Monday, November 20, 2006






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.

Saturday, November 18, 2006




















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.