'Bents have arrived

Jo said:

Came back from working away for a few days to find my three 'bents have
arrived!

Hurrah! what have you got?

Quoted message said:

few things to work out, such as how/where to fit lights, computer etc.

On an overseat steering bike you can just mount it all on the bars.
Underseat steerers, especially from Sensible Countries like NL
and Germany, ofetn have suitable braze-ons for lamp mounts at the
front of the boom (HPVel and Nazca certainly do).

Quoted message said:

Somewhere to put bottle cages would be useful

Some have braze-ons for this (the Streetmachine has a couple of
sets, but in useless places, bah!). If not, alternatives are drill
a solid-shell seat (for details look in the Streetmachine manual at
the HPVel website), on an overseat steer mount on the bar stem.

I just put a bottle in a pannier pocket carried the wrong way
around, so it's facing forwards. How useful that is depends on
your panniers, of course.

You could always pop a bottle in the red lightsabre holster...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Jo said:

Came back from working away for a few days to find my three 'bents
have arrived!

Hurrah! what have you got?

See previous post:
"I have been planning on getting a 'bent for some years, but it has not
been a financial possibility. I saw a response to somebody else's
question on here which mentioned 3 Actionbents on ebay. I have bought them.
Although these are not high-cost bikes, all the reviews I have
found are excellent, and components are good.
They should be arriving next weekend. The plan is to sell two of
them back on ebay. If I don't get on with any of them they can all go
back on ebay.
All I have to do now is learn to ride it!"

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

few things to work out, such as how/where to fit lights, computer etc.

On an overseat steering bike you can just mount it all on the bars.
Underseat steerers, especially from Sensible Countries like NL and
Germany, ofetn have suitable braze-ons for lamp mounts at the front of
the boom (HPVel and Nazca certainly do).

Quoted message said:

Somewhere to put bottle cages would be useful

Some have braze-ons for this (the Streetmachine has a couple of sets,
but in useless places, bah!). If not, alternatives are drill a
solid-shell seat (for details look in the Streetmachine manual at the
HPVel website), on an overseat steer mount on the bar stem.

I just put a bottle in a pannier pocket carried the wrong way around, so
it's facing forwards. How useful that is depends on your panniers, of
course.

Thanks, will look into all of that. The model I expect to keep is under
seat steering, and has braze ons at the front.

Quoted message said:

You could always pop a bottle in the red lightsabre holster...

Yes, that would save messing about wouldn't it!

Quoted message said:

Pete.

Jo

Peter Clinch said:

Quoted message said:

Came back from working away for a few days to find my three 'bents have
arrived!

Hurrah! what have you got?

Jo bought these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7182428441&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2F%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26satitle%3D7182428441%26fvi%3D1

http://tinyurl.com/8bo38

New toys!!

"Bob"
--

Email address is spam trapped, to reply directly remove the beverage.

Jo said:

See previous post:

I'd managed to miss that but have now looked at the eBay page.
Potentially an excellent bargain and well worth by-passing the
usual try before you buy advice, as you should be able to sell them
on at a similar cost if they don't suit.

Quoted message said:

All I have to do now is learn to ride it!

Well, good luck! I know it's easier said than done, but relaxing
is the key. The only real difference between balancing a 'bent and
an upright AFAICT is you don't already know you can do it...

Next time you're passing through Dundee it can say hello to it's
relatives here :-)

Enjoy!
Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Jo said:

See previous post:

I'd managed to miss that but have now looked at the eBay page.
Potentially an excellent bargain and well worth by-passing the usual try
before you buy advice, as you should be able to sell them on at a
similar cost if they don't suit.

Quoted message said:

All I have to do now is learn to ride it!

Well, good luck! I know it's easier said than done, but relaxing is the
key. The only real difference between balancing a 'bent and an upright
AFAICT is you don't already know you can do it...

Next time you're passing through Dundee it can say hello to it's
relatives here :-)

Enjoy!
Pete.

I have just been out and learnt to ride it. It's dead easy! I love it!
Jo

Jo said:

I have just been out and learnt to ride it. It's dead easy! I love it!

<mechanised breathing> Another has learnt the true power of the Dark
Side! </mechanised breathing>

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Jo said:

Came back from working away for a few days to find my three 'bents have
arrived! Will be test riding later, before selling two of them. I have a
few things to work out, such as how/where to fit lights, computer etc.
Somewhere to put bottle cages would be useful, but not essential as I
can use a camelback on the back of the seat. Any suggestions from 'bent
riders would be useful.
Jo

Jo, you may already know, but there's a forum dedicated to these
bikes.

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/actionbent/

cheers
Garry

Peter Clinch said:

Quoted message said:

Somewhere to put bottle cages would be useful

Some have braze-ons for this (the Streetmachine has a couple of
sets, but in useless places, bah!). If not, alternatives are drill
a solid-shell seat (for details look in the Streetmachine manual at
the HPVel website), on an overseat steer mount on the bar stem.

Other alternatives (the ones that work for me) are:

1) A bottle cage jubilee clipped to the boom.
<URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/stable/helga/03061405helga.jpg>
<URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/stable/helga/03061406helga.jpg>

2) Buy two bottle pouches, the sort designed to slide onto a bumbag
strap, or the waist strap of a rucksack. Buy two compression straps.
Slide the pouches onto the straps, then wrap the straps around the seat
(passing beneath the cushion), positioning the pouches at the edges of
the back of the seat.
<URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/stable/helga/03061418helga.jpg>
<URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/stable/helga/03061420helga.jpg>

--
Danny Colyer (my reply address is valid but checked infrequently)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

Jo said:

Came back from working away for a few days to find my three 'bents have
arrived! Will be test riding later, before selling two of them. I have a
few things to work out, such as how/where to fit lights, computer etc.
Somewhere to put bottle cages would be useful, but not essential as I
can use a camelback on the back of the seat. Any suggestions from 'bent
riders would be useful.

Decathlon do a realy useful universal bottle cage mount. It has rubber
straps that will fit many sizes and shapes of tube and won't damage
paintwork like metals clips or jubilee clips. Although the straps hold
well enough on their own, once the cage is screwed on it clamps them
down too.

--
Andrew

Naqerj said:

Decathlon do a realy useful universal bottle cage mount. It has rubber
straps that will fit many sizes and shapes of tube and won't damage
paintwork like metals clips or jubilee clips. Although the straps hold
well enough on their own, once the cage is screwed on it clamps them
down too.

Any idea how big they go? It sounds like what I used to mount a bottle
cage to my 20" unicycle. The ones I bought (many years ago, from
Halfords IIRC) only just fit the ~3cm tube on the unicycle, I'd love to
find something similar to fit the ~5cm tube on my Street Machine.

--
Danny Colyer (my reply address is valid but checked infrequently)
<URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

Danny Colyer said:

Naqerj said:

Decathlon do a realy useful universal bottle cage mount. It has
rubber straps that will fit many sizes and shapes of tube and won't
damage paintwork like metals clips or jubilee clips. Although the
straps hold well enough on their own, once the cage is screwed on it
clamps them down too.

Any idea how big they go? It sounds like what I used to mount a bottle
cage to my 20" unicycle. The ones I bought (many years ago, from
Halfords IIRC) only just fit the ~3cm tube on the unicycle, I'd love to
find something similar to fit the ~5cm tube on my Street Machine.

Mine is currently attached to a 1"-ish dia tube on my trike and there's
about 3" of spare strap which, I think, means it might reach round your
5cm tube. The packaging isn't terribly helpful on this point. It's
called an APB-300 (Adapteur pour Porte-Bidon ... dunno why 300 though)
and it's Decathlon's own brand.

--
Andrew