Monster December 27, 2006

BlueCoyote Monster Dinotte Taillight Mount

Finally, I was able to mount a Dinotte Taillight on the rear of my Monster. Based upon the brilliant inspiration of my fellow BROLer, BlueCoyote, I removed two of the small bolts that secure the carbon fiber headrest to the back of my hardshell seat. Trice sends this interesting little all purpose mount with the custom trikes. The Dinotte taillight rests nicely on this mount. I was able to insert the two headrest screws through the holes of the Trice mount and then through the headrest and into the back of the hardshell seat. With the help of a couple of plastice zip ties (what would we do without them?) I further secured the Trice mount to the back of my seat. The taillight is in exactly the right position for optimal visibility. I was also able to secure the battery pack pouch to the back of the headrest using plastic zip ties. Worked out perfectly.

VK2 Water Bottle Cages

I don't like water bladders and after changing the Terracycle idler for a Velokraft idler was able to mount water bottle holders on both sides of the underseat. Works great. I can still carry a bladder in the pouch of my seat bag, but seldom will have to. The Terracycle idler ran the chain too close to the underside of the seat thus preventing a water bottle cage installation. The cages are positioned so that I can easily reach the water bottles on either side while riding the VK2.

I am selling my Bike Pro Tandem case. I have used it twice to transport my Rans Velocity Squared recumbent. It worked beautifully and was accepted by Delta Airlines.
This is the 2 x oversized model with these dimensions.... 38x72x10

Monster Alterations

I made some final changes to the Monster and have it just right now. I uninstalled the FSA Cranks with Q-Rings and installed Rotor Cranks. The Q-Rings led to poor shifting, especially from middle to large chain ring. The chain was jumping over the big ring and I couldn't adjust the problem away without making the middle-large shift too difficult. I think the steep angle of the derailleur post on the Monster contributed to the problem, but who knows. At any rate, the Rotor Cranks are much better. I get a 26 tooth small ring, rather than the 30 toother on the Q-Rings. I need the lower gears for our hills. The Rotor Cranks shift much smoother and the extra power in climbing is noticeable.

I also took off the front fenders with mirrors attached and installed two Mirrcycle mirrors on the handlebars. Not running the front fenders makes the trike a bit more aero.

I took off the Aerospoke wheel and reinstalled the original Mavic wheel with ti spokes. The Aerospoke, which I have liked on two wheeled bents, didn't seem right on the trike after putting in many miles. The extra pound or so of weight was really noticeable on the trike. I have concluded that the lightest, most durable wheel is right for the trike. The Mavic wheel runs quieter than the Aerospoke also. This is of some importance since my head is so close to the rear wheel.

Finally, I switched out the pedals from Time Atac mtb pedals to Speedplay "lollipop" road pedals. I like the extra float of the Speedplays and I don't have to twist so hard to disengage.

Think I am finished fiddling with the Monster, at least for awhile.

Boom Adjustments

When my VK2 is good...it is very, very good. When it's bad, I'm not a happy camper. This is one of the smoothest riding, comfortable and fastest bents I've had. But I have had a devil of a time getting it dialed in correctly. After I replace the broken boom...see below...and installed a FSA crank things were going very well. I changed to a Rotor Crank within the last month or so and have concluded that I need to bring the boom in a hair to give me the correct pedal stroke position. I was extending too much and feeling some strain in my legs.

I put the bike in a trainer and removed the screws that secure the boom in the boom socket. After putting some protective tape on the nose of the boom, with a rubber mallet, I tapped the boom smartly in an attempt to shorten it about 1/4". I arrived at the 1/4" figure by doing some measurements, with the help of my local bike mechanic, who is expert at fitting bikes. He concluded that 1/4" shorter boom would be about right. I tapped and tapped and the boom wouldn't budge. So, I tapped the other way on the crank arm spindles and was easily able to remove the boom.

I took a flashlight and peered inside the boom socket. Ahhh sooo, there was a large piece of boom material (resin?) adhering to the side of the socket just at the point were the end of my boom used to be. It was that piece of resin that was preventing me from tapping the boom further into the socket. Now this was a big obstruction. Filing it out of existence or knocking it off didn't seem feasible.

So, I decided to hack saw off about 1/4" of the boom. I dared not take any more of the boom off because I am approaching the point where the end of the boom is getting too close to the inside most clamp screw. When I did the original fitting, I sawed off 2". I figure I need to be past the clamp at least 70 mm to keep the boom securely enscounced inside the socket. I was able to take the quarter inch off the boom and easily tap it inside the socket. After tightening the clamp I discovered that my pedaling now felt perfect. I haven't gone for a long ride yet, but my short test ride indicates that I am now dialed in to the sweet spot.

A friend, actually one of my fellow BROLers, said to me that the VK2 is like a fine sports car. You have to have fun fiddling with it to get it just right, and then fiddle again. Well, I have done more than my share of fiddling, and it hasn't exactly been fun. But, I do love riding this bad boy and I guess that 's what counts. Whew!!!!! I just finished what felt like delicate brain surgery.

Tubular wheel for the Monster

I am considering adding this wheel to my Monster. Trikes usually don't have composite wheels because of the side forces, but David from Nimble assures me that he can build it strong enough. I love tubular wheels, so maybe I'll give it a shot.

With winter weather settling in, I decided to add some accessories to my Monster. When the days get shorter and colder, I do much more riding around my house, which is located in an urban setting. There is lots of traffic and I like to train and run errands on my trike.

The best upgrade was the addition of a Dinotte tailight. I have been mounting this taillight on my helmet, but prefer lights affixed to the frame. Using a trice accessories bracket attached to the left dropout, I mounted the taillight and secured it with a velcro strip and strong plastic ties. I used the bracket in order to raise the taillight as high as possible. The Dinotte is exceptionally bright. When I run it in flash mode, I get 10-12 hours runtime before replacing the four AA batteries. I will use the light in traffic during daylight and nighttime hours. I also sometimes train at night a Stone Mountain Park with other bent riders. This makes me super-visible under all night riding conditions.

Second I installed a Light&Motion headlight to the Trice bracket on the derrailleur post and secured a 6.5 hour battery under the front boom. The L&M headlight is also exceptionally bright and will serve nicely during night riding and as a safety daytime light. I have used L&M lights for a couple of years and am very happy with them. Also note the Mirrcycle mirrors mounted on the top of the mudguards and the bracket for my garmin 76csx GPS. For day runs in the country and city when I am headed to unknown territory, the GPS is invaluable. It greatly expands my geographic range and also acts as an excellent bike computer.

One thing that has worked out nicely is the rear Aerospoke wheel. The conventional wisdom is that composite/carbon wheels don't work on a trike because of the unusual side forces. After a couple of discussions with Bill Micol at Aerospoke he agreed that one of their wheels would be appropriate for the rear of the trike, but not the front. I have tested this wheel under all sorts of conditions, including long fast descents. The wheel runs quiet and smooth and I sense not disadvantage during steep climbs. The wheel is a bit heavier than most high performance wheels, but it makes up for more weight in outstanding performance and durability.

I now have about a month of riding time with the Q-Rings on my FSA Carbon cranks. I am very pleased with the addional power in climbing and the smoothness of the pedal stroke. I can't prove it, but seems like the Q-Rings add a bit to speed in addition to pedalling comfort.

I have the Monster pretty much all set up as planned. I plan on putting in many miles during the next year. My goal is 8,000-9,000 miles combined on the Monster and VK2.

Terracycle Accessories Mount on my VK2

I have been looking for a good place to mount my front headlight/safety flasher, a Light & Motion Vega, onto my VK2. The Terracycle Accessories Mount shown in the pictures accomplishes the job perfectly.

I had to fiddle a bit to adapt the mounting brackets to the extra large daimeter derrailleur post of the VK2. I ordered Terracycle's largest diameter mounting brackets, but they still were not large enough for the post. I was able to install the brackets around the post by going to my local hardware store and buying longer (1.5 " bolts.) I also had to build up the mounting post with velcros (I only had white velco) and a rubber spacer.

My BoB trailer is for sale. Here are some photos.

Velokraft 2 issues

It has taken awhile, but I finally have the Velokraft 2 fully repaired, and tuned to ride. I unpacked the bike in early March and it is just this week ( August 14) that I've finally gotten it to where I want it.
This is really one very sweet recumbent low racer. This bike is fast, quiet, and very comfortable. An added bonus is that it is a good climber. I hate to start arguments between devotees of high racers and low racers. But, I believe I am a bit faster on the Velokraft 2 than I was on my Bacchetta Aero. This is a very individual thing and I suspect that some riders would prefer the high racer while others seem to adapt better to the low racer format. I tend to ride more confidently on a low racer. This is especially true on long fast descents were being lower to the ground seems to provide a sense of security. I also have found that riding this quasi-low racer is quite comfortable in traffic, even though I have to be constantly aware of my positioning relative to cars so that I am always visible.

I have my Velokraft 2 equipped and tuned just right now. I have, however, had to take a scenic route rather than an expressway to get to this point from the time that I unpacked the bike. This has been a rough road and I will describe the steps I've taken to bring this bike to where it achieves its full potential.

The original assembly of the Velokraft 2 went well. The only glitch was a bent rear derailer cage. The derailer was damaged during shipment. After I was able to get the bike tuned I spent a week riding and everything seemed to be working fine. The only problem was a very noisy drivetrain, including some annoying chain rub on the bottom of the Velokraft seat. I did some fine tuning including moving the Terracycle idler to the forward most of the three idler holes. During the first few weeks, however, despite my fiddling, I was not able to eliminate the noise in the drivetrain. For several weeks from about the middle of March until the end of April I had a bad case of the flu and did not get to ride very much. When I resumed riding in May I began to identify other problems with the bike.

On one long ride of about 75 miles I started to have severe shifting problems. I could not keep the front derailer properly shifted. The chain was rubbing on the inside of the chain rings and occasionally during steep climbs the chain ring would jump, without my touching the shift lever, from the middle chain ring to the large chain ring. I was also having trouble keeping up the rear derailer properly aligned. This strange front derailer behavior and general drivetrain problems plagued me for the next couple of weeks. I tried doing adjustments myself, but to no avail. I finally discovered that the front boom was cracked. This crack caused the front boom to flex as much as 4 or 5° off-center and was causing the shifting problems and the strange chain behavior on the chain rings.

The other problem was that my Rotor Cranks were not properly positioned. In order to achieve the appropriate chain line with the chain rings I needed to move the Rotor Crank over about 3 or 4 mm. Not wanting to take this job on myself, I took the bike into REI. They tried to making various adjustments and when they removed the Rotor Cranks the mechanic discovered that some of the threads on the main body of the Rotor Cranks were stripped. I'm not sure whether this thread damage occurred during assembly or when the mechanic attempted to remove the Rotor Cranks from the boom.

I reported the problems to Dana at BentUp Cycles. Dana has been very responsive in helping me work through all the problems. He has replaced the front boom under warranty. I have also sent the Rotor Cranks back to him for repair. The new boom arrived last week and it is now installed. I had Dana put in a FSA SLK crankset and will sell the Rotor Cranks after they are repaired. In the future, I may add Q-Rings. As I said, the bike is now set up the way I want and functioning very, very well. For the benefit of those who may consider buying a Velokraft 2 (or Velokraft High racer), here is a summation of my lessons learned:

- When you order the Velokraft make sure that it comes equipped with the latest iteration of the boom. This boom has gone through two or three changes in order to strengthen the side walls to prevent cracking. The new boom that I have installed seems very sturdy with no flex at all even during steep climbs.

- For some reason, getting a proper chain alignment with the chain rings was a problem for me. I have found that an Ultegra triple nine speed front derailer works better than a DurAce front derailer. The latter is designed for a 10 speed set up and has a narrower cage. The wider cage of the Ultegra (even though it is only very slightly wider) helps me fine tune my shifting much better thus preventing chain rub on the inside of the derailer cage.

- I changed over the Terracycle idler to the original Velokraft idler. The Terracycle over/under idler had the chain running too close to the bottom of the seat causing chain rub on the bottom of the seat when there was a lot of tension on the chain (when climbing). The Velokraft idler is much taller and is an under/under configuration keeping the chain well away from the bottom of the seat. The drivetrain now runs considerably quieter.

- The Rotor Cranks did not seem to work particularly well on the Velokraft 2. Others may have a different experience, but I found it hard to line up the Rotor Cranks to get a straight on chain alignment with the chain rings. I also found that the inside of the Rotor Crank chain rings had guide pins that were very uneven causing the chain, when placed on the middle chain ring, to rub against the inside of a large chain ring sometimes catching on the irregular part of the guide pins and causing a chain hop. The FSA crankset seems much better built, installs in a fixed position, and produces a quieter and smoother shifting situation on the front derailer. As I said earlier, I may add Q-Rings at some later date. The combination of the cracked boom and Rotor Crank misalignment caused shifting problems. It is possible that replacing the boom and aligning the Rotor Cranks would have solved the problem without resorting to a new crankset.

- When I was installing the new boom, I inadvertently stripped the forward most built-in aluminum threads on the inside of the clamp that holds the boom in place. These threads are very delicate and, as I discovered, easily stripped. I was able to fix the problem by getting (from Dana)a longer bolt and a locknut to tighten down the front end of th clamp. It is important to treat all of the built-in threads very gingerly.

- The only shifting problem that I continue to have is that it requires too much effort to shift from the middle to the large chain ring. The cable line running through the frame has a very sharp bend as the cable rises to the front derailer. This sharp band produces too much friction on the cable. I had my bike mechanic remove the cable line from inside the frame and run it outside producing a bigger loop of the cable into the front derailer. This seems to help the situation somewhat, but I also have removed the Paul's Thumbies and installed SRAM Rocket grip shifters. The shifting to the large chain ring is still not perfect, but much better.

- - The Radical Low Racer Bags work very well on my Velokraft 2. These fit comfortably out of the way on the back of the Velokraft seat holding tools, spare tires, etc. as well as up to a 50 ounce bladder. They are also lightweight and seem very durable. You can see the Radical Bag set up on the accompanying pictures.


The Velokraft 2 is now set up beautifully and I'm very happy with it. It is the fastest bent I have owned, and well worth the effort that I've put into it.

I have just about completed the Monster setup. This week I added an Aerospoke 26" rear wheel and installed front mudguard mounted Mirrcycle mirrors with the help of an email fellow California trikester, Erskien Lenier. I have mounted a Light and Motion headlamp to my helmet with both a 3 and 6 hour battery and am ready to go 24 hours. I am waiting for XTR Q-rings, which will be the finishing touch to this beauty. Also check out the Radical Solo Low Racer Bag, perfect for this rig.

Velokraft 2

In March 2006, I purchased a Velokraft 2 low racer. Since March, the dialing in of my Velokraft 2 has been an ongoing process. This bike is very fast even for an old guy like me. Low racers take a lot of getting used to. The first issue that I faced was a rather noisy drivetrain. I then ran into some shifting problems and discovered that I had a cracked boom. The boom is being replaced under warranty. I am expecting after I replaced the boom that the shifting will now be normal and I can go about the business of adapting to the bicycle. This bike has lots of potential for long-distance speed and good climbing.

Here's a picture of the boom with a crack running almost the full length of the underside.

The 2006 edition of BR AG(BicycleRide Across Georgia)was very challenging. I met a lot of nice people and had a lot of in good riding. As you can see from the photo on the left my Trice Monster stood out from the crowd. There were five or six other trikes on the ride out of about 1600 riders. This fact cause a lot of roadside conversations that I would have not ordinarily had if I'd ridden a more traditional bicycle.

The trike, however, was ideal for this type of multi-day tour. I was comfortable throughout. I also discovered that the trike is a very good climber because we had manyboth short and long steep climbs on the seven-day ride. There were some sections where we not only were climbing steep hills, but we were dealing with a lot of traffic. I was able to keep the trike under very good control under these conditions.

And daily rides averaged around 60 miles, with a low of around 42 miles and a high of around 90 miles. We got started early in the morning around 6 a.m. and usually ended around noon. Around 11 o'clock the weather usually became very hot and humid. Some of the less experienced and less well-trained riders were having a hard time completing many of these days. One of the nice things about BRAG is the variety of riders. There were young and old, and many families riding together.

The ride began in Dalton, Georgia and ended in August, Georgia. The first few days were very hilly and quite difficult for some of the less experienced riders. There were also some days when we were dealing with a lot of traffic. But overall the ride was lots of fun base with lots of good camaraderie. Below are some additional pictures of the ride. Here is a link to a website containing many pictures of BRAG - http://www.pixagogo.com/7018785361

I am just about done setting up my new Monster. I have installed Terracycle Ti Idlers, but Terracycle needs to send me a new bolt for the rear idler. I have a make-shift hardware store bolt in temporarily. Also, next week I may switch my Rotor Cranks from the XXL to the Monster and switch the XTR mountain crank set to the XXL, which will soon be sold. I also added relective tape to the mudguards and matching red streamers to the flag pole.

A nice addition today were some B & M Cyclestar mirrors from Hostelshoppe - http://www.hostelshoppe.com/cgi-bin/readitem.pl?Accessory=987268561. These mirrors fit nicely on the inside of the front mudguards, give a good view and are quite flexible. I have also added a mount for my Garmin 76csx GPS unit. The recently used the Garmin unit on BRAG (Bicycle Ride Across Georgia). The GPS not only is a nice cyclecomputer, but kept me from getting lost at least twice.

I am waiting on a Radical Solo Low Racer Bag from Bentup Cycles. I discovered that this bag, which I use on my VK2, works beautifully on my Monster too. I should be able to mount the bags later this month. Temporarily I am using a Fastback NorBack frame pack. The NorBack is an excellent frame pack, but I need more carrying space. The Radical Solo Low Racer Bag is not only roomy, it is very light and fits nicely in back of the Trice cf seat, without interfering with the wheels.

For lighting I am using a Light & Motion Vega on the front and a red flasher attached to the back of my Bell Metropolis helmet. Here are some more pictures:

I have reluctantly decided to put my XXL on the market. This is a great trike in excellent condition, but I cannot justify keeping after my recent purchase of a used Trice Monster. I would like to find a good home for the trike: Mileage - about 3,000.

Shimano XT triple front derailleur, Shimano XTR rear derailleur, Shimano XTR crankset - MTB style chainset (22/32/44 and 11-34 rear cassette). SRAM 89 chain, Velocity Aeroheat wheels, Front and rear mudguards, Rear rack and Navaro rack trunk, Avid mechanical disc brakes and Avid levers, New Terracycle Ti idler (no chain tubes, but I'll supply the tubes and old idler if buyer wants to install them. I just installed three new Schwalbe Marathon Slick tires that have 0 miles on them. There are two water bottle cages mounted under the seat, one on each side. There is an accesories mount on the frame and a computer sensor mount.

Price $4100 plus shipping.

I live in Atlanta and will deliver the trike within Georgia or thereabouts. Otherwise I'll pack and ship through local bike shop.

There is a Light and Motion decal on the boom, which I will remove at the buyers request. The Trice and XXL decals are in excellent codition. There are some minor scratches on the cross arm and main tube. There is a little paint discolorization and scratching on the chain side dropout from occasional chain rub. Until I recently installed the Terracycle titanium idler, I ran the XXL with a full set of chain tubes. The seat is in as new condition. BTW, there are two MirrorCycle mirrors attached just under the grips.