MI Cruzbike retreat 2020 - August 6-9, 2020 Benton Harbor Michigan

[3bs]

so this last weekend i did the michigan indiana river valley trail, but only the section from niles to south bend and back.

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/49345705?privacy_code=kRHQFvxclfokb6ZV

this is a paved trail that actually goes all the way to mishawaka, but i like the lasso loop at angela to then ride along the river back up to darden. what makes this a good ride choice is that it takes you to notre dame/st marys/ holy cross. so if you want to check out notre dame, buy some notre dame stuff. ride around there walk around see the golden dome and the basillica, the stadium, etc. this will give you a nice bike ride and all of that.

the start of the trail is at plym park in niles. this is a 30 minute drive from the coloma k0a by car.i would recommend this choice.

from the koa, it is also a 30 mile bike ride on m 140 thru the orchards and farms of sw Michigan to the trail head. i used to ride m 140 as a kids when i was going from south bend to holland. it has a decent shoulder, but sometimes more traffic than i like during the peak hours. so if you did the round trip it would be about 85.

i am putting this out as an alternative for people who may want to ride a shorter route and see notre dame. it could be done any day, including Sunday.

once again, i dont really care which routes we ride, i just want to give you all some options.

 

[benphyr]

i just want to give you all some options.

I just want covid to give us the option.

 

[3bs]

i think we will be fine. things are opening more now, even with the governor keeping us shut down for a couple more weeks. candidly i would prefer the car traffic as it was two weeks ago. it is already picking up.

i am just hoping it doesn't rain, as i really don't like riding in the rain.

yesterday i did a ride with my neighbor who rides a q. first 8 miles with him on our little south loop and then he had to go, and i looped again on riverside road for make it 20 miles.

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/49613932?privacy_code=swF6QFXvnEyrzGuK


you can see from the route that the KOA is just across the highway from where i turned south in riverside.

riverside road to pawpaw is how we could ride down to the

chatterbox https://www.chatterboxbargrill.com/

or to houndstooth https://www.eathoundstooth.com/

or the livery http://liverybrew.com/

riverside to paw paw to enterprise to north shore is how we would get to
north shore inn or north pier brewery

https://www.northshoreinnburgers.com/

http://northpierbrewing.com/

so many options.....

 

[benphyr]

I'd like a sampler platter please waiter. One of everything except hold the zebra mussels.

 

[Seth Cooper]

so this last weekend i did the michigan indiana river valley trail, but only the section from niles to south bend and back.

the wife and i did the pumpkinvine ride a few years ago, from Goshen to Shipshewana. Fun waving at the amish riding in their buggies and pedaling their bikes. It also felt safer riding the roads knowing the car drivers are used to watching and passing the buggies and bikes.

 

[3bs]

@benphyr Zebra mussels. Ug. Gobies. Flathead and silver all already here.

if we could only find a good game fish to eat them all like alewives and salmon.

@Seth Cooper did you notice how many Amish ride recumbent? Quite a few. There is a good recumbent store down there, and a couple guys on bent rider live close. There is also an excellent rail trail that runs from Rochester to Peru and then some. And victory cycles in Kokomo is just a fun place to visit. Not many trike stores are also gun dealers... those guys are a hoot. Across the street from the legion post

 

[3bs]

And remember right there in riverside we have Kathy’s riverside tavern.....

 

[3bs]

yesterday the governor lifted the stay at home and moved the whole state into "phase 4"
restaurants and bars are expected to be open for sit down customers June 8.
so as of this date, our event is allowed, and in a week our destinations will also be open.
tourists are already showing up, hotels and motels are open, i have not called the KOA but i assume they are rolling.
last weekend we rode the niles south bend trail again (my friends really like it) and it had a lot of traffic. m63 is also full of bike again. not the normal traffice by any means, but i dont think we will have full bike traffic since triathlons including the Steelhead have been cancelled.

here is the berrien county covid dashboard https://berriencounty.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/6d5dbc6f036d4568b4d5668c6e4c287f

so i think we can presume this is going to happen.

any new participants? any movement from maybe to yes?

 

[3bs]

oh and update on what alternate cycles will be available....(i will not be changing chain sizes)
the t 50 continues to be available. if someone needs a bike for the whole weekend, please let me know so i know its taken
frankentrike is working well.
the expedition has a chain gobbler, so its great for resizing
the slr is here but i have not increased the ground clearance yet, so it is unrideable on normal roads. it high centers in my driveway.
the tica is on my kickr, but i can take it off.

the gts left for florida sunday, so it is gone.
the aero is in pieces, so i dont expect it to be ready

one or more of the new mystery projects may be ready

 

[3bs]

okay so in order to try and keep this thread on the front, and to entice more humans to come to the michigan event, and to continue to show that resto modding is not just for cars, here is another of the projects hinted above that will be available for test rides at the Michigan event.

so the answers to the questions that will ensue:

1. no, it is not done, far from it. but this is its present condition. it is not even at my shop yet. as it is in transit. i still need to sand it down paint it, create fasteners for the various elements, create a full hood, add a naca duct and lights, an do some fitments internally and a few other things.
2. yes it is fwd.
3. not it is not a tilter in this configuration.
4. yes i do have the tilting rear mechanism, but to use it you have to pull the removable rear fenders.
5. yes it is what any bentrider archivist will recognize as a part of recumbent historical mythology. google away!
6. yes jm brought these ideas to reality and this piece of history back to life. i have been way too busy and he volunteered to do the work (of course i still had to pay him, but since it was buried in his shed when i started my quest looking for whatever happened to it, its seemed a lot smarter to just let him do the carbon work before it came to me for the rest of the work
7. and no i have no idea if it will all come together how i envisioned. i think it will be fast. i think it will be stable to cross winds i think it will be road friendly as the ground clearance is more than frankentrike. i think it will turn okay, and i can make it turn sharper with some fine tuning. my biggest concerns are a. high speed turns, particularly downhill; b. comfort fit; c. ventilation d. anything i haven't thought about.
8. i wanted a high speed touring velo that was also convertible into a short road course racer and i wanted a tilt mechanism. and i wanted it to be my sort of a project, which typically means a restomod, where i find a piece of history and then i make a few upgrades/changes to suit me.

now if the chance to ride great trails and roads in michigan while eating and drinking good stuff AND getting to ride frankentrike and frankenvelo and other goofy stuff are not enough to get people to come to the event, there is nothing more i can do.

 

[3bs]

Another shameless sunset plug.

 

[super slim]

okay so in order to try and keep this thread on the front, and to entice more humans to come to the michigan event, and to continue to show that resto modding is not just for cars, here is another of the projects hinted above that will be available for test rides at the Michigan event.

so the answers to the questions that will ensue:

1. no, it is not done, far from it. but this is its present condition. it is not even at my shop yet. as it is in transit. i still need to sand it down paint it, create fasteners for the various elements, create a full hood, add a naca duct and lights, an do some fitments internally and a few other things.
2. yes it is fwd.
3. not it is not a tilter in this configuration.
4. yes i do have the tilting rear mechanism, but to use it you have to pull the removable rear fenders.
5. yes it is what any bentrider archivist will recognize as a part of recumbent historical mythology. google away!
6. yes jm brought these ideas to reality and this piece of history back to life. i have been way too busy and he volunteered to do the work (of course i still had to pay him, but since it was buried in his shed when i started my quest looking for whatever happened to it, its seemed a lot smarter to just let him do the carbon work before it came to me for the rest of the work
7. and no i have no idea if it will all come together how i envisioned. i think it will be fast. i think it will be stable to cross winds i think it will be road friendly as the ground clearance is more than frankentrike. i think it will turn okay, and i can make it turn sharper with some fine tuning. my biggest concerns are a. high speed turns, particularly downhill; b. comfort fit; c. ventilation d. anything i haven't thought about.
8. i wanted a high speed touring velo that was also convertible into a short road course racer and i wanted a tilt mechanism. and i wanted it to be my sort of a project, which typically means a restomod, where i find a piece of history and then i make a few upgrades/changes to suit me.

now if the chance to ride great trails and roads in michigan while eating and drinking good stuff AND getting to ride frankentrike and frankenvelo and other goofy stuff are not enough to get people to come to the event, there is nothing more i can do.

Is Frankenvelo front or rear wheel steer?

 

[3bs]

Front. It started its life as a varna streamliner

 

[benphyr]

Wowza!

 

[super slim]

Front. It started its life as a varna streamliner

A two wheeled streamliner that had competed at Battle Mountain???
Did YOU compete at Battle Mountain, in your new purchase????

 

[3bs]

Yes
No
This thing has an amusing bent history. Having been owned ridden and worked on by many famous American bent people.

I am just bringing it back to life with a few new and old pieces.

Break out your Google goggles and search your bentrider search tools and you will learn a lot about both of the frankens in their prior lives

 

[Jayrob]

okay so in order to try and keep this thread on the front, and to entice more humans to come to the michigan event, and to continue to show that resto modding is not just for cars, here is another of the projects hinted above that will be available for test rides at the Michigan event.

so the answers to the questions that will ensue:

1. no, it is not done, far from it. but this is its present condition. it is not even at my shop yet. as it is in transit. i still need to sand it down paint it, create fasteners for the various elements, create a full hood, add a naca duct and lights, an do some fitments internally and a few other things.
2. yes it is fwd.
3. not it is not a tilter in this configuration.
4. yes i do have the tilting rear mechanism, but to use it you have to pull the removable rear fenders.
5. yes it is what any bentrider archivist will recognize as a part of recumbent historical mythology. google away!
6. yes jm brought these ideas to reality and this piece of history back to life. i have been way too busy and he volunteered to do the work (of course i still had to pay him, but since it was buried in his shed when i started my quest looking for whatever happened to it, its seemed a lot smarter to just let him do the carbon work before it came to me for the rest of the work
7. and no i have no idea if it will all come together how i envisioned. i think it will be fast. i think it will be stable to cross winds i think it will be road friendly as the ground clearance is more than frankentrike. i think it will turn okay, and i can make it turn sharper with some fine tuning. my biggest concerns are a. high speed turns, particularly downhill; b. comfort fit; c. ventilation d. anything i haven't thought about.
8. i wanted a high speed touring velo that was also convertible into a short road course racer and i wanted a tilt mechanism. and i wanted it to be my sort of a project, which typically means a restomod, where i find a piece of history and then i make a few upgrades/changes to suit me.

now if the chance to ride great trails and roads in michigan while eating and drinking good stuff AND getting to ride frankentrike and frankenvelo and other goofy stuff are not enough to get people to come to the event, there is nothing more i can do.

Is that Rick Wianecki's Frank-N-Liner build? Raced by Frank Geyer?

 

[3bs]

Good try
Hint #1
Paul Butemer 1998 100km world record
Now go back to Google and tell me who had it from then till now

 

[3bs]

you know its not easy trying to come up with a new post for this event every few days......

just yesterday i found this super secret recumbent prototype sitting out in front of a store in st joe.

if you come to the Michigan event you too can make spectacular finds like this

 

[3bs]

or perhaps, when you are standing on the shoreline with @velocio and others at sunset, you will see a rainsquall like this, just out there on the lake doing its thing.