Recycled Recumbent

I know it isn't a new trend, but I just decided to try an air compressor for my toy shoppe (bicycle garage) again. I bought one in 2004 or so, one of the then fairly new, cheap oil-less compressors. You know, something to infate tires, blow off the workstand, etc. In 2004 I couldn't stand it, the blamed thing was noisy! When it went off I couldn't even think, let alone speak or hear conversation. Yeesh! It sat there, unplugged, unloved, for two three years before I gave it to my junque guy - the guy who used to come by and clear away my metal scrap bins. I don't know if he used it.

Any way, then til today I've pumped every thing by hand. Up and down and a succession of air pumps over the years. It isn't difficult.

But I got to reading about the new (to me) small compressors - how quiet they are. There's a new Praesta air chuck being advertised - I have Praesta valves on a LOT of my personal bikes. And we run two cars - the last time I went to the gas station to use their 50 cents air pump, there was a delivery truck in front of it so I had to wait...

So I was reading - new small compressors - 'Max 60 db rating' - donno what that means, but I like the, um, sound of it. Not expensive, easy to stow away when not needed. I took the plunge on a modest little 2 gallon oil free compressor. It arrived today (yes, mail order). Plugged it in and - ahhhhh - that's nice. quieter than my Milwaukee drill, come to that. The usual gasp and hiss when it gets to tank pressure, and when connection and disconnecting stuff. But very nice. I got a 50' hose (I hate the coil-hose stuff!) some QC ni***es, and a Schraeder inflator in another little kit. Now I can maintain the car tires in the comfort of my driveway. None of them needed air tonight, turns out. But at least I know (and Helen knows). I have ordered the new Praesta valve chuck and such, and I look forward to retiring (at least for shop/garage use) the trusty red hand pump I've had forever. Old dog, new trick.

Two new additions to the showroom. Used bikes for sure, but newly offered. See the showroom for details on this Rans Stratus LE and Cattrike Expedition. https://sites.google.com/site/recycledrecumbents/home/the-showroom

I donno WHAT to do! I kind of petted this in the parking lot in Xenia on Sunday at the end of the day at Cycle Con. Then it followed me home! Now it's here and I DON'T think Helen will let me keep it.....

Home safe after a weekend at the conference.

A rainy Saturday transformation. EZ-Sport to Wonder-Sport! The stock EZ Sport is the first picture. It is modified for a lower, different seat in the second picture. It's a much prettier bike showing off that teardrop shape!

I've added four bikes to the showroom today. I can't help it, they are all great bikes. Look for these new additions - Longbikes Slipstream, Burley Canto, Lightning P38, and Rans Rocket XL. Full descriptions and pricing here - https://sites.google.com/site/recycledrecumbents/home/the-showroom

CAUTION - fundraising solicitation! Scroll down if offended. Sporadically over the last 27 years I have ventured into a 2 day Bicycling event, these are fundraisers for good cause. This year I am taking the opportunity to commit to the SCENIC SHORE 150 ride, in Wisconsin on July 27-28. The ride is beautiful, up the Lake Michigan shoreline from Mequon to Sturgeon Bay. I've done it many times, some of you know that, some of you know the route.

This ride is a charity fund raiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Wisconsin. Please consider donating to the cause in my fundraising obligation to the event. L&L does great work supporting blood cancer research and patients, they are a worthy charity for your consideration, and they prove an excellent return value for every dollar donated. You can donate right now, from the seat you are poised on - this is the link - https://events.lls.org/pages/vtnt/2024ss150/ACarson

And this, of course, is the bike and rider. I am grateful for your consideration.

Today I got OUT for a ride! The last time I was out (it says here) was January 8, Monday = 17 days ago. Hard to live without those endorphins for that long. I did breakdown and start using the trainer after about a week cooped up inside - but trainers don't yield miles on the bike (just time on the trainer. I've been pedaling through the rather dreary GET BACK sessions as Peter Jackson cut it together. Anyway, out for 20 miles (10 miles outbound before the trail was no longer cleared) today. Sweet! More on the weekend, and next week as the weather promises mild times. I might just stay in shape for my 2 week sojourn to Tucson in February!

I've been puttering. These 5 bikes are new frames at the moment - two of them (green on top and red on the bottom) are Mach 3's, made to use a 700c rear wheel and a 26" front. The three in the middle are Mach 2's, made very much to the website formula. Across the winter, space permitting, I'll build them out for sale. I think I'll do the green Mach 3 first, I want to ride it a little bit. :-)

I've adulterated Nina Paley's drawing of a mystery bike to share with each of you my sincere wish for you to have the happiest of holidays in the coming month. love, ADC

With the colder weather, I've been back in the shop, building bikes. I have three new Mach 2 frames at the paint shop now (I should go get them, likely powder coated by now). This week I am revisiting the Mach 3 design. The Mach 3 is a variation on the Mach 2 design, I put the idea together back when the dual 26" wheel long bike was a popular idea. I've built a dozen or so over the years (the idea is about 9 years old now) for people, but I haven't revisited the Mach 3 for a while. The variation I am playing with on these two (below) frames is to use a 700c rear wheel and a 26" front wheel. Look below - both of these frames are in trial set-up today. These are 'naked' frames - maybe it's bike p**n if you like - I've done no detailing, there are no fittings, no diagonal brace, none of that yet. But each bike is fitted with it's fork, with a handlebar, and on it's two wheels. I can walk the bike around in the driveway and tell a lot about it's character and handling this way. Is the fork raked correctly? How does it stand and feel in the turning test, How does it feel walking it down the driveway weaving back and forth? I like both of these bikes at the moment, both will get a complete finish, and I'll test ride and compare them. This is my fun in the toy shoppe on a snowy day.

The Cattrike 559's found a new home almost immediately. And just as quickly were replaced in the showroom by these two TerraTrike Tours. Find these for sale now in the showroom at https://sites.google.com/site/recycledrecumbents/home/the-showroom?authuser=0

There is smoke in Milwaukee this week. I tried riding, but it isn't good. So I went into my shop and assembled this bike. This was a fun assembly, I've an accumulation of really good components to give it, it's turned out really well. You can find it for sale, of course, on the web page at https://sites.google.com/site/recycledrecumbents/home/the-showroom?authuser=0 Page down, you'll find it near the top.

This is the last finished frame currently in hand. So there may not be another new Mach 2 for a while now. Busy summer, and a crowded garage - there isn't room to build out another. If I needed a ride (I don't, I have my own, 'flagship' Mach 2), I wouldn't hesitate to take this one and ride it on tour. Buy it before your summer is toast!

Two very exciting trikes wandered in today. They will be up for sale soon, but I need to work through them first. Cattrike 5.5.9's!

New in the showroom, Bacchetta Bella!

The barter economy at work. Carlo earned a bike today!

Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. I found this on one of my favorite bikes today - totally cracked out fork. Great bike, too, the Cycle Genius Falcon. If you know anywhere I can find a new fork for it, do post for me!

Two very recent reclaimation projects. The first is a Penninger Voyager that came to me from a friend's estate, sadly neglected. It is now the yellow trike you see below. The other, just finished, is a P38 recumbent. Came from storage in Florida - somewhere. Clearly had been stored out in the weather for - years? A sound frame, but flaked and corrupted blue paint, most components either seized or rusted (but no frame rust!). I just finished the rebuild on it on Friday, it is waiting on new decals from Lightning.

Two new offerings in the Recycled Recumbent showroom - just added yesterday. Rans Stratus XP (XL) - beautiful, near mint condition, very good component set. And a Penninger Traveller delta trike - this bike is a complete rebuild from the stripped frame up. New seat sling by Recumbent Seat Fix, new derailleurs and shifters, new powdercoat paint finish.

Details at https://sites.google.com/site/recycledrecumbents/home/the-showroom?authuser=0

I take considerable pride in my personal bike - the Mach 2 pictured with this post. It's all mine, of course, from the frame out. The coralary to my pride is the certainty that this bike is all my fault, too. Ain't no one else to blame when it goes a little wrong. The third colarary is that I don't have to wait for a mechanic to solve my problems - instant shop access. :-)

Zo, the story is, in December, I was unhappy with my rear wheel. The Phil Wood hub on it is 2 years old, working fine, until it wasn't. Seems gradually it has lost it's easy freewheel - you can't backpedal. It's the hub, not the derailleur, not the chain, etc. Try to back pedal, and phut, you tangle the drive chain down in the idler, etc. That's no good.

Zo I took that wheel off to futz with it. Maybe go in and clean the freehub up, relubricate it. I put a different 700c wheel on the yellowbike - never stop riding, etc. That wheel was fine.

Never mind the Phil Wood hub, this is a story about the yellowbike.

After a 10 day holiday break from riding, I got on my trusted yellowbike2 on Monday (Jan. 2). I proceeded on up the road. Annnnnnd around 14 miles in I gradually started hearing disturbing noises. Oh my. Not squeaks, not a rub. But clunk, clunk, clank. Like parts banging on each other. Random, not cycling with the drive train, but ever more frequent. Enough so that I had to stop, look things over. Definitely coming from the back end. No frame breaks, no floppy wheel, I couldn't see anything wrong.

Back on the bike, clunk and clank still. Fortunately I was near a lunch stop. I'll come out after a bite, warm, and see what I can see.

Nothing. OK, start for home. Clunk. Clank! Dammit! I step out to look at it again. A HA! A smoking hole. Turns out I sheared off the bolt holding the seat brace and rear rack to the rear dropout. Yeah, that should be it. Easy to fix. But not so easy off the rack, out in the cold.

I called Helen for rescue by minivan on Monday. Bless her, she came out. Home again, fixed it I thought.

Tuesday-Thursday were wet, no ride.

Zo Friday morning I got on the bike, all fixed now, and started out. NOPE! Clank and clunk still there. Dammit (I say that a lot). It's good to have multiple bikes, though. I put the yellowbike on the rack again for farther exploring, and went off on the Cycle Genius Raven, written up elsewhere. Got in my 50 for the day. But I am fretting about my favorite bike. for sure.

Back to the problem. On the rack, looking for the next smoking hole. What the f is wrong with my Mach 2??!!! The only thing I can find and this is a big one - the substitute rear wheel! The axle bearing cones were off - too loose! Hunh. I mean way off, maybe 1/8" out of place, that wheel was rattling around on there. I can't imagine I missed that on installing the wheel in December. And the bike rode fine all of December - maybe a couple hundred miles weather permitting. I can't find anything else wrong at all.

Yeah, I could just tighten up the cones, etc. But it really bears a much closer examination for damage and if it's OK, I'll clean it and repack it, etc. On to substitute wheel #3. Also used, with what looks like a new cassette on it. This one has a wide tire on it, 40c, so I had to adjust the fender a little to make the fit (I usually ride 28c tires). OK, I got THAT bike out on Sunday (Saturday was wet again). Yay, clunk and clank are gone. Maybe that was the problem, that loose wheel. But THIS wheel has a problem too.

Wheel #3 seems to be a grinder. Any real torque on it, like pushing up a hill, or just high stress acceleration, and there is an audible grind/rattle to this wheel. It isn't a new wheel, lord knows where it came from to be on my wall (I should keep better notes). It's true and round, the freewheel feels good on backspin, catches on it's pawls just fine. Just that extra grind on higher pedal pressure. Wierd. Not enough to stop the ride, but strange.

I don't know if you get this. It's stressful when MY bike isn't right. I fret about it, especially when the cause and cure aren't obvious. I came back to it this morning, ahead of maybe going for a ride again.

Well, it's good to be a bike shop. I order a few wheels from Velocity from time to time - Chukker rims, a straight up Shimano MTB 9 speed hub (they still had them last time I ordered). There was one left here in the wheel shop (my basement desk and truing stand area). Fourth time's a charm, let's just put a new wheel on the bike and see if said PROBLEM still exists! I pulled the 'original' cassette and tire from the Phil Wood wheel (it's going off to the factory for diagnostics of it's own) and put them on this new Velocity wheel. Popped that on the bike this morning.

OK, let's see if THIS substitute wheel solves my ailing bike's woes.

Ahhhh, YES! My yellowbike is well! Quiet, answering it's gears and shifts without a quibble. NO NOISE! At least, none that shouldn't be there. That felt wonderful on a ride to day. The yellowbike2 is all she should be, working with me on the road today. I feel SO much better.

Ima dig into wheel #2 for bearing damage and such. Take a closer look at wheel #3 to see why it was grinding that way. I've no idea what caused that. But I'll do both those tasks at leisure, without an ailing yellowbike waiting in the wings.

I just felt like writing it out. Thanks for riding along.
__________________
ADC - The right bike is the one you will RIDE!

This is the beginning of a new, custom Mach 2. Today it is bare steel, in trial setup. This patron asked for underseat steering. It is rare, but works well with the Mach 2 design. Monday it goes to the powder coater for custom painting. The finished bike will head south before the end of January.

The Cycle Genius Raven! Great undervalued bike - a rival for the Phoenix. I rode this bike today -it told me three things. One, it is a great ride, I might hold it a while. Two, it needed a new handlebar kit, the new kit is in this late afternoon picture. Three, the Raven told me it needed a fairing. Fixed that too - it is good to have lots of stray bike stuff lying around. Now we wait for the next test ride!

E-Bikes

Zo, this week, yet again, I’ve been asked, “Do I hate E-bikes?” Is whatever point I was making (on other media) a rant against e-bikes? I thought about this today.

First, no, I think E-bikes are a wonderful addition to sports in motion. The e-bike gives an option, an opportunity for people to ride who don’t have the will or capacity to straight out pedal it. I suggested to my 30 something niece that she might consider investing in a good E-bike. She hasn’t exercised much in her life, she is just figuring out she is mortal here in her 30’s, and getting out and about and pedaling comfortably with an assist seems just about right for her. We’ll see if she does it. I’ve been glad when some members of our once-a-month recumbent riding group adopted E-assist bikes. We ride with a no drop policy, and the laggards who we used to worry about now are happily in the middle of the group. With a few exceptions, this riding group is mostly seniors, and I’ve seen us in the last 5 years more and more adopt e-bikes for riding. Good on ye.

I have a friend, Sue. She was writing about a State Park tour she and Charlie did last year – 6 days out, 5 nights I think, and they rode their assisted tandem bike self-contained with their gear for the tour. It sounded like a great trip. I celebrate their planning and ex*****on of the tour. Sue’s description of it, though, was that, “We biked from here to there,” etc. I do think the distinction should be drawn – well, really, you E-biked from here to there. It is a different kettle of fish, E-biking compared to pedal biking. Sue and I differ on our view of this.

My friend Sylvia reported on a Tucson outing, ‘We biked up “A” mountain today.’ Sylvia and (I think) each person riding for that group excursion was using an e-assisted trike. Great, I am not sure anyone in that group would tackle that modest mountain without an electric assist. To me, still, it’s, ‘Well, no, you didn’t BIKE up A Mountain, really. You e-biked up the mountain.’ I think Sylvia disagrees with my distinction as well.

It is different. Only you, your control module, and your battery really know how much assist you use when you e-pedal your bike. There is no valid comparison to a pedal-only powered rider. Apples and napkins – these are two entirely different activities. We mix well – I’ve ridden quite a bit with e-bikers. Most are well mannered, not over-using their electric reserves, and riding at a pace common to the pedal-only members of the group. I’ve learned not to envy your hill climbing capacity – apples and napkins – just doesn’t compare. We had a pair on E-bikes on our tour last June. One day they decided just to do what they could do on the e-bikes – ride all out with a significant day-long amount of assist. They were fun to watch, when we caught a rare sight of them…

I’ve heard it until I believe it, ‘Oh I’m only using assist level 1, I am pedaling and getting a real workout.’ Sure, I don’t mind. It really doesn’t matter that I can’t verify that, you are doing a different category of riding. Riding, sure, but it isn’t the sort of thing to compare or equate with pedal powered cycling. It just isn’t the same.

The right bike is the one you will ride. To me that is all encompassing. If yours has an assist, so be it, it's the right bike. I see it all the time, people making the switch. The bike shops can’t ignore it, e-bikes are THE happening thing, rising in popularity and getting better and less expensive as these things do when trending. I see riders striving to overcome their physical or even behavioral limitations as riders by adopting e-bikes. I think it’s great that the technology allows you the new option for fun, exercise, and enjoyment. We are all adult enough such that riding a bike has to be something you WANT to do. My smallest of quibbles for E-bikers is to ask you not to describe it as riding. E-riding, maybe. Let's find a new word for a different activity. E-biking is not, in any measure, the same thing as what a pedal only rider does.

My friend has been touring with her e-bike for a dozen years now. She is adventurous, wise as a rider and touring rider, deeply experienced, and much of what the tour experience is, and what she accomplishes, is both admirable and the same whether she uses an e-assist or not. Ya still gotta find your way, manage the trip, find food, shelter, friends, explore, take pictures, immerse yourself in a deep and significant adventure. She does it so well, and has for years. She IS touring by bike. But she is not pedaling as a cyclist, rather as an e-cyclist. There is a distinction, and it should be drawn.

I did a ‘double loop’ of the Tucson Loop trail – 54 miles around clockwise, 54 miles around counterclockwise on the same day (2 years back). I boasted of it to the local recumbent riders’ group online. Randy had to ask me – ‘was that on your own or with an assist?’ It remains a significant question for any feat of cycling.

I’ll get there. For my cycling life to date I am intensely proud of what my body has allowed me to accomplish. I am not fast, but I ride my bikes a lot, climb the hills when I have to or want to. I go the distance and I am proud to be able. That pride is my treasure. Someday it will be hard – already I am not as fast nor as interested in the long ride as I was. Someday even the mild Milwaukee hills and the trek out to Port Washington will be too much to contemplate – then I will install and learn that e-assist. Because getting there will be important still. Getting OUT will be important still. I’ll have to lay by my pride of physical prowess – hopefully with grace - and treasure finding a way with the assist to stay out on the bike, to still have the treasure of the bike path and the lakeshore road. I’ll do it when I am ready, and when it’s the best way. Someday. But as the Aria in the movie says, “But not today!”

YMMV
__________________
ADC - The right bike is the one you will RIDE!

The song from Oklahoma - "I'm just a girl who can't say no." Today, just because a friend tipped me off, I couldn't resist acquiring these three bikes. They haven't cleared inspection and tune up yet, but coming soon to the showroom are a CG Falcon, a small California Tour Easy, and a Taiwan Tour Easy. Sweet longbikes, Batman!

AD representing Ajo Bikes @ Cycle Con 2022. Recycled Recumbent

It has maybe been 5 years I have waited for the right one to come along. This is a Bacchetta Bella, their version of the LWB best bike. One of the very few I have not, until today, had an opportunity to play with. This one, the 'right one,' came my way yesterday and I am happy to have it for a little while. This morning I will set it up for me, and likely take it on an extended ride. I doubt I'll keep it, but it is great to finally get this bike here to play with for a while.