Latest project - transcon bike

[neptronix]

Greenspeed trike
...
Linear recumbent
...
Longbikes Slipstream.

These are all rather low sitting recumbents.

I have semi recumbents here:
BikeE, medium size
Cannondale easy racer/bent, large
Maxarya Ray 2, large

..the maxaraya has the tallest sitting position of all of them.

On each one, if i roll up to an ATM, i'm in the same position as my subcompact car ( Toyota Yaris ).
If i'm next to a modern "small" car like a Honda Civic etc, my eyes and the driver's eyes are even.
Therefore i know that visibility of me on a semi-recumbent is pretty good.

I have ridden around in full recumbents of many different stripes and also "felt" very unsafe on the road as i've noticed i'm seen less.
That squished my interest in full recumbents too.

 

[JackFlorey]

BikeE, medium size
Cannondale easy racer/bent, large
Maxarya Ray 2, large

Yeah, I tried a Haluzak Horizon once for a short while. The eyeline was way better (about six inches lower than on a safety bike) but it felt pretty unstable to me. It may have been me just not getting enough time riding it.

 

[neptronix]

Oh yeah it takes a while to get used to them.

Good handlebar placement on CLWB bikes is critical and can make the difference between feeling like you're about to fall off and carving canyons confidently at low and high speeds.

I put pretty wide handle bars on my CLWB bikes, and that alone improved the steering a TON before even adjusting the height/angle.

 

[BalorNG]

Recumbents are finicky about steering due to hampered body english - what you can get away on an upright bike will be painful on a bent.

I'll be putting a solar roof and, eventually, shell on this beast:

I already have two panels and given that they give me 85watts in autum sun - in the day in summer, even w/o solar tracking, I think I can get 150w average during most of the day... and funny enough that's basically my average current draw given about 19 mph averages (with brisk pedalling, of course).

Currently I have a monster of a lifepo battery (100ah, 8s), I can get away with half that in 21700 and shed like 20 lbs of battery.
I should have thought about that sooner - didn't know that cheap chinese panels (80$ a piece) are that efficient..
Do not have 'transcon' wishes but by just riding around russia you can rack tens of thousands of kilometers and never visit same place twice...

 

[ZeroEm]

I like that! Found your build thread.

y BalorNG » Sep 15 2021 6:15pm

Recumbents are finicky about steering due to hampered body english - what you can get away on an upright bike will be painful on a bent.

 

[donn]

Yeah, I tried a Haluzak Horizon once for a short while. The eyeline was way better (about six inches lower than on a safety bike) but it felt pretty unstable to me. It may have been me just not getting enough time riding it.

I believe others have had similar experiences with that model. Note that this is about as far away from LWB as you can get and still be recumbent.

Mine are Ryan Vanguard and Burley Limbo. The first the ancestor of your Slipstream, and I can relate to the nuisances with curbs and stuff - and I suppose that's common to all recumbents, but yes, they are great for touring. ( I never felt that I was uncomfortably invisible because of height - the position is really somewhat upright. ) The Limbo is a taller CLWB, like the Maxarya I suppose, with suspension over the rear wheel, and that's my motorized ride.

I think I've seen some discussion of solar panels as a fairing for a recumbent. Seems to me it didn't look that promising at the time, but I think over a LWB, with front and tail fairings, it would add up to more than your trailer's surface.

 

[BalorNG]

Yeah, I tried a Haluzak Horizon once for a short while. The eyeline was way better (about six inches lower than on a safety bike) but it felt pretty unstable to me. It may have been me just not getting enough time riding it.

I believe others have had similar experiences with that model. Note that this is about as far away from LWB as you can get and still be recumbent.

Mine are Ryan Vanguard and Burley Limbo. The first the ancestor of your Slipstream, and I can relate to the nuisances with curbs and stuff - and I suppose that's common to all recumbents, but yes, they are great for touring. ( I never felt that I was uncomfortably invisible because of height - the position is really somewhat upright. ) The Limbo is a taller CLWB, like the Maxarya I suppose, with suspension over the rear wheel, and that's my motorized ride.

I think I've seen some discussion of solar panels as a fairing for a recumbent. Seems to me it didn't look that promising at the time, but I think over a LWB, with front and tail fairings, it would add up to more than your trailer's surface.

Using solar panels AS fairing does not sound very viable unless this is a quad/trike (think one of those solar racers like Pac Car).
Of course anything is possible if you buy solar modules and meticulously glue them to your fairings, waterproof them, etc - but this sounds like a project for a team of professionals... plus, unless you use sandwich composits with foam core, PV panels get HOT under sun and you'll be roasted alive unless you add significant heat insulation.

 

[JackFlorey]

Another ride. This was 180 miles round trip (stayed overnight in Long Beach.)

No solar this time, just fast charging at EV charging stations. Did one charge going up, did two charges on the way back mainly because I got a flat right next to a charger. Stats:

First day 90.9 miles 42.2 amp hours
Second day 89 miles 36 amp hours (managed to be more efficient I guess)

Average speed 17mph; tried to average 20-22mph while I was moving.

Three charges at EV stations. About half an hour per stop.

In other testing I have realized that my max battery storage is 27 amp hours. (Considerably lower than the 41 amp hours you'd get by just adding the spec'd capacities together.) But that should still be good for about 60 miles a charge with reasonable care.

THREE flat tires. I only had one spare tube. I stopped after the first flat and tried to get another spare tube but the MTB shop didn't have any 26" tires (everyone uses 29ers these days.) Fortunately they did have little patches, which I put to good use that night and on the road.

 

[markz]

I buy packs of 2" round patches from Princess Auto for $10 or $15.

These are the normal 1" patches
https://www.princessauto.com/en/48-pc-1-in-tire-tube-patches/product/PA0008786477
I once got two flats at one time, and I just couldnt get the air to stop leaking, patch on top of patch, overlapping 50% I finally just got fed up, ripped it off and went with 2" with a good layer of glue, air dried really well.
My Kenda Thorn proof tires got a hole in the stem, then the spare Thron proof had the valve ripped off when I rode on it while flat.
I am going to use the old ones as an extra layer between the tube and tire.
I carry around spare tubes, one fat on reg mtb as I have 26x4 rear and 26x2 front hub.

These are the 2" patches that I like
https://www.princessauto.com/en/48-pc-2-in-tire-tube-patches/product/PA0008490021

Then there are the 3" patches which are too large
https://www.princessauto.com/en/20-pc-3-in-tire-tube-patches/product/PA0002021392

Looks like the tire patch glue is on sale from $5 to $3, should stock up.

 

[999zip999]

You have missed two key elements. you need to take the shortest canoe you can find preferably 8-foot fiberglass tip it upside down put some wheels on the back. Put all your batteries and controller needs underneath the canoe on a trailer in on the very rear of the canoe put an old 1000watt whatever voltage controller and will DD and running Regen as a wind turbine and to have solar panels voltage it is a canoe and when you take the bolts out of canoe you just put a rubber gasket unit tightening the rubber washers tighten a nut see you are a canoe solar with 12 volt battery motor charger a wind charger and a possible plug-in charger if needed.. Plus I always bike downhill
love it

 

[JackFlorey]

My Kenda Thorn proof tires got a hole in the stem, then the spare Thron proof had the valve ripped off when I rode on it while flat.
I am going to use the old ones as an extra layer between the tube and tire.

Yeah, when I got home I switched to the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires - I'll see if those make a difference over the stock Kenda tires. Supposedly they are very hard to puncture.

 

[BalorNG]

My Kenda Thorn proof tires got a hole in the stem, then the spare Thron proof had the valve ripped off when I rode on it while flat.
I am going to use the old ones as an extra layer between the tube and tire.

Yeah, when I got home I switched to the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires - I'll see if those make a difference over the stock Kenda tires. Supposedly they are very hard to puncture.

Kendas are pretty awful tires. Marathons must be much better - better rolling too despite higher puncture resistance.

 

[ZeroEm]

Have not tested other tires to compare, have been running Schwalbe Marathon Plus on my trike. the rear was the first tire put on and looks to be maybe half worn over 6,000 miles. Front started with original tires (Michelin Protek) they were wearing fast and had one flat (Piece of wire from car tires). Put on a set of SMP and just rotated them to balance wear around 5,000 mi and 2.5 years.
No flats, maybe i'm lucky but the people I ride with have had several that I know of. Don't have goat heads, have glass, metal, wire, what you would find in the streets of a City by the curb. Will stick with them as long as they have my wheel size. Fronts run between 80-100psi and rear keep it at 60psi. Do need to air them up weekly.

by JackFlorey » Oct 02 2021 9:34pm

markz wrote: ↑Oct 02 2021 6:59pm
My Kenda Thorn proof tires got a hole in the stem, then the spare Thron proof had the valve ripped off when I rode on it while flat.
I am going to use the old ones as an extra layer between the tube and tire.

Yeah, when I got home I switched to the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires - I'll see if those make a difference over the stock Kenda tires. Supposedly they are very hard to puncture.

 

[neptronix]

Another ride. This was 180 miles round trip (stayed overnight in Long Beach.)

Killer.

THREE flat tires. I only had one spare tube. I stopped after the first flat and tried to get another spare tube but the MTB shop didn't have any 26" tires (everyone uses 29ers these days.) Fortunately they did have little patches, which I put to good use that night and on the road.

...yeah, you hit the same problem i hit with long range bikes.. the alleviation of range anxiety turns into tire anxiety.
And that's roughly around the time many of us join the motorcycle tire club.