VM-Tour Lauenburg-Runde

Yesterday, Morten organized a 120km round tour to Lauenburg and back.

We met with five velomobiles (two Quest, a Strada, a Milan SL, and my Milan GT) in Kaltehofe and picked-up three others along the way.

Olaf joined with his green-black Alpha 7 and Ilja with his white DF

Dieters orange DF suffert a flat on the way and we waited 5 min in front of an Aldi till he arrived

On the dike along the northern bank of the Elb river

The Alpha 7 and Milan SL Mk5 in matching colors

The weather got better along the way

After the lunch break in Arlenburg, we where met by the sun and even some blue sky

On the dike along the southern bank of the Elb river

The ferry from Hoopte to Zollenspieker

Unfortunately Henry, who also wanted to join us on the way, crashed his brand new Milan SL Mk6 a mere 20km from home. Looks like he didn’t got hurt much and was able to ride home, but his Milan suffered some severe damage.

VM-Tour Altengamme

Some impressions from our 50km velomobile evening tour yesterday. We where two Quest, a Milan SL Mk5, an Alpha 7 and my Milan GT.

The image quality of my motorcycle dash cam is spectacularly bad, though. Video quality isn’t good either, but it was pretty cheap and is convenient to use.

HH-Schwerin-HH

Did a brisk afternoon tour to Schwerin yesterday.

A 219km tour at 54.7km/h average speed and 11.1Wh/km consumption

‘Nasty’ got a new seat

The VTX mongrel got a new ICE hard shell seat with neck rest. Apart from the Vortex 2010 rear frame, the bottom bracket boom and most of the components, she evolved a great deal this year. I guess calling her ‘Nasty’ isn’t appropriate anymore.

While there was actually nothing wrong with the old, 2012 style, ICE Trike hard shell seat, the Vortex-Leader needs a proper seat and I couldn’t find an other 2012 style seat.

I did finally find a pair of sturdy, polished, NOS, Rigida DP22 26″ rims at a reasonable price and build a new set of 26″ front wheels, though. They fit quite nicely to the polished 20-622 CNC HP600 rim at the rear.

Next update are some waterproof Rockbros frame bags, simply zip-tied to the seat. At €25 a piece, they are reasonably priced and weight only 162g.

With 2x 3l volume the bags offer plenty of space for tools, spare tubes, pump, etc.

The Sigma speedo got a small braket as well. Its a much cleaner looking set-up.

I’m pretty happy with my VTX/Vortex mongrel now. The 26″ Continental GrandPrix 28-559 at the front ain’t seem as quick as the 3×700 wheel set-up, shod with pretty fast Continental GP5000 23-622, but the trike handles much better with the slightly smaller wheels at the front.

The Rigida DP22 22-559 rims are also much sturdier than the 26″ rims I used in my old 26″ front wheels and it shows. The new 26″ front wheel set is nearly as rigid as the 24″ front wheel set and doesn’t flex noticeably when going hard around corners.

Mittelpunkt Schleswig-Holstein

Geografischer Mittelpunkt Schleswig-Holsteins

Fahrt zum Himbeerhof

Himbeerhof

technical difficulties in the boonies

wouldn’t be no problem, if the spare planetary gears weren’t 2mm too wide

the Track

Meet Mike Burrows

John Williams from Velo-Ads did a very nice video interview of his friend Mike Burrows.

Apart from the Lotus bike and loads of other bikes, Mike designed the Windcheetah, one of the first modern recumbent trikes. Unfortunately, the company that took the design and build the Windcheetah, folded some years ago.

The Windcheetah

Image: Erik Wannee CC-BY-SA-4.0

VM-Tour Agathenburg

Morten invited us for a velomobile tour to Agathenburg castle, to have some cake.

The start of the tour was at the old St. Pauli Elbtunnel. Me and three other velomobile riders joined along the way.

First stop on the dike, to let a column of cars pass on the narrow winding road

A typical overtaking situation. Car drivers are usually very patient with velomobiles and give a wide berth when overtaking.

Convenience break. We where two Quest, three DF, a new Hilgo and my Milan GT.

A quiet cycle path along the train line.

Parking at Agathenburg castle.

The cake situation at Agathenburg definitely has some room for improvement, though.

The track.

Velomobile Nord

Holger recently switched fom his brand new Milan SL Mk5 to an Alpha 7 velomobile.
As he went today to Velomobile Nord, to get his new “wheel pants” mounted, I though it a good excuse to have a chat with some fellow velomobile riders and visit the newest velomobile vendor in my area.

Sven, mounting new wheels on Holger’s Alpha 7

taping-on the new wheel pants

test ride with “wheel pants”

fine tuning

taping-on reflective decals

Had a bit of a nervous breakdown when I spotted the new Milan “Battle Mountain” hood in the shop. Damn, that thing looks gorgeous! Fortunately (kind of) it was already sold

Recumbent Tour to Teufelsbrück

Yesterday we met at the main train station to make a small round tour to the Elb ferry at Teufelsbrück and back. Morten led the tour on his Flux, Henry even came from out of town by train to join us with his Flux S-900.

Our cycles at the ferry terminal in Teufelsbrück.

Two very different ICE Trikes

Little roadside repair session to fix a flat.

The track of our little 35km tour

After the tour Morten and me went to mount a tiny B+M Myu rear light to his Quest

ICE VTX with 3×700 wheels

Finally, the VTX got its 3×700 wheel set.

The polished rims are a nice match to the Ortlieb bags.

The front wheels are shod with fast Conti GP5000 in 23-622 size, but the rear wheel got a Conti Cyclocross Speed in 42-622 size for better traction.