Me and My New Super Bike
by Jeff Potter
Things went from bad to worse. Do you recall how I once wrote a story here
in OYB (#3 maybe) about how opened my eyes from being a bike snob? How suddenly
I saw the world full of bikes of all decent and brilliant stripes. –Instead
of just the black&white scene I’d been living in, where only racing bikes
and crusty city bikes were worthy. Suddenly my eyes opened to old bikes,
trikes, touring bikes…and recumbents. That was then, this is now.
Now I go into bike shops and they seem barely half full despite how jampacked
they are. Where are the rest of the bikes, I wonder? I came here to look
at bikes and there’s only 2 kinds! What kind of bike shop is this? Where
are the recumbents? The folders? The haulers?
When I visit a shop I want to see what kind of cool design the bike makers
have been getting themselves up to. In the upright scene, we have fractional
subtlety piled on top of subtlety. If the shops opened the doors to Bents,
our eyes would pop! The bike shop would once again be a place to go to see
What’s New??!! –Because Bent makers come out with the niftiest, wildest
inventions.
*****
OK, you say, you’ve been talking big. What’s new with you? Ahhh, I will
not disappoint. Last fall I finally dug in. My pal Tim and I visited the
best bent shop in the midwest, Shel’s Recumbent Sea in Grand Rapids (now
in Moline, near there). We test rode bents and trikes all day. We were like
kids. We rode a dozen models and they all were very different from each
other. We noticed strongpoints left and right. We changed our entire orientation
to bikes. “Say, this puppy is slow, but guess what? I don’t care any
more! It’s great!,” we both said about our first underseat-steering
experience. We felt guilty, too. What are we doing falling for slow bikes?
We’re having a great time, that’s what! What a view! What comfort! We were
spazzin’.
So I bought a Vision ATP R40, underseat maroon SWB (shortwheelbase) recumbent.
It was rock steady; it performed like the best of em (costing 3 times as
much), it was way cozy, it looked beautious, it was light, simple, elegantly
designed…and a blast to ride. I had no other option when you get down
to it. The bike found me.
Over the next months I rode that sucker all over town. I didn’t touch the
other bikes anymore. What a glory! Sure I hadn’t adapted to the slacker
power angle yet, so I wasn’t that fast, but boy was I happy!
Kids usually ignore me. I’m weird. Riding bikes. But now I was riding a
Space Machine. Kids everywhere come up, wave, yell hip slogans like “Fat!”
and other inscrutabilities. And guess what? No homicidal assaults! None!
Cars give me lots of room and hillbillies wave their beers at me now! What
a world!
My brother says that I like being on parade just like my Grampa. I take
that as a compliment. I’m dressing more like him; it’s hightime I started
acting like him. (Oh no, my mother says…)
Another swell benefit is that the ladies obviously know a good thing when
they see one. They know that regular bikes are closely aligned with suffering
and evil rigors. When I pulled sheepishly into our dirt drive with the New
Bike on the roof, I thought I’d get a funny look from my mom and Martha
who were in the yard. Instead, they both beamed. Even my mom! She liked
the bike! And Martha didn’t even wait for me to tell her how to worked.
We popped the wheel and seat back on and off she rode. I told her to just
try little circles first, but she never heard me as she blasted down the
road. Well…
Poor Martha and I went on a breezy ride together. I suffered for her, watching
her push her way thru that headwind. Even without a fairing, I just coasted.
Here’s a funny thing: my racey pals and relatives took it less well. Some
didn’t even want to try ride it. When they did, it looked like they were
purposefully trying to throw themselves off it in order to say that it was
squirrelly. Others said it handled funny after they’d had the first blissful,
painfree riding experience of their lives. People don’t like it when their
pain is threatened. The kids, ladies and inexperienced, though, hopped on
and off they went.
******
Can I leave well enough alone? No. As soon as it got cold, I built a full
fairing for my new bike. With a full canopy. These things cost $4000 from
the only fairing builder in the world. But for $75 I bought a couple sheets
of yellow coroplast board, some clear plastic panelling, 6 rolls of duct-tape,
velcro, 2 hoseclamps, and a couple dozen zip-ties. The 2×4 I got from the
garage. After a couple evenings of cut’n’paste, I ended up with a beautiful,
lightweight full fairing with doors and a trunk.
The Super Bike easily cruises at 25-30 mph.
And on winter days at 20 degrees all I needed to wear was a shirt and pants.
(Put a coat in the trunk for when I get out at the store.) It’s a very quiet
ride. And I don’t notice headwinds any more at all. It added 10 pounds to
the bike, so I notice uphills more if my speed ever drops. But smooth rollers
I can power over with great aero advantage.
Cars go ape now. They stay a very nice distance away from the Super Bike
when—and if–they can pass. In any kind of traffic, I can usually go past
them now!
Of course, I realize that I’m in trouble. I’m trying to improve my rig.
I want the panels to snap on and off…the front fairing to pop off with
a flick of a lever. It’s gotta be narrower and tidier, for lots more speed
and better looks.
The boss of HPV racing says I’m trying to make a casual commuting Bent do
what it wasn’t made to do, says I’m trying to turn a VW into a Porsche.
I’ll see him on the raceway this summer.
Michigan has the best HPV racing in the world, I’m told. —Tim & I went
and visited the tail end of a Michigan meet last summer when we were getting
hooked into alll this. The folks were real friendly compared to regular
bike racers. They let us try their bikes. There was a BBQ. I’ll compete
in one myself this summer—just to say Hi.
What have I got myself into? Martha gets worried. And I know what she means.
I’m going to keep my head here. Just a little more tidying up. Maybe a little
suspension attempt (I have an idea involving bungie cords and a couple elastomers…).
No more than $100 more into it. But you know, I think it looks better with
two 20″ wheels instead of the 26″x20″ setup it now has—better
in case of a flat, too. Maybe more aerodynamic, too, and a lower rear raises
the crank height, making pedaling more powerful and ergonomically smooth.
And if I could get the seat lower and closer to the rear wheel, it would
handle even better and be more aero/ergo, too…but then there’s heel interference
to consider…but I could use a straight fork to offset a little of that…a
straight fork might be nice anyway…and I can make one by cutting the ends
off a regular fork. Don’t worry I won’t get carried away. I’ll probably
just leave it as it is. Just one race meet. The rest of the time I’ll be
hauling groceries and going on pleasure rides. (You can leave the canopy
off to make it a friendly bike to ride with in a group ride…it’s just
that I’ll be fast and smiling while you suffer…) Do I have a chance?
–JP
“3”> Buddy Tim rides the SuperBike!
This photo is taken before the conversion to 20-20, which is way nice. Before the reversed fork, which does cool things, too. Before coroplast disk wheelcovers, which
make it cooler and faster, before full-canopy option, which makes it warmer
and faster, and before the belly-pan, which keeps chain and rear der clean…and makes it faster. Free speed! –Also, there’s been *SEVERAL* important adventures to come down the pipe since this story. A time-trial victory against uprights, a roadrace victory against uprights, an HPV race. All kinds of nifty things you can’t imagine! Plus newer photos! But you have to subscribe to OYB and get a copy of the 96-97 issue #8 to find out! Blackmail! JP
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