Raptobike Plans Continued.

Raptobike with Tailbox

The Raptobike is now offered as a frame set. This has proved to be the final temptation for me, I will now buy one as soon as my bonus money comes in. I will sell my Trike and Vivo. I already cleaned up the trike and took the pictures, now I need to post it on craigslist, BROL, and some mailing lists. I will also sell my climbing gear. All together the sales will cover the new bike.

I want the carbon seat, and the boom with a light mount, so I am waiting for Arnold to modify the listing to allow me to select both as part of the frame set. I will then add some components

• Front Rim - Velocity Fusion 406 (drive wheel)
• Front Spokes Wheelsmith
• Front Hub- Rohloff SpeedHub
• Front Skewer- Pitlock Skewer
• Rear Rim- Velocity Fusion 559 (non-drive wheel)
• Rear Spokes- Wheelsmith
• Rear Hub- Shimano Ultegra HB-6600
• Rear Skewer- Quick Release
• Bottom Bracket- FSA MegaExpo
• Crank Set- FSA Gossamer Crankset (165mm)
• Front Chain Ring 53t Q-Ring 130BCD
• Drive Wheel Sprocket- 13 tooth
• Front Brakes- Avid Single Digit 7
• Rear Brakes- Avid Single Digit 7
• Brake Levers- Avid Single Digit 7
• Chain- SRAM PC-951 or KMC X9SL-TI
• Tires- Schwalbe Stelvio or Durano (406 and 559)

I will get both wheels built and have my bike shop install the crank set and bottom bracket. I am considering just walking into Kirkland Bike shop and talking to them about the frame set. I'll bet they will be very happy to build it up for me. All in all I am extremely excited and can't stop playing around with options. I am avoiding the temptation to go all Ti for components in an attempt to really get the weight down. The gear range with the Rolhoff should be 20.7" to 109". That is more than enough to handle hills and the flats. Hill climbing at 50 rpm will be 3.1 mph, or 70rpm at 4.3 mph which is roughly my minimum speed on a recumbent anyway, or I fall over. Then at 120 rpm in high gear this yeilds 38.9 mph, so my downhills will be exciting.

Update: I spoke to Garrie Hill and he won't be importing the Raptobike. So I will be ordering direct. On the other hand, he does have a mold for a tailbox that he is adapting for most lowracers and even reclined trikes. This means that I may have a US source for a tailbox to fit the raptobike at some point.

Update: Pedals, I always forget pedals. I will probably use speedplay frogs, though I might just steal pedals off one of my other bikes. Additionally Arnold at Raptobike has updated the web shop there to include all the options I want for the frame kit. Great company, they really pay attention to their customers even before purchase.