Caution - Genius At Work

I'm sure that by now y'all may be feeling about the Bumble Beast similar to the way Earnest T felt about Romena talking about the weather... Well too bad, I'm gona talk about both anyways.   I could hardly wait for it to warm up enough for a good ride on the Bumble Beast this morning.  But as discussed yesterday, I needed to mount the 26 x 2.1 Maxxis Aspen.

Maxxis Aspen 26 x 2.1 MTB tire

 It was 32 F at 6 AM so the first thing I did was pull the tire off my bent and bring it and the new tire in from the garage to the house to let them warm up a little.  After waiting a little over an an hour I swapped the tires.  But before I did anything I measured the height of the Maxxis Larsen  26 x 2.35 tire inside a door jamb (kinda like folks measure their kids...).  It stood at 27 /3/8 inches tall.  After mounting the Maxxis Aspin 26 x 2.1 I took another measurement on the wall and this time I got 26 5/8, so a difference of 3/4 of an inch.

A quick spin around in the yard revealed that I had cured the problem. The tire scrub was completely gone!  It was now 9 AM and had warmed up to 40 F so I decided to bundle up for a quick trail ride to see how the new tire worked.  I really could not tell any difference in grip, but you have to realize, the front tire on a recumbent is very lightly loaded. I went for a slightly longer ride today, riding about 4 miles total in an hour and a half.  That gives you an idea of my speed but I did have to cross several logs that have recently fallen across the trail. I did not even attempt to ride across them as they were about a foot in diameter.  I also took my camera along and took a few more pics of the Bumble Beast.  But first, here is the obligatory photo of the bent in front of the garage door.

Garage door view...

 taking a break on the trail

the view from the front of the Bumble Beast (that's the holler in the background)

drive side view of the Bumble Beast

And for good measure I took one last photo and this time got the drive side.  I just realized all my previous photos were from the other side (oops, forgot the one earlier in front of the garage). I also took the time to measure the length of the bike and she measures 8 ft 2 inches from end to end.  This does make a difference out on the trail and I quickly found several places where I had to be very careful threading my way between trees and around turns.  There are several steep section on this trail and I ended up walking the Bumble Beast a little more than I would have on the MTB but when I got home I felt great. This same ride is OK on my MTB but my rump is usually letting me know its displeasure by the time I get home.

Learn something new every day

Yep, the 26 x 2.35 is at least an inch taller than the 26 x 1.75

 I can check that one off the list for today at least.  It has to do with bike wheels, or more precisely, how spokes are mounted.  I'll explain here shortly, but first, I took the Bumble Beast for a short ride Friday afternoon on a trail I had ridden regularly on the Komodo.  I wanted to get an honest idea of how the bent would do on terrain I am familiar with.  I was impressed with how well the bike handled, especially going down hill.  It does exhibit a little more wheel flop than I am accustomed to with the Cafe and Tour Easy. But then again, both these bikes have a 20 inch front wheel, and I have never ridden them on rough terrain at such slow speeds.  But what really got my attention was that when I turned the wheels sharply I would scrub the tire when I peddled.  And of course this shows up the most when climbing.  The tire scrub did not really slow me down, but it was aggravating.  I made it just a few feet shy of where I usually have to bail on the MTB, but I attribute a lot of that to getting used to riding a bent off road.  So today, between church services, I decide to do the same ride again.  My results were pretty much the same, but I actually made it a little further up the same hill.  However, one thing was obvious, the tire scrub was just unacceptable.  Shorter crank arms would cure that but at some expense, so I decided that for now a smaller wheel on the front should do the trick.  Just to prove my theory, I rode on home and pulled the front wheel (26 x 1.75) from the Dynamic and held it beside the 26 x 2.35 wheel that is on the Bumble Beast now. Sure enough the Dynamik wheel was about an inch shorter.  Oh and BTW,  my Dynamik has rim brakes, but I figured I could test my theory without the use of front brakes.   OK, let's mount it up right quick and take the bike for another spin.  However, unbeknownst to me, the spokes down near the hub on a wheel made for rim brakes are much wider then those on a bike with disk brakes.  In other words, once the wheel was on I noticed it wouldn't turn.  I took a  look and sure enough, the part of the brake that mounts to the fork was actually sitting slightly inside 2 spokes.  It's a good thing I just didn't hop on and take off as I probably would have bent or broke a spoke or tore the fork mounted part of the brakes somehow.  Anyways, I have a smaller tire 26 x 2.1  MTB tire and will mount it on the disk brake rim tomorrow and see if I have complete clearance. If that don't work I have a spare 26 x 1.75 that I am quite certain will work.

Introducing the Bumble Beast

Jamis Komodo  donor bike

My friend pretending to be hard at work

I present "The Bumble Beast"

Yours truly on the Bumble Beast

Inaugural ride (Max went with me)

I won't write about recumbents all the time but I just finished building my first off road recumbent so I'm a little excited.   Actually, I had a friend helping me and he probably did more of the work building the bike up from a bare frame.  But this is more of the story of how the bike (The Bumble Beast) came to be.  I've been riding recumbents for 5 years now, but so far, all my riding has been on the road.  The same friend that helped me build the Bumble Beast convince me that riding a mountain bike was fun so I bought one last fall.  I did like the fact that I could ride it in the winter since I was usually not traveling over 10 mph and most of the time was going even slower than that.  However, after an hour I was always ready to get off the bike for the same reason I don't ride my road bike more than an hour.   The final straw was when I had a wreck this spring and broke my collar bone.  I was probably pushing 15 mph on a pretty fast downhill section of trail I had ridden dozens of times but on this day a vine hanging in the trail caused me to swerve.  I knew there was a log just ahead but it never occurred to me that I might not be able to find my line quickly enough after dodging the vine.  In fact, I only clipped the very end of the log, but it would not have mattered if I hit it in the middle or at the very end, the results would be the same, me flying over the handlebar and crashing down hard on the other side. It felt like the crash happened in slow motion.  I knew I hit hard because I saw stars and heard birds chirping just like on the cartoons but I was not sure if I was seriously hurt or not.  However, after sitting on the ground a few minutes and thinking I might pass out I decided to see if I could ride my bike home.  It became immediately apparent that I could not use my right arm and riding back up the steep hill was out of the question. I was only about 2 miles from home by trail but a side trail led to the road  and I managed to push my bike the half mile out to the road and was then able to gingerly ride on home.  I'm lucky I was not injured worse because I usually carry my phone with me but this was only going to be a quick exercise ride and I left it at home.  Long story short, I needed an off road recumbent.

Building the Bumble Beast was a pretty straightforward affair.  I found a bare Bacchetts Bella frame for sale and bought it in December of 2012. The Bacchetta Bella is a 26 inch rear 20 inch front tire recumbent built extra strong for touring duties.  However, these same qualities had led another off road recumbent enthusiast to choose this frame for building his off road bent (Redzilla).  I basically followed his example except I went without any type of suspension.  I basically used the parts from my hard tail MTB (Jamis Komodo) except for the front fork which had a much to short steerer tube  If you look at the frame of the Bella it is obvious that it uses a fork with a long steerer tube.  Anyways, I needed a fork that would let me install a 26 inch MTB tire (usually pretty wide to boot) and also let me use disk brakes.  I ended up using a Surly fork that was intended for the 26 inch wheel, disk brake equipped version of the Long Haul Trucker.  I also ended up needed a different front derailleur so called Bacchetta and got the one that comes on the Bella. I used a Rans riser bar and the Rans Chopper handlebar along with a couple of Rans idlers.

I took the seat from my Bacchetta Cafe so that eliminated a huge expense but I really need to find a seat for the Cafe now.  For you guys (and gals) who like numbers here is the breakdown of what it cost to build this bike. I am including the cost of the Jamis Komodo since I used most of the parts from it but I did buy it at half price from Jenson USA,  However, this was pretty much a wash as it would have cost at least as much to buy all the parts I moved from it to my off road bent. I'm not sure exactly what I paid for the Jamis but for the rest I have receipts.  I included the cost of shipping where applicable.

$331  Bacchetta Bella Frame
$350 Jamis Komodo MTB
$100  Surly Fork with 400 mm steerer tube
$40 Cane Creek Headset
$26 Rans Forged Riser
$23 Rans Headset Adjuster Clamp
$8 Rans  Post clamp
$76 Rans 3-way Chopper Handlebar
$46 Rans  Single Forward Idler Assembly ($23 each, I needed 2)
$48 Bacchetta Microshift FD-R439 Front Derailleur
$71 new cables and labor for LBS to install cables
 $16 two cheap walmart 8 speed chains (takes 2.5 chains for this and most bents)
----------------------
$1112 Total Cost. 

Note to wife:  I know this seems pretty expensive, but I am doing it for my health honey, and considering that a new Bella runs $1800 and a similar off road bent (the Lightfoot Ranger) runs $2375 I don't think I did too bad. I do think I would like to add a triple at some point and if I do it will have shorter crank arms.The 175 mm crank arms do scrub the tires when I turn sharp  The double crankset that came on the Jamis is geared very low so I am spinning out after hitting about 15 mph.  If I had the triple I could also use another set of tires (more road oriented)  and basically have 2 bikes in one.  Ideally the tires would be mounted on another whellset so I would not have to change the tires when I wanted to switch

My evolution from regular bikes to recumbents

Bacchetta Cafe, my first recumbent

the Trek 520

the Easy Racer Tour Easy

and finally, my Rans Dynamik

Before I say anything, let's get one thing straight, I'm not here to convert anyone to recumbents.  Yes, they are vastly superior to regular bikes... LOL ...but if you are comfortable on a regular bike then more power to you.  In other words, this is just my story... YMMV

 I remember having a couple of bikes as a kid, but they were second hand department store bikes bikes (nothing wrong with that).  I also had a bad  habit of destroying them jumping a small stream that ran across the pasture behind our house.  Then from around age of 16 (yep, you guessed it, driving age) to 44 I pretty much forgot about bikes.   However, my knees were getting to where running hurt them and weekend pick up basketball games were torture on them.  I needed to find a better way to get back and then stay in shape.  I had a friend get into road biking and upon his advice (and insistence) I bought my first real bike in 2006 at the tender age of 44. It was a Giant OCR 3. I also talked my wife into getting a bike the same day, a Giant Cypress comfort bike.   I started out with short rides of 5 to 10 miles, but was soon going 30 miles or more.  The limiting factor in my distance was my discomfort on the saddle.  I had my bike fitted when I bought it and read a lot of things online about how to get more comfortable.   I don't guess it would be considered a professional fitting, but the salesman was knowledgeable and helped me adjust the seat and handlebars etc. Anyways, I rode all summer wearing those padded bike shorts I despised but never was very comfortable. I tried a couple of different saddles and spent countless hours reading bikeforums.net on all threads related to bike saddle comfort.  Of course in my reading I found out that steel bikes are smoother riding than aluminum ones so I bought a used Trek 520 in the fall of 07.  I rode it a lot, even taking a possum for a ride once (I call it my possum tour).  It was slightly more comfortable then the OCR  but I was still in search of that perfect saddle. I finally settled on a moon saddle: read here if you think I'm making this stuff up...

Then I saw a recumbent or read about them somewhere on the net. I mentioned them to the friend who had talked me into getting a road bike and he agreed that a more comfy ride would be nice.  Only one problem, there were no recumbent dealers in our area.   After a bit of research we found a recumbent dealer in Birmingham Al and went down to test ride a couple and see what the fuss was all about.  We were both shaky on starts and wobbly at slow speed (the test area was hilly) but sold on the comfort. About a month later in December of 2007 we both bought one.  He got a Rans V-Rex and I bought a Bacchetta Cafe. I will admit that at first I was not sure if I had made the right decision. I live in a hilly area and was still wobbly on long climbs. However, I stayed with it and by the spring of 2008 I was doing great and never looked back. I sold the ORC but kept the 520. I have since put an SMP saddle on it but still don't like to ride it over an hour so just ride it for short trips up to Grant. Perfect for that since it is about 10 miles round trip and I usually have a reason to get off the bike mid ride (picking up something at the store etc).

As much as I liked the Cafe, I wanted a bike I could put a front fairing on for winter riding.  I kept reading about a certain recumbent called the Easy Racer Tour Easy on various recumbent forums (mostly BentRiderOnline).  The only problem was, a new ones cost around 2400 bucks and there were no dealers close by.  However, in the summer of 09 I found a used one with a fairing for sale for $1200 near Birmingham so I bit the bullet and purchased it.  The ride of the Tour Easy is hard to beat.  It is slightly more comfortable and faster than the Cafe and with the fairing it is much nicer to ride in cold weather.  However, I now take the fairing off in the summer and ride it year round.

I have to admit that in some ways, I missed riding my regular road bike.  I'm not as nimble on my recumbents and I still find my road bike climb better (please do not say this on a recumbent forum).  I also like that  a road bike can be ridden hands free. Anyways, I kept reading about another type of bike called a Crank Forward which claimed to be the best of both worlds.  As in comfy like a recumbent but nimble like a road bike.  Of course the one I set my heart on was pretty expensive and again, there were no dealers nearby.  However, through the power of the internet, I found a Rans Dynamik frame for sale in Colorado.  BTW, having it shipped was not all that expensive.  I think shipping came to about $60,  but of course this was without wheels.  I used the parts from my wife's Cypress (a long story that to this day still gets me in trouble).  I now ride my crank forward when I'm riding alone, but with the fat tires I have on it, it will not keep up with most recumbents, so, when I go for a ride with my recumbent riding buddies it stays at home.

Then in the fall of 2011 I bought a mountain bike. I enjoyed riding it, but like my road bike, after an hour I was ready to get off. I wrecked it in the spring of 2012 and broke my collar bone. I have ridden it a few times since my recovery but now feel unsafe on it, like I'm going to endo (go over the handlebars) at any moment going down anything very steep. So...I kept seeing threads on BentRiderOnline about off road bents and I kept an eye out for a possible bent (frame or complete bike). I snagged a Bella frame and am in the process of building an off road bent (The Bumble Beast).  I'm sure I'll have more to say about it later.  (note to wife: do not read past this point)  I'm also sure I will eventually own another trike. I did own one briefly, but it was too small and low to the ground for my taste.  Fortunately, there are several options that address all my concerns.  Can you say Greenspeed Magnum, ICE Adventure HD  or TerraTrike Rambler!  Maybe a retirement present to myself!  However, before I get put out to pasture, there are a couple of fast recumbents I'd like to try.  Problem is, all three (OK, more than a couple) are pretty expensive.  But if anyone has a Rans Xstream, Cruzbike Vendetta or MetaBike MetaPhysic they are sick of just let me know and I'd be happy to take it off your hands.