Recumbent bags for touring - streetmachine

[ElyDave]

I bought an S40 frameset and built it up with cannibalised bits from my Giant roadbike (must do something with that frame).  The Q45 was released afterwards. 

I was slightly trepidatious as I wasn't sure how I would get on with it, but knowing they are in short supply over here reasoned that I could sell it easily enough - my only experience of selling a 'bent is that prices are pretty good and second hand values are stable, so your £500 should be pretty secure.

Build blog for the S40 is here http://adventuresofanathleticdiabetic.blogspot.co.uk/

Next entry, currently being written will cover the first audax on it a couple of weeks ago.

[Kim]

Thinking about that a bit, I'm actually concerned that being the main load lugger those slow speeds might be an issue for me as a new recumbent rider. I definitely need to get my kit together and do a trial tour / ride. Even a simple local ride would be enough.

Yes, you're going to need to work out your stall speed and practice your hill starts.  Streetmachines are very good at not having much in the way of surprises handling-wise when loaded, but at the end of the day you've still got to put out enough power to balance the heavier bike.

I have a 19" bottom gear, a stall speed on the Streetmachine of about 2mph, and can twiddle up most things fully loaded, but that doesn't mean I can always get moving again if I have to stop on a steep climb.  I've practised the art of pacing myself with a view to not stopping, but there's always the unforeseen (and with a child, trundling on to the top of the hill at your own pace might not be the diplomatic option).

I dropped in on a BHPC event at the weekend and it's interesting to see that some guys who had put were racing came by the bike they raced on. I still don't know how the Bachetta rider got all those bags onto his bike. There were a few bike bags left by the side of the track so I assumed more than that got cycled there. Saw a raptobike rider kit up too for a ride home. Whilst the streetmachine is designed as a touring recumbent I have no doubt that you could rig up a load onto a wide range of recumbents if you wanted to.

Preston or Lancaster?  I was at Preston on an Optima Baron.  Travelled up from Brum on the train, with my stuff in a couple of Ortlieb Front-Rollers on the (somewhat ugly and out of place looking, but extremely useful) rear rack.

[TPMB12]

Lancaster. I heard it was a fast track with a dodgy bend that catches some recumbents out. I live 15 minutes away by car so I took my lad. We were in the middle of the track and he was spinning like a top trying to not miss any cyclists going by. It was fun watching him.

There's a very good kids cycling club there and he wants so much to join it. They have a minimum age limit if 7 years so it's 1.5 years of waiting. Still we have a deal. He'll support me if i try joining in at a BHPC race there and I'll support him on his races. That really excited both of us.

BTW it annoys me so very much the age to join cycling club. He's a good cyclist and needs to join such a club. You can get into football with local clubs from age 18 months locally but cycling and athletics have a 7 years minimum age limit. Disgusting considering cycling is low stress on developing bones / bodies but football seems to cause injuries. The ppl at work who play football are always coming in injured. Some have been seriously injured too. It can't be about insurance can it?

[DuncanM]

Maybe it's because if you let little kids loose with a ball each in a hall/field, the worst that happens is that they fall over. If you let a kid without bike handling skills or personal discipline loose on a track with other riders, they can cause havoc, bring them down and potentially cause serious injury.
Around here the local Go Ride MTB club have specific rides for ages 4 and up, but there aren't any clubs with access to a track within an hour, and all the road clubs have a minimum age of 16.

[Kim]

Could it just be about what they have volunteers willing to organise?

[TPMB12]

It's a well run club and I believe one of the main kids cycling clubs within the BC fold. They organise race scheduless for children in their club and inter - club too. A full calendar I believe. Plenty of coaches and volunteers among the adults taking their kids to it. It's something else.

Football seems to do more damage to the adults at work than any other sport. We have had too many on sickness for weeks or months because if injuries playing football. Mostly knees, ankles and feet getting damaged. Broken bones, torn ligaments and tendons. Twisting injuries seem to be a common cause. Dangerous sport is football! 

[DuncanM]

It's a well run club and I believe one of the main kids cycling clubs within the BC fold. They organise race scheduless for children in their club and inter - club too. A full calendar I believe. Plenty of coaches and volunteers among the adults taking their kids to it. It's something else.

Football seems to do more damage to the adults at work than any other sport. We have had too many on sickness for weeks or months because if injuries playing football. Mostly knees, ankles and feet getting damaged. Broken bones, torn ligaments and tendons. Twisting injuries seem to be a common cause. Dangerous sport is football! 

That's because adults bounce less well as they get older. I like football, but I don't play any more, I kept hurting myself.
I'm proper envious of clubs like the Hillingdon Slipstreamers - they seem to do a great job with kids. I asked my local road club about kids and was basically told that they were adults only as riding with kids on the roads around here was not something they were prepared to do...

[ElyDave]

Child protection, liability, criminal record screening, liability, volunteers

Need I say more?

[Beardy]

what about Liability

As a former Scouter I can say one of the issues is being considered a babysitting service by some parents who will drop of young Tarquin (and it is usually teh Tarquin parents of this world!) and then bugger off to the gym/shopping/lunch. While this is less of an issue for older children, it can be really problematic for younger folk.

and a word of advice to any would be youth leader; if you ever take the yoofs away, do not, under any circumstances catch an earlier ferry home. Tarquin's parents really do not like their Saturday morning plans being changed. Not one little bit.

[TPMB12]

Does anyone know what pletscher kickstand works with the lowrider rack on a HP Velotechnik Streetmachine? I assume there is a section on the rack with bolt holes to take a suitable stand. Some are rated to 50kg total loads too.

BTW I think the issues with kickstands are not as applicable with recumbents so a lowrider rack which is designed to take a stand isn't going to cause damage to the frame as it's often said these stands do on uprights. I just need to know what one to look for.

[Kim]

Does anyone know what pletscher kickstand works with the lowrider rack on a HP Velotechnik Streetmachine? I assume there is a section on the rack with bolt holes to take a suitable stand. Some are rated to 50kg total loads too.

The mounting on the lowrider is a flat plate of about 33mm X 66mm with a hole for an ?M10 bolt in the middle.  Any stand designed for centre mounting behind the bottom bracket of a DF with a flat top of up to (but not exceeding) those dimensions ought to fit.  Strut length on mine (marked "PLETCHER ESGE", but doesn't quite look like any of the current models), ignoring the dog-leg is approximately 220mm from the pivot of the stand to the base of the ferrule, which is on the short side^[1] compared to what you'd have on an upwrong.  I'd suggest a stand without any fancy bits at the foot end, so you can cut it to length without issues.  A generous ferrule^[2] will help on soft ground (as will locking the rear brake on, so the bike doesn't rock as much and cause the stand to dig in).

The small front wheel and restricted steering lock means it won't tend to flop over in the same way as a DF.  If it falls it's either because the weight of the loaded bike (or the owner stuffing things in panniers) has caused the stand to dig in, an unbalanced load has tipped it over (put the heavy stuff in the front panniers, and fit them to the bike first), or a freak gust of wind has blown it the other way.

BTW I think the issues with kickstands are not as applicable with recumbents so a lowrider rack which is designed to take a stand isn't going to cause damage to the frame as it's often said these stands do on uprights. I just need to know what one to look for.

The weak points in the system are the upper cross-strut of the lowrider, particularly at the stress point where it bolts to the underside of the frame, and the welds securing the stand mounting plate.  Being aluminium, those are what's going to break first due to fatigue/overload.  The bike itself will shrug it off like the panzerrad that it is.



_{[1] As the stand mount is to the left of the central axis of the bike, it doesn't need to reach as far to touch the ground when the bike is leaning.
[2] The leg of my stand wore through the base of the ferrule early on.  I've since beefed it up with a piece of L-shaped stainless, a couple of self-tapping screws and generous helpings of Sugru^[3].
[3] Mostly for the benefit of exposed toes when kicking the stand while wearing sandals.}

[TPMB12]

Thanks for that. I didn't realise it was attached to a horizontal plate. I thought it was like the chainstay type of v stand that had two bolts to a vertical plate in the corner of the rack. Thinking it through that would interfere with the pannier bags.

Well I've spent by hard earned and chickened out of deciding on moonbiker bags or 4 panniers. I've bought both rack and bags. I'll use them both at different times I reckon the bags fit touring and the lowrider with a pannier when not touring fully loaded. If I can fit panniers and moonbiker bags then I'm laughing. If not I've got the option of using the moonbiker bags. With a large drybag on top. At a later date I might decide to get larger ortlieb panniers instead of using the moonbiker bags.

More than I wanted to spend but I'll use them or sell them on.

BTW I'm guessing if you use 4 panniers the heaviest ones are best on the lowrider. Is that right?

[Kim]

BTW I'm guessing if you use 4 panniers the heaviest ones are best on the lowrider. Is that right?

Yes; opposite of packing an upwrong.  Heavy stuff on the lowrider, bulk on the rear.  More subtly, don't put the dry stuff you're likely to want to access during the ride (camera, phone, map, wallet, etc) in the front left pannier - with the bike on the kickstand, that's the one that rain run-off from the seat will trickle towards when it starts lashing it down.

(IME you have to put an awful lot of weight on the rear rack before it starts to significantly affect the bike handling, but balancing out the weight distribution makes manoeuvring the bike a lot easier when you're not actually riding, and of course it's more stable on the stand.)

[Phil W]

Build blog for the S40 is here http://adventuresofanathleticdiabetic.blogspot.co.uk/

Had a read of your blog.  Surname is Whitehurst by the way.  The import cost really puts me off the S40; big expense if I find I do not like it.  Plus with my road bike frame breaking I have a new project when I get the replacement under warranty, a disc brake frame with wider clearances.  So going to stick with the Fuego for now.  But would be good if there's a chance to have a brief test ride of an S40 in a benign environment.

[Phil W]

Back on topic.

I use banana bags on my Fuego with a SuperC rack bag behind the seat.   The banana bags have outer mesh pockets into which you can either put snacks or extra water bottles.  Really easy to access whilst seated though I tend to do it when stopped for a moment.  Bags do not affect handing and my average speeds do not vary with them on and off as far as I checked in the early days.  Easy to put on and take off seat as well.

[TPMB12]

No longer looking at banana bags. Seen a 70 litre set of panniers from ortlieb for slightly less. They have a 4 litre mesh pocket which should take a bottle or two or bladder plus extras your need access to quickly. I think adding them to my big standard ortlieb back roller classics would be a smart option.

https://www.ortlieb.com/en/Back-Roller%20Pro%20Plus

https://www.ortlieb.com/en/Back-Roller%20Pro%20Classic