Frito Bandito
Zen MBB Master
Yeah, I had a taste of that Texas heat for the first 18 years of my life, then from 30-34. Nice setup though. If I ever need more than 2 bottles then they will go up there behind the head as well.
My Very First Recumbent is a V20
- Thread starter Frito Bandito
- Start date
3bs
whereabouts unknown
don't worry @super slim i wont tell anyone that you agreed with me on something.
yeah, @DocS has a huge pair.
i have my water bag in an old tailbox and the hose comes out the bottom corner.
yeah, @DocS has a huge pair.
i have my water bag in an old tailbox and the hose comes out the bottom corner.
super slim
Zen MBB Master
super slim
Zen MBB Master
Frito Bandito
Zen MBB Master
During my last ride on the V20 it seemed to be pulling to the left a bit so I took a good look at the bars and it seems they are just a tad off from being level. The left side is ever so slightly lower than the right. So, I was adjusting the grip level on the boom this morning in preparation for a ride, and when tightening the clamp up again I snapped the M5 bolt. The head fell off the hex key and onto the floor while the other end stayed in the boom clamp. I tried removing it with some pliers, which didn't work so I dabbed some 2-part metal epoxy onto the threads, then finger tightened an M5 nut onto the part of the bolt sticking out, then dripped the remaining epoxy into the nut so it would hopefully help cement them together more strongly by the time I finished a ride on my road bike.
Got home, stuck a socket onto the wrench and took out the remaining piece easy as pie. Grabbed a spare M5 bolt, screwed it in and it should be good to go. Gonna test it out on Friday with about 90km if the weather permits but I am sure it will be fine.
Got home, stuck a socket onto the wrench and took out the remaining piece easy as pie. Grabbed a spare M5 bolt, screwed it in and it should be good to go. Gonna test it out on Friday with about 90km if the weather permits but I am sure it will be fine.
Frito Bandito
Zen MBB Master
Some crazy stuff happens to me on a regular basis here. I really would like to get a Sony action cam or GoPro 9 to catch some of it.
Frito Bandito
Zen MBB Master
Here are a couples of pics of the headrest mods...the thicker grey foam is very soft, and the thinner darker foam is a bit harder. I stuck some velcro on the rubber backing and the back of the black foam to help hold it in place. I would have used screws to hold the rubber pad on but both foam pads are thick enough to ensure my head doesn't feel the M5 bolts even on the largest bumps I have hit so far.
Frito Bandito
Zen MBB Master
I came across a cheap set of bullhorn bars and a pair of brake levers for about $30.00 that will allow me to run aerobar shifters once I can find some. It's not the cleanest system I could put on the V20 but it wasn't expensive. Just trying to get a feel if plopping down for an electronic shifting on my Deda Tribar is worth it.
Frito Bandito
Zen MBB Master
Got the new bull horn bars on with a new set of old school brakes and 11-speed Dura Ace shifters. They aren't return-to-zero shifters like my Campagnolo shifters, but they feel and shift incredibly well.
With that said, I got my first KOM yesterday and 35 PRs on my Vendetta. I had planned just doing 100km, and it didn't seem like a fast day by just looking out the window. However, once I got onto the river and headed up it the 22km into a headwind I knew it was going to be fun going down it.
I got to the top of where I was going, and was thinking "My average speed is about 25kph now, should I build up the average speed as much as possible all the way down and hope it doesn't drop below 30kph by the time I ride the 25kph back up against the wind? Or just get the average speed a bit above 30kph by the time I reach Tokyo Bay, leaving me with enough in my legs to keep it above 30 on the way back?"
After an initial sprint I started to save a little for the ride back up because I was more focused on completing 100km at around a 30kph pace, and I knew the ride coming back up was gonna hurt. Basically, it was 25km up the river, 50 down it and then 25 back up again.
I couldn't help myself. I didn't completely choose the first option but I decided that I would later figure out what to do about trying to keep the pace up once I got to the bottom. Hack off an arm or head? Tuck in my shirt?
For years, 1 section of the bike path had been closed off because of construction, forcing riders to get off the path, make a detour and get back on the river a few hundred yards up. When I reached the construction zone on the way up, out of habit I got off the river and took the detour, not even noticing that the construction signs were gone and that it was open. On the way back down I didn't see any construction signs so I kept going straight along the path but slowed way down for a bit, wondering if I made a mistake. Realizing the path was now clear I pushed on, kind of angry that I lost momentum and quite a bit of time. Little did I realize how much that confusion would cost me.
I got four 2nd places. 3 of them were about 30 seconds off the KOM, and 1 was about 50 seconds. I also got an 8th place, which was about 3 minutes off the KOM. If I would have gave it my all for the downwind section instead of worrying about keeping the 100km trip at about 30kph average like my original plan, then I could have gotten at least 4 more KOMs, and that 8th would have been a lot closer.
Oh well. Something to shoot for next time
With that said, I got my first KOM yesterday and 35 PRs on my Vendetta. I had planned just doing 100km, and it didn't seem like a fast day by just looking out the window. However, once I got onto the river and headed up it the 22km into a headwind I knew it was going to be fun going down it.
I got to the top of where I was going, and was thinking "My average speed is about 25kph now, should I build up the average speed as much as possible all the way down and hope it doesn't drop below 30kph by the time I ride the 25kph back up against the wind? Or just get the average speed a bit above 30kph by the time I reach Tokyo Bay, leaving me with enough in my legs to keep it above 30 on the way back?"
After an initial sprint I started to save a little for the ride back up because I was more focused on completing 100km at around a 30kph pace, and I knew the ride coming back up was gonna hurt. Basically, it was 25km up the river, 50 down it and then 25 back up again.
I couldn't help myself. I didn't completely choose the first option but I decided that I would later figure out what to do about trying to keep the pace up once I got to the bottom. Hack off an arm or head? Tuck in my shirt?
For years, 1 section of the bike path had been closed off because of construction, forcing riders to get off the path, make a detour and get back on the river a few hundred yards up. When I reached the construction zone on the way up, out of habit I got off the river and took the detour, not even noticing that the construction signs were gone and that it was open. On the way back down I didn't see any construction signs so I kept going straight along the path but slowed way down for a bit, wondering if I made a mistake. Realizing the path was now clear I pushed on, kind of angry that I lost momentum and quite a bit of time. Little did I realize how much that confusion would cost me.
I got four 2nd places. 3 of them were about 30 seconds off the KOM, and 1 was about 50 seconds. I also got an 8th place, which was about 3 minutes off the KOM. If I would have gave it my all for the downwind section instead of worrying about keeping the 100km trip at about 30kph average like my original plan, then I could have gotten at least 4 more KOMs, and that 8th would have been a lot closer.
Oh well. Something to shoot for next time
Frito Bandito
Zen MBB Master
Well, I gave it another shot today. Just before I got to my starting point I got a flat. An elderly Japanese couple watched me swap out the tire and tube (yes I keep both in the under seat bag) and got going. I tried a new CO2 nozzle which was successful only in freezing my fingers and spewing it's contents in the grass. Got my trusty one out (yes I carry two nozzles and two canisters in my under seat bag. Legs had gotten a bit cold and they were not recovered from Yesterday's ride, but who cares eh?
I had a nice bit of speed going and about 5km into my ride I got another flat. 15km from home, have to work at 5:30pm, windy as hell, and gonna be less than 5C once the sun goes down. I start pushing my bike to the closest bike shop between home and where I flatted while texting my client that perhaps we should meet at 7pm instead. A nice Japanese man rolls by, says he has a tube so I take off the wheel for a 2nd time in less than 30 minutes, get the tire off, the tube out, inflate his tube a little, and find that the nozzle extender I have won't fit in the valve hole in my rims, and there is no way I could inflate his tube with a 40mm stem enough to ride home on. I pull his tube out, reinstall my flatted tube and tire then start putting it back on when the forks separate.
Don't panic! Don't throw the bike! I get the wheel on, then the 2nd set of forks on and then start trying to get the derailleur hangar on, which I have done before. Then he tries to get involved. Since he was trying to be helpful I didn't want to be rude but he was causing more problems than he was solving, not to mention our helmeted heads were banging into each other. Oh, I forgot to mention, either the wind was drowning out my "I can do this myself", "I got this", "Excuse me", or he was ignoring me, or he actually thought this recumbent rider didn't know how to repair flats and get the wheel back on. Finally I had to say "Just a moment please, let me try this...." then take the bike away from him, stand on the side of the hill and get the derailleur snapped in and the QR on.
Afterwards, I rolled up his tube that he offered, stuck a rubber band on it and explained that I will just push it to the bike shop where they hopefully had a 700x25 tube with at least a 50mm stem. He began pushing his bike with me and it was getting later and later so I finally told him that he should get his ride in before sunset and the stronger winds arrive, which he did.
While pushing the bike to the shop I noticed that the cranks were stuck and the only way to be able to rotate them was to loosen the QR a lot. At the bike shop he luckily had a 700x25 tube with an 80mm stem which I bought and put on, and then got the wheel in again, with the derailleur hanger going on smoothly this time. but the only pump he had was not for a Presta Valve. I went out side and luckily a rider on a road bike rode by slow enough for me to flag him down to ask him to borrow his pump. He didn't have one. Just then the bike shop guy came out with an adaptor connected to an air hose.
He inflated my tire and I gave it a pinch. I was afraid he would over inflate it, causing it to burst so I thanked him and was ready to ride the final 8km back home when he started trying to put more air in my front tube. By this time I was about out of patience but I finally got him to stop because removing and reinstalling the wheel 3 times today was about as much fun as I wanted on a Wednesday.
I got home with 30 minutes to spare before work. Jumped in and out of the shower, ate a banana and drank some hot tea with lemon. I'll figure out what is wrong with the bike tomorrow. I will wash and wax the bike as well, and put some lube on the important bits. Then, get my other bike ready for the Friday lunch ride with a friend.
I had a nice bit of speed going and about 5km into my ride I got another flat. 15km from home, have to work at 5:30pm, windy as hell, and gonna be less than 5C once the sun goes down. I start pushing my bike to the closest bike shop between home and where I flatted while texting my client that perhaps we should meet at 7pm instead. A nice Japanese man rolls by, says he has a tube so I take off the wheel for a 2nd time in less than 30 minutes, get the tire off, the tube out, inflate his tube a little, and find that the nozzle extender I have won't fit in the valve hole in my rims, and there is no way I could inflate his tube with a 40mm stem enough to ride home on. I pull his tube out, reinstall my flatted tube and tire then start putting it back on when the forks separate.
Don't panic! Don't throw the bike! I get the wheel on, then the 2nd set of forks on and then start trying to get the derailleur hangar on, which I have done before. Then he tries to get involved. Since he was trying to be helpful I didn't want to be rude but he was causing more problems than he was solving, not to mention our helmeted heads were banging into each other. Oh, I forgot to mention, either the wind was drowning out my "I can do this myself", "I got this", "Excuse me", or he was ignoring me, or he actually thought this recumbent rider didn't know how to repair flats and get the wheel back on. Finally I had to say "Just a moment please, let me try this...." then take the bike away from him, stand on the side of the hill and get the derailleur snapped in and the QR on.
Afterwards, I rolled up his tube that he offered, stuck a rubber band on it and explained that I will just push it to the bike shop where they hopefully had a 700x25 tube with at least a 50mm stem. He began pushing his bike with me and it was getting later and later so I finally told him that he should get his ride in before sunset and the stronger winds arrive, which he did.
While pushing the bike to the shop I noticed that the cranks were stuck and the only way to be able to rotate them was to loosen the QR a lot. At the bike shop he luckily had a 700x25 tube with an 80mm stem which I bought and put on, and then got the wheel in again, with the derailleur hanger going on smoothly this time. but the only pump he had was not for a Presta Valve. I went out side and luckily a rider on a road bike rode by slow enough for me to flag him down to ask him to borrow his pump. He didn't have one. Just then the bike shop guy came out with an adaptor connected to an air hose.
He inflated my tire and I gave it a pinch. I was afraid he would over inflate it, causing it to burst so I thanked him and was ready to ride the final 8km back home when he started trying to put more air in my front tube. By this time I was about out of patience but I finally got him to stop because removing and reinstalling the wheel 3 times today was about as much fun as I wanted on a Wednesday.
I got home with 30 minutes to spare before work. Jumped in and out of the shower, ate a banana and drank some hot tea with lemon. I'll figure out what is wrong with the bike tomorrow. I will wash and wax the bike as well, and put some lube on the important bits. Then, get my other bike ready for the Friday lunch ride with a friend.
bladderhead
Zen MBB Master
What a terrible tale of woe! People are so bloody helpful. But you feel awkward about telling them to bugger off. I never had a pressure gauge. I used to pump the tyres up as hard as I could with my old cheap pump. Then I got this amazing Lezyne pump. I pumped my Grasshopper 's tyres up rock hard. The bike flew like a rocket but it was a bit twitchy. Started getting flats every two days. Eventually I realised I was putting too much air in. These pumps are so much better than the old ones.
I thought that only DF riders with racing saddles had to do that.Frito Bandito said:
3bs
whereabouts unknown
compare and contrast to my ride last week.
go outside. its 20 degrees f and blowing 15 mph. go back inside and put on more clothes.bo back outside. put on my misc activity helmet and mb shoes with spd cleasts as this is not going to be speed ride. get sofrider out. batteries on sensors and lights all fine. get on bike. cannot pedal in the soft snow in driveway. fog up glasses. get bike to top of drive and shove off to see if it will even stay up. yes, but totally slips out from under me a few times no fall yet. get on my road which is a narrow old dead end with an insane crown. snowy icey and some clear patches. ride about 50 feet slip out on soft snow. try again get to hard pack, no problem, ice, no problem, clear the studs make a clicking sound that i find reassuring. get cocky cross soft snow, under power and a little off center, wipe out. thank you god for that reminder. start again, avoiding soft snow. fine. head to m63, ride normal south 10mile loop. shoulder is pretty clear on most roads hard pack ice in some places which is fine. decide that best way to go over patches is not under power. get home. impossible to go up driveway, which has a slight incline and is still mostly soft snow. no pr's, no KOMs, not broken bones or frozen parts. a blistering 13 mph average. a pretty normal winter ride.
yes the trike with its studded tires and windwrap would have been a better choice for the day but its fun to ride both, and with all of the effort you all are putting into your zwift riding and andrews rising sun adventures, and my never ending deisre for political correctness (HA!~) i figured i would do something as a meaningless show of solidarity.
go outside. its 20 degrees f and blowing 15 mph. go back inside and put on more clothes.bo back outside. put on my misc activity helmet and mb shoes with spd cleasts as this is not going to be speed ride. get sofrider out. batteries on sensors and lights all fine. get on bike. cannot pedal in the soft snow in driveway. fog up glasses. get bike to top of drive and shove off to see if it will even stay up. yes, but totally slips out from under me a few times no fall yet. get on my road which is a narrow old dead end with an insane crown. snowy icey and some clear patches. ride about 50 feet slip out on soft snow. try again get to hard pack, no problem, ice, no problem, clear the studs make a clicking sound that i find reassuring. get cocky cross soft snow, under power and a little off center, wipe out. thank you god for that reminder. start again, avoiding soft snow. fine. head to m63, ride normal south 10mile loop. shoulder is pretty clear on most roads hard pack ice in some places which is fine. decide that best way to go over patches is not under power. get home. impossible to go up driveway, which has a slight incline and is still mostly soft snow. no pr's, no KOMs, not broken bones or frozen parts. a blistering 13 mph average. a pretty normal winter ride.
yes the trike with its studded tires and windwrap would have been a better choice for the day but its fun to ride both, and with all of the effort you all are putting into your zwift riding and andrews rising sun adventures, and my never ending deisre for political correctness (HA!~) i figured i would do something as a meaningless show of solidarity.
Frito Bandito
Zen MBB Master
Hahaha.
I have a very small pump that I used for my DF bike, but I have to see if it will work with the little bit of 80mm stem I have poking out of my 80mm rear rim. If it does then I will connect it to 1 of the many water bottle bosses, probably under the seat until Summer gets here and I need 2 water bottles. It took about 300 pumps to get my DF tire inflated the one time I had to use it but at least it worked. On usual days I keep them at about 90psi because the roads here are so smooth. I think my second flat might today have been a pinch flat over a particularly rough area.
3bs, Must be something in the water to have so much go wrong in 1 ride like me, but glad you stuck it out and went anyway. Thanks for the show of solidarity hahaha. I don't see how you guys can ride in snow though. 10C is fine, maybe even a bit colder, but below freezing is where I will bow out.
1 positive thing that came out of this is that I went from a Schwalbe Pro One Tubeless (with a tube) to a Michelin Power Time Trial on the front, saving me a whopping 2w of power. Maybe even 4.
DavidCH
In thought; expanding the paradigm of traversity
Go tubeless. It's by far the easiest solution
Frito Bandito
Zen MBB Master
I will do that for my next set of wheels I buy. However, my Campagnolo Bullets still have plenty of life left in them. It seems like my Bullets (50mm front and 80mm rear) will accept tubeless tires since they are hooked and don't need rim tape, but for the life of me I can't find anything online showing they will accept tubeless tires. I did see an article a while back that Schwalbe Pro Ones appear to work, but now I cannot even find that article after hours of searching.
Frito Bandito
Zen MBB Master
I will give it a go on the 50mm Bullet front wheel pretty soon with the Pro One tubeless tire I have or I will buy a Conti 5000 TL. Those seem a lot easier to find here.
