Assembling the Kangaroo, pt2

Yesterday, I left the description of assembling the Kangaroo at completion of fitting the rear wheel, chain and gear shifter.

The next step in the assembly process is attaching the back frame, which carries the handlebars, to the passenger compartment.

The manual makes this look easy, with a photograph showing the frame sliding into two pipe sockets at the back of the compartment. (I can’t show the manual’s photographs here as they are the copyright of Winther).

The reality was somewhat different.

The back frame comes with the front brake lever and gear shifter already attached, and with their cables running through the passenger compartment to the disc brakes and the hub gear.

The manual does say “take care not to damage the gear and brake cables”.

The problem was that the brake cable was slightly too short, which meant that while the left-hand side of the back frame could be easily slipped into its pipe socket, the right hand one was very difficult to align because of the tension on the brake cable.

I checked to see if the brake cable was snagged somewhere - it wasn’t - or if the handlebars were off-centre - they weren’t.

As I was struggling to fit the frame, the two clamp fittings that secure the back frame fell off and I then found they couldn’t be re-attached.

What the manual doesn’t tell you is that the clamp fittings can only be fitted one way and while it didn’t take long to figure this out, it was irritating.

After a lot of jiggling, gentle pulling on the cable and the occasional swear word, I managed to get the back frame into the pipe sockets with the clamps in place. At least they were easy to tighten!

The next step was to apply the parking brake - a rather deceptive way of saying wrap a Velcro strap around the front brake handle - and attach the two cables to the backframe using four integral cable clips.

The gear cable clipped in easily enough, but the too-short brake cable took some work to clip into one of its brackets and there was no way it would go through the other.

This also had implications for fitting the padding that wraps around the top of the back frame and is velcroed in place. I did manage to get it securely fitted, but it’s not as neat as it could be.

With the cables reasonably secure and the padding attached, I was relieve to find the next job, fitting the hood supports, went exactly as described in the manual.

The main thing is to correctly identify the left and right supports, then fit them into their respective front pipe sockets before securing them to the back frame.

One difference to the manual is that the manual says to secure the hood supports with a screw that passes through the lower hole in the support and a matching hole in the pipe socket. On our Kangaroo, the pipe sockets were topped with clamp fittings like those holding the back frame in place.

When fitting the clamp fittings, make sure the second, higher hole in the hood support is above the clamp as this will take the light mounts later.

Each of the hood supports attaches to the back frame with a pair of screws, and these were a doddle to fit.

But if you were thinking you could relax now, you’re wrong. The most fiddly job is to come - fitting the lower sides of the hood to the passenger compartment.

Stitched into the base of the hood sides is a long strip of plastic with a series of hooks projecting out and back. These have to be pressed into slots in the passenger compartment and then drawn backwards to lock in place.

I found this to be one of the most difficult parts of the job as no sooner would you get two or three hooks in place and start on the next one, then the earlier ones would pop free.

On top of that, I wonder how long this relatively flimsy piece of plastic will last? Some form of push-pull rivet, removeable from the outside using a blade, would be easier to fit and remove, as well as being easier to replace in the event of breakage (one rivet against the whole plastic strip).

I finally got all the hooks in place and then tackled the next step, pulling the eyelet furthest back on the hood to a fastening hole on the passenger compartment.

A plastic knob with a steel thread passes through the eyelet and screws into the hole in the plastic base - be careful when tightening as you don’t want to ream the hole out and make it larger. Captive nuts would have been a good idea here.

The front eyelet on the hood is then secured in a similar fashion.

After that, pull the sides of the hood up and secure them around the hood frames with the Velcro bands. Do this with care as you don’t want to rip the plastic windows or put undue strain on the window zips.

I found it best to do a couple of Velcro straps at one end of the frame, a couple at the other, then back to the other end and work my way in to the centre.

A second person is useful when attaching the final straps as some force is needed to pull the sides into place - but be careful!

When the final strap is in place, go back to the first straps you fastened and tighten them.

The back flap of the hood then goes around the back frame and is Velcroed in place.

The light mounts are then bolted into place through an eyelet in the hood and through the hood supports.

The hood is then drawn over the handlebars and attached with a spring clip. All straightforward.

The two eyelets on the back flap go over the knobs that hold the hood to the passenger compartment and six snap fasteners are pressed into place along the back edge of the base. Again, straighforward.

The final step with the hood was to attach the front of the hood to the front three knobs. This took some effort as the hood was very taut, but this should become easier as the hood stretches.

That’s it for this post. Next, I’ll look at getting the handlebars correctly set up.

But before finishing, I suppose I should post a photo of the final result, complete with test crew…