Average Speed 5 mph Motor Temperature - 74 degrees - Ambient Temperature - 62 degrees - Time: 8:35
• Rested until 8:45 (After all I'm 78 years old)
• Home Mileage 5.4 miles - Average AMP reading - 15 Average Speed 10 mph - Motor Temperature - 72 degrees - Time: 8:52

A close visual examination after the test drive revealed a major problem. My 215 pounds and the 55 pound deep-cycle battery had caused the rear-wheel supports to deflect so that the tops of the rear wheels were 2 inches closer than the bottoms. Removing the battery, I found I could move the supports up and down easily. The PVC had actually stretched.

I decided on a two phase solution. I used 3 hose clamps and a 2X2 wooden beam to correct the weakened rear wheel supports. As I tightened the hose clamps the supports realigned back to their original positions.

It was obvious that the weight of the battery and me was putting a strain on the frame assembly, so removing me from the equation was not an option, but I could remove the battery by designing a single wheel trailer to carry the battery. The wheel had to swivel and the trailer had to be able to rotate up and down with the terrain. I modified the back end of the frame to incorporate a towbar. The towbar was made from 1" PVC with 1" wooden doweling inside. It turn out to look like this:

All done except for a top and a mirror -
I’ve mounted a strobe light on the top-left rear rail so cars can see me.
Next I’ll go half way to Phelan and back.
This battery should provide slightly over an hour of cruising. On all smooth asphalt, I could have one battery in the original location and another battery in the trailer and double my cruising range. In closing, here is a view from the rear:
Sadly the nice one-wheel trailer didn't work out. my last report stated that it easily carried the battery and tracked well on the first test in my driveway, but when I took off on a real test it bogged down in the sand on the way to the paved highway...couldn't even budge with full pedal power. Pushed it out of the sand and when I started up the highway, the trailer started to shimmy. The faster I went the more it shimmied. Thought it would shake my car to pieces. Pedaled slowly back home.

I removed the trailer and decided to go to even lower gearing for more power. I removed the 24 tooth sprocket I had attached to the 38 tooth sprocket and adapted a 20 tooth sprocket to the 38 tooth sprocket.