jc texted me > “have technical problem, am in albacete, call me pls”
just a few seconds into our 3g-videocall it was clear what had went wrong… the pedal de-coupling mechanism has failed.
in this state, the TWIKE can only go forwards, not backwards, since the backwards movement with the pedals engaged will mimic braking and eventually completely block the TWIKE > jc was at exactly this point – the TWIKE was completely blocked and he was unable to get it going without help.
there is a temporary fix for this: manually de-couple the pedals using a large screwdriver and drive to the next garage and repair what needs to be fixed, since the fault itself can come from multiple places.
see below how this looked on my side and how relieved jc is, as the mechanism de-couples and he then sets off again:
we really like to use our technology to the fullest! 🙂
after a thorough examination at a local garage in albacete it turned out that the problem was with the arm providing leverage on the mechanism itself – thomas möckli provided a temporary fix solution with then was duly implemented.
after having solved this problem, jc continues happily towards the atlantic along the blue line of TDE2012’s second leg!