Our Three T50 Builds, and Maybe a Sofrider Retro-fit

[NeaL]

The hits just keep on comin.'

Y'all can Google on the price of that 4-bike Saris 'Freedom' rack which I invested in.

Friday morning of last week, in the early morning darkness, a large deer jumped out in front of my truck. The impact caved-in the grill and front bumper of my 2006 CrewCab F-150. From the driver's seat, I didn't see anything amiss about the truck. At the time it seemed as if the deer just bounced off without any significant damage. I was pressed for time, had to drop off the kids with their mom before I turned around and backtracked to go to work.

When I dropped off the kids, I got out briefly to look at the front end. Then I drove to work and parked it at an auto shop right next to where I work. That's when I saw that there was a coolant leak, the front license plate and mounting bracket was missing, plus one of the headlights is slightly askew.

I'm still waiting to learn if the insurance company is going to total it. In the meantime, the rental vehicle has no trailer hitch receptacle for the bike rack. If the truck is considered to be totaled, I have no idea what the insurance company is going to give me for it and if I'll be able to find anything suitable I can afford which has the seating, cargo, and towing capacity I need. It sucks that I've only been able to mount one bike on that rack since I first got it.

The lawyers are still playing their damn games in getting things done on the ex-wife's divorce with the court settlement and equitable distribution mess.

 

[jond]

Cruzbike and Greenspeed both share an Australian connection. I think it will be enough for people to clearly see just the 'roo while the rest of the roundel stickers wrap around the tubular frames of our bikes and trikes, so 7.5cm will do.

More than 80% of greenspeeds have been sold in America according to Ian simmo

Sadly like cruzbikes they are no longer made in aus since we don’t make much anymore. But they are still here thank god for Parker’s.

Love my aus made gto. You don’t need 81 gears. Toss em all and fit mtb triple grouppo .....you will never pedal past 37 klm/hr and it’s good weight saving.

 

[jond]

The hits just keep on comin.'

Y'all can Google on the price of that 4-bike Saris 'Freedom' rack which I invested in.

Friday morning of last week, in the early morning darkness, a large deer jumped out in front of my truck. The impact caved-in the grill and front bumper of my 2006 CrewCab F-150. From the driver's seat, I didn't see anything amiss about the truck. At the time it seemed as if the deer just bounced off without any significant damage. I was pressed for time, had to drop off the kids with their mom before I turned around and backtracked to go to work.

When I dropped off the kids, I got out briefly to look at the front end. Then I drove to work and parked it at an auto shop right next to where I work. That's when I saw that there was a coolant leak, the front license plate and mounting bracket was missing, plus one of the headlights is slightly askew.

I'm still waiting to learn if the insurance company is going to total it. In the meantime, the rental vehicle has no trailer hitch receptacle for the bike rack. If the truck is considered to be totaled, I have no idea what the insurance company is going to give me for it and if I'll be able to find anything suitable I can afford which has the seating, cargo, and towing capacity I need. It sucks that I've only been able to mount one bike on that rack since I first got it.

The lawyers are still playing their damn games in getting things done on the ex-wife's divorce with the court settlement and equitable distribution mess.

Ouch that’s unlucky but it’s better than the deer is doing. You have to laugh otherwise you’ll cry. . The settlement will happen despite the legal beagles hungry bark. Time. Hang in there . Your excellent ideas and cycling with your children is beyond luck.

Order the stuff on line and assemble bikes yourself.

 

[NeaL]

You don’t need 81 gears. Toss em all and fit mtb triple grouppo .....you will never pedal past 37 klm/hr and it’s good weight saving.

I need to address finding weight savings in my body fat, before I worry about the weight of components on my cycles. Until I get there, I like the fact that I can downshift on the internal rear hub while sitting still, in the event that I might forget to downshift when coming to a stop.

 

[jond]

I need to address finding weight savings in my body fat, before I worry about the weight of components on my cycles. Until I get there, I like the fact that I can downshift on the internal rear hub while sitting still, in the event that I might forget to downshift when coming to a stop.

I hear you Neal plus it’s cheaper to lose the body baggage.

 

[NeaL]

I didn't see a forum category for mechanical issues. I've been looking elsewhere on the internet but I'm not coming across anything which seems to be describing my same problem. I don't want to clutter the board so I'll just add it here as an update under my thread. If anyone has any helpful input, great.

I'm all in favor of turning kids onto recumbents but I think someone tried peddling up a hill while forcefully shifting gears at too low of a speed and with too much pressure on the pedals. Maybe this is why I don't see kids on recumbents much, and probably won't until they start making Walmart-cheap recumbents for kids.

The rear derailleur seems to shift fine from one end to the other. So there doesn't seem to be an alignment or indexing issue. The problem is the chain seems to be skipping while on the same selected gear. It doesn't skip while under pressure like when trying to accelerate or go uphill, only on flat areas when peddling is light and just to maintain speed.

I think they just stretched the cable. I had time for riding it around to examine the problem but since then, haven't had the freetime, during daylight hours, to try and fix it. Looking at some videos on rear derailleur adjustments, they seem to be saying that stretched cables will prevent shifting. It's shifting fine, it just seems that the chain doesn't have enough tension at idle to keep it from skipping teeth on the gear.

I'm stuck at my desk at work at the moment, hence the online researching instead of doing the actual wrench work on the bike.

In T50 build and Sofrider retro-fit news, I'm still financially being held captive while lawyers play their stupid, costly 'Lawyer Games,' sticking me with their damn bills.

 

[Robert O]

I didn't see a forum category for mechanical issues. I've been looking elsewhere on the internet but I'm not coming across anything which seems to be describing my same problem. I don't want to clutter the board so I'll just add it here as an update under my thread. If anyone has any helpful input, great.

I'm all in favor of turning kids onto recumbents but I think someone tried peddling up a hill while forcefully shifting gears at too low of a speed and with too much pressure on the pedals. Maybe this is why I don't see kids on recumbents much, and probably won't until they start making Walmart-cheap recumbents for kids.

The rear derailleur seems to shift fine from one end to the other. So there doesn't seem to be an alignment or indexing issue. The problem is the chain seems to be skipping while on the same selected gear. It doesn't skip while under pressure like when trying to accelerate or go uphill, only on flat areas when peddling is light and just to maintain speed.

I think they just stretched the cable. I had time for riding it around to examine the problem but since then, haven't had the freetime, during daylight hours, to try and fix it. Looking at some videos on rear derailleur adjustments, they seem to be saying that stretched cables will prevent shifting. It's shifting fine, it just seems that the chain doesn't have enough tension at idle to keep it from skipping teeth on the gear.

I'm stuck at my desk at work at the moment, hence the online researching instead of doing the actual wrench work on the bike.

In T50 build and Sofrider retro-fit news, I'm still financially being held captive while lawyers play their stupid, costly 'Lawyer Games,' sticking me with their damn bills.

If cable stretch might be the issue, you should be able to find a YouTube video for your particular rear derailleur that goes into cable adjustment procedures. Most of them come down to:

Adjust the High limit screw so that the derailleur is centered on the small sprocket.
Adjust the Low limit screw so that the derailleur is centered on the large sprocket.
Tension the cable so that it is just taut when all the way out (High gear).
Shift to a sprocket in the middle of the cassette, and use the barrel adjuster to center the chain on that gear. For some manufactures, you may need to be a little more towards the high or low side of the sprocket.
Adjust the "B" limit screw so that the jockey wheel is just a couple of millimeters from the cassette in low gear.

If that doesn't solve it, we'll have to see what else we can figure out...

 

[McWheels]

If the chain is skipping on light tension, it might be the links in the chain aren't loose enough. Notwithstanding the erstwhile thread on Chain Waxing, even old engine oil's better than a ginger, noisy chain. But I'm sure you're well beyond that, my dear old thing.

Another idea, is the tension spring on the derailleur a bit effete? Is it damped in any way by hardened grease or grit? And to follow up the above, what's its alignment look like from directly in line with the sprocket? I bet there's not much in it.

 

[NeaL]

It turned out that problem was being caused by the SRAM DD3-27 internal rear hub. It seems that when it needs to be "reset," it will start doing exactly what I described.
It's a very simple matter to reset it, but it seems to need being reset kinda often. I'm trying to avoid using it altogether, avoid using it for regular, frequent shifting, but it really does come in handy for when I'm going up a hill and already have too much pressure on the chain, and not enough speed to let off the pressure for even a moment, to get it to shift to a lower gear. Or, when both the front and rear derailleurs won't shift down any lower, the DD3 is there to provide just a little more relief.
Some of my hill climbs, it would have probably been faster for me to get off the trike and drag it backwards up the hill. Nope, I'm too stubborn. I'm going to do this commute on my Sofrider someday and I'm not going to dismount it to do it, so I'm going to keep cranking it on the trike until I'm ready.

I'm still bogged down with some legal and financial entanglements, so building my kids' three T50s and retrofitting my Sofrider are all still on hold.

In the meantime, I've finally started commuting to work on my Greenspeed Magnum. It's only 7.6 miles each way but with the slowness of the trike, the condition of the "engine," and all of the hills between home and work, it has taken me just over an hour to cover the distance in the morning and almost 2 hours on the return trip.

I had some time alone this past Saturday and took the trike for a bit of a local tour over an 18 mile loop, mostly flat route. I passed one of those speed camera things which show your speed as you're approaching. I was cranking it as fast as I could go and I couldn't get the sign to show me going over 9mph. And it felt like it, too. This thing just creeps along. I know I have a lot more speed in me, it's that 20" rear wheel and the gearing holding me back.

I'm not too familiar with all the where and how to find components out there, so if anyone can point me in the right direction, that would be appreciated.

I'd like to keep a three ring set on the front. It has 52/42/30 with 165mm cranks. The brand and... model(?) is FSA, Omega. I'd like that outer ring to be up in the 60s, keep the inner at 30 or maybe a couple teeth larger, with the middle one somewhere in between. I'd also like to be able to swap out the crank arms with shorter and shorter lengths until I find the length that's right for me.
It seems like someone out there should be making these crank sets so that a wide variety of rings and cranks can be interchangeable. The crank arms on there now they have such a molded look to them, like just any ol' cranks won't fit.

This isn't really a top priority, getting the trike to go faster. But if there are any economical options other than replacing the whole crankset, that would be great to know.

 

[Brad R]

It turned out that problem was being caused by the SRAM DD3-27 internal rear hub. It seems that when it needs to be "reset," it will start doing exactly what I described.
It's a very simple matter to reset it, but it seems to need being reset kinda often. I'm trying to avoid using it altogether, avoid using it for regular, frequent shifting, but it really does come in handy for when I'm going up a hill and already have too much pressure on the chain, and not enough speed to let off the pressure for even a moment, to get it to shift to a lower gear. Or, when both the front and rear derailleurs won't shift down any lower, the DD3 is there to provide just a little more relief.
Some of my hill climbs, it would have probably been faster for me to get off the trike and drag it backwards up the hill. Nope, I'm too stubborn. I'm going to do this commute on my Sofrider someday and I'm not going to dismount it to do it, so I'm going to keep cranking it on the trike until I'm ready.

I'm still bogged down with some legal and financial entanglements, so building my kids' three T50s and retrofitting my Sofrider are all still on hold.

In the meantime, I've finally started commuting to work on my Greenspeed Magnum. It's only 7.6 miles each way but with the slowness of the trike, the condition of the "engine," and all of the hills between home and work, it has taken me just over an hour to cover the distance in the morning and almost 2 hours on the return trip.

I had some time alone this past Saturday and took the trike for a bit of a local tour over an 18 mile loop, mostly flat route. I passed one of those speed camera things which show your speed as you're approaching. I was cranking it as fast as I could go and I couldn't get the sign to show me going over 9mph. And it felt like it, too. This thing just creeps along. I know I have a lot more speed in me, it's that 20" rear wheel and the gearing holding me back.

I'm not too familiar with all the where and how to find components out there, so if anyone can point me in the right direction, that would be appreciated.

I'd like to keep a three ring set on the front. It has 52/42/30 with 165mm cranks. The brand and... model(?) is FSA, Omega. I'd like that outer ring to be up in the 60s, keep the inner at 30 or maybe a couple teeth larger, with the middle one somewhere in between. I'd also like to be able to swap out the crank arms with shorter and shorter lengths until I find the length that's right for me.
It seems like someone out there should be making these crank sets so that a wide variety of rings and cranks can be interchangeable. The crank arms on there now they have such a molded look to them, like just any ol' cranks won't fit.

This isn't really a top priority, getting the trike to go faster. But if there are any economical options other than replacing the whole crankset, that would be great to know.

What do you have on your rear cassette?

If the smallest cog on your cassette is 11 teeth, then on the 52 tooth ring and the 11 tooth cog with a 20” wheel, you get about 3.66 rpm (pedals) per mph. At 60 rpm (pretty slow for most of us), you get 16mph. It is not clear to me why you think you need to change the gearing or wheel size to go faster than 10 mph.

Is gear is your internal hub operating at? The numbers above would be for the internal hub in the 1:1 gear ratio.

 

[jond]

It turned out that problem was being caused by the SRAM DD3-27 internal rear hub. It seems that when it needs to be "reset," it will start doing exactly what I described.
It's a very simple matter to reset it, but it seems to need being reset kinda often. I'm trying to avoid using it altogether, avoid using it for regular, frequent shifting, but it really does come in handy for when I'm going up a hill and already have too much pressure on the chain, and not enough speed to let off the pressure for even a moment, to get it to shift to a lower gear. Or, when both the front and rear derailleurs won't shift down any lower, the DD3 is there to provide just a little more relief.
Some of my hill climbs, it would have probably been faster for me to get off the trike and drag it backwards up the hill. Nope, I'm too stubborn. I'm going to do this commute on my Sofrider someday and I'm not going to dismount it to do it, so I'm going to keep cranking it on the trike until I'm ready.

I'm still bogged down with some legal and financial entanglements, so building my kids' three T50s and retrofitting my Sofrider are all still on hold.

In the meantime, I've finally started commuting to work on my Greenspeed Magnum. It's only 7.6 miles each way but with the slowness of the trike, the condition of the "engine," and all of the hills between home and work, it has taken me just over an hour to cover the distance in the morning and almost 2 hours on the return trip.

I had some time alone this past Saturday and took the trike for a bit of a local tour over an 18 mile loop, mostly flat route. I passed one of those speed camera things which show your speed as you're approaching. I was cranking it as fast as I could go and I couldn't get the sign to show me going over 9mph. And it felt like it, too. This thing just creeps along. I know I have a lot more speed in me, it's that 20" rear wheel and the gearing holding me back.

I'm not too familiar with all the where and how to find components out there, so if anyone can point me in the right direction, that would be appreciated.

I'd like to keep a three ring set on the front. It has 52/42/30 with 165mm cranks. The brand and... model(?) is FSA, Omega. I'd like that outer ring to be up in the 60s, keep the inner at 30 or maybe a couple teeth larger, with the middle one somewhere in between. I'd also like to be able to swap out the crank arms with shorter and shorter lengths until I find the length that's right for me.
It seems like someone out there should be making these crank sets so that a wide variety of rings and cranks can be interchangeable. The crank arms on there now they have such a molded look to them, like just any ol' cranks won't fit.

This isn't really a top priority, getting the trike to go faster. But if there are any economical options other than replacing the whole crankset, that would be great to know.

I’ve got a greenspeed gto and two of my mates have the magnums.

One has fitted a gigantic 60t ring . But.......it is in my opinion a waste of time money on these trikes. Basically you can’t use it and won’t use it.

Fact is these particular trikes are happy on the flats at around 22 klm/hr and down hill even on the catrike 700 I’m happy to freewheel from 40 klm/ hr

I removed the three speed hub. I fitted a high end mtb 9 speed so cheapish groupset.

By the time I hit 38 klm/hr I’m happy to freewheel but it’s at the hill climbing end especially hauling a load that the 22 granny to 32 comes into play. You only get caught out once being in the wrong gear loaded lol.

The best upgrade for speed though was to remove the marathon plus tyres and fit the big apples. I seem to get a few more flats but the improved ride and response are worth it.

The cheapest of all performance upgrades though is to keep on doing what you’re doing and shed those kilos off your engine. When you’ve done that you can reward yourself with a v20.

Hope everything is sorting itself out.

 

[NeaL]

It might be a waste but, as I was explaining to someone else, my previous leg exercises largely consisted of doing leg presses at various gyms. I've got such powerful legs, I usually can do 20+ reps of the full stack of weights on those leg press machines without breaking a sweat.

I haven't been cycling regularly for long enough distances, or any particular kinds of measurements, to know yet what my "normal cadence" would be. I just know that I was peddling as fast as I could and feeling like the crank was spinning without any discernible resistance, almost like maybe the chain had fallen off or was on the middle ring, instead.

I want more speed, I want to tinker with the trike, so I'm looking for getting a larger outside chain ring.

 

[jond]

It might be a waste but, as I was explaining to someone else, my previous leg exercises largely consisted of doing leg presses at various gyms. I've got such powerful legs, I usually can do 20+ reps of the full stack of weights on those leg press machines without breaking a sweat.

I haven't been cycling regularly for long enough distances, or any particular kinds of measurements, to know yet what my "normal cadence" would be. I just know that I was peddling as fast as I could and feeling like the crank was spinning without any discernible resistance, almost like maybe the chain had fallen off or was on the middle ring, instead.

I want more speed, I want to tinker with the trike, so I'm looking for getting a larger outside chain ring.

Your natural untrained cadence is related to your walking pace. Generally a higher cadence is seemingly recommended 80 and above for keeping knees happier.

When I’m tiring mine drops to 70- 80. And apart from the trainer never gets above 85 on 170 mm cranks.

I would be surprised if you were much below 70 - 75 cadence.

With a 44 x 11 I’m pedalling out around 38 klm/ hr.

I’m cycling fit pretty well for a 56 year old and on the flat the greenspeed runs along between 22 and 27 klm / hr. The gto is lighter than my mates magnums.

Still the lure of tinkering is strong.

Are you saying you pedal out on your present 52 big ring ? What cog combo is on the rear wheel. With 81 gears you have all the range covered.

You must be hitting 45 klm/ hr plus downhill to feel not much resistance.

Change the tyres to Schwable big apples if you still have marathon plus on. That is an immediate speed performance increase. They are 2” balloon tyres and are more comfortable and still provide decent flat protection without the weight penalty.

I love trikes. Got around 30,000 klm but I ride the cruzbike a lot lot lot more. If speed is your thing Neal then whilst the magnum is a fine versatile trike it has a narrower track than the gto and is limited by its all rounder heavily over engineered frame etc status in terms of speed. One of my mates has a catrike 700 also but we both would keep the greenspeed ahead of the speedy 700,s. Catrike 700 14 kg. Gto 19 kg.

Best to keep exercising Tune up the motor and vroom vroom

Enjoy let’s get back to the t50 s

 

[NeaL]

IT'S HAPPENING!!!!

The three T50 frames I got last December/January are finally getting components and assembled. I hope to have them and the Sofrider retro-fit done by mid-August.

 

[cpml123]

So happy to hear that!

 

[Gary123]

Keep us posted. Good luck.

 

[NeaL]

Sourcing parts.

I'm trying to find tires for 26" rims, 1.75" tires so fenders can be fitted.

I want them in white wall, red wall, all white, or/and all red.


I have found some tires with these color options but they only offer them in a very limited number of sizes, and ones which do not match the size I need for these T50s.

If anyone knows of helpful bike tire brands, please let me know. Thanks.
Heck, I'd be open to paying a little extra if they'll do a custom set, within reason.

 

[Bill K]

Compass makes a 26 x 1.8 with tan sidewalls
https://www.compasscycle.com/shop/components/tires/26-inch/compass-26-x-1-8-naches-pass/

 

[NeaL]

In selecting any parts, I'm drawing on some automotive references in helping me stick to certain color schemes.

We have a blue & black T50 frame set. It's getting white cable covers as accents. Kinda like this here Bugatti.

 

[NeaL]

We also have a black on black T50. For this one we're adding red cable covers and either redwall tires or all red tires.