Where did your Recumbent take you today?

[Duck!]

71 laps, or pretty well bang-on 100km on the Wonthaggi HPV race circuit over the weekend......

[opik_bidin]

Quite busy.

On Saturday from lakemba to tempe velodrome for the Sydney classic Bicycle show. Had good time trying several bents and meeting other bentors.

Then Tempe to Bankstown to lead a ride from Bankstown to the Hawthorn Canal for the EDGE event. Discussed about Canterbury Bankstown-inner west-city connection and enjoyed the event.

Next was taking a train to leppington then cycled to Liverpool on roll event in greenway park. Had some food and enjoyed the event. Then cycled to Liverpool to take the train to lakemba.

And today. Doing the Bobbin head from asquith to turramurra. It's actually quite flat compared to my usual commute

[opik_bidin]

Bit the bullet and do some vehicular cycling. Only do this if you have enough survival skills and gears. Vehicular cycling skills in busy traffic and knowing what to do. And bike with hiviz and strong tyres so bad surface in gutters doesnt matter.

Did the cycling from Camperdown to Blacktown showground in 2 hour 15 mins through Parramatta road A44 and Blacktown road.

Kept rather left and only took the full lane when necessary as a signal that kept left if the situation has calmed down

Its remarkable how quick you can get to your destination without going through the quiet zig zag routes.

[recumbenteer]

Today, riding in the "damp"..https://youtu.be/B9iPKUsjUKo

[TrikeTragic]

Back on the trike after most of last year "off" resting a hip injury from basketball.

First few rides in March, with a two week break when I managed to put the (misaligned) rear derailleur into the spokes. New unit fitted and adjusted (thanks Marcus at Walkers Wheels in Montmorency), riding every two or three days since.

Home (Briar Hill in outer north eastern suburbs) is a couple of km from the Main Yarra Trail and the Diamond Creek trail. Both shared paths a little busy at the moment with prams, strollers, dogs, joggers and cyclists of varying ages and competence.

Usual rides:
1. Out via Diamond Creek Trail to Diamond Creek then to the back blocks of Hurstbridge. Several decent hills to test the legs and the heart rate, and accompanying downhill rushes. Scenic and the roads are quiet. About 32 - 40 km depending on the route.
2. To Main Yarra Trail to Heidelberg, return via Viewbank or retrace the MYT. Also scenic and quiet vehicle traffic at the moment, MYT can get congested in Westerfolds Park. About 26 - 32 km depending on route.
3. Through Eltham, Research and Kangaroo Ground - with Panton Hills - Smiths Gully option, or Christmas Hills - Smiths Gully. Anywhere from 32 - 40 km distance depending on route, very testing (slow/steady) climb to the Eltham College/Research peak, several more big climbs whichever the route.

I seem to be averaging 15-16 kph, which I reckon might be down a few on where I should be (perhaps due to a few more kg on the seat...) I keep an eye on how hard my body's working with heart rate monitor and just try to stay below the red zone...

Cheers

[skyblot]

Sandgate in glorious QLD autumn weather, complete with obligatory flat tyre, wrong size tube, and missing pump inflator piece.
Still a good ride though.
https://youtu.be/FNe1fezy8A8

[recumbenteer]

prep for a Sub24O...

[insta]https://www.instagram.com/p/CASFbJdDMxG ... ink/[insta]

now to find somewhere "stealth"

[TrikeTragic]

Nowhere since last Tuesday....Trike is now (gulp) 14 years old, and chewed out the second set of pads of its original equipment Zoom disks.

Wednesday trip to my LBS (Marcus at Walkers Wheels Montmorency, thoroughly recommended) and discussion about possible replacement options. Zoom disk pads like hens teeth to get, with long delays for delivery, if they can be got at all. Not ideal. We settled on Shimano disks with upgrade to hydraulic (from cable) as a start point. Walked away with one disk unit an adaptor mount to try out.

First lot of fiddling with right hand disk - adaptor unit does the trick! Then look at removing the old cable brake handles....The bar end shifters just didn't want to cooperate - couldn't get the brake handles around them, so snapped the handles off by braking the cast clamps.

Second lot of fiddling - the left hand disk. Shimano doesn't make a mirror image caliper unit, dammit. So I see Marcus, come away with a second disk brake unit with a view to engineer (I use that term loosely..) my own adaptor frame so the caliper unit can be fitted with the hydraulic tube exiting rearwards. Marcus had to order in another adaptor mount in any case, allowing me some time to create the new mount frame.

A few trips to Bunnings ensued for some aluminum strap and M5 and M6 bolts etc, then several attempts to create a simple and strong frame. Eventually, the simplest solution worked - fit a piece of strap to the mudguard mount drilled and shaped to fit the top / rear mount of the adaptor plate, with the bottom/front using the front mounting point of the original setup. Quick wheel spin and grip squeeze to test - all good!

Tasks for tomorrow: Fix the brake handles to the steering arms, and apply new bar tape. Collect the second Shimano adaptor plate from Marcus, fit to the right hand setup and "tune". A shake down ride tomorrow afternoon if all goes according to plan.....

Cheers

[TrikeTragic]

The Shimano hydraulic disk upgrade story continued...…

Brake handles drilled and bolted to the steering handles of the trike, and spiffy new bar tape wrapped onto the handles. Very minor task to route the hydraulic hoses from the brake handles to the caliper units using the steering rods, with care to make sure there's enough "slack" to allow front wheels to turn lock to lock, and to keep the hoses clear of the chain and the idler puller directly under the seat.

Collected the second Shimano adaptor plate from Marcus at Walkers Wheels this afternoon, fitted it to the right front wheel hub and then mounted the caliper unit. Adjust and then lock down - all done.

Just a driveway test so far, the initial impression is there is far better braking than the original Zoom cable disks. A full confirmation ride tomorrow (Friday).

Cheers

[TrikeTragic]

Yesterday: First chance for a decent ride with the spiffy new Shimano hydraulic disks on the trike. Mid-Morning ride from home (Briar Hill) via the now much quieter Diamond Creek Trail to Diamond Creek then out to Hurstbridge, and return. 32 km all up. New brake system proved well worth the $ and effort to change over to hydraulic from cable operation.

Now if I can just get the same sort of improvement out of the power unit....

Cheers

[OldBloke]

Thought I should add my recent ride. https://www.relive.cc/view/vXOnE3MX7Bv

OB

[TrikeTragic]

Last night - evening ride starting around 4 pm.
Home (Briar Hill, NE Melbourne) road trip via Montmorency, to the Viewbank shared path on then the Main Yarra Trail (MYT) to Heidelberg. Return along MYT to Westerfolds Park, Eltham then home. About 35 km all up, 2 hours 23 minutes and average moving speed touch over 15 kph.

This was ride no. 4 after the upgrade of the disk brakes, and I'm loving the improvement in brake feel and power compared to the "old" Zoom cable units. Double acting calipers and much greater pad area will do that.

Traffic on the roads still relatively quiet for peak time, well at least until the last 20 minutes or so from laving the Diamond Creek trail at Eltham. Only one stupid horn blast from a 4WD ute towing a trailer. Funny how you can tell the difference between a friendly toot (as in, "You're riding something unusual so I'll give you a hello beep") and a stoopid blast (as in "You're riding something unusual, so I'll just see if I can frighten the bejeesus out of you because I'm not capable of processing anything else"). The second gets a middle finger response.

Some pedestrian traffic on the shared paths, and the beginnings of some commuting cyclists, mostly outward bound from the city. Darkness well and truly set in by the return from Heidelberg, so walkers and joggers were lit by my helmet light in plenty of time to give an approach warning and then passing room. Passed by several serious commuters on bikes, decent lights, reflective gear and several gave a friendly "Hi" as they rolled past knots above my rate.

Really enjoyable late afternoon / evening ride, legs felt well "stretched", body well and truly ready for dinner!

Cheers

[halloleo]

Just the meager daily commute: From North Canberra to Barton in the South - and back.

Beautiful cold weather in the morning (3 °C) - unusually overcast in the evening. Still one of my trusty everyday joys.

[TrikeTragic]

Not going anywhere by trike for the next 4 weeks or so.

Right arm in a sling for that period after an operation to repair a torn shoulder tendon (basketball injury). Period of "confinement" nicely coincides with Melbourne lockdown and at least a week of wet weather!

Will be back on the trike early July, all being well.....

Cheers

[zebee]

So you just use the gears on the 'good' side!

[skyblot]

So you just use the gears on the 'good' side!

Using one brake on a trike makes it more interesting too...

[TrikeTragic]

So you just use the gears on the 'good' side!

Thanks zebee, my 'good' side is my left, so that gives me all 3....... When I ride, I need my fair share of the 27 the trike gives me, given the 66 year old "power pack" has a limited power / torque range! And yes, 50 % braking shouldn't be much of an issue, most of the time. It's those other 'sometimes' that give me a concern!

Hey, only 4 weeks to go, though!

Cheers

[TrikeTragic]

Out and about within the 5 km limit of course.... Beautiful late winter day here in Melbourne town, shared paths I used today were relatively busy with kids, Mums, prams, bikes and dogs. And in lockdown, the roads are quiet

Back on the trike for 3 weeks now, as soon as the surgeon gave the OK for the sling to come off. Took it easy for the first couple of rides and probably still not back to full trike fitness. But hey, it still feels good to have the wind in (what's left of) the hair and the trike feeling willing. Great day for a ride!

Cheers

[recumbenteer]

went out to refuel the Rotovelo

[insta]https://www.instagram.com/p/CSswq_PL6wi/[/insta]

[skyblot]

went out to refuel the Rotovelo

[insta]https://www.instagram.com/p/CSswq_PL6wi/[/insta]

How many km to the coffee do you get?

[recumbenteer]

went out to refuel the Rotovelo

[insta]https://www.instagram.com/p/CSswq_PL6wi/[/insta]

How many km to the coffee do you get?

...I'm probably averaging 40k/shot.... some days (hills) 20, other days (flat) 50.... but add hazelnut

[zebee]

It didn't take me very far but I enjoyed it!

I've been triking only for ages as the only reason to go anywhere has been shopping so I take the shopping trolley. I like the trike and I like riding it.

But on the weekend I thought "I need to duck out for something I forgot, it's a really nice day, I need the exercise, the one thing will fit in the racktop bag pannier..."

And so I hauled the two wheeler out from it's dusty home.

I haven't ridden the Encore for ages! I was a bit worried I'd forgotten how... but I hopped on, clipped in, and away we went.

Yes, the 80psi narrow M+ tyres and the hardshell seat are a different thing to the 2" conti urbans running 60psi and the bungee-strap mesh seat. My fillings tell me so! On the other hand the Encore is So Light! So Fast! Yeah Ian Sims always thought that small wheels accelerated faster and if you give it a really hard kick the trike will get moving but so will the Encore and it does it to a higher speed for the given amount of kick it feels like.

It is true that low speed on the trike is way easier but my body remembered how to balance the high BB and the J bars and how to wriggle the two wheeler through tight turns and ride it behind walking pace peds till the path cleared. I didn't have to find out how I'd get it up that steep hill on the Cook's River Path because when I got there the hill was covered in small children and no way was I chancing riding up it. (and sure enough they all stopped in a gaggle right at the top blocking the path)

I rode to my 5km limit and home again with a big grin plastered on my face. Riding that thing is just so much fun!

[skyblot]

Oh you have an Encore! Nice... Never seen one in the flesh but they look desirable...
There's nothing quite like a fast high racer...

[zebee]

The Encore is a very good looking machine.

I went to it from a GIro 20 and the change from lower BB relaxed geometry not that laid back mesh seat to the high BB laid back (even at highest setting it's still RECLINED) hardshell racer geometry was a bit of a shock.

Especially down the main street of Newtown at rush hour!

(I'm glad it was down, so I didn't have to do much pedalling. By the time I got off King St heading for Marrickville I was sorta in control)

It's very responsive although in the first few weeks I'd have labelled it "twitchy as hell". Still do sometimes. It is fast though, even with my low power motor driving it.

[zebee]

The trike's in for brake work so the Encore is being the utility bike now.
It is still fast and light but ohhh.... I have SO forgotten how to ride the thing in traffic!

Yes it is twitchy. Yes it is tall so I don't flat foot I toe. And I have forgotten the timing so that the foot goes down at the right angle in the right place as the bike comes to a stop.

Vision at corners is difficult as I'm so laid back. Really have to stick the stick well out to see what's coming. Hard shell seat and carbon fibre single spar no suspension and high pressure tyres means bang crash rattle thump on what are called roads around here. Especially if the pannier is carrying anything heavy.

I found myself with the same thoughts I had years ago when I was riding the Ducati 450 single[1] in Sydney traffic and for very much the same reasons. "Did I really commute on this thing once?"

But I guess that's what I get for trying to get a racehorse to do a draught horse's job!

[1] tiny and light. Handlebars at knee level so correct riding position is chest on the tank, chin in the clocks, heels up under your bum, forearms horizontal. At which point it is lithe and nippy and fast and more fun than should be legal. As long as you don't need to get your head up off the instruments....