The Long-Lost, Way-Way-Overdue Update!
Part 1
“What in the world has been going on at Pasq?”
“Why haven’t we heard from you?”
“Have you given up?”
These are a few of the emails and online comments we’ve seen lately. Okay, okay…we get it. You want news! Buckle up and put your reading glasses on…this is a long one!
Let’s go in somewhat chronological order!
Before June - Getting Everything Ready
We spent several months finalizing all the last tiny details in the design. Once we had the final design for what would be our Beta Test trailers, we started the long and fairly complicated process of ordering all the components we would need for 12 trailers: all the sheet metal parts, the CNC router parts, the machined parts, the hardware (bolts, washers, nuts, flathead screws, bearings…) tires/tubes/wheels. Once it all started coming in, much of it needed a trip to our local powder coater. We had to mount tires and balance the wheels. The check lists never seemed to get shorter; no matter how much work we put in, they just got longer and longer.
One other project we had after all the hardware came in was to take all the silver screws, socket-head cap screws, bolts, flatheads, etc. to a plating company here in Chicago. They stripped all the chrome off the screws and replated everything with black-zinc plating. We did this for appearance—we didn’t want a bunch of silver dots all over the black trailer, so we took the extra step to get black-zinc plating. Black-zinc plating has the additional benefit of being more resistant to corrosion than regular, silver zinc plating.
However, the downside to making everything black was we got two huge boxes of unsorted hardware back. It took a team of six people nearly one entire day to sort everything back into their original boxes. And if you think it’s fast and easy to sort hundreds of 20mm M6 socket head cap screws from hundreds of their 22mm siblings, I’ve got a great side gig for you!
Luke also spent an enormous amount of time making wiring harnesses for the ADV1, as well as for the bikes in our Beta Program.
One other large project was to design, and 3D print a wide variety of parts. 3D printing allows us to add features and higher-end finishes. For example, 3D printing facilitated custom gaskets (see below) to protect the wiring harnesses from the elements to the greatest extent possible.
June - Building & On the Road
We started June by spending days, nights and weekends working to get the first Beta trailer boxed up and out the door to our first tester. There were a ton of challenges to get it out as quickly as possible, including designing a box that could safely and securely hold the ADV1. We got it done and it was 1/2 lbs. under FedEx’s max weight!
We had found or made solutions to the issues we encountered while assembling the first ADV1 Beta, so the second one went much faster. It took us about two days, which was perfect timing, because we needed to pack it up, and haul it out to Oregon and Washington. Rod had three weekends in a row of rallies we displayed the ADV1: The BMW MOA National Rally, The BMW Riders of Oregon, and the largest ADV rally in the US: The Touratech Rally.
After the rallies were over, Rod met Marlin, one of the Beta Testers, to hand over the trailer Rod had been displaying. This got Marlin the trailer faster, and it saved Pasq the cost of the box and shipping to get it to him! Win-win!
Marlin and his wife headed out shortly afterwards on a tour pulling the ADV1.
July - Building Building Building
While Rod was out in the Pacific Northwest, Luke was busy working on a ton of different design projects, building more wiring harnesses, and helping sort out issues in assembly.
When Rod got back at the beginning of July, building all 10 remaining Beta trailers became the top priority and getting them shipped out. While Luke continued to work on CAD designs, refining and improving all that we found could be improved, Rod (with lots of help from Luke) started building sub-assemblies: suspension, trapezoid hinges, internal storage boxes. Luke’s main task, for days and days, was cutting, stripping, crimping, and shrink-wrapping wiring harnesses. Rod would interrupt him frequently with assembly questions, and slowly the main assemblies of the ADV1 came together.
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