The website Everyday Health recently published this great article about bicycling with multiple sclerosis:
How to Keep Bicycling With MS
By Regina Boyle Wheeler
Reviewed by Farrokh Sohrabi, MD
“Having multiple sclerosis doesn’t mean you have to give up cycling, but you might need adaptive equipment if balance or weakness is a problem.”
Bike on,
Robert
On Sat, May 28, 2016 at 7:53 PM, David W D____ <dwd——@me.com> wrote:
Robert,
Hope this email finds you healthy and busy but with enough time to ride now that the weather is warm.
I am finally going to order a new ride. I really enjoyed the Silvio last summer, but I have been having second thoughts about the S30 vs the V20.
Do you have any insight into how to distinguish the two to determine which would be the better ride for me. As you know I am very interested in speed. I worry however that the 20 degree incline of the Vendetta will become uncomfortable on long rides. Any thoughts?
Further I was wondering if you had any suggestions about requesting special equipment on the bike. For example, I find I like the disk brakes on my Quest. Would you suggest having disk brakes on the model I order? Are the various components on the bikes, wheels, shifters, etc. the best choices I could make? Any suggestions?
David
~ ~ ~
Hi David!
Gekko fx, black, custom, German edition: $3,990. Set up for expedition touring and commuting with SON dynamo hub, B&M front and rear lights, carbon fiber front boom, fenders, rear rack and more. Lightly used, great condition.
Yes and no. The Five Borough Bike Club readily welcomes recumbent riders on group rides because the cyclists tend to ride with wide spacing between one another. New York Cycle Club is somewhat open to recumbents but only if you’re a highly skilled group rider who is strong on hills. This is for group safety.
“Bike Finland: Island Hopping in the Turku Archipelago”
Robert is co-leading a bike tour in Finland this July for the Appalachian Mountain Club. At this time there’s a wait-list. He may run a similar tour again next year.
Maria Parker
24-hour race: 457.7 miles
Course record
Winner: 24 hour female recumbent, first female, first recumbent
Jim Parker
6-hour race: 138.6 miles.
Course record
Ben Tomblin
24-hour race: 420 miles
Winner: male recumbent
Start: Poughkeepsie, NY. Meet on the Walkway over the Hudson.
Planned route: Poughkeepsie to Bell Pond and back.
At the half-way point, we’ll grab some lunch and shoot some breeze. At the end, we’ll get ice cream at Stewart’s.
Robert Matson (Silvio, New York City Recumbent Supply), Peter Maron (Silvio) and Jim Lipscomb (Silvio) came up with this idea. Join us!
Map and cue sheet: https://goo.gl/maps/qE8YwWe6xCv
Ice cream: Stewart’s: 85 Creek Rd, Poughkeepsie, NY
Cruzbikes: http://www.nycrecumbentsupply.com/
Parking: https://goo.gl/maps/ARYron7NE8o
This is an unorganized, leader-less meet-up. But here are some ride guidelines so you know what to expect:
Cruzbike mini-rally in Philly: come and see us at the Philly Bike Expo, try some bikes at our outdoor demo, join us for some morning rides, sit down for a pot-luck dinner and participate in a few round-table discussions. Also, that Saturday, there is a brevet organized by PA Randonneurs.
Register here.
Saturday – Sunday: Philly Bike Expo
Sat: PA Randonneurs 100k/200k brevet
Sun: Cruzbike Outdoor Demo
Sat and Sun: Morning rides
Fri and Sat: Dinner with roundtable discussions (Topics: High performance riding techniques; Customizing Cruzbikes for touring and racing)
Stay tuned:
PA Randonneurs
Philly Bike Expo
Register on the Cruzbike website
Did you test-ride a Cruzbike at New York City Recumbent Supply? Did you buy a bike off the Cruzbike website? If so, remember to contact us for your $100 refund for your demo ride. This applies to everyone who paid the $100 demo fee, regardless of the year you did your test ride.
Sign up for e-mail notifications at cruzbike.com.
$2,400 – frameset
$4,100 – complete
How do you pack a Cruzbike Silvio into a case for airline travel?
A customer/friend Peter Maron sent me photos of how he did it recently when he took his Cruzbike Silvio with him to Puerto Rico.
The take-away here is that the Silvio will fit into an airline bike case as long as you disassemble it.
Go travel the world,
Robert
———- Message ———-
From: J. E.
To: “Robert Matson”
——————————————
Hello, Robert!
I just thought I’d drop you a note to say how much I’m enjoying my trike [an HP Velotechnik Gekko fx 20 recumbent trike]. I’ve been a little tough on it when folding/unfolding, resulting in some scratches in the paint, but other then that it’s been great fun.
Thanks again for all your good teaching and service; I’ll keep you in mind when I have time to plan an adventure outing.
Hope you are well.
Best regards,
J.E.
[J, May I post your note to my website? – R.M.]
You surely may use my note, although it’s not very well written. Throw in there that it’s comfortable, fast and turns heads when I zip by!
Thanks again!
J.E.
Quick 5-day shipping on HP Velotechnik’s Scorpion fs 26 “USA configuration” (ready in only 5-10 days). This SCfs26 is pre-configured for the USA market — good basic upgrades, nothing outlandish. Main thing: instead of waiting 5 weeks for a custom build, you can have it in 5-10 days! Available only in the USA. Call or write for info.
– Scorpion fs 26
– Gekko fx 26
– Gekko fx 20
– Speed Machine
– Street Machine
– Grasshopper fx
– Vendetta A20
– Silvio S30
– Quest Q559
What an incredible journey.
Matthew Hopkins, a friend/customer just arrived Ushuaia, Patagonia. He started in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. (Matthew rides an HP Velotechnik Street Machine Gte.)
His blog:
http://theroadoflittlemiracles.ghost.io/
His Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/theroadoflittlemiracles/?fref=nf
Jim Lipscomb, one of my Cruzbike customers/riders recently wrote Maria Parker (Cruzbike) and me an explanation of why he believes the Cruzbike is faster on hills. For those of you who do a lot of research into recumbent bikes, I thought you might be interested in reading his analysis.
Dear Maria,
You mentioned that: “… I’d like to hear your explanation for why it (Cruzbike) is faster on hills.”
My take:
Cruzbikes appear to be at least 1 mph faster than other recumbent bikes overall. In detail, faster both on hills and on the flats too (100-mile record on V20:http://cruzbike.com/blog/2015/
Firstly, this is real.
* I timed rides overall under various conditions of my Cruzbike Silvio vs. my Volae team, both bikes half-way racing recumbents. The Silvio shows a 1, 2, and 3 mph advantage depending on test conditions. My tests were pretty skimpy and comparing apples to oranges, so the fewer details the better. I’ll officially go with 1 mph to the Silvio.
* Ben Tomblin reports 1 mph faster overall over Bacchetta CA/2 in his report on the Solo Hoodoo 500
http://03bbf98.netsolhost.com/
The magic is not so much what is in the Cruzbke, but the anti-magic on standard recumbents.
(1) The main reason for Cruzbike speed seems to be that power goes from the pedals to the ground. Dirty little secret of the recumbent business: Traditional recumbents have long chains with losses in
* idlers (each link in the chain must climb a tiny hill to pass over an idler),
* chain stretch with each power pulse (3 times longer straight stretch of chain under tension),
* frame bend (the long distance between hubs gives purchase to substantially bend the traditional recumbent frame).
totaling to as if lightly dragging the brakes. If you ever had brakes just very lightly dragging, so lightly that you have to spin the wheel and listen to hear the rubbing, you know that even that little bit can lose 1 mph. It does not take much. Sorry, nobody has numbers; it’s a crime.
(2) Another reason, secondary in my experience, that Cruzbikes are faster is that riders can rock the frame to push it against the pedals. I say this is less of a factor, because all of my speed numbers above (1, 2, and 3 mph in different test conditions) I got without any frame rocking. Frame rocking is highlighted in http://cruzbike.com/records My experience is that I think I can get an additional 1 mph up a hill with frame rocking, just an estimate, looking at the speedometer. This is just on hills, and just for as long as I’ve got the arms for it.
(3) Weight seems to have comparatively little to do with speed. Cruzbikes are heavy compared to other racing recumbents, which can be a big source of skepticism:
* 26 lbs Cruzbike V20
* 21 lbs Bacchetta Carbon Aero
* 15-16 lbs Carbent Sea Dragon or Raven Pro with lightweight components
However, the Bicycle Speed Power Calculator at
http://www.kreuzotter.de/
shows that for my weigh and speed at least:
30 lbs = 1 mph difference climbing a hill,
pretty much independent of speed. Adding 30 lbs slows the climb from 6 mph to 5 or from 15 mph to 14 mph. So the 5-10 lb heavier V20 loses only 1/6 to 1/3 mph on account of weight. Not significant compared to Cruzbike gains listed above in the 1+ mph range.
SUGGESTION
I suggest updating your webpage
http://cruzbike.com/records
combining points 1-3 above.
Just focusing on frame rocking is focusing on a minor aspect of speed and does not address weight skepticism.
WHY
So, why am I writing now? If you have been following the Tarzan Ride, Kurt Searvogel’s High Annual Mileage Record (HAM’R) ride, you may have heard that he rode a Bacchetta part of the time.
https://www.facebook.com/
And just today as he finished he wrote:
“It appears that we finished this endeavor …. Today we are … before heading to Vite Bikes tomorrow to pick up a bent for Alicia. If she is going to go after the women’s record she will need the right tools and training. ….”
Oh noooooo. I wrote in reply my short version, as you can see on that facebook page:
James Lipscomb ‘Sigh, “… heading to Vite Bikes tomorrow to pick up a bent … right tools ….” No Cruzbikes that I saw on the Vite Bike page. Riding part-time a non-Cruzbike recumbent probably cost Kurt 1,000 miles. Dirty little secret of the recumbent business: Cruzbikes seem to be at least 1 mph faster than other racing recumbents, whose long chains have losses in idlers, chain stretch, and frame bend, as if lightly dragging the brakes (weight has comparatively little to do with speed). Nobody knows, except the few Cruzbike riders. For me the ride difference is ohgodohgodohgod.’
Regards,
Jim Lipscomb
Eat, sleep, ride, Jim,
Robert
This review of the HP Velotechnik Scorpion FS 26 S-Pedelec was recently posted by Electric Bike Review. It’s a relatively extensive review. I hope it might help riders who are shopping for a high-end electric trike.
(My own review of the S-Pedelec is simply: “Great machine. It’s basically a one-person electric sports car.”
– RM
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