Old Friends

After working the past few days and then having rain, it was nice to finally get a ride in. It became a beautiful Sunday morning with minimal winds and humidity. About 5 miles into the ride I bumped into 2 cycling buddies Jay and Dave. I haven't seen these guys in over a year. Although we have not ridden together in years I always met up with them on the annual 5 Boro Bike NY Tour. This year I opted out, so seeing them was a great surprise. We reminisced a bit and then caught up on the now. It was great that we were all still into cycling and everyone looked and felt good. A few minutes later I hear a cyclist yell, "Hey I know you" and calls out to me by my last name. He is the current president of my bike club.( Central Jersey Bike Club) I have ridden with Jeff a number of times, but I never thought with so many members he would know my last name. It might be because I am one of the few recumbent riders in the club.
After a 1/2 hr of catching up on things with Jay and Dave I continued my ride. It was becoming such a beautiful day I felt the wind was always at my back and I could ride forever. As much as I would have liked that I had to get back for some enjoyable family obligations of watching my grandson.
As I was riding back thinking of what I might write a small red car pulls up next to me and says, "Wow twice in one day". It was Jay riding home in his car from his ride with Dave.
What a great day riding and meeting up with some great old friends.
KEEP RIDING!!!
MTJP

ICE Quick Relaese Rear Fender

I just purchased and installed ICE new QR rear fender for my T. In short it is form followed by function at a reasonable price. For the past 3 yrs of owning my trike I was very happy with the rear rack and fender setup. Unfortunately, I rarely used the rear rack as the PODS Panniers proved quite adequate for my needs. I new any rear 20 in fear fender would easily mount, but my trike would not fit in the back of my Accent with it on. The original QR rear fender was expensive and had mixed reviews to its being able to stay put.

Apparently ICE was on the ball and redesigned the fender. The fender appears to be SKS and has these black mounts that the fender stays snapped into. I have seen these before. The interesting part is how they came up with the front mount to the bike. They used the same black mount screwed on the fender and added a metal tongue that screwed into the frame. All this amounts to click, click,click. There is one trick. You have to click in the front mount first and then the side stays. If you do it the other way the front mount is very difficult to snap in. The side stays are different on each side, not exactly sure why, but it all works. At under $30 this is a very fine and rock solid fender with no wobble or rattle that gives you the option to quickly remove if needed.

KEEP RIDING!!!!

MTJP

Adding Tush Cush

I have no butt and riding a mesh seat without cushioning just doesn't work for me. The best seat I have found is Rans. Unfortunately it cannot be put on a trike. After over 9k mi I am beginning to get a little recumbent butt on my T. I guess the 1/2 in open cell foam I bought 3 yrs ago from Power On Cycling is loosing it's cush. I tried the the 2 in open cell foam from Hostel shop made for the T. You slide it under the seat between the bottom and the straps. It did not help. I decided to sliver off a 1/2 in piece from the 2 in block and added it to the middle of my old foam. I also made a cover to keep all things neat and pretty. As stated before I now have a bit more recline on my seat. All this has made for a much more comfortable ride. It almost feels like my old Rans seat.

KEEP RIDING!!!!

MTJP

I've been Blogged

I was riding my trike yesterday when I was stopped by Colleen Curry. She is the site editor for Freehold.Injersey.com and reporter for the Asbury Park Press. She is doing stories on Around Town: Freehold Faces looking for people doing cool things. What could be cooler than a Recumbent Triker on a 90 deg HHH day. Check it out.http://freehold.injersey.com/

T Seat Recline

I have this bike 3 yrs and almost 9k mi. I love this trike and have since sold my other 2 recumbents. There has been 1 little tic and that is I wished the seat would recline just a tad more. ICE came out with their new seat modifications to change from a mesh to hard shell seat. It would also have the capabilities of changing the seat angle as desired. I emailed them and asked what it would take to increase my recline on my T. They quickly replied and said the 06 model would not accept the new modifications. They did say I could slightly increase the seat angle by changing the seat recline adjustment from 45 deg to more horizontal. It has been more than a yr since I learned of this and today I decided to give it a try. The whole process took less than 30 minutes and for me the results are outstanding.

I had to loosen the rear frame bolts and pull out the frame. I was concerned about leveling the rear triangle. As it turned out all I had to do was keep the seat recline adjustment at horizontal and attached to the quick release skewer. It automatically levelled the rear triangle. All I had to do was tighten the bolts. I pulled out the rear triangle about 1 inch. This allowed for a greater seat recline and also increased the wheelbase. Increasing the wheelbase added another surprised benefit as it helped smooth out the ride. By getting the seat a bit more reclined I had to bring the front boom in a bit. The chain and gears needed no adjustment. I took out the bike for a 24 mi test ride. My recline was right on the money and my time was probably a few tenths quicker. Not sure how accurate that is. I have no way of telling how much recline was added, but, I do feel more comfortable.

It probably seems more complicated than it really was and I hope these photos help.

KEEP RIDING!!!!!!!!