Father Haskell wrote:
> Ben Goren wrote:
>> Father Haskell wrote:
>>
>>> Most highly evolved bike is a short wheel base, front wheel
>>> drive recumbent. Front wheel drive cuts the chain length in
>>> half, saves a ton of weight. *Very* eye-catching machine, if
>>> nothing else.
>>
>> Chain length and weight isn't as much of a problem as you might
>> think. I ride a Haluzak Leprechaun, which -- by itself
>> -- weighs about as much as a typical mountain bike. And,
>> by ``typical,'' I mean ``consumer-grade.'' With the fairing,
>> lights, batteries, aerotrunk, tools, spare tubes, couple liters
>> of water, work clothes, etc., etc., etc., the thing weighs a
>> ton. But she's still awfully fast; I cruise in the upper teens
>> to lower twenties (mph), and I (mostly) keep up with the fast
>> pack in the Saturday morning breakfast rides. And I'm usually
>> the only 'bent in the herd; most of the lead pack are on
>> ultralightweight fiber or high-tech alloy bikes. Poor sods on
>> wedgies....
>
> Nice looking ride.
She is -- and an amazing amount of fun. The only way to ride, for
certain...though I'm tempted to turn an old wedgie into a
fixed-gear for informal training purposes. 'Bents are all about
spinning, after all....
Anyway, everybody seems to love her. Kids, especially -- I can't
seem to ride by without hearing shouts of, ``Hey! Cool bike!''
And you should see the lights! No, really -- you actually should
be able to, from a long ways off, even in broad daylight. I've got
a pair of NiteRider Moabs, four of their taillights, three
ultra-bright multicolored strobes, and a pair of Down Low Glow
orange neons. And I'll be adding a helmet with its own head- and
taillights before long. You see, the woman in the SUV who
rear-ended me said she ``didn't even see me,'' so I've more than
doubled what I had then....
> Compare to the Easy Racer LWB. That was two upright frames
> brazed together, driven by two chains spliced together -- HEAVY
> sucker. Full shell faired (I own a scrap of the Kevlar from the
> Gold Rush), you could bust the 60 mph speed limit on the flying
> quarter mile, but it would damn near kill you from overheating.
Hey, I know about ``damn near kill you from overheating''! Comes
from living in Tempe (on the Phoenix border), Arizona. You get
really good at recognizing the signs, and at pacing yourself to
stay just barely this side of too hot. Oh -- and at sucking
down the water...not that that'd do (as) much good in a full
fairing....
I'd love to spend some time in a fully-faired machine -- but in
the middle of (Arizona) winter, to be sure. I've also put some
idle thought into the cooling problem. Maybe a mister that sprays
LOX instead of water? The tank would add weight, sure -- but it's
heat dissipation, not weight, that's holding back performance. Or
maybe a solar-powered heat pump? Or, I suppose you could just
scrape the ice off a Minnesota highway in the dead of winter, and
do the run there....
Anyway, this'll be my first summer with the fairing, and it looks
like I'll be cleared to ride just about the middle of the hottest
part of the season. Not sure how -- or if -- that'll work.
Cheers,
b&
--
EAC Memographer
BAAWA Knight of Blasphemy
``All but God can prove this sentence true.''
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