ROVER STOLEN BOO HOO!!

The other evening thieves hit the bike rack at our condo in PCB and made off with a bunch of high end bikes including my Rover. Boo hoo. Guess things will be dark here til I get the insurance settled and a replacement

Bye for now

Time to Tweak

Time to Tweak

With over 600 km now on the Rover since the end of December it was time for a little tweaking. Saw little point in it earlier as you don’t really know what ‘fits’ without a bit of experience,

My first adjustment was with the seat. The straps needed a little tightening so I stopped mid ride and snugged them up, tipping the seat up for easy access. Did the job but when I got back home something was different with my knees. They were tired. Not sore just sort of ‘tired’, Next morning as I was going out I noticed the seat pins instead of being in the 3^rd lowest position, I had inadvertently put them in the 3^rd highest. Not much difference, but moving it back to the 3^rd lowest made a difference. So I took a counting lesson…1…2…3…

I noted a little cable stretch in the brakes so I screwed out the adjusters to even things out… quick & easy.

The rear derailleur seems to be working fine and looks okay, static. More difficult to adjust without a stand and an assistant to peddle and shift while you watch the derailleur action.

Next the chaintubes. Seemed kind of silly to have all that bare chain up where it was wiping my pant legs, so I moved everything as far forward as possible. This had few benefits:

• My pants stay cleaner
• The chain angle on the rear derailleur and sprocket stays straighter and shifts a little smoother. The rear top tube stays part way back so the chain doesn’t rub on the frame.
• There is less tube rub ‘noise’.
• It is simple to move the chain on the front ring from sprocket to sprocket quick and easy, simply by moving the tube with my hand and no grease.
• In fact the gear change on the front is so easy and simple I don’t think I will bother putting on the front derailleur.
• Found some good info on chaintube options on BentRider online and may try a few more tweaks later.

Handle bars adjustment angle. I had them set at 90 degrees to the frame and thought I would try swinging them back a bit. Did not see much difference. My arms are long and my hands or wrist rest very comfortably on the grips. I have learned to not ‘grip’ the handlebars and it took a little learning. The benefits:

• Smoother control- less twitchy
• Body rock is not as readily transferred to the steering – less tadpoling
• Wrist and hands do not ache.
• With fingers/hands resting on grips rapidly have access to brake controls
• Only need to ‘grip’ right bar to shift gears and then only momentarily
• Easy to move one hand back against body to warm fingers
• Only use a more positive grip in intense situations, like zooming down a grade or tight maneuvers.

Still considering the following:

• Tires: Would like to go the Big Apples to provide a bit of suspension. At low speeds and on good trails no suspension is fine, but on some trails a little give would be nice. Worry about flats but really no problem so far beyond Sliming one wheel. Will keep using and have a spare tube
• Wheels: 24” wheels would be a definite advantage as my size 14s occasionally experience a heel strike and I have my feet placed with my arch in the middle of the peddle. This pretty much precludes me from using a clipless peddle. Still looking at the costs and tire options. We’ll see how the budget holds up. Still think I would like to go with the Big Apple tires on the 24” wheels.
• A canopy for summer; A stand; Accessories mount; See what I can dream up when I get back home

A few shots:

Moved the chain tubes full forward except rear top tube that prevents chain rub on frame

The Perfect Pig a neat little place for lunch near Seaside, Fl on 30A

Video Clip Rosemary to Seaside

https://youtu.be/2138cYk3Pog

A Video of Conservation Area, PCB, Fl

Finally did a bit of video editing so will try posting this clip of the Conservation Area Park located off Griffin Dr, north of #98 Highway, just west of the junction of SR #79 a couple of miles.

It is well equipped with restrooms, drinking water and picnic areas as well as miles of trails from hardpacked to soft sand and is the trailhead for many miles of paved trails going east and then north.

A great place for a quiet walk, a mountain bike ride, a jog, and quite a few miles of trike accessible paths (if it is not too wet). It is also a great place to walk your dog- on a leash

Let's see how this video works out

Too big for a blogspot so posted on YouTube; https://youtu.be/N2kXrASw8Rg

Some more of PCB

More of PCB

The last 3 days have seen brilliant sunshine here in PCB but cold -brrr!- Mornings. With frost sparkling off the roofs and grass I have been bundled up and out there. With highs only around 60F, I am usually back from my ride before I have to start peeling any layers off. Been covering my usual route but exploring a little further afield. Tuesday I ventured down to St Andrews Park at the extreme SE end of PCB. St Thomas Dr S& E has some pretty rough pavement so I’ll avoid it in future. But N Lagoon Dr. is smoother and has some nice bike lanes and a good bike path along a chunk. Always looking for a hill and found one I could zoom down over the Lagoon at St Andrews Marina. Again traffic was modest to light and no problems or close encounters of the bumper kind.

Today, Wednesday, I ventured all the way down Front Beach using the sidewalks on the last part that has no bike lanes. There I cross #98 and via the sidewalk – nice and wide- headed up over Hathaway Bridge- our biggest and bestest hill (granddaughters vernacular). I left the chain on the 48T ring and made it but was wishing I had geared down before starting the climb. Took some great photos and then zoomed down the other side. Very few pedestrians so I pretty much had a clear shot but kept the speed down to 30 kph to be safe.

On the other side I cruised around the Gulfcoast College Campus and a ways down 23^rd St before heading back to the bridge. I dropped the chain into the 38T ring and headed up. I found I could do it fine in 3^rd gear and just loafed along when in 2^nd, but by the top I was well warmed up so I stopped and took off a layer before my downhill run. Again I kept I around 30 kph and felt completely comfortable and in control. But what a blast for this flat country excursion.

The triple chainring is working out fine and I find I can change with the heel of my shoe at low speed with little tension the drive. 

Did quite a bit of visiting along the way and had lots of questions about the Rover. Sticker shock is still a factor, but both ways. I had several people guess the Rover was around $3000. The little business/promo cards Terra Trike sent with the unit have been in demand as my supply is just about used up.

I have added a few items to the budget. A Schloss cell phone mount- $15 at Target- is now on the left handle bar, but I need another accessory bar as that bar is a little crowded. It works just OK, but I often put my phone inside my jacket pocket instead of mounting it.

Needed another bottle of chainlube $5.86 from my lbs, Beach Bicycles. Everett doesn’t handle recumbents “Too much money” and for his clientele maybe so. But he is a cracker of a bike mechanic with great service and very reasonable prices.

I have a little Bell tire pump with a built in gauge in my kit, but it is slow. I was having trouble with a slow leak in the right front tire that needed airing every day. I have a spare tube (HD $6 at Walmart) but rather than change it or try to find the leak I decided to Slime it ($7 at Walmart) plus a higher volume foot pump ($14 at Walmart) but I leave it in the car. The slime did the job- so far, but the plastic top valve stem remover is pretty flimsy. Have to see if I can find a valve stem with a metal one.

I’ve included a few picts, but video clips of the Conservation Area still not edited.

Revenge is sweet when the yahoo drove his p/u a few miles down the bike path and got stuck turning around when it would not fit through the gates. "No motorized vehicles allowed" Means what?

Cruisin PCB

Cruising in PCB- Panama City Beach or ‘The Redneck Riviera’

I try to get out every day for a 2-3 hour ride, plus a shorter one or two to run an errand or just rejoice. I generally start it out for a quick zip down to Thomas Donuts, a km west from our condo on Front Beach Road for my brekky- a bagel- and some coffee with my buddies. I attached a Route I did today as recorded on Map My Ride. It’s a great app for your smart phone.

Then on to the main route. I head north on Vestavia to #98 or locally Back Beach Road.  Here I wait patiently for a break in traffic, and then make the ‘Mad Coyote Dash’ across the two eastbound lanes, then wait for westbound traffic to clear and complete the suicide run. Back Beach Rd has bike lanes, but I am not suicidal enough to actually ride them.

I am now in an industrial park with great pavement and very minimal traffic then to Griffin Rd where I turn north towards the PCB Conservation Area, again great pavement and very light traffic.

1. The Conservation Area is a large nature park with miles and miles of trails- hard gravel to loose sand, boardwalks, wetlands, pine forests, and wetlands. One of the main functions is the disposal of waste water from the sewage treatment plant several miles away. There are several discharge structures scattered through the park where the waste water is bio-processed by vegetation and recharges the water table before surplus flows into the streams feeding into the inland waterway.

I haven’t seen much wildlife up here but there are populations of black bear, bobcats, alligators, wild hogs, and lots of birds. A great feature is at the gate. It is a lovely rest station with water fountains and sanitary facilities. There is also a picnic area, maps, historical information, and garbage disposals. It is a great place to stop and process that extra cup of coffee and fill up your water bottle.

2. From here I head down Gayle’s Trails (Named in honour of Gayle Oberst, PCBs long time mayor and a very classy lady. This paved path is the right of way over the waste water pipeline. There are several options to follow but today it was a straight shot east across # 79 (Crossing Lights) past the Frank Brown Park Trail, past Nautilus, and the end of the trail in a residential sub-division near Holiday Golf. There are plans in progress to develop several more miles of trail from this point on east.

3. Now I’m at Back Beach-98 again and time for another “Mad Coyote Dash”. Sometimes the wait is a few seconds; sometimes it can be 5 minutes until a break. Crossing on a recumbent trike is I find much easier than with my old MTB. Once across I take the sidewalk east. Next to no pedestrian traffic here so I have yet to be threatened with incarceration.

I continued east and took a cross street Lyndell, down past the Seniors Centers and Library. These facilities are heavily used by the large Snowbird Community in PCB.

Then cross over Middle Beach Rd that is pretty busy at times -4 lanes w center turning lane.

4. And on to Front Beach Rd then west, a pretty straight shot back to the condo. Front Beach Rd has bike lanes and several traffic lights on it. The pavement quality is variable as some has been redeveloped and the rest is scheduled for upgrade this year or next. There are quite a few manholes, ‘bumps & dips’ you have to watch out for. Traffic can be busy, but generally is not fast and the traffic lanes are wide enough that vehicles have lots of room to move over and they do. Haven’t had a close call on this route in the two years I have been using it. There are quite a few other bikes. During holidays like Spring Break there are a lot of bikes, scooters, and golf carts, so it actually keeps the speed down. There are no sidewalks along much of Front Beach so lots of pedestrians in the bike lanes.

This a solid stretch of condos, shops, tourist attractions, restaurants and is always interesting. Huge Shopping Center at Pier Park and Andrew Besant Park there hosts many festivals, etc. Emerald Coast Cruisin’ had a couple thousand classic cars, muscle and custom hotrods on display there in November. Made all us old trikers drool, remembering our youth.

One last stop at McD’s if my bladder or appetite need attention and then on home. Often I alter my route by detouring into some of the residential subdivisions. Pleasant settings, smooth pavements, and next to no traffic.

Rained hard this afternoon so I shortened up that chain- just took out about a 3 inch piece between two masters- and worked out tearing around and up and down the parkade. Everything working well. First time I had ever taken apart one of those SRAM Master links. It’s a snap. Here’s a link to a video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNqtRleH1WE  See never too old to learn.

Still working on editing my video… soon…maybe.

A screen grab from my May My Ride App

This couple from Dearborn, Mi at the PCB Conservation Park had their HPVelotechnik Scorpion Plus Trikes. With full suspension the units fold down so they can carry both in their Jeep. Their 'Bent Budget about $3500each

Some more gears

Some more gears

While cruising around on my Rover from Day 1, I felt I needed some more gearing. Our terrain here around Panama City Beach is pretty flat and I was finding on most of it I was in 7 or 8 gear depending on the headwind. If there was any down grade I was spinning out at about 80-90 rpm and ‘tadpoling’. My comfort range was about 60-70 rpm that moved me at 17-19 kph. I was hardly ever using 4th gear and below.

The only time I geared down was climbing the parkade and a couple of small hills, where the lowest gear was barely adequate

Looking at the BikeCalc.com gear charts I felt that something on either side of my stock 38T ring would help. I purchased a Shimano M131 Crankset (170mm, 48/38/28) set from Amazon for $26.12 and figured if it did not work out I could the cost down to education. All the literature said I would probably have to change the bottom bracket spindle which on a Rover is 118mm. The new one rec is 123mm- less than ¼ inch more. I thought I’d try the new chainring before ordering a new bottom bracket. It seems to fit perfectly although the hold bolt fit pretty snug in the sleeve of the new pedal. The inside ring is closer to the frame rail but the big ring lines up just about dead on with the stock ring.

I tried it out on a 30 km ride and it works extremely well. The chain that I mentioned in the last post as slightly too long is still too long even on the 48T ring. I will split it and adjust it in the near future.

I have been shifting from ring to ring simply by lifting the chain from ring to ring. Not a high speed operation unless you don’t care about running your fingers through the front sprocket, but for the time being it certainly does the job. 

In the 28T ring, I can just about climb straight up… just right for that parkade ramp. Out on the road on the 48T ring and the 4,5, and 6 gear match up pretty well where 7 and 8 do on the 38T.The added advantage of using the larger gears in the middle of the cassette should result in better wear characteristics. These gears give me 14-18 kph at a comfortable 60-70 rpm range cadence. 

The 7 and 8 gears give me the speed I was looking for on the level, w/ down grade or tailwind up into the 25 kph range. If I pedal above that cadence I find a bit too much tadpoling. 

Control and cornering of the Rover is very good at this speed as I gain confidence and experience. Don’t think I will get above that speed as the hills just aren’t here and I’m out to enjoy the view not to race… although it is fun when I hit 28-30 kph on a couple of grades.

I have a Shimano FD-M360 Acera Triple Front Derailleur 31.8mm TP TS HDC for 19.99 ordered. Just need to get that bolt on boom mount fabricated

Next: Out and About PCB

Safety First

My first pedicare! Happy Feet= Happy Triker

Safety First

My Rover arrived by Fedex Freight in a big box on Dec 28. Nothing was smashed, broken or missing. I spent a couple hours looking at it and then took it out on the backstreet to make sure it worked. It did!

I had to adjust the handle bars a bit and move the seat back. The boom was set up to fit my 6’4” height so I just needed a little seat adjustment for my legs to fit. I completed installation of the luggage rack and set the seat recline in the 2^nd lowest position. A few days later I raised it to the 3^rd position and modified how the luggage rack was braced.

 I noted that there was a noise when the chain was in the smallest cog (hi gear) so I adjusted the rear wheel with a view to adjusting the chain at a later time. I noted the boom length is no longer adjusted with bolts going through the boom but with set screws that lock the telescoping boom. No idea if that means you can set it at many variable lengths or the 3 positions that are marked on the boom.

Before setting out on the road I installed some safety equipment.

·         A Bell Front white solid or flashing LED and a Red Rear same

o   USB rechargeable with quick rubber mount

o   They work great but I remove after every use to prevent theft

o   I mount both on the left steering rod so I can make sure both are working

o   $15.00 special at Target

·         A Bell 200 wireless bike computer

o   Again with quick detach to prevent theft

o   Mounted on left handlebar

o   Sensor mounted on now standard TT bracket on left end of connecting rod

o   Seems very accurate and consistent (200 plus km odometer today Jan 7)

o   $20 at Walmart

·         Some high Vis Clothing

o   2 Tee shirts $9 at Walmart

o   A Fleece lined hoodie $25 at Target

·         Two Velcro straps to keep my feet on pedals

o   Borrowed from my MTB car carrier

o   They work great pending a decision on clips

o   Allows lots of foot float until I find my comfort zone

·         Two MirraCycle Mirrors from my MTD and another retired bike

So there we are so far:

·         TT Rover 999.00

o   W Car top carrier $99.95

o   Luggage Rack $ 64.95

o   TT Safety Flag $16.95

o   Freight – delivered to Panama City Beach, Fl $159.00

o   Less Year end special allowance $100.00

o   Net: $1239.85

o   Plus: Safety Equipment( so far) $69.00

o   Sub Total so Far $1308.95

(All U.S Funds. CND Exchange Rate is to painful to discuss)

And we're off on the Trails and streets of Panama City Beach. I kept a wary eye on traffic and have been pleasantly surprised by the courtesy and apparent recognition of my presence. So far not one close encounter of the bumper kind.

Bell LED Flashing Front

Bell 200 Wireless Computer, Flashing Red -USB charge,
Salvaged MiraCycle Mirror

Mount for wireless computer sensor. Standard on Rover

Chain is too long. Future Project to shorten

Relocated rack support. Note fancy homemade clips.
Makes adjusting seat more convenient

Velcro strap repurposed pending bike shoes decision.
It works- No cost!

 Next: My Trails and a Few More Mods

recum'Bent on a Budget

‘Bent as in Recumbent Trike. I saw my first trike about a month back and after desperately chasing it on my old Mountain Bike, it disappeared around a corner never to be seen again. After a tumble off my MTB coming out of the parkade a couple days later I pushed ahead with this adventure. I recall sliding along the concrete wondering " What is broken?" Fortunately just a bit of road rash and wounded pride. With my balance not up to snuff, my butt, shoulders, hands, and feet, knees and back complaining bitterly after only a few miles on an upright, something had to change.

I was afraid it might take another tumble off the MTB to get my better half onside, but reconsidered as spending the rest of the winter or my life in a body cast or traction or worse was a real possible result.

I’ve only seen 2 other ‘bents in the wild since then- winter in Panama City Beach Fl..- and there are very few here.

I headed for the internet instead. Man what a mountain of information. What to buy? I pondered, tried, scoured, looked, looked some more, consulted the stars and the experts and still wasn't sure. But at some point you have to decide if you want to fish or cut bait. I took a 5 hour –one way-drive to Gainsville, Fl to try a Rover Internal 8 at Gator Trikes. I thank Mike at Gator for his help and patience and the trial. I liked the unit but I understand external de-railers, and like the upgradeability of the Rover. I also looked at a Catrike I ran into while out on my MTB

 I know there are lots of other features on other makes and models that I like and want but decided to start modest on a unit that at a thousand bucks has a great reputation for versatility, durability and service. I also know I'll put a few more $100s into this base unit to get it where I want it and am looking forward to doing it. Since there are no dealers here in PCB or within hundreds of miles of my home in Canada, I've opted to go factory direct.

My Rover 8 external arrives tomorrow.

I would like to thank all the forums and the participants who post such diverse information. It has been very helpful in making my decision and planning upgrades. i.e. Must admit running over ones feet and legs never even occurred to me.. Thank you for that repeated advice. I enjoy watching the wild rides down canyon roads featured in some videos, but think I'll keep it down to max 15 mph for the near future.

A point on the weight of the Rover, I just figured out how to reduce the gross weight by at least 25 lbs. I'll keep you updated.

 

Jack Day 1 on Rover 8 external