First Tour of 2011

This is the moment I have been waiting and training for. All preparations are complete - bike, gear, route, time. I am almost ready to hit the road!

I plan on rolling from San Francisco to Los Angeles on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) or Highway 1.

I have been studying "Bicycling the Pacific Coast" by Vicky Spring and Tom Kirkendall. This is how my itinerary looks so far:

1st day: From Montara to New Brighton State Beach 2nd - Vets Memorial Park 3rd - Kirk Creek campground 4th - San Simeon State Beach 5th - Oceano campground 6th - Gaviota sate park 7th - Carpenteria state beach 8th - Leo Carrillio state beach 9th - Home Stretch! I have been packing and there is the list of things I am taking: Clothes: Lycra recumbent pants Synthetic jersey Long sleeve jersey Keen cycling sandals Socks (for evening campsite use with sandals)

Long sleeve shirt for campsite

Pants for campsite

Hat

Bicycle HP Velotechnik Streetmachine GTe Arkel T52 panniers Fastback Double Century with 3L bladder Bicycle maintenance: Pump 2 spare tubes (different sizes) Patch kit Tire levers Multitool Kevlar spoke kit Chain links Dry lube (2oz) Camping & Food Tent Sleeping bag Silk liner Inflatable pad White gas stove with .5l bottle worth of fuel Lighter One pot with lid One lexan cup One spoon Swiss army knife Paracord (to dry wet clothes) Multi use liquid soap (dr bronner's) Tea bags Instant oatmeal First aid kit Liquid bandaid Band aids

Street Machine Diaries - seat adjustments & kickstand

Since I got my Street Machine couple weeks ago, I have been trying to figure out the "best" riding position.

I have been playing with seat length and the recline angle adjustments.

I had problems with my neck not being supported at first, and was tempted to purchase the headrest. However, today I was fine tuning the length adjustment on the seat, and came across the position which is reasonably comfortable, especially when the seat is in the about 75% reclined position. I will adjust the seat some more, but I am getting much closer to a comfortable ride. I need to find a point where the seat angle is curving my back in such a way were my head is up, comfortable and can turn side to side easily.

I experimented with laying the head back all the way, but that way you can not turn left and right and there is quite a bit of stress on the neck muscles.

I got the chainstay mounted kickstand, and I can not get it up when seated on the bike. Starting to ride is quite a bit of a balancing act. First, get the kickstand into "up" position. Then, while balancing the bike by left handlebar, straddle the bike around the boom, sit down, click in right cleat into the pedal and press off. I think if the bike was fully loaded for touring, I would be having balancing issues. I hope that the lowrider pannier rack mounted kickstand can be reached and flicked up with the foot AFTER sitting down. I could flick up the kickstand after sitting down on my Cannondale Bent, I didn't even think I could not do it on Street Machine.

How to select your chainring for a Street Machine GTe with Rohloff

After riding my HP Velotechnik Street Machine GTe I realized that I want lower gearing than stock.

My stock setup is 46T chainring and 16T sprocket on a Rohloff IGH.

Gears from 1-7 are quite noisy and feel "draggy". The noisiest is #7. My cruising gear on flats is somewhere between #7 & #8. Direct drive on Rohloff is #11. 

Ideally, #11 should be my main cruising gear.

First I went to Sheldon Brown's gear calculator and figured where I was at.

For 26 X 1.5 / 38-559 / MTB tire with 155 mm cranks

With Custom Sprocket(s) Cassette

With Rohloff 14-speed Speedhub Rear Hub

Low	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	High
19.9	22.6	25.7	29.2	33.2	37.8	42.9	48.8	55.3	63.0	71.5	81.2	92.4	104.9

So my cruising is done between 48.8 and 55.3 Gear Inches.

So this would be my "ideal" setup.

For 26 X 1.5 / 38-559 / MTB tire with 155 mm cranks

With Custom Sprocket(s) Cassette

With Rohloff 14-speed Speedhub Rear Hub

Low	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	11	-	-	High
13.5	15.3	17.4	19.7	22.4	25.5	29.0	32.9	37.4	42.5	48.3	54.8	62.4	70.8

If I would like to move my cruising to gear #11, I would need 33T chainring and 17T sprocket. But Rohloff insists on 38T chainring as the smallest with 16T cog, as going smaller would go beyond 2.4 ratio suggestion from Rohloff. What to do?

Doing more research I realized that Rohloff recommendations includes tandems and super fit riders who can really crank on their pedals. In recumbent situation I don't have jolts of force applied to the pedals (I can't stand on them, I am just "spinning").  There are articles that suggest you can go lower in gearing, but Rohloff will not honor the warranty.

So, if I decide to go with "unapproved" ratio on gearing, what are my options for chainrings and sprockets?

Standard sprocket from Rohloff is 16T. For lower gearing they have a 17T sprocket available.

17T sprocket costs $50-60 USD, then you need a chain whip ($10-30 USD) and special Rohloff tool to remove it ($53). 

What if I leave the sprocket at 16T, and just change the chainring?

T.A. Specialites does make a 33T chainring, but it is designed for inside of the shiftable cluster. It might work, but I don't want ramps for shifting on the chainring.

For 34T chainring, there are more choices. Again, I am avoiding rings with pins and ramps. You can have a Surly stainless steel chainring, or numerous aluminum ones. The hardest aluminum alloy is 7075-T6.

How does aluminum  compare against steel? Surly uses 304 steel. It is harder than 7075-T6 aluminum, but also it is heavier. As I am going for reliability, so weight is not that significant for one piece. I would go with Surly. Surly is also reversible -  just like the Rohloff sprocket.

For $30 I can get a Surly chainring and get much closer to the "ideal" range.

For 26 X 1.5 / 38-559 / MTB tire with 155 mm cranks

With Custom Sprocket(s) Cassette

With Rohloff 14-speed Speedhub Rear Hub

Low	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	11	-	-	High
14.7	16.7	19.0	21.6	24.5	27.9	31.7	36.0	40.9	46.6	52.8	60.0	68.3	77.5

Would this work? There is only one real way to find out.

Baja Dreams

This year I want to ride my bent through Baja Mexico.

Years ago I met a cyclist who was crossing Baja on his bike (I was on a Green Tortoise Baja Beach Daze, we have stopped to see the cave paintings near Catavina). I had a short chat with the fellow cyclists. I asked him what was the hardest thing, and he told me that the supply of water was dictating where he could travel.

Lower back pain has stopped me from bicycling a few years back, but I have been fighting back with a recumbent. Suddenly, the dream is back and I have ways of achieving it!

I did not feel that my Cannondale Bent 1 was adequate - I had unresolved issues with midrive that would cause the chain jump chainrings and would sometimes jam, so I was looking for the "ultimate" touring bent.

I came to the conclusion of HP Velotechnik's StreetMachine GTe. I had some money set aside for the traveling, which I dipped into and placed an order for an orange Street Machine. I ended up placing an order with Zach Kaplan in Alameda, as my almost local dealer (BentUp Cycles) did not have a Street Machine in stock to try. My local dealer Victor from Bicycle Workshop in Santa Monica doesn't carry HP Velotechnik at all, but I see him doing most of the work I can not do for the bike.

After going to India and coming back I eagerly awaited my new "dream machine".

Looking for a new bent

From research stage I am moving into a locating stage for my next bent.

I am set on a Streetmachine by HP Velotechnik. Recent GT or GTe would do nicely.

The problem is that I have champagne taste and beer budget.

Nicely equipped brand new SMGTe tips scales at $6000 - that is more than my several cars worth combined.  I am more thinking $2000 and couple years of gentle use.

I think the bikes are out there - in peoples garages and sheds collecting dust and slowly rusting away.

I can promise to give them a good home and ride the hell out of them.

Another option is to buy a base model and over time to upgrade it.

However, most of the times when I got a bike, bike stayed the way it was purchased.

So best is to find as close to the desired bike used and ride ride ride!

Cycle progression

I have noticed that a lot of people start with a DF bike, then a recumbent bike, and then comes a trike. After that a fast high/low racer might come. I was trying figure out why such succession is popular?

I look at trikes as a very specialized vehicles - not popular for city commuting duties (I have seen no trikes on the streets of Santa Monica for past 20 years), but more of weekend/bicycle path/outside town riding. You could take it on the tour as well, but with our busy lives that is a very small of our total riding time. I did try Scorpion FS & FX, they were fine on an empty streets, but I would not want to be doored or cut off by the car driver with "I did not see you".

CLWB (I have Cannondale bent 1) does make a decent city commuter, and I ride it pretty much every day. Lately I have tried several SWB bents, and liked the way Streetmachine felt the best, so that might be my next commuter. I plan to do touring on Streetmachine as well, but realistically it will be 90% commuter, and 10% tourer. I could justify that.

So my conclusion is that the trikes are mostly a recreational vehicles, while bikes could be more utilitarian.

And then there is a need for speed.

I wish I could go faster when I am cruising on the bicycle path - both trikes with skinny high pressure tires and high racers leave me in the dust. I do like an idea of being able to go faster, but not at the expense of the utility.

I did have a drastic idea of using a trike for commuting, but I think I will come back to this idea after velomobile market matures a little more or oil price jumps to $300 a barrel. Right now there is a flood of innovation on suspended trikes, but that's just a first wave. I am willing to wait it out and buy a more mature product.

In conclusion, when my commuting needs are met, I might experiment with trikes or racier bents, but SWB seems to be the best bent for busy city streets.

To trike or not to trike?

On BentRiderOnline there was a post for a HP Velo Scorpion for sale.

The trike offered was a base model Scorpion with some options - airflow seat cushions, 50 tooth rotor Q-Ring, Crankbrothers Eggbeater pedals, four sets of various tires. Although SRAM DualDrive is not my favorite, I was intrigued. I exchanged quite a few emails with the owner, and made an offer. I figured if I did not like the trike, I could sell it later, meanwhile I could have some fun on a beach path. If the trike grew on me, I might consider upgrading it to a full touring trike, but then again I might not, especially after I liked testriding Streetmachine so much.

Well, it seems that the trike deal is not going through - somebody else local offered little more money than I felt comfortable with. I didn't want to overextend myself financially and I feel very comfortable with or without a trike.

This is working out to my advantage - if I can not get the trike at the price I am comfortable, I could use the money towards a bike that I really liked - Streetmachine GTe. Now all I need is to find one in good condition. New price still makes me cringe, but next year is my 40th birthday, so maybe I will splurge...

Which bent is right for me?

My current Cannondale Bent I is a smooth gliding bent. I just took it out for a 20 mile ride this morning, and that dual suspension soaks up road bumps with aplomb. I love the "cushy" ride. I am only wishing for something a little faster - I am cruising with Cannondale at average of 10 mph on a fairly flat bicycle path. Also, stability won't hurt it either - on a sandy patches on the beach bike path I had that "slipping" feeling couple times, it is quite unnerving.

I started thinking about Grasshopper FX - on paper it makes good sense. The 'hopper FX folds for transportation, should be fairly comfy and reasonably stable. Also, I hope it would be little quicker than my Cannondale.

My first attempt to try Grasshopper FX in SoCal turned out fruitless.

I went into Bentup Cycles wanting to try a Grasshopper FX, but they no longer carry that model. Hence I took couple trikes for a spin. I have tried Scorpion FX and Scorpion FS by HP Velotechnik, and they both felt smooth and nice,  FS even more so plush, especially when I was riding over the uneven ground.

This could turn out to be very dangerous to my valet.  But there were downsides as well.

What I did not like was inability to lean in while turning - that's what makes 2 wheelers so special.

This weekend I am going to Oakland to see Zach Kaplan who has Grasshopper FX and other SWB bents in stock to ride.

I'll be trying out Grasshopper FX, Streetmachine GTe and Speedmachine and see if any of them "talk" to me. If not, I might start saving for Scorpion FS.

Am I setting myself for a trike? Sure looks like that to me. If I go the trike route, there is a whole bunch more to try - Ice has a fully sprung machine (I got spoiled by a smooth ride, I don't even want to try non suspended bents anymore). Also there are deltas for Hase and Greenspeed - Kettwiesel and Anura. From looking at Deltas are kind of ugly, but I have to look beyond looks. It is all about what feels right.

Also, there are fully suspended Velomobile - one from Greenspeed looks interesting, but I think it is an overkill for SoCal "weather".

Most important is to try as many bikes, trikes and quads as possible.

So I am thinking with my brain, but going with my gut.