Author Archives: Kurt

Wiring

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I’ve begun acquiring the Di2 parts necessary to get the system running on the bench.  I have a rim and Alfine-11 hub in hand and am waiting on a spoke order before I begin building the wheel.  I was surprised how difficult it was to find the Alfine-11 in 36 hole silver here in the states.  Jim (aka Bike Hermit) at Bike Touring News had no trouble and I had my hub within just a few days of placing the order.

Before I can complete the initial Di2 order I need to figure out the wire I’ll need.  Continue reading →

Trikes and Trailers

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An aside while I figure out how to proceed on the Sprint Di2 project…

This post is not the “Pannier vs. Trailer” debate.  In my opinion there is no debate.  If you’re carrying more on a tour than you can fit directly on your trike, you need to get rid of something or do a better job packing.  Continue reading →

Recumbent Belt Drive

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Now that I’ve seen belt drive in action on a couple of “city bikes” in town, I can’t seem to let this one go.  On an upright bike, belt drive is smooth, reliable, light, and silent.  On a recumbent it has the potential to solve what for many is their bane:  a long, greasy, noisy, unwieldy chain.  This post is my attempt at taking a closer look to see what might be preventing the adoption of belt drive for recumbents and, specifically, ‘bent trikes.  I’ll discuss the issues I see, many unique to ‘bents.  Then I’ll see if I can figure out what it would take to adapt my current trike to belt drive. Continue reading →

Gearing

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It’s a fact that a typical ‘bent needs wider and lower gearing than a typical upright bike.  Just how much wider and lower is a subjective, sometimes technical, and oft’ debated topic that can make large chunks of time vanish.  I’ll try to keep this brief.  I use Gear Inches in the following discussion because it is commonly used in trike specifications and it provides a good way to make relative comparisons between drivetrains.  Consult a Gear Inch Calculator to see how Gear Inches translate into speed.

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Unconventional

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I guess anything under the recumbent banner could be considered unconventional but I think I’ll be pushing into particularly rare territory for this build. My goal is a machine that will be equally comfortable on tour or commuting to work; fun to ride, easy to maintain, impervious to weather. Fast, relatively lightweight, simple, at least externally. Here are some of the characteristics I think will get me the closest. Continue reading →

What’s all this then?

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When the cruciform on my trusty 2008 ICE Q trike failed at about the 20K mile mark, I decided to use the opportunity to upgrade my ride. In fairness to ICE, I’m pretty hard on my equipment– the early demise is almost certainly related to a 4500 mile ride across the US pulling my daughter on a Trets recumbent tagalong plus about 200 lbs of our worldly possessions for the duration of the 6 month odyssey. That’s a lot of mass that no doubt put an extraordinary twisting motion on the main cross tubes where the failure occurred. Besides, ICE cut me a good deal on a replacement cruciform which allowed me to resurrect the Q (now an HDQ, gotta love ICE’s modular frame design) and give it to my wife. A thinly veiled and likely unsuccessful attempt at smoothing over this outrageously expensive project with her.

Having tinkered with and put a lot of miles on recumbent trikes over the past decade or so, I have a pretty good idea where I want to push for my next trike.  This site is an account of my definition of the “perfect ride” and my latest attempt to get there using commercially available products.  Maybe someone will find something useful here.  Or save me from myself.