BEWARE bent content enclosed: Speedmachine, blabbing about my new ride

Going from a five year affair with my V-REX to the Speedmachine is going to be a quite the
experience. I spent some time on it at the LBS trying to sort out a few bits, and get the bike
dialled in, but there's still a lot of tinkering to do. Good news...by turning my Forester into a
one passenger car, I can put the whole bike, wheels on, in the car. Bad news, I'm not sure how I'll
be able to hook up the rear wheel tray brace of the Sportwork hitch rack to the back wheel on the
SM. To get the brace around the rear rack is going to be a challenge.

The SM has the aero bars, which is important because I have an aerobelly and it's easy to get on and
off the bike with this bar setup. The cockpit is pretty open with the aeros. I see some challenges,
though. There's lots of bar to put my ding bell on, and to mount the Airzounds horn. The problem is
reaching anything besides the shifters and brake levers without performing some kind of levatation
act. Another issue will be mounting the horn's air supply. I probably kept the velcro bottle mounts,
but I'll have to root through all the crap in my tool box's drawers to find them (at least I think I
saved them. I'm generally a pack rat with little spare bits but I bought the horn years ago). I
think I'll try putting the air bottle under the stem.

A test ride on my trainer had me pulling the boom out at least a half inch more that at the bike
shop. Now I'll have to add links to the chain as there's no way I can get the big/big combo now and
since the Shimano compatible SRAM shifters are ass backwards from the 'REX, I'm afraid I'd do
something stupid and rip the derailleur off looking for a gear spinning on the trainer. Looking at
the bike's exposed chain to tube ratio, breaking the chain is going to take a lot of thought so one
or both ends don't disappear into teflon tube land. I made a bent coat hanger chain hook and that
and a piece of string should ge me through the ordeal, but I'm open to helpful experienced
suggestions.

A few monster cable ties around the head tube has trimmed the rear der cable and brake hose close to
the main tube which has lessened the annoying rub against my legs, and another coupla' ties rerouted
the rear brake hose away from a sharp bit on the rear shock. I'm not positive, but I think an
adjusting knob fell off the shock and the DNM website is a bit sparse, O.K. way sparse with accurate
illustrations.

The high foot position doesn't seem to be a problem, except all the training done on the 'REX
doesn't translate into the same power curve on the SM. I only had one good ride on the trainer
before catching a cold which is leaving me short of breath. So I'll ease off training for a few more
days and get back to it when I can breath right again. Like everyone else in the frigid states, I'm
hoping for an early spring, and a good rainstorm to wash all the salt off the roads so I get back to
tearing up the local subdivision streets and get in shape for summer.

Harv
ps did I say the SM is red?
pps and I thought the tube on a Trek was big. HA!

Harv: stop blabbing and get yourself in somewhat shape so you could "TRY" and catch me since you do
have a red "SLOW" machine. Thank you Earl GRR,RANS V2 Ti Rush,Ti Pursuit

harv wrote:
>. Looking at the bike's exposed chain to tube ratio, breaking the chain is going to take a lot of
> thought so one or both ends don't disappear into teflon tube land. I made a bent coat hanger
> chain hook and that and a piece of string should ge me through the ordeal, but I'm open to
> helpful experienced suggestions.

Did this very thing on Saturday. By moving the short piece of power side tube so it's below the
stay. one can feed the chain in from the front of the bike, around the idler pulley and through the
short piece of tube. Do the same with the return side. Gravity does the work.

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================

On Mon, 2 Feb 2004 16:03:00 -0000, "Dave Larrington"
<legs_larry@yahoo.com> wrote:

>By moving the short piece of power side tube so it's below the stay. one can feed the chain in from
>the front of the bike, around the idler pulley and through the short piece of tube. Do the same
>with the return side. Gravity does the work.

Same for the Stinger. And a short length of coathanger through the end link prevents ferret-down-
drainpipe syndrome :-)

Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://chapmancentral.demon.co.uk

On Mon, 2 Feb 2004 09:05:27 -0600, "harv"
<harv*no_spam*@spininternet.com> wrote:

>
>The high foot position doesn't seem to be a problem, except all the training done on the 'REX
>doesn't translate into the same power curve on the SM.

I've got a similar situation. I started riding a V-Rex in the middle of June after 21 years of DF
riding. I finally felt like I was getting "bent" legs by the first of November and was beginning to
feel tuned in at last. Then I went and bought a Volae Team. Now I find that I have to develop a set
of high bottom bracket bent muscles.

Oh well, I'm having fun doing it. :-)
------------------
Dennis Tresenriter Central Illinois

harv wrote:

> ... The SM has the aero bars, which is important because I have an aerobelly and it's easy to get
> on and off the bike with this bar setup. The cockpit is pretty open with the aeros. I see some
> challenges, though. There's lots of bar to put my ding bell on, and to mount the Airzounds horn.
> The problem is reaching anything besides the shifters and brake levers without performing some
> kind of levatation act....

Harv,

[Opinionated, on topic rant]

Those "C" bars are ugly! What you need is the HPVelotechnik "Y" bars with a hinge (RANS or
Terracycle). Earl did this to my Sunset (except with "T" bars and it is a great improvement over the
stock "C" bars. (Insert disagreement from Ed Gin and Zach Kaplan here.)

Tom Sherman - Quad Cities

On Mon, 2 Feb 2004 09:05:27 -0600, "harv"
<harv*no_spam*@spininternet.com> wrote:

>which is important because I have an aerobelly and it's easy to get on and off the bike with this
>bar setup.

Grin - there's the term I've been looking for! Thanks Harv . . .

Tom Sherman <tsherman@qconline.com> wrote in message news:<bvmttn$uau8k$1@ID-> Those "C" bars are ugly! What you need is the HPVelotechnik "Y" bars
> with a hinge (RANS or Terracycle). Earl did this to my Sunset (except with "T" bars and it is a
> great improvement over the stock "C" bars. (Insert disagreement from Ed Gin and Zach Kaplan here.)
>
> Tom Sherman - Quad Cities

When I was moving on from my V-Rex I knew the Speedmachine would be the bike. Drop dead gorgeous.
So, I drive the 300 miles to Chicago to ride one. Beautiful in person. Wheel it out, set it up in
the parking lot, gracefully climb on, pretend to check the bike over (I don't know all I am doing
but there was a crowd in the parking lot observing me and this excellent looking bike). I sit on
it, raise my right foot, push off and promptly dump myself on the ground. Pick myself up, dust
myself off, check the bike, pretend I find what the problem is, get back on, push off, and dump
myself again. Never made it out of the parking lot. Of course, the bike never made it into my
garage either. Good luck on your Speedmachine. I envy your ability to ride the thing. You have a
beautiful bike.

Mike S. St. Louis, Mo

Don't be so envious. I haven't ridden it an inch yet. The first ride I had on a V-REX wasn't too
much fun either. Wobble city! Five years later, I'm chasing a kid riding a front susp Giant MTB thru
the twisties on the local trail. He busted his ass to stay in front (as if I was going to pull
around and give him a pull...riiight...I could see his susp fork bob everytime he tried to power
away. I stuck to him like glue. When we got to the grade crossing I added the killer..."Hey kid", I
said. "if you want to go fast you have to stop using your brakes so much." From the inauspicious
beginnings during my first ride I can ride the REX pretty well. I figure as long as I stay away from
chewing gum, I'll be able to ride the SM too. OTOH, the guy I bought it from bought a Trice.

"mike s" <mbstern@primary.net> wrote in message
news:810f19dc.0402030600.6a97d408@posting.google.com...
> Tom Sherman <tsherman@qconline.com> wrote in message
news:<bvmttn$uau8k$1@ID-> Those "C" bars are ugly! What you need is the HPVelotechnik "Y" bars
> > with a hinge (RANS or Terracycle). Earl did this to my Sunset (except with "T" bars and it is a
> > great improvement over the stock "C" bars. (Insert disagreement from Ed Gin and Zach Kaplan
> > here.)
> >
> > Tom Sherman - Quad Cities
>
> When I was moving on from my V-Rex I knew the Speedmachine would be the bike. Drop dead gorgeous.
> So, I drive the 300 miles to Chicago to ride one. Beautiful in person. Wheel it out, set it up in
> the parking lot, gracefully climb on, pretend to check the bike over (I don't know all I am doing
> but there was a crowd in the parking lot observing me and this excellent looking bike). I sit on
> it, raise my right foot, push off and promptly dump myself on the ground. Pick myself up, dust
> myself off, check the bike, pretend I find what the problem is, get back on, push off, and dump
> myself again. Never made it out of the parking lot. Of course, the bike never made it into my
> garage either. Good luck on your Speedmachine. I envy your ability to ride the thing. You have a
> beautiful bike.
>
> Mike S. St. Louis, Mo

The old coathanger trick worked. No chasing ferrets. Still can't find a
masterlink! I'm glad I remembered to break the chain from the backside, so
putting it back together wasn't an exercise in aggrevation. Have to add a
master link to the shopping list.
"Just zis Guy, you know?" <outlook.bugs@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:tcdt109u2b6m360rlp6holugf3g17ein51@4ax.com...
> On Mon, 2 Feb 2004 16:03:00 -0000, "Dave Larrington" <legs_larry@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >By moving the short piece of power side tube so it's below the stay. one can feed the chain in
> >from the front of
the
> >bike, around the idler pulley and through the short piece of tube. Do
the
> >same with the return side. Gravity does the work.
>
> Same for the Stinger. And a short length of coathanger through the end link prevents ferret-down-
> drainpipe syndrome :-)
>
> Guy
> ===
> May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
> http://chapmancentral.demon.co.uk

Much jigging around with boom length on the Mistral and subsequent extra chain links had me falling back on the old trick of using an old spoke bent (ideally stainless steel 'cos it looks prttier) over at both ends to easily enable chain splitting and rejoining.
I'm surprised nobody markets such a device.

I've got three of those chain-splitting-and rejoining-easily-link things on the Mistral's chain but I've always found it easier and cleaner to use the bent spoke and chain tool.

__________________
Seamus
Byke Kultuur Never at...
http://uk.geocities.com/bykekultuur/never.html
Cycling Movies Big List at...
http://uk.geocities.com/mikstar123/films.html

"Tom Sherman" <tsherman@qconline.com> wrote in message
news:bvmttn$uau8k$1@ID-81487.news.uni-berlin.de...
> harv wrote:
>
> > ... The SM has the aero bars, which is important because I have an aerobelly
and
> > it's easy to get on and off the bike with this bar setup. The cockpit is pretty open with the
> > aeros. I see some challenges, though. There's lots
of
> > bar to put my ding bell on, and to mount the Airzounds horn. The
problem is
> > reaching anything besides the shifters and brake levers without
performing
> > some kind of levatation act....
>
> Harv,
>
> [Opinionated, on topic rant]
>
> Those "C" bars are ugly! What you need is the HPVelotechnik "Y" bars with a hinge (RANS or
> Terracycle). Earl did this to my Sunset (except with "T" bars and it is a great improvement over
> the stock "C" bars. (Insert disagreement from Ed Gin and Zach Kaplan here.)
>
> Tom Sherman - Quad Cities
>

Right you are. Eventually I'll try something else. The big disadvantage is not being able to let my
knees flop outwards while pedalling.

Tom, I didn't take a good enough look at your Sunset at the Lee's. Do you have your brake levers
mounted parallel to the stem ala Frank's Jester?

Someone did, but why spend $10 when you can make one from a bit of coat
hanger in 30 seconds for free?
"Seamus" <usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com> wrote in message
news:0A8Ub.118526$Rh.96471@fe05.usenetserver.com...
> Much jigging around with boom length on the Mistral and subsequent extra chain links had me
> falling back on the old trick of using an old spoke bent (ideally stainless steel 'cos it looks
> prttier) over at both ends to easily enable chain splitting and rejoining. I'm surprised nobody
> markets such a device.
>
> I've got three of those chain-splitting-and rejoining-easily-link things on the Mistral's chain
> but I've always found it easier and cleaner to use the bent spoke and chain tool.
>
>
>
> --

harv wrote:

> ... Tom, I didn't take a good enough look at your Sunset at the Lee's. Do you have your brake
> levers mounted parallel to the stem ala Frank's Jester?

Harv,

Take the stock RANS SWB "T" handlebars, cut about two inches off each end, move the brakes and twist-
shifters in as far as possible, trim the excess length from the rubber grips and you will end up
with a setup similar to my Sunset. My levers are about 50-degrees from horizontal.

Tom Sherman - Quad Cities

It looks like the Euro solution to getting the bars really short is to mount the brakes on the stem
which lets you trim another inch or two off the bars. I'm built for comfort as the song goes, and I
hope the SM lives up to its rep and is built the same way. I just want it to warm up and dry out so
I can get the beast on the road and actually ride it. I just bought a small seat (fits me a lot
better than the medium) and it'll be a while before I get to spend more cash on the bike.

This is a plug for Hostel Shoppe customer service. The small seat came today, and when I tried to
mount it to the bike, I was dismayed that the front bracket didn't fit. A close look revealed that
the slotted arms weren't parallel and were about .25 (6mm) wider than the top bracket. I called HS
and they said they'd send me a new one, if I didn't mind making the swap and then send the first one
back. Usually it's send us the old one and then we'll send the new one after we look at the old one.
I want to ride, so I'm thinking about swapping the medium seat bracket, or taking the thing to work
and putting it in a vise. For the hell of it, I lock fingers and apply palm pressure to the bracket.
Damn...it looks hell for stout, but the arms did bend, the seat didn't crack, and now it's on the
bike. I called HS back, thanked them their efforts, and told them I fixed it.

"Tom Sherman" <tsherman@qconline.com> wrote in message news:bvrnda$101g6a$1@ID-81487.news.uni-
berlin.de...
> harv wrote:
>
> > ... Tom, I didn't take a good enough look at your Sunset at the Lee's. Do
you
> > have your brake levers mounted parallel to the stem ala Frank's Jester?
>
> Harv,
>
> Take the stock RANS SWB "T" handlebars, cut about two inches off each end, move the brakes and twist-
> shifters in as far as possible, trim the excess length from the rubber grips and you will end up
> with a setup similar to my Sunset. My levers are about 50-degrees from horizontal.
>
> Tom Sherman - Quad Cities