Cruzbike Silvio

So I am making some changes in my life and want to get back in shape. This means getting a bike I will ride. I won't ride a diamond-frame or any non-recumbent. I gave it a whirl and it is just too hard on my body. The Raptobike aka White Rabbit is a great bike but it has some failings of my own design. I switched to disk brakes and a drum brake rear making it too hard to change any tire. It still has a 20" front wheel which has been difficult during road construction or any obstruction of my cycling route. I am also more fearful since a few people have been killed on my commute route. It also won't fit in any of the cars we own at the Watson house and I like having that backup if something goes wrong on a ride.

The Mango is difficult to work on and repair. I love the bike but unless I learn to be a better bike mechanic I will be selling it to buy a Cruzbike Silvio V30 or possibly a Vendetta V20 (both are approximate seat angles by the way, not versions). The bent online community is conspiring to have me choose the Vendetta and I do prefer a stiff frame but I get ahead of myself. The two Cruzbike models mentioned are both high end bikes that perform well in the road riding world. They have both been involved in record setting mostly by Maria Parker, who is an amazing athlete. They are Front-Wheel Drive Moving Bottom Bracket bikes, aka FWD-MBB. This means that the pedals up front turn with the front end. It apparently takes some getting used to though it has advantages in climbing. Various types of theorists may fight over that claim but anecdotal evidence supports the climbing benefits. I don't think I will have too much of a learning curve and if I just ride the darn thing then I will adjust. The level of comfort I have even now on the Raptobike is very high and I have had some interesting spills on it.

Given that the Vendetta has a lower seat height and other advantages, if I can get it into a Ford Focus Hatchback than I will likely make that my choice. At this point in time. I could change my mind. I also hope to buy a few new accessories with the mango money, lights, camera, gps, bike bags and a hard-shelled bike box for air transit. But that is more long term. At the moment I am cleaning up my bikes, doing the basic maintenance and riding. Lets see how it goes...

Project Streamliner

As some of my readers may have divined, I am deeply interested in getting a practical streamliner. I want it to be useful for commuting, long ride such as randoneurring or the stp, and hpv racing in the super-street class.

The idea is that I start with a tilting trike such as the one above. Then I work with Coroplast and make a shell for it. Garrie Hill has already done this for his trike, the model of his shell is below:

From RandomPictures

Then I clean up the surface, paint it, mount it and end up with a nice red streamliner. Something like Lonnie's below but made of coroplast and a different shape. But I do love the red with silver striping.


I am thinking of using PVC piping for internal struts to mount the rear especially since the tilting wheels means I have to allow for them to move. A front strut coming off the BB will provide the mounting location for the fairing as well as a place to mount a front light. I will also have a strut pointing straight up to brace the fairing. I will probably talk to terracycle and replace the stock idlers as well. I will want to raise the seat a bit and I am thinking that I could use side mount drum brakes on the rear wheels and then wire them up to one brake lever. I would move the tilt lock down under the seat and put the rear brake lever on the left side. The front brake would be on the right. I will cut the fairing into pieces so it can be removed and reattached. I am currently thinking a front section, two cockpit sections (top and bottom) and a rear section. With the trike separable, that means I could separate the entire thing into 5 pieces for travel or transport. I would paint the fairing red, and put silver reflective stripes on the sides similar to Lonnie's streamliner. I will also put numbers on the fairing for race events and organized rides such as the STP.

Currently this plan is all potential and no actualized in any way. But if all goes well, I may end up with the trike in 2010.

What Features I want in a potential streamliner and why?

Recently I have been considering streamliners as commuting platforms. The so-called "practical streamliner" bike problem. This is an interesting problem to be solved.

Commercially there are a few approaches that have been taken.

1. The Velomobile, a tadpole trike platform with a shell. Examples include the Quest, the Go-One, the Sorcerer, etc. Most are heavy (~70lbs) and the tadpole format adds a certain about of tire scrub and rolling resistance. Even so, this is the format that is the most common for practical applications today. It is also very fast as long as you don't have too many hills.
   
2. Fabric and wireframe Faired bikes, the Lightning F-40, which holds the fasted time ever in RAAM is the classic example. Faired Easy Racer Gold Rushes are another common example and the lowracer above with a customer carbon fiber front fairing and cover is within reach. These tend to be lighter, in the 30-40lbs range and the cost is lower. The speeds are good, especially since the weight is low and low weight means that climbing is not as affected.
3. Hardshell streamliners, tub bikes, these are the real speed bikes, also about ~70lbs with limited steering radius and other practical limitations. These tend to be individually produced with custom design features. There are examples that have been made more practical and can be used in general traffic and riding applications. Joe's streamliner built around a varna clone shell is one example
   

The question is what makes a good platform to build a streamliner around. You want a number of components.

1. Suspension, a streamliner is faster and due to the opaque body generally has reduced forward visibility for road bumps and hazards. You will hit bumps fast and you want to be able to handle it. Suspension also helps stick to turns better at speed. Most streamliners can easily average in the mid 20s MPH or low 30s MPH if the road is reasonably flat or rolling hills. Suspension helps make this comfortable and keeps the tires on the road.
2. Large Gear Range, a streamliner wants high gears to avoid spinning out in the 25-30mph range. It also wants low gears to climb hills with the extra weight. A gear range from 17 GI to 120GI is adequate for most practical applications. This can be accomplished with a jackdrive (intermediate drive), an internal hub, or something like the SRAM dual drive.
3. Indirect Steering, indirect steering or some other method to control how much your steering apparatus goes to the side during turns. Traditional Tiller and U bar steering can take up quite a bit of width during turns, widening your profile and reducing the aero benefits of the streamlining. Indirect steering can eliminate this entirely though it does add complexity. Other solutions are sitting very close the the fork and putting a small T bar steering directly on top of it.
   
4. Entry, Exit and Stoplight solutions, a trike of some sort makes a good practical streamliner since entry, exit and stopping/starting are all pretty simple as long as you can get in and out of the fairing. Bike solutions have to worry about bomb-bay doors for the feet, clearance for derailleurs , etc. The inherent stability of trikes helps a lot for low speed handling like climbing. Most of the practical 2 wheel streamliners have either open bottoms or do something with bomb bay doors (complex) or fabric (simple) to improve the aerodynamics on the underside. Entry and exit is also very tricky with a 2-wheel streamliner. The F-40 and other fabric/nosecone solutions solve this reasonable well. Many 2 wheel hardshell solutions require helpers to launch/catch them. This is not very practical.
5. Storage, some form of storage and luggage capacity. A streamliner is useful for both speed and weather protection. You will want to carry the odd bit of groceries, a change of clothes or maybe a laptop. 20 -to 40L of storage is a nice thing to have. The extended tail section of most streamliners does provide a location that suits many designs. Even a way to add a small basket back there provides useful storage.

Looking at this list, you can see why tadpole trikes do well as velomobiles. I am looking for a bit more speed and less tire scrub so I am considering a tilting trike as a platform. Though a lowracer modification such as the one pictured above is also highly tempting. I suspect I could invest $1000 or so into such a solution and come up with something workable.
-Duncan

Posting Schedule and random news

From RandomPictures

I haven't been posting much lately. Mostly due to the new house and because work has changed lately requiring more hours but also due to the fact that it is the winter. I will continue to run this blog and will post interesting items. For instance Arnold of Raptobike is planning a FWD trike design and has reserved the name Raptotrike.com. I am hoping for a tilting trike out of this.

With the winter and my longer commute I find myself wishing for a trike to commute with. Especially a trike with a fairing, aka a velomobile. In the US, Bent Up Cycles has become the premium velomobile dealer. Dana carries the bluevelo Team, the Greenspeed Glyde and seems likely to start carrying the Quest version produced by Bluevelo under license from Velomobiel. Dana imports VK2s from Poland and carries a number of other European brands. If a tilting trike comes to the US my money says Dana will carry it, especially if there is a velomobile version.

At least that is my hope since I don't want to ever get a second car and prefer to find a car alternative in a velomobile. I don't think I will need the large carrying capacity of the quest. If I can carry groceries for dinner and a gallon of milk then it will be enough for me. My mostly likely day to day cargo is the commuting load. A laptop, a change of clothes, tools and a jacket. With this in mind I want a lighter weight velo and a narrower track. This leads me down the narrow wheelbase of a tilting delta trike framework. I see enough room for the basics in a turtledeck behind the seat and the tilting delta format is good for stability even in the wet leaves I sometimes traverse. Something like the Munzo TT would be nearly ideal with the indirect steering and the take apart frame for transport.

I think a functional, fast, velomobile would be nearly ideal 3/4s of the year and my raptobike would be my summer bike. I could outfit it for fun, lightweight, road cycling and keep the velomobile platform setup for commuting and foul weather. I would love to try this. If I have to make my own shell I will need to experiment with a tailbox for the raptobike first. Cleaning the garage of all the crap from the move becomes a priority then. Ah well, back to the reasons why I am not posting as much, too busy. I will continue to post but not quite as much as I had been.
Duncan

Still Commuting

The Puget Sound rainy season has started. I am still cycle commuting, even in the rain but I have wimped out a few times. I added more lights to my helmet which gives me a bit of control over where my light goes and allows me to turn the lights on or off while in motion. It also lights up my cockpit controls without having to turn on the backlight for the gps or bike computer.


Lately I have been wondering what it would take for me to have a foul weather bike without sacrificing too much performance. The Munzo TT trike caught my eye. A 40cm track width, tilting delta trike with indirect steering and suspension. It is a very good platform to put into a homebuilt shell and the guys at FastFWD.nl seem to be planning to make it into a velomobile as well.

Here is the video of the trike in action:


Tilting trikes don't experience the same tire scrub that a normal trike does in turns. Delta trikes are also faster than tadpole trikes though normally aren't as stable in turns. The tilting changes that equation and makes the trike even better in turns than a tadpole. The narrow track width means a shell will be narrow as well. Suspension is always a good idea for a streamliner since you will hit bumps at speed. Disk brakes are also a good idea and this trike has the mounts for them. Additionally the Munzo TT separates which makes transport much easier. If the shell also separates (as it should) then you can transport the contraption pretty easily. Overall a very exciting idea and one sure to occupy my thoughts this winter.

New Home and Commute

I now live in Woodinville and my commute is 14.5 miles, most of it is on the West Sammamish River trail. I love my new commute, it is not too hilly, it is longer and it is beautiful. The trail is basically a bike highway during the morning commute. No intersections or cars, just a nice smooth trail with ramps to exit or enter at various roads. A great way to start the day. Once I replace my camera I will take some pictures.

Morning Commute

I rode in today on the 23 mile loop route that goes up Juanita Dr to Kenmore and then takes the BG Trail to Redmond and from there to the office. DKW didn't ride with me today but I need to log miles so I went alone. I did pretty well timewise but didn't break any records. My total moving time was 1h:46m which is 2 minutes slower than our record time. Average speed was 12.8mph. It is interesting how the extra climbing in this route really affects the average speed, sure it seems obvious but it still is notable. My average speed on the 50 mile Lake Washington Loop was 14mph and I was hoping for a number closer to that.

Tonight I work from midnight to 8am so I won't be riding on Tuesday. I will instead be recuperating from the silly night of DNCS consolidation work.

Morning Commute

I had a nice ride in today. DKW and I did the 23 mile route to work together. It was misty and rainy the entire way (unlike the picture above) but it was very enjoyable. It is very good having a riding partner, I believe this has been key to my training and will be key to our ride during the STP. We plan on sticking together during the STP, splitting up on big hills only.

I believe I finally have the chain adjusted correctly. I didn't have the chain pop off on the downhill sections even though I hit a number of bumps while going 30+ mph. I am glad to have this particular problem behind me, though I will need time to regain the confidence that the chain will stay on. I think I might make my own chain ring guards out of plastic. I just need a few tools, DKW has a drill press, so with a jig saw I can cut out the pattern and then just sand/grind down the edges to make them smooth. That should help keep the chain on the ring, as well as make ride organizers more comfortable about my ben hur chainring in front of my bike.

We saw more goslings today along the river. Quite cute and a nice way to start the day.

Raptobike video

David at Laidback Ligfiets in Edinburgh performs yeoman's work with a test ride on Edinburghfixed's regular commute route from Dunfermline to Edinburgh. The video is great fun with text comments intermixed to keep it interesting. Great salesmanship as well, riding the commute route with a video camera behind you is genius.

Edinburghfixed wrote up his test ride over in the uk forums as well. He really enjoyed sitting at lights with feet in the pedals and his hands holding him up. A great review and he obviously enjoyed the raptobike. It is quite an infectious read, I couldn't suppress my grin while reading it.

Congratulations to the Davids on their great test ride. I know that Edinburghfixed is now eagerly awaiting the finalization of his purchase.

Climbing on the Commute

Today I did my 23 mile morning commute version with DKW. We had a bit of a headwind (13mph) but it was a good ride. One of the things I have noticed is that I have more reserves now. While crossing a flat bridge in Kenmore in front of traffic I pushed to 27mph, I normally hit 20mph here but now that level of recruitment is putting out more power. There were a number of intersections where I pushed through at 12mph on an 8% grade as well. I really like this, I am feeling stronger and I can push when I need to. I now push myself when nearing the crest of hills which is very new to me, I used to rest and crest at 4mph, now I crest at 10mph or so.

I like that I have these reserves as well, it makes me feel safer. When I need to I can recruit more power and pass obstacles or get out of the way of traffic. This is one of the benefits of my training. I am very glad to be riding with DKW as well since it motivates me and we compete on the ride. Plus it is nice to be able to talk to someone and share the observations of the ride. For instance the rain forecast today really cut down the number of cycle commuters and joggers we saw on the trial. I saw three or so more roosters, I think the family who keeps the chickens near the Sammamish river trail must have gotten more chickens. We saw some goslings with their mother geese as well. And two rabbits were brave enough to cross the trail in front of us today.

I love my long version of the ride to work, it is a much nicer day when I start with 23 miles of scenery.

Bike to Work Month.

Team M is doing ok, currently we are placed 634 out of 1158, firmly in the middle of the mileage competition. This is unfortunate but expected as our regular commuters are DKW and myself and our normal commutes are 1 and 3 miles respectively. Most of the rest of our team has longer commutes but the timing has been rough so far. I still want to see the bike rack filled up.

The leading team is a Boeing team and has racked up massive mileage so far with 912.7 miles the last 5 days. The rankings are available here.

DKW and I did ride during lunch but that doesn't count for the contest. I did find that I can power up a 9% grade hill at 11.5 mph if my adrenaline is pumping. There is a hill right up 122nd that I rode up and had to ANNOUNCE myself to a driver turning out of the PetCo parking lot. The boost had me climb all the way up to the cemetery at a good clip. Once there I had to wait for DKW and I could hear my heart as a waited. Mildly amusing considering that everything was fine and I didn't get hurt and managed to get the attention of the driver before she put me in harms way.

May 1 - first day of Bike to Work Month

Today is the first day of the Cascade Bike to Work challenge. Team M had 50% turnout today at 3 bikes on the rack. Not wonderful but one of our team members is out of the office, one sick and the last one will ride back to work after lunch.

I plan on cheerleading for our team and reminding people to log their miles, etc. As the month goes by we will see how we do.

Commuting on the Corsa today.

I commuted on the Corsa today. I dinged my rim on the Raptobike when I hit a pothole hard yesterday morning. So the Raptobike is at the shop and they are trying to smooth out that ding, put on the new 13T cog and other random cleanup. Since it is spring the shop is very busy and I won't have the Raptobike back until Monday.

Additionally today is the day I need to pick up the "Bike to Work" team packet for Team M, my work team in the Group Health/Cascade Bike to Work challenge for May. I will have to visit REI tonight. I need to remember to tell Kristin as we have other plans that I need to postpone.

I am back today, and my Commute

I was in Phoenix Friday through Sunday visiting my Dad. He is well and we got him a sun trike so he can get a bit of exercise. I returned late last night and did the long ride in with DKW today. 23 miles as we go up Juanita to Woodenville and then taking the Burke Gilman to Redmond and then up Old Redmond Way to Kirkland. Our standard loop for training.

I managed to run straight into a pothole and got quite the shock. I believe it put a ding in the front rim as hitting the brake now makes an annoying sound. I also had some issues with my light mount. So the Raptobike will go to the shop tomorrow and I will right the corsa for the rest of the week. The timing is right as the 13T cog is in for the Rohloff.

Well it is time to go back to work for me.

My Raptobike the Commuter

My Raptobike has become quite the commuter with over 70 miles of commuting on it now. I have gotten the seat and headrest adjusted just right so it is very comfortable. I also love the way I can accelerate on her. I hit 20 mph from a standing stop in under 1/2 a block on my way home. There is a section that I want to take the lane in which is flat but has traffic calming devices (pseudo traffic circles). Since if I am next to a car when I hit the "traffic circles" the car will kill me, I take the lane for 2 blocks. The speed limit is 25 so I ramp up the bike to 20ish and hold the lane until I make my left turn.

What I love about the Raptobike is how easy it is to do this. The acceleration off the block is fast, the shifting is seem less and she just jumps when I want to go zoom. I don't find getting to 20mph even hard, it just happens now. I love this as 20mph on my bike used to be a difficult thing. The lost weight and increased fitness has really paid off.

The Sun is out now

After my soak in the morning the Sun decided to show her face. It sure is nice out right now. Any Sun in the PNW is a good thing.

Morning Commute

DKW snapped a great picture of me finishing up the climb on Old Redmond Way this morning. I really like the photo as it shows how bright my front light is. My helmet light didn't flash during the photo and so I can't compare it, but I know it is not as bright.

The ride was good this morning though wet. 23 miles and 2000 ft of climbing in the rain in under two hours. Not a bad time, DKW kept pushing me and we leapfrogged much of the Burke-Gilman. He did leave me behind on the last climb which is why he was in position for this photo (on his mobile).

May is Bike to Work Month

May is the month for the annual commute to work challenge run by Group Health. There are prizes for various things, like most cascade club members per team, most teams per company, most total miles, most days commuted, most new commuters, favorite team name.

The team captains get a T-shirt. My office group seems to think that since I suggested we set up a team I get drafted for captain. The competition sounds fun and we all have a chance to win some fun prizes. Plus it would be nice if the bike rack at work had more than two bikes on it. I suspect we will fill the rack and need to use the poles holding up the bike shelter. At least that is my hope.

Anyone else biking to work in May?

Spring is here

Spring is sprung. Today and Yesterday's weather is (and was) glorious. The sky is clear, the Sun shines down and I can wear short sleeves and leave the jacket home. Just a few days ago I was unpacking the Raptobike wearing a winter jacket.

On Saturday the group ride with Digeo, I went without my jacket. Quite risky in the PNW ;).

On Sunday I rode in short sleeves and shorts, and today I left my house at 8am without a jacket and wearing a short sleeve riding jersey. Everything smells nice and there is so much activity as I ride past homes. Everyone is planting, trimming or cleaning up their yard. I saw 4 landscaping teams on my short 3 mile commute. Spring is finally here, and I am celebrating!

Fun Video - cycling

(h/t - Practical Cyclist)

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