MHPVA News Blog

Michigan Recumbent Rally - West

2011-10-10T23:26:00.008-04:00

THE MICHIGAN RECUMBENT RALLY - WEST, organized by Paul Pancella, took place Sept. 10 in the parking lot of the College of Engineering building on the Western Michigan University Parkview Campus in Kalamazoo. There were perhaps 20 recumbents there during the day and 30 participants, who came from as far as Grand Rapids and Kalamzoo. There's been a recumbent rally in west Michigan every year since 1997, always on the day before the Vineyard Classic Bicycle Tour in the Paw Paw area.

JOHN MATHIESON of Breakaway Bicycles & Fitness in Portage came to the rally with three bikes for people to try and buy: A Bacchetta Bellandare long wheelbase recumbent, Bacchetta Giro shortwheelbase and a Sun EZ Tri Classic three-wheeler. Breakaway also has shops in Muskegon and Grand Haven (www.breakawaybicycles.com).

MIKE ELIASOHN of St. Joseph had the only homebuilt recumbent at the rally, built with some paid-for help (welding, some fabrication and electro-coating). It met the goal of fitting in the back of his Ford Focus station wagon without having to remove wheels or anything else, but the unintended weight of 40 or so pounds reduces its portability. (Paul Pancella photo)

Recumbent rally in Kalmazoo - Saturday, Sept. 10

2011-09-04T22:38:00.010-04:00

Michigan Recumbent Rally - West

The annual Michigan Recumbent Rally - West takes place Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011, from 10 a.m to 2:30 p.m. at the Western Michigan University College of Engineering parking lot on the Parkview Campus in Kalamazoo. If it rains, we will use the lower (and dry) level of the adjacent parking structure.
Join other recumbent fans for test rides and information on recumbent bikes and trikes.
Enthusiasts are welcome, along with anyone who is curious about these cycles. Hard to find in bike shops, this free event will feature a variety of recumbent pedal-powered machines, most available for test rides on the low-traffic campus road network. If you are a recumbent owner in the area, please bring it and share your experiences.
To get a flier, which includes a map, go to www.wolverbents.org, then scroll down to "special events."
Many attending the rally will participate on Sunday in the Vineyard Classic Bicycle Tour, which starts in nearby Paw Paw and is part of that community's annual Wine and Harvest Festival.
Registration is from 7 to 9 a.m. and participants have a choice of 20, 40 or 60-mile routes. For more information, go to www.wineandharvestfestival.com/tour.htm.
For more information about the rally, contact Paul Pancella at (269) 373-5413 or Paul.Pancella@WMich.edu.

Roaming across America by velomobile

2011-08-22T23:54:00.017-04:00

HASSE HOEJLAND of Denmark in his yellow Quest (made in the Netherlands) and Frans Van Der Merwe of Oklahoma City in his self-built Pterovelo prepare to exit their velomobiles at Indiana Dunes State Park near Chesterton, where the Roll Over America participants camped the night of Aug. 17. They traveled that day from Evanston, Ill..

Article and photos by Mike Eliasohn

Coast-to-coast bicycle tours aren't unusual, even if they aren't common.
But Roll Over America was unusual.
On July 28, 52 velomobiles (enclosed three-wheel recumbents) left Portland, Oregon, headed for Washington, D.C. Of those, 22 were from Europe.
The 5,000 kilometer (3,107 miles) journey, titled Roll Over America, ended Thursday, Aug. 25. (The website, which includes profiles and photos of all the participants, most with their velomobiles, is www.rolloveramerica.eu.)
The group camped Wednesday night, Aug. 17, at Indiana Dunes State Park near Chesterton. Since that's only 53 miles from St. Joseph, where I live, and even closer for fellow MHPVA member Bruce Gordon of Buchanan, we drove to Indiana Dunes to spend a couple of hours talking to some of the ROAMers.
There were two participants with Michigan links, both riding Quests.
John Abbey lived in Kalamazoo before spending seven years in China. He moved back to the U.S. last year, I think, and now lives in Tucson, Ariz.
When Bruce and I arrived at Indiana Dunes, John's Quest was on its side and in need of surgery. That day's ride had started in Evanston, Ill., about 100 km (62 miles) miles away, and when braking for a stoplight, with the suspension fully compressed, a front wheel slid into a pothole, causing structural damage.
John rode only a couple of miles more, then apparently he and the Quest went the rest of the way to Indiana Dunes by motor vehicle. At the campgrounds, he and other ROAMers were trying to determine if temporary repairs could be made so John could pedal the rest of the way to Washington.
Bruce and I then wandered off to talk to others and when we returned, John had disappeared, so I wasn't able to confirm some of the details and find out if his Quest could be repaired. (Update: John's pedal-powered journey ended at Indiana Dunes. He rode the rest of the way to Washington in a sag - that is, motor - vehicle.)

JOHN ABBEY (standing) and Frans Van Der Merwe examine John's damaged Quest to determine if it can be repaired.

The other ROAMer with a Michigan connection was Mike Woelmer of Milan. Unfortunately he wasn't at his assigned campsite or nearby when we were there, so we never talked to him. As Bruce and I were leaving in Bruce's car, Mike went by in the opposite direction, but since we didn't know what his Quest looked like at the time, didn't realize it was him.
I'm hoping to get John and Mike to write accounts of their ROAM journeys for this blog .
ROAM was the brainchild of Josef Janning of Bonn, Germany, who as an international relations expert spends a lot of time in the United States. He said he got the idea for ROAM in March of last year, which has meant a lot of planning and organizing in a relatively short time.
European participant was limited to 24 velomobiles because that was the number that would fit into the two shipping containers. Ultimately, 22 participated.
The velomobiles had to be in Groningen, the Netherlands, on June 4 to be packed into shipping crates (one per crate), then hauled to Bremerhaven, Germany, to be loaded on a ship., which took them to Oakland, Calif.,From there, they were taken by train to Portland.
The empty crates then had to be taken to Washington. After loading into shipping containers, they will be then loaded on a ship in Baltimore for the return trip to Europe. (Each crate consist of a cardboard box on top of a wood pallet.)
“A hard, fun trip, I would say,” Janning said at Indiana Dunes, in describing ROAM. “But then again, it is not impossible. You don't have to be a special person to do this.”
As of when he was at Indiana Dunes, Janning's carbon fiber 65-pound Quest had experienced five flat tires, the result of having to ride on road shoulders littered with broken glass and wire from exploded truck tires.

ROLL OVER AMERICA was the idea of Josef Janning of Bonn, Germany, seen sitting on his carbon fiber Quest. He had it on order from the Dutch company for three years, before getting it in April. It weighs 65 pounds, 20 pounds less than his previous fiberglass Quest.

On 15 days, riders had to pedal more than 200km (124 miles), with the longest day being 268km (167 miles). The shortest day will be the final one, only 40km (25 miles).
The ride from Evanston to Indiana Dunes was 104 km (65 miles). “So that was a rest day we had today,” Janning said.
As of Aug. 17, 36 riders remained, including all 22 Europeans. Many of the Americans only rode for two weeks, Abbey explained, because that was all the vacation time they could get from work. A few dropped out for other reasons, including one rollover, which hurt the velomobile and rider, Janning said.
The Europeans, of course, had no choice but to continue to the end of the journey, in Washington.
Each rider was responsible for his or her own food each day (there was only one female rider, Nina Mohrmann of Germany) and navigation, using GPS. They had to carry everything needed for the day, while one of the accompanying motor vehicles carried tents and sleeping bags.
One of the riders I talked to was Hasse Heojland of Vandel, Denmark, who borrowed the money from a bank to buy his Quest and pay for the journey.
He said there were many days when riders left at 6 to 6:30 in the morning and, at least some, didn't arrive until 7 or 8 in the evening. “Some of my friends said it was going to be a nice holiday trip,” Hoejland said in disagreement. “It's hard work.”
He said he started riding recumbent bicycles in 2005, got his Quest in May, then after shipping, bought a used one so he could continue training.
Joerg Bammesberger of Munich, Germany, races a fully-faired recumbent two-wheeler, so bought his Go-One Evo R, because, “I wanted a bike to train in winter.”
At Indiana Dunes, he said he had averaged 20 mph since leaving Portland. His fastest daily average was 25 mph in Montana; his slowest, 7 mph on that day's leg because of traffic in Chicago.
Perhaps aiding his average was the tires on his Go-One, a 26-inch (559mm) rear Schwalbe Marathon Evolution with a flat tread, designed for tricycles and wheelchair racers, and in front, experimental Schwalbe Trykers, also with a flat tread. He said the Evolutions are not available in bicycle shops and the Trykers aren't available, at least not yet, for purchase. He said Schwalbe made 100 sets, of which ROAM participants got fives.
Other than a right front tire blowout while riding on the shoulder of an interstate highway, Bammesberger said the only problem he had encountered was some items vibrated loose due to bumpy pavement, which he attributed to pedaling a tricycle with a stiffer ride designed for racing, rather than touring.
Most of the velomobiles were “store-bought,” but among the exceptions was the Pterovelo (ptero = feather or wing + velo = cycle) built by Frans Van Der Merwe. Originally from South Africa, he has lived in Oklahoma City for 10 years.
“This is the first one, I'm hoping to make more.” Since finishing construction of Pterovelo last August, he said, he's ridden it 7,300 miles.
Pterovelo has a 700c rear wheel and 18-inch wheels in front. There's no suspension. As can be seen in the photo and on Van Der Merwe's website, www.pterovelo.com, it has a canopy.
There was one four-wheel velomobile on ROAM, built and ridden by well-known British HPV builder Miles Kingsbury.
The oldest rider was David Eggleston, 75, managing partner of VelomobileUSA LLC in Midland, Texas, which sells them. I didn't get a chance to talk to him., but Janning said Eggleston has been pedaling about half of each day.

JOERG BAMMESBERGER of Germany with his Go-One Evo R, made in Germany. The canopy made it very warm inside, so he tried riding Aug. 17 without a shirt. Sunburn was the result.

Cycle speedway - fast action in 45 seconds

2011-08-07T13:53:00.026-04:00

ACTION AT the Dave Blinston Memorial Trophy races, May 7, 2011, at Stockport (England) Cycle Speedway Club. (All photos taken by author at this event.)

By MICHAEL ELIASOHN

“All riders ready,” the referee shouts. “Under starter's orders.”
Then the cloth tapes that form the starting gate lift, four riders push down on their pedals and they're off.
Four quick laps of a short oval track and perhaps 45 seconds later, it's over – until the next heat.
Cycle speedway contains elements of velodrome and BMX racing, with a bit of roller derby thrown in. Using one's shoulder to get past an opponent is allowable, for instance, and spills sometimes happen.
When rounding the corners, riders take their foot off the inside pedal and hold their left leg out, just above and sometimes touching the paved inner perimeter of the track.
Each heat consists of four laps, counter clockwise, of an oval tracks from 64 to 92 meters (210 to 302 feet) around the inner perimeter. Banking is slight and the surface is unpaved, usually shale.

The official website for cycle speedway in the United Kingdom, the predominate country for the sport, says, “Top riders are explosive sprinters - but they also have stamina to enable them to keep going through a long match. Skill levels are high with slick starting, cornering and passing techniques essential. Strength is also required during contact with other riders.”
The bicycles are unique. Steel or aluminum tubing, straight forks in line with the head tubes (that is, no offset), one- speed freewheels, no brakes, narrow upright handlebars and flat pedals with non-slip surface – clipless and rat-trap pedals and toe clips and straps are banned.
Cranks are 175mm for leverage, the seating position is low enough that the rider can put his feet on the ground while seated, and gearing is very low. Cycle speedway equipment supplier Archie Wilkinson lists 32 and 33-tooth chainrings and freewheels with 16, 17, 18 or 19 teeth. With the standard 26x1-3/8 inch knobby speedway tires, that works out to gearing options ranging from 45 to 54 inches.
Cycle speedway is a mostly British sport, but also takes place in Ireland, Poland, Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden, the Ukraine and Russia.

TWO POSTS (one at left out of sight) mark the starting line. The cloth tapes are held in place with pins, attached to ropes. The starter (back to camera) pulls on the ropes, releasing the pins, then elastic cords pull the starting tapes to the top of the posts.

WITH THE starting tapes at the top of the posts, riders push down on their 175mm cranks and they're off for four quick laps.

Cycle speedway in the U.S.A.
There's only one cycle speedway track in the United States, in Edenton, N.C., which in April 2011 hosted the world championships, with riders competing from the U.K. Ireland, Australia, Poland and the U.S.
There's interest in creating a track in Portland, Ore., according to Brian White, creator of the Edenton track and U.S Cycle Speedway founder and president. A track in Prescott Valley, Ariz., lasted from 2004-09.
So how did cycle speedway find a home in the remote corner of northeastern North Carolina? According to the U.S. Cycle Speedway website (www.uscyclespeedway.com), it started in 1990, when White, only 6 years old, attended a stock car race and decided if he was too young to race cars, he would race his bicycle. He started organizing Saturday morning races for the neighborhood kids, using his parents' front lawn.
After several years, the races moved to non-busy neighborhood streets, and finally in 1997 to a track built on donated land.
White and his fellow racers didn't know about cycle speedway, so their track was larger and their races longer. But word about the racing in Edenton made its way across the Atlantic, and in 2001, they were contracted by Rod Witham, then British Cycle Speedway national chairman. The following year, two top British riders visited Edenton, and changes started to make the track and races to conform with international standards. In 2003, the first competitors from Edenton participated in the junior world championships in Poland and the senior world championships in England.
In 2004, the races moved to a new track at Northeastern Regional Airport in Edenton, where there is an international track, 88 meters, and an endurance track, 101 meters.
Origins
Cycle speedway, fashioned after motorcycle speedway, traces its origins to Britain just after World War II, when cyclists started racing their bikes around craters created by Nazi bombs. There were more than 200 cycle speedway clubs in East London alone by 1950, according to a Wikipedia reference.
Unfortunately, the numbers have been declining since. When the press and publicity officer of the Cycle Speedway Council wrote a chapter about the sport for The Bicycling Book, published in 1982, there were almost 100 clubs and 75 tracks in the U.K.
The British Cycling Cycle Speedway Directory for 2011 lists 30 clubs and tracks. (Cycle speedway in the U.K. is now administered by British Cycling, which is the governing body for most forms of bicycle sport in that country. The Cycle Speedway Commission, advises on racing rules and competitions.)
Except for some sponsorships, cycle speedway is an amateur sport, according to Alan Taylor, a former racer and 30-year veteran of the sport, who was doing the announcing at the May 7, 2011, races at the track at Stockport, England. He said the only prize money may be at the national championships.
The winner of the Dave Blinston Memorial Trophy that day won a set of wheels and second and third place each won a set of tires – all donated by Archie Wilkinson (www.archie-wilkinson.co.uk), the biggest supplier of cycle speedway cycles and equipment. (Blinston, who died in 2005, devoted 50 years to the sport, as a racer, club officer, team manager and league and national committee member.)

THIS CYCLE speedway bike is a Polish-build Mielec (www.BikeMielec.com). Aluminum frame, rear racing dropouts, one-speed freewheel and no brakes.

AN UPSIDE VIEW shows the Schwalbe 26x1-3/8 tires, made specifically for cycle speedway, and pedals with non-slip surface. Clipless and rat-trap pedals are banned.

Cycle speedway is a family sport. The Dave Blinston event was organized by Julie Higham, Stockport Cycle Speedway Club secretary. Her father, Derek Garnett, is five-time British champion her son, Ben Higham, finished third that day.
Another competitor was Dylan Radcliffe, 16, who started racing at age 8 or 9, his father, Jeff, said. After Dylan started, Jeff raced for a while, as did Jeff's father, Maurice, that is, Dylan's grandfather. Both were spectators at the Dave Blinston event.
The event was open to all ages, with 23 riders competing, with at least one of them female.
Each raced in five four-lap heats, with the top 16 then racing in another set of five heats to determine the top three. But at the end, there was a tie between Chris Timms of the Birmingham club and Lee Aris of the Wednesfield club, so those riders raced another four laps to determine the winner. Timms won. (Scoring is 4 points for first in each heat, 3 points for second, 2 for third and 1 for fourth, but no points if lapped.)
The Dave Blinston event was a competition for individuals, but “cycle speedway is essentially a club sport, with inter-club matches within leagues the mainstay of the sport,” according to the official British website. “Each match normally consists of between 16 and 20 races. There are also individual championships, including a world championship and some inter-country series, including regular contests between England and Australia.”
Riders can start competing the year of their 8th birthday. The super veteran class is for the oldest riders, 60 and older.
—————————
As a suggestion from the writer of this article, cyclists interested in trying cycle speedway could organize races by setting up traffic cones on a parking lot or some other surface, using regular bikes. (In Britain, they race indoors in winter on gymnasium floors, so a special surface isn't essential.) Instead of a starting gate, use duct tape for a starting line and have a starter shout, “One, two, three, go!”
If enough interest develops, then a more formal track could be built and cycles modified to more closely resemble those built specifically for the sport.

References: www.britishcycling.org.uk/cyclespeedway.
www.uscyclespeedway.com.
Numerous cycle speedway matches are on posted on YouTube. Type in “cycle speedway.”

THIS PHOTO of the ceremony for the 16 finalists at the Dave Blinston Memorial Trophy, prior to the start of the second round of heats, shows the size of the track in Stockport, 75.5 meters. Tracks can be from 64 to 92 meters around (210 to 302 feet.

27th Michigan HPV Rally - June 11-12, 2011

2011-07-02T20:59:00.039-04:00

PRIOR TO THE START of Sunday morning's first 10-lap, 6.24-mile road race, Jim Iwaskow (from left), Dennis Grelk and Bruce Gordon share a laugh. Dennis won the streamliner class, and lapped the nine other competitors at least once, while Jim and Bruce finished second in the superstreet and superstock classes respectively.

Article and photos by Mike Eliasohn

Dennis Grelk, Mike Mowett, Wally Kiehler and Warren Beauchamp were the winners of classes in which there was significant competition at the 27th annual Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Rally June 11-12.
The competition at the Waterford Hills sports car racing track in Clarkston attracted about 30 competitors, of which 10 came from the University of Toronto.
Two significant records were set.
On Saturday morning, Dennis Grelk, 31, of Donnellson, Iowa, in his Barracuda streamliner went the farthest distance ever in a one-hour time trial, 32.515 miles, breaking the previous record set by Rick Gritters of Pella, Iowa. It also should be noted that for Dennis and his parents, Dwayne and Mary, it's about a 12-hour drive to the rally and again back home.)
On Sunday morning, Todd Reichert, a 29-year-old U-T graduate student studying aerodynamics and aerospace, powered its student-built Vortex streamliner to 48.02 mph, breaking the record he set last year of 47.02 mph. However, he was aided by a 10-15 mph tailwind.
The U-T HPV team came with 10 students, all of whom competed, and three vehicles, two student-built streamliners and a manufactured HP Velotechnik Speedmachine short wheelbase two-wheeler. They borrowed three additional vehicles to race.

AFTER GETTING BEAT UP PHYSICALLY on a rough section of the course when riding his streamliner and leaning trike low-racer l in the first two races Sunday morning, Dennis Grelk chose to ride his cyclocross bike in the final road Sunday morning. Before the start, he towered over Brian Stevens of Grand Rapids on his carbon fiber Morciglio Viper. But when standing, Brian also is tall. In the stock class in the 6.24-mile race, Dennis finished third and Brian was fifth.

Here's the top two in each class and the number of competitors in the class. Complete results are posted at www.mhpva.org, including metric conversions of speeds and distances.
Streamliner (14 competitors) – 1) Grelk, 320 points; 2) Cameron Robertson, U-T, 275.
Superstreet (5) – 1) Wally Kiehler, Grosse Pointe Woods, Lightning F-40, 345; 2) Chris Cortez, Chicago, Go-One velomobile, 265.
Superstock (3) – 1) Warren Beauchamp, Elgin, Ill., NoCom low racer with tailbox, 355; 2) Bruce Gordon, newly moved from Centralia, Ill., to Buchanan, Mich., Zox 20x20 lowracer, 320.
Stock (15) – 1) Mike Mowett, St. Clair Shores, Challenge lowracer, 335; 2) Dennis Grelk, homebuilt front-wheel-drivelowracer, 280.
Women (2) – 1) Amanda Chu, Dennis Grelk-built rear-wheel-drive lowracer (not the one he raced), U-T, 350; 2) Dora Cortez, Chicago, Rick Gritters-built lowracer, 340.
Junior – Nick Myers, Holly, on a Trek upright bike was the lone junior competitor, 300.
Tricycles (6) – 1) Dennis Grelk, homebuilt leaning low-racer, 300, 2) Chris Cortez, Catrike, 275.

MHPVA PRESIDENT MIKE MOWETT of St. Clair Shores finished first overall in the stock class on his Challenge lowracer. He's seen here during Saturday's one-hour time trial. He finished second in class with 23.8 miles.

Here's the top two in each event:
SATURDAY EVENTS
One-hour time trial: Streamliner – 1) Grelk, 32.515 miles; 2) Reichert, 30.041 miles, despite stopping due to a crash. Stock – 1) Grelk, homebuilt low racer, 25.464 miles (Dennis ran the streamliner in the first one-hour time trial and his stock class low racer in the second one-hour); 2) Mowett, 23.834 miles. Superstock – 1) Beauchamp, 24.088 miles; 2) Jim Iwaskow, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Challenge lowracer with tailbox, 18.456 miles. Superstreet – 1) Bob Krzewinski, Ypsilanti, Lightning F-40, 21.226 miles; 2) Kiehler, 20.273 miles. Junior – 1) Myers, 19.229 miles. Women – Cortez, 17.757 miles; 2) Chu, 12.789 miles. Tricycle – 1) Mike O'Donnell, Hastings, TerraTrike, 16.106 miles; 2) Alfie Tham, U-T, Hase, 11.042.

AFTER HAVING LAST RACED at the 2007 rally, Frank "Franknspeed" Geyer of Brighton returned to race his Challenge Jester, but only on Saturday. In the stock class, he finished third in the one-hour time trial, hill climb and standing-start kilometer and fourth in the coast down.

Hill climb – Streamliner – 1) Reichert in the U-T Vortex, 20.06 seconds (record time for a streamliner); 2) Grelk, 22.16. Junior – 1) Myers, 21.06 seconds. Stock – 1) Mowett, 21.19 seconds, 2) Grelk, Gary Fisher cyclocross upright bike, 21.84 seconds. Superstock – Iwaskow, 22.43 seconds; 2) Beauchamp, 24.19 seconds. Superstreet – 1) Krzewinski, 24.5 seconds.; 2) Kiehler, 27.94 seconds. Tricycles – 1) Grelk, 24.62 seconds; 2) Chris Cortez, Catrike Speed, 28.35 seconds. Women – 1) Chu, 29.06 seconds; 2) Dora Cortez, 31.09 seconds.

DAVE JOHNSON of Olivet competed in his Great White streamliner (built by Rick Wianecki), minus the teeth it used to have, and in the stock class on his DeFelice long-wheelbase recumbent with under-seat steering. He finished third overall in the streamliner class and ninth overall in the stock class, where he was at a disadvantge competing against the low racers.

Coast down: Streamliner – As usual, John Simon of Portland in his Moby coasted the farthest, about 3 feet farther than Grelk in his Barracuda. The first seven vehicles, that is, those who coasted farthest, were all streamliners. Stock – Grelk on his homebuilt low-racer coasted the farthest of the non-streamliners; 2) Chris Cortez. Superstock – 1) Beauchamp, 2) Gordon. Superstreet – 1) Krzewinski, 2) Kiehler. Tricycles – 1) Grelk, 2) Chris Cortez. Women – 1) Dora Cortez, 2) Chu. Junior – Myers.
Standing start 1-kilometer: Streamliner – 1) Simon, 31.16 mph , 2) Reichert, 30.5 mph. Stock – 1) Mowett, 27.00 mph; 2) Grelk, 26.18 mph. Tricycle – 1) Grelk – 25.35 mph; 2) Chris Cortez, 19.38 mph. Superstock – 1) Beauchamp, 24.56 mph, 2) Gordon, 22.20 mph. Superstreet – 1) Kiehler, 23.54 mph, 2) Chris Cortez, GoOne velomobile, 18.68 mph. Junior – 1) Myers, 23.51 mph. Women – 1) Chu, 23.23 mph, 2) Dora Cortez, 21.99 mph.

THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO No. 70 Vortex streamliner had more "drivers" than some rental cars. In the 200-foot sprints, seven HPV team members made runs, with Todd Reichert setting a record of 48.02 mph. The Vortex was new this year.

Urban transportation contest
In the absence of Paul Pancella, who has organized the UTC in the past, Mike Eliasohn came up with some simplified rules for this year's contest. Scoring was based on the the hill climb and coast down, as in the past; time for an “obstacle” course that included a U-turn and braking to a complete stop; and evaluation, with points awarded for such things as lights, fenders, cargo-carrying capacity; horn or bell; weather protection; and security against theft.
The result was a tie between Dennis Grelk with his upright Gary Fisher cyclocross bike (which Dennis races in cyclocross events) and Bob Krzewinski with his Lightning F-40, a short wheelbase recumbent with fairing (nose cone and fabric sides).
The other competitors were Dave Johnson of Olivet on his long wheelbase DeFelice recumbent with under-seat steering and Chris Cortez of Chicago in Garrie Hill's Go-One velomobile.

SUNDAY EVENTS

200-foot sprints: The three fastest speeds were set by U-T team members riding the same No. 70 Vortex streamliner. As mentioned previously, Todd Reichert, set a record of 48.02 mph. Second was Cameron Robertson, 44.56 mph; and third was Dan Zolyniak, who made two runs, the fastest 43.57 mph.
But those weren't all of the U-T team members to ride No. 70 in the 200-foot sprints. Victor Ragusila went 41.96 mph (6th in streamliner class), Amanda Chu, 41.07, Alfie Tham, 37.26 mph, and Marissa Goldsmith, 35.51 mph.
Fastest of the non-Canadians and 4th in the streamliner class was Dennis Grelk, 42.75 mph.
The other classes were: Stock – 1) Grelk, 39.30 on his lowracer, 2) Mowett, 37.36 mph. Superstock – 1) Beauchamp, 36.08 mph, 2) Gordon, 30.71 mph. Superstreet – Kiehler, 33.84 mph, 2) Chris Cortez, Go-One velomobile, 30.92 mph. Junior – 1) Myers, 33.34 mph. Women – 1) Amanda Chu, Grelk lowracer, 34.61 mph, 2) Dora Cortez, 32.09 mph. Tricycle – 1) Grelk, 35.79 mph, 2) Chris Cortez, Catrike, 28.35 mph.
Tricycle road race (10 laps, 0.220 mile per lap) – 1) Grelk, 10 laps at average speed of 16.871 mph, 2) Chris Cortez, nine laps at 14.431 mph.
Two 10-lap road races were held on a 0.624-mile course, which did not include the hill.
First race: Streamliner – 1) Grelk, 10 laps at 27.60 mph, 2) Dave Johnson, Olivet, nine laps at 24.531 mph. Super stock – 1) Beauchamp, 9 laps at 24.533 mph, 2) Gordon, 7 laps at 18.193 mph. Superstreet – 1) Kiehler, 8 laps at 20.875 mph, 2) Iwaskow, 7 laps at 17.984 mph.

IN THE SECOND 6.24- mile road race Sunday morning, Todd Reichert of the University of Toronto trails Dennis Grelk, but not for long. Todd passed Dennis, then on the 10th and final lap passed Mike Mowett, who had led up till then, for the win. Mike finished second and Dennis third, all in the stock class.

Second race – This was an exciting race. Mike Mowett led nine laps on his Challenge lowracer, before being passed on the last lap by Todd Reichert on a borrowed Cannondale upright bike for the stock class win at 24.078 mph. Mowett was second at 24.009. Earlier, Reichert passed Grelk, who was riding his Gary Fisher cyclocross bike and finished third at 23.555 mph. Carbon fiber bicycle builder John Morciglio rode one of his creations to fourth in the stock class, also completing 10 laps, at 22.325 mph. Women (both completed 9 laps) – 1) Chu, 20.428 mph, 2) Dora Cortez, 19.633 mph.

Thanks to Mike Mowett, Bill Frey, Bruce Gordon, Warren Beauchamp, Terry Gerweck, Robert Palmer, Wally Kiehler, Mike Eliasohn and everyone else who helped conduct the rally.

DORA CORTEZ of Chicago on her Gritters low racer finished second in the women's class behind Amanda Chu of the University of Toronto, but was the only competitor whose outfit and wheel disks were color-coordinated. She's seen here during the Sunday morning 10-lap, 0.624-mile road race.

IN THE SECOND 10-lap, 6.24-mile road race Sunday morning, John Morciglio of Waterford on one of his carbon fiber lowracers, leads Tedd Wheeler of Reed City on his Rick Gritters-built low racer. John finished fourth in the stock class - his only event of the weekend - at an average speed of 22.325 mph for 10 laps. Tedd finished sixth, completing nine laps at 21.34 mph.

BRUCE GORDON on his Zox front-wheel-driver low racer is about to be passed for the umteenth time by Dennis Grelk in Saturday morning's one-hour time trial. Bruce and his wife recently moved from Illinois to Buchanan in southwest Michigan.

Michigan HPV Rally - the Non-Racers

2011-06-25T23:29:00.023-04:00

Note: Results from the 27th annual Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Rally, held June 11-12, 2011, are available on the MHPVA website, www.mhpva.org. A written report on the rally will appear soon. Meanwhile, here's some interesting cycles seen at the rally, which were not raced.

Photos and captions by Mike Eliasohn

JOHN MORCIGLIO of nearby Waterford came on Sunday morning with five of his carbon fiber creations, and also competed in the second road race (10 laps of the 0.624 mile circuit), finishing fourth in the stock class on the silver bike in front. He built his first carbon fiber recumbent in February 2008 and now builds them for a living. He can be contacted at 248-499-9915 or go to www.thundervoltman.com.

JOHN built this tandem for a customer in Texas. If it's not obvious, the rear of the bike is at left. The "passenger" will face the rear when pedaling.

THIS MORCIGLIO CREATION has front-wheel-drive and front-wheel-steering. Look close and you can see where the head tube is.

DAVE SHAW, 66, of Clarkston, bought this John Morciglio-built Apache in October 2010. It's the first recumbent he has owned, and bought it, he said, after getting saddle sores while riding his upright bike. But he hasn't given up on "wedgee" bikes completely. "I still alternate." He and the Apache were at the rally Saturday, but did not compete.

JIM AND DORA JOHNSON, otherwise known as "Chainsaw" and "Giggles," the royal couple of the Great Lakes chapter of the Freakbike Militia brought some of their own creations to the rally on Saturday, as well as encouraging other freak bikers to bring their own bikes. Among those bringing freak bikes/trikes were MHPVA members Terry Gerweck and Dave Moeller.

TOM ADAMS of Canton built "High Horse," which emulates the style of high wheelers from the late 1800s. The front tire is a Coker 36-inch; the rear is a standard 26-inch. Tom made the frame from two cut-up bicycle frames and some new tubing. He also made the front fork. The seat is about 50 inches above the ground. (Coker Tire, best known for making tires for antique and collectible cars, also makes a cruiser, unicycle and high-wheeler that use its 36-inch tires. www.cokertire.com)

ON SATURDAY EVENING, after the day's competition events and dinner were over, there was an opportunity for HPVers and freak bikers to compare bikes. From left are Terry Gerweck, rally competitors Dave Johnson (on one of Jim Johnson's bikes) and Rich Myers, and Jim and Dora Johnson. Dora is holding "Split Personality," which she built. The side of the bike away from the camera is red. Terry, from Monroe and co-founder of the MHPVA, is on his latest freakbike creation, not quite completed.

Michigan HPV Rally - June 11-12, 2011

2011-04-15T22:41:00.019-04:00

The 27th annual Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Rally will be June 11-12, 2011, at the Waterford Hills sports car racing track on the Oakland County Sportsmen's Club grounds in Clarkston, near Pontiac.
The oldest such event in North America is open to riders of all human powered vehicles -- recumbents, regular bicycles and tandems. There are classes for streamlined, unstreamlined cycles, tandems, women, youth and tricycles. The rally is conducted using Human Powered Race - America rules (www.recumbents.com/hpra/rulesand.htm). Note: HPRA rules require all vehicles to have mirror/mirrors enabling rear vision to both sides.
The track is 1.4 miles around, with nine turns and one hill.

ENTRY FEES: One day only, $30; both days, $40 (includes $10 MHPVA membership. $1 of each entry fee goes to support the work of the League of Michigan Bicyclists). Test ride pass, $5. Spectators free.
Even if you have no interest in racing, come and see some unusual and some very fast bicycles and tricycles. Some members of the Great Lakes chapter of the FreakBike Militia are expected to bring their creative bikes on Saturday to show, not to race, which will mean even more unusual bikes to see.
Prize money will be awarded to top finishers in each class.

SCHEDULE:

Saturday, June 11

8 a.m. - Registration and technical inspection.
9 a.m. - One-hour time trial - Streamlined and superstreet classes.
10:30 a.m. - One-hour time trial - Stock and other classes.
Lunch (bring your own food or eat at a nearby restaurant).
1:30 p.m. - Hill climb/coast-down.
1:30 p.m. - Urban transportation contest. Hill climb/coast-down is part of the UTC. There also will be an obstacle course and scoring by judge for each bike's "practical" features (lights, fenders, cargo carrying capacity, etc.). Entry fee is $30, even if only competing in the UTC.
3 p.m. - 1-kilometer standing start sprints.
6 p.m. - Dinner at nearby Big Boy.

Sunday

8:30 a.m. - Top speed sprints.
10 a.m. - Tricycle race (infield course).
10:30 am - Road race (faster vehicles).
11 a.m. - Road race (slower vehicles).
Note: Course for Sunday road races does NOT include hill.
Awards ceremony hopefully no later than 1 p.m.

The event address is 4770 Waterford Road, Clarkston MI 48346. For map of the track, visit http://www.waterfordhills.com/info/facilitymap07.pdf

For additional information, contact: Mike Mowett, 586-863-3902 or mowett@aol.com, or Mike Eliasohn, 269-982-4058 or mikethebike@acd.net.

TO GET TO THE RALLY:
From I-75, get off at exit 91. Take M-15 south to Dixie Hwy. (US-24). Turn left, continuing south about 1 mile and turn
left onto Waterford Road, then proceed to track.
If coming from the west, take U.S. 23 north (or south) to M-59 (Highland Road). Go east on M-59 to Airport Road, then left
(north) to US-24. Turn left, then immediately right onto Waterford Road. Go about a half-mile to track.

PLACES TO STAY:

MOTELS (with approximate distances/direction from Waterford Hills track)

Clarkston - Clarkston Motor Inn, 6853 Dixie Hwy. (US-10), 248-625-1522, 12 rooms, 2 miles northeast.

Hartland - Best Western of Hartland, 10087 M-59 at US-23, 810-632-7177, 61 rooms. About 18 miles west.

Waterford – Comfort Inn, 7076 Highland Road (M-59), 248-666-8555, 111 rooms. About 3 miles southwest.

Waterford – Waterford Motel, 2201 Dixie Hwy. at Telegraph Road, 248-338-4061, 50 rooms. About 6 miles southeast.

Waterford – Holiday Inn Express, 4350 Pontiac Lake Road, 248-674-3434, 83 rooms. About 7 miles southwest..

Whitmore Lake - Best Western of Whitmore Lake, 9897 Main St. (off US-23, exit 53), 734-449-2058, 61 rooms. About 33 miles southwest.

CAMPING

Free camping available overnight Friday and Saturday at the Waterford Hills Sportsman Club, site of the HPV rally, starting at 6 p.m. Friday. Restrooms, showers available and possibly electrical hookups.

STATE CAMPGROUNDS (www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails)

Highland Recreation Area, 5200 E. Highland Road (M-59), White Lake, 248-889-3750. Two miles east of Highland,

Holly Recreation Area, 8100 Grange Hall Road, Holly, 248-634-8811. Five miles east of Holly.

Ortonville Recreation Area, 5779 Hadley Road, Ortonville, 810-797-4439. Four miles northeast of Ortonville.

Pontiac Lake Recreation Area, 7800 Gale Road, 248-666-1020. Closest to Waterford Hills track, about 4 miles west.

PRIVATE CAMPGROUNDS (www.michcampgrounds.com)

MHPVA annual meeting - March 12, 2011

2011-04-02T20:58:00.046-04:00

By Paul Pancella, secretary. Editing and photos by Mike Eliasohn (unless otherwise mentioned)

The 2011 annual meeting of the Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Association took place March 12 in the community room of the REI store in Ann Arbor. About 25 people attended, including some non-members, possibly attracted by the meeting location and notices in area bike shops prepared and distributed by Bob Krzewinski.
Bob, who also arranged use of the meeting room, started by introducing the WolverBents organization, explaining its goals, structure, and activities. He said some bike shops that previously sold recumbents no longer do so (or went out of business), but Midwest Bike and Tandem in Ann Arbor has started selling recumbents.
Bob then talked about the pros and cons of recumbent cycles, with some useful tips for newcomers interested in buying their first one.

JOHN MORCIGLIO of Waterford shows Arrowhead, which he created for racing in time trials. Seat height is 16 inches; wheels are 650c front and 700c rear; and weight is just under 21 pounds. He completed building it late last fall. "This bike I could sell, but probably won't," he said. But, if he were to sell it, it probably would be about $3,600 for the frame or $5,500 for the complete bike.

JOHN MORCIGLIO shows his Thunderbolt low racer, which weighs 23.75 pounds. The frame sells for $4,750. John built his first carbon fiber recumbent in February 2008 and now builds them for a living. As of the meeting, he had built 20 recumbents and three upright bikes and was building an 11-foot long recumbent tandem, with the riders back-to-back, for a customer in Texas. He can be contacted at 248-499-9915 or go to www.thundervoltman.com.

Then MHPVA President Mike Mowett briefly described the history and purpose of the organization.
Bill Frey started show-and-tell by showing his 1984 Tour Easy, which he bought new and recently had refinished. "I'm still riding it," he said. "I'm not planning to sell it." He also owns a newer Fold Rush.
Photos and captions describe the other bikes shown at the meeting.
During the business portion of the meeting, last year’s minutes and this year’s treasurer’s report were quickly approved. Treasurer Bill Frey indicated that the board’s plan to increase the available fund balance (after the 2009 Michigan Human Powered Speed Challenge at the Ford Motor Co. proving grounds) has begun to succeed, in that a net increase of about $300 was realized. Another year or two employing the same strategy will bring us to the desired fund balance level, barring unforeseen circumstances.

JOHN FOLTZ (left) of Haslett showed his M5 Carbon High Racer (made in the Netherlands), which he purchased in 2009. Both wheels are 700c and it weighs about 24 pounds. He described it as "amazingly fast." He can cruise 25-26 mph and it's also a good hill-climber. Helping hold the bike is Bill Frey. John also showed his Optima Baron low racer.

Next we discussed the 27th annual Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Rally weekend, scheduled June 11-12, again at the Waterford Hills sports car racing track. With minimal discussion, we agreed to follow the usual schedule and program, including camping availability and steak fry Saturday evening.
Paul Pancella informed the group (with regret) that he will not be able to attend the rally this year, so won't be able to run the urban transportation contest in parallel with the hill-climb/coastdown. The request was made for volunteers to take Paul’s place. So far, no one has volunteered, but anyone interested in running the UTC should contact Paul at paul.pancella@wmich.edu.
Bill Frey mentioned he has developed an Excel spreadsheet that functions to simulate power demands for the Waterford course, including the hills, with various vehicle and speed parameters as inputs. It also can be adapted for predicting power required for maintaining speed on any grade. He offered to make it available to anyone for the asking.
All officers and board members were reelected: President, Mike Mowett, St. Clair Shores; vice president, Mike Eliasohn, St. Joseph; secretary, Paul Pancella, Kalamazoo; treasurer, Bill Frey, Grosse Pointe Farms; and at large, Terry Gerweck, Monroe, and Don Smith, Chesterfield.

MIKE MOWETT (left) shows his Challenge Fujin, which he has owned for a few years and has some improvements made by Don Smith (right). Don made the Zotefoam ribbed foam seat padding, which he can make in different colors, patterns and thicknesses, and modified the Rotor System cranks to reduce internal rotating drag. The Rotor system eliminates the "dead spots" when pedaling. For these and other specialty work for HPVs, contact Don at bbmracing@yahoo.com.

Jim “Chainsaw” Johnson, president of the Great Lakes chapter of the FreakBike Militia was introduced. He expressed a growing appreciation for important traits that the HPV community has in common with the FreakBike movement, and let us know that the Militia will again be represented at our rally in June.
President Mowett made a brief report on developments at the Human Powered Race America race director’s meeting. He said changes to rules and classes for this year were minimal this year. Anyone interested should go to the HPRA website, www.recumbents.com/hpra.)
Mike then highlighted some other events recumbent riders are looking forward to this year, including the 100-mile Black Bear Bicycle Tour July 31 from Grayling to Oscoda and Calvin’s Challenge on April 30, a 12-hour event starting in Springfield, Ohio. He also has explored developing a new century ride for the east side of the state, incorporating Belle Isle and some of the Metro parks.
The meeting started at 12:30 p.m. adjourned at 3:20.

MIKE ELIASOHN shows his work-in-progress recumbent, intended for around-town use and for easy transporting in the back of his Ford Focus station wagon. Welding and some fabrication has been done by Precision Welding & Repair of Berrien Springs; the rest by Mike. The "holder" is Bill Frey. (Mike Mowett photo)

PAUL PANCELLA of Kalamazoo showed one of the two ICE B1 folding bikes he and his wife, Anne, bought to take with them when traveling. Unfortunately, ICE, a British company, has since stopped making B1's in order to focus on making its line of recumbent tricycles.

Dragonwood slays at Detroit Autorama

2011-03-26T21:39:00.006-04:00

The Detroit Autorama at Cobo Center in downtown Detroit is one of the most prestigious custom car and hot rod shows in the country, but it also includes a competition for custom and customized bicycles, sponsored by Al Petri & Sons Bicycles in Lincoln Park and Woodhaven.
At this year's show, Feb. 25-27, MHPVA member Dave Moeller's Dragonwood won the first place trophy for "most creative" and second place in the "long and low" category.
Dave, who lives in Linden, estimates about 70 pedal-powered creations were entered at this year's show, This year's Autorama was the 59th annual.
For more about Dragonwood, scroll down on this blog to the article posted May 2, 2010.
I (Mike Eliasohn) couldn't find anything on the web about this year's cycle show at Autorama, but you can see lots of photos from the 2010 show at www.bikerodnkustom.com.

MHPVA annual meeting - March 12, 2011

2011-02-04T22:20:00.005-05:00

Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Association
Annual meeting – Ann Arbor, MI - Saturday, March 12, 2011

The 2011 MHPVA annual meeting will be Saturday, March 12, in the Ann Arbor REI store community room, 970 W. Eisenhower Parkway, just off the Ann Arbor-Saline Road exit off I-94. See map and directions on next page.

For those who want to eat prior to the meeting, there is a Potbelly sandwich shop directly across from REI store and an Old Country Buffet restaurant in the same shopping center. The meeting room opens at noon for socializing. At 12:30 p.m., Bob
Krzewinski of the Wolver-Bents will give a talk about “How to buy your first recumbent.”

At 1 p.m., members will have a chance to talk to the group about their vehicles or latest projects. Those bringing vehicles for display are encouraged to write on a sheet of paper sheet basic information about the vehicle, such as name and manufacturer or builder; owner’s name; year built; used for racing, commuting or recreational riding; fastest speeds, construction materials, weight, etc.

The MHPVA business meeting will follow. A key part will be deciding on events and other details for the 27th Michigan HPV Rally, to be held June 11-12, 2011 at the Waterford Hills sports car racing track in Clarkston. Details will be posted on
www.mhpva.org and htpp://mhpva.blogspot.com.

Tentative meeting schedule:

• Meeting room opens at 12 noon
• 12:30 p.m. - “How to buy your first recumbent,” Bob Krzewinski
• 1 p.m. - “Show and tell” of human powered vehicles brought by owners.
Followed by:
• Call to order and review of agenda
• Secretary’s report - approval of 2010 annual meeting minutes.
• Treasurer’s Report – Members who would like a copy of the treasurer's report and/or membership list should contact Bill Frey at the meeting or at wfrey402@comcast.net.
• Report on 2010 speed championships at Battle Mountain, Nev. – Mike Mowett.
• Discussion of Michigan HPV Rally at Waterford - June 11-12, 2011.
1. President Mike Mowett will report on decisions made at fall Human Powered Race - America meeting.
2. Selection of events to be held at Waterford.
3. Discussion of publicity, prizes and fees.
• Report on MHPVA website
• Election of officers and directors.
• Other 2011 recumbent/HPV events
• Adjournment

Directions: From eastbound or westbound I-94, take Exit 175 (Ann-Arbor Saline Rd.)
and head northeast along Ann Arbor-Saline Road toward Ann Arbor. Cross Eisenhower
Parkway, go past the gas station and notice the shopping center on your right. Turn right into
the shopping center entrance, which is behind the stores. Then drive to the front of the
shopping center, which faces I-94, and you will soon arrive at the REI store.

Big Mo trikes again

2010-11-18T22:44:00.013-05:00

THE KRAIT, built by Dave "Big Mo" Moeller has front wheel drive, with power from pedals and the electric hub motor. (Photos by Dave Moeller)

Here's the latest from Dave Moeller of Linden. Several of his previous projects can be seen on this blog.
The Krait has front wheel drive, powered by pedals and an electric hub motor. The toolbox holds four gel acid batteries providing 48 volts.
The frame comes apart behind the steering post and is held in place by two front wheel skewers running through a sleeve joint. The only connection between the halves is the battery cable. This allows for easier transport but is intended to allow modifications without having to do a total rebuild Possible conversions could be into a two wheeler or with different front ends.

The dual disc rear brakes are activated by a lever alongside the right side of the seat.
The fenders were purchased at Tractor Supply Co., sold as replacements for their trailers, and the seat is a motorcycle mechanic stool bought at Harbor Freight Tools. The rear wheels are from Schwinn Stingrays.

Dave started building the trike after the Ann Arbor Classic Bicycle Show April 25 and finished it in time for its public debut at a bicycle show in Owosso in August, where he rode it 10 miles on a trail ride.
"I decided to do something more sedentary for the winter, so I bought a couple of airbrushes and all the stuff," Dave wrote in an e-mail. "I haven't touched an airbrush in 30 years plus. My first project was the toolbox and fenders for thr Krait."
He's also been painting on muslin, with the intent of doing some painted quilts. (Dave and his wife are quilters, she does the
piecing and he does the quilting.) An example of his air brushing is shown below.

DAVE'S ARTWORK is shown on the rear box, which holds four gel acid batteries.

Morticia, from Terry Gerweck's "dark side"

2010-11-06T23:24:00.025-04:00

TERRY GERWECK and Morticia at the Oct. 30, 2010, Tombstone Derby in Elmore, Ohio. (All photos by Terry, except for this one, obviously.)

The finished Morticia. Notice the background.

By TERRY GERWECK - Monroe, Mich.

2010 has been a very active building year for me. I finished my city 'bent early in the year; a successful build in
that it meets all the goals I intended. (See "Terry Gerweck's new recumbent" article below from June 24, 2010)
After the Waterford HPV rally in June, where I was re-introduced to my "dark side" roots, I set out to build an idea that
had fermented in my brain for far too long. Beyond my need for human powered speed, there is always the desire for human powered fun and Morticia is the incarnation of my adolescent wish to own a hearse.
Morticia's beginnings were quite humble. An old adult trike, cut in half and stretched. Two Orange County Choppers bicycles for the rear rims, tires, fenders and a few miscellaneous parts. (The 16-inch rims were laced to the original trike hubs, with some help at Jack's Bicycles in Monroe.) Some muffler tubing and conduit, bits and pieces from a child hauling bike trailer, a futon, and what ever else was lurking in my garage that seemed to fit. Fire up the welder, grind judiciously, shake a couple cans of paint at it and you've got a bike. (The two curved tubes running to the head tube originally formed the canopy supports on the bike trailer; tubing from the futon furnished the "truck bed.")

I found a couple pictures of horse-drawn hearses and scaled them down to trike size. The hearse coach body was made from quarter-inch plywood and wood moldings. Added details like lanterns came from the garden department, trim pieces from auto and motorcycle sources, a purple funeral flag (from an undisclosed source,) the biggest ape hanger handlebars from the local bike shop and miscellaneous skulls and other semi-scary stuff from the dollar store.
I guess my favorite piece of fabrication is the brake disc. It would be an OK piece if I had used a lathe (I don't have one), but for making it in a vise and a drill press with a hack saw and a couple of files, I'm really proud of it. I'd be even prouder if it worked worth a damn.

The brake disc hub came from a piece of aluminum bar and a chunk of aluminum plate was used for the disc itself. The axle is a single full width bar. The drive wheel bolts to one end and the other wheel freewheels on a set of bearings. The whole axle slides out of the frame and the brake disc, drive cog (and eventually, maybe a pulley for an electric drive) slide on to it in the middle of the axle frame work.
But the caliper brakes with stock bicycle brake pads don't develop a great deal of braking power. The 3,500 mm (137.8 inches) brake cable probably doesn't help much either. The brake cable was a stock item, also from Jack's, and is the longest stock cable I've ever found.
Morticia's public debut came Oct. 30 at the Tombstone Derby in Elmore, Ohio, southeast of Toledo. The mayor of Elmore welcomed Morticia and me, thanked me for coming out and sort of suggested he wouldn't be opposed to a human powered addition to his festival, so there could be a freak bike event as part of next year's Tombstone Derby.
Elmore is on the west end of the North Coast Inland Trail System (at least a 69-mile chunk of it, which is prime for a ride. The Tombstone Derby includes casket races and a parade. There's plenty of room and semi-demented spectators, perfect for a
pseudo bike show all contained within a loosely organized festival.
Opportunity abounds to do it right.
Morticia isn't done yet, there are so many details that can be added. I guess she'll be finished when I move on to the next build.

Almost ready for painting. The two curved tubes running to the head tube originally formed the canopy supports on a bicycle trailer for transporting children.

One use for an old futon

Michigan Recumbent Rally - West, Sept. 11, 2010

2010-09-19T23:22:00.014-04:00

JOHN MATHIESON (standing at rear) of Breakaway Bicycles and Fitness brought a Sun EZ-1 and T3-AX trike and a Bacchetta Giro 20.

Words and photos by Mike Eliasohn

Rain during a cycle event usually means either cancellation or being miserable.
But rain all day during the Michigan Recumbent Rally - West Saturday, Sept. 11, at the Western Michigan University Parkview Campus wasn't a problem.
The usual location is the parking lot in front of the Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences building. The building and parking lot are adjacent to a large parking garage, which is almost empty on a Saturday, so the lower level provided a nice, dry location for test rides and talking.
Unfortunately, the rain likely kept some people away who were unaware of the "indoor" location.
Among those attending were representatives of two west Michigan bicycle shops who brought several recumbents for people to test ride and hopefully buy.
John Mathieson of Breakaway Bicycles and Fitness brought a Sun EZ-1 compact long wheelbase, a Sun T3-AX two-wheels-in-front tricycle and a Bacchetta Giro 20 short wheelbase with 20-inch front wheel. Breakaway has stores in Portage, where John is based (269-324-5555), Muskegon and Grand Haven.

NATE SCHMOEKEL, of Village Bike & Fitness, a Rans dealer, shown here adjusting the seat on a Stratus XP for a test rider, also brought a Zenetik, V3 and F5.

Nate Schmoekel of Village Bike & Fitness, whose business card says "recumbent consultant," brought a Rans Zenetik crank forward, Stratus XP long wheelbase with 26-inch wheels and low bottom bracket, V3 long wheelbase with 26-inch wheels and high bottom bracket and an F5 short wheelbase with 26-inch wheels. Village Bike has stores in Jenison, where Nate is based ((616-457-1670; bent@villagebikeshop.com), Cascade, and two in Grand Rapids.
Other bikes at the rally (going by memory) were a Rans Wave, BikeE with rear suspension), Haluzak short wheelbase, Rans Rocket and an ICE tricycle.
Thanks to Paul Pancella of Kalamazoo for organizing the rally for the umteenth year, with assistance from Paul Bruneau of Portage.

DAVE MIDDLETON (left) of Kalamazoo and Joe McCormick of Troy discuss Joe's ICE trike, which has fold-under rear suspension. It's Joe's third trike and as of Sept. 11 he had ridden it about 8,700 miles in the four years he has owned it.

Black Bear Bicycle Tour - July 25, 2010

2010-09-06T22:30:00.032-04:00

DAVE JOHNSON of Olivet in "Great White" (the old paint scheme included shark teeth) finished first in the Avita Water Black Bear Bicycle Tour, finishing the 100 miles in a time of 3 hours, 42 minutes (26.9 mph). (Photos by Jane Rheaume)

At least 13 recumbent riders were among the 325 cyclists competing in the Avita Water Black Bear Bicycle Tour July 25, 2010, with laid-back racers finishing first and third overall.
The 100-mile ride runs from Grayling to Oscoda, in conjunction with the Weyerhaeuser Au Sable Canoe Marathon. The pedalers started 11 hours after the paddlers, with the goal of getting to Oscoda before the first canoe arrives, which didn't happen this year.
Dave Johnson, 53, of Olivet, in his Rick Wianecki-built Great White streamliner, finished first in a time of 3 hours, 42 minutes and 41 seconds, for an average speed of 26.9 mph. This was the fourth time Dave has ridden in the Black Bear and he's finished first all four times. The first time, which he recalls was in 2004, he arrived in Oscoda ahead of the canoes.
Second was Alex Vanais, 31, of LeRoy on an upright road bike in 3:54.11, an average of 25.6 mph. Third was Bill Hannon, 67, of Springfield, Ohio, in/on his Lightning F-40 recumbent with full fairing (solid nose and stretch fabric sides) at 3:56, an average of 25.4 mph.

BILL HANNON of Springfield, Ohio, in his Lightning F-40 (red bike) waits for the start of the Black Bear. He finished third overall in a time of 3 hours and 56 minutes (25.4 mph).

Of the 325 riders who started, 274 finished. Here's the results for the other recumbent riders who started at 8:18 a.m. and completed the 100 mile. (At least one recumbent rider started at a different time, according to Mike Mowett.)

57th overall) Doug Jacobs, 58, Springfield, Ohio, NoCom carbon fiber lowracer, 4:22:31, 22.9 mph.
58) Thom Ollinger, 50, West Milton, Ohio, homebuilt Nirvana lowracer, 4:22:33, 22.9 mph.
59) Mike Mowett, 36, St. Clair Shores, Challenge lowracer, 4:22:34, 22.9 mph.
64) George Davis, 61, Westfield, Ind., Bacchetta highracer, 4:28:29, 22.3 mph.
68) Larry Graham, 51, Westerville, Ohio, Bacchetta highracer, 4:30:14, 22.2 mph.
91) Don Smith, 56, Chesterfield, NoCom low racer, 4:40:04, 21.4 mph. r
100) Dan Zolyniak, 20, University of Toronto streamliner, 4:45:14 21.0 mph.
103) Wally Kiehler, 58, Grosse Pointe Woods, Lighting F-40 with full fairing, 4:48:45, 20.8 mph.
162) Robert Palmer, 65, Walled Lake, Volae highracer, 5:14:45, 19.1 mph.
Charlie Ollinger (son of Thom), 19, wasn't on a recumbent, but rode a FIXED GEAR 1970 Peugeot road bike to 87th place in a time of 4:37:57, 21.6 mph. That's 100 miles with one gear and without coasting!
In what's called the McKinley class, Chris Evans, 40, of Flint, rode his NoCom lowracer the 56 miles to McKinley, then John Foltz, 54, of Haslett, rode his M5 carbon fiber highracer the rest of the way, for a combined time of 3:59:09, an average speed of 25.1 mph.
Doug Davis, 60, town unavailable, started at a different time and finished 134th on his Bacchetta with fabric fairing in a time of 5:05:42, 19.6 mph.

THE RECUMBENT RACERS and a few others await their 8:18 a.m. start in Grayling. In the yellow Lightning F-40 is Wally Kiehler, who finished in 4 hours and 48 minutes (20.8 mph.)

RIDING GREAT WHITE

Here's Dave Johnson's account of his ride (slightly edited by Mike Eliasohn):
While hearing my name called for the next wave of riders, I was busy cutting the bottom of the fairing to get more front wheel clearance. I had slid the front wheel back in the fork so handling was better when turning. As old as Great White is, the tires still seem to find a way to rub on the fairing at the worst possible time.
When the gun sounded, I was hardly ready to ride. Water hoses not clipped to the front of my shirt. ear plugs not in, food bag not in place, and shoe strapping not tight. I spent too much time talking to other riders instead of preparing for my ride. The first few miles were slow while I was getting situated, warming up, and just watching the rough road.
I did have my laminated map folded correct and clipped to the handlebar, determined to stay on course for the whole ride. Then at precisely 34 miles and Red Oak Road, I turned south, just what my map shows but not what the corner marshals is insisting, that I go straight. My map showed south on Red Oak! Should I follow the map or take the marshal's advice and go
straight? I think it over and finally coast to a stop, get out, turn the bike around, climb back in, and continue straight on Miller
Road. I now know that routes change frequently due to road conditions. I should have used to map from the ride packet, rather than the one I got from the website.
At this point, I had not caught the pace truck and was just slowly passing other bikes. Finally at the edge of McKinley, I was behind the pace truck but only for a few miles... as I struggled with Heartbreak Hill. The approach was a gradual incline as I pedaled slower and slower -- 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, finally 5 mph.
My lowest gear was getting jumpy, better not break anything, needed to dismount and walk the 66-pound rig up the hill. With the streamliner, I find that the aerodynamic advantage disappears below 20 mph. Normally when going up a hill, at that time you wish you had a lightweight upright bike.
So finally after walking to the top of Heartbreak, at the corner, I get in and try to start. Oops, not happening. I tip over, half in the ditch. Bad timing as several upright riders easily roll by, saying, "Augh, that's too bad". I say to myself, "Nice job," as I rolled in the sand and gravel with sweaty skin. After unclipping and crawling out, I manage to get Great White upright
and pointed in the correct direction. Several guys at the corner helped me get rolling and on my way.
I easily make my way to the pace truck and try to gain some distance on the uprights before "Block and Tackle Hill". The rolling hills were a blast, flying along now, hitting my top speed for the day at 53 mph.
I knew the large hill would soon be here, so I kept my speed up as much as possible. Finally a large downhill began and I cranked it up; it's the AuSable bridge! I remember hitting 44 mph, cranking hard wanting to roll to the top. Still had to gear down, but did not need a block and tackle to reach the top. Along River Road, just before Monument State Park, my speed was easily increasing to about 40 mph because of a gradual downhill. Due to the many trucks, cars, campers, and confusion I had to back off to avoid risking a collision. Now rolling at about 27 mph and 10 miles from the end, I remember to do a goo. As I'm calculate in my head that I'll be just a few minutes off my best time, the goo kicks in and I'm rolling at 30 mph. Darn, should have had the goo before the hills.
The finish arrived quickly and I slowed for the timing strips, so as to not hit the canopy with my helmet. Final time 3:42:41 first place overall.
Thanks to all the volunteers for putting on such a fun race/ride.

Northbrook, Ill., HPV races - July 10, 2010

2010-07-27T23:51:00.014-04:00

Brian Stevens of Grand Rapids, shown here on his Lightning M5, was one of three Michiganians competing in the HPV velodrome races July 10 in Northbrook, Ill., and July 11 in Kenosha, Wis. The others were Tedd Wheeler of Reed City and MHPVA President Mike Mowett of St. Clair Shores. (For results and lots of photos and videos, go to www.recumbents.com/wisil/racing2010.)
Brian started riding recumbents four years ago, beginning with a short wheelbase Vision, found about the HPR-A race series on online recumbent forums and competed for the first time in North Manchester, Ind., in August 2009, on his Easy Racers Gold Rush. He then participated in the HPV races in Florida in February and the Michigan HPV Rally in June.
"I saw how competitive the stock class was," he said, so he decided to buy the used M5 for racing, which he first raced in Florida.
Brian still uses his Gold Rush for commuting 18 miles to his job as a lab technician at Amway in Ada. He leaves home at 6 a.m. in order to be at work by 7:30. He commutes on his Gold Rush year-from early spring to late fall.
In the stock class at Northbrook, Brian was fifth in the 200 meter flying start at 32.97 mph and in the 50-lap race, he finished 11th, completing 42 laps at an average speed of 23.82 mph.
"I'm definitely having a lot of fun," he said about his HPV racing.

Steve Jacobson of Evanston, Ill., said he's hoping to turn making folding recumbent bicycles from a hobby into a business. Since building his first one in 1980, he has sold eight. "I'd like to be selling eight a month."
There's a hinge in front of the head tube, so the forward part of the frame folds back after the seat is removed. The rear triangle folds under after the pin is removed that connects it to the rear shock. With the wheels removed, the folded bike can be put inside a large suitcase.
The frame is made of stainless steel because Steve commutes to work at Northwestern University year-round, so doesn't want to worry about it rusting. (His job is teaching freshmen engineering students on how to build prototypes of whatever they design.) The high seating position is partly due to the suspension and partly so the rider easily can be seen in traffic.
Steve made the molds for 11 frame parts, including the hinge, dropouts and head tube, which are manufactured using a process called investment casting.
The wheels are 20-inch (406mm). The bike weighs about 31 pounds, but by re-doing the molds to result in lighter castings, "I think I can take four to five pounds out of it," he said.
Jacobson sold his last bike for $2,500, but a higher price is likely in the future because of the extensive amount of labor involved. For more information, go to his website, www.jacorecumbents.com.

Todd Beary of Naperville, Ill., starting building recumbents in 1987-88, when he was in high school. He built his latest, which he raced at Northbrook, when living in California. He built it on his apartment patio using a MAPP gas torch to do the brazing.
The frame is made of new chromoly tubing and some tubing from old bicycle frames, with a front fork supporting the undriven rear wheel.
The wheels are large-size 20-inch (451mm). A triple crank runs to four sprockets at the top of the front wheel for a total of 12 speeds The gearing will allow a potential 70 mph. Todd didn't know the weight or wheelbase. The wood bulkhead eventually will support a fairing.
Todd said he built the bike "to go as fast as I can." In the stock class at Northbrook, he finished 10th in the 200 meter flying start at 26.31 mph and in the 50-lap race, he finished 12th, completing 39 laps at an average speed of 22.28 mph. "Today is the fastest I have ever ridden it," he said.

MIKE MOWETT on his Cervelo (the upright bike) finished second in the superstreet class in the 100-lap at Northbrook, completing 71 laps at an average speed of 25.19 mph. (The race ends when the fastest vehicle, regardless of class, completes 100 laps.) In the flying start 200 meters, he finished first in class at 34.74 mph. The superstreet class allows added streamlining, but with some restrictions, such as the rider's head must be exposed.

Text and photos by Mike Eliasohn

Terry Gerweck visits the dark side

2010-07-15T11:27:00.035-04:00

Photos by Terry Gerweck

THIS BEAUTIFUL wood stretch cruiser uses a hood ornament from a 1950s Chevrolet BelAire as the centerpiece on the handlebars.

Terry Gerweck's interest, or renewed interest, in freak bikes started with Dave Moeller, builder of the Dragonwood and other interesting cycles, inviting Jim "Chainsaw" Johnson of Holly, president of the Great Lakes chapter of the FreakBike Militia, to this year's Michigan HPV Rally.
Jim came Saturday, had such a good time that he returned on Sunday with his wife, Dora "Giggles," and his latest creation, which Paul Pancella rode as the pace bike for one of the Sunday morning road races.
That got the wheels in Terry's head turning -- what he could do with some of the junk bikes in his garage -- so he visited two freak bike gatherings.
Here's Terry's reports:
Made a road trip June 26 to Ionia for the FreakBike Palooza. I've messed with choppers before, so it wasn't any stretch to be interested.
For one reason or another I never seem to get involved with people with "normal" interests. Wonder why that is?

It was hotter than hell and mostly folks just sat around and discussed the finer points of building choppers and other weird and different kinds of bicycles. Other than the typical configuration (if there is a typical configuration), these bikes aren't that far removed from what we run at Waterford. The "freak bikes" may attract a few more younger participants.
These folks are just as serious about their bikes as the HPVers, but the focus is fun, not speed. Pedaling efficiency and aerodynamics don't even register on their priority lists and here there was nothing wrong with a 75-pound bicycle!
All that said, my new 'bent would not have been out of place here. I rode the motorcycle today and didn't want to haul the trailer 300 miles or I would have brought the 'bent along.
And yeah, if he doesn't reclaim it, the Huffy a guy from work gave me is destined to be "converted" into "all it can be."

Mary (Terry's wife) and I celebrated Independence Day on Saturday, July 3, by attending the Fourth of July Freak Out in Fowlerville. Yeah, I know that's two freak bike events in two weeks. Just think of it as research.
In reality, this isn't my first venture into the realm of custom bikes, but it may well be my deepest trip yet. It seems I now have dual citizenship, MHPVA and the "Freak Bike Nation."

DOING THE FREAKBIKE LIMBO at the Fowlerville event. A rider on a low racer from HPV circles could win this event easily, but maybe that would be considered cheating.

The "Freak Out" was a bit more involved than the event in Ionia. Activities included a bike show with more than 45 bikes shown, including my new 'bent and my old chopper that I dug out of the back of the garage and cleaned off two years of accumulated dirt and crud. There was a potluck barbecue, a freak bike ride in the Fowlerville Fourth of July parade and fireworks at dusk.

Dora "Giggles" Johnson built this bike, including the welding. The side away from the camera is painted red, hence the name of her bike, "Split Personality."

Mike Eliasohn looking foolish sits on Jim "Chainsaw" Johnson's freakbike at the Michigan HPV Rally on June 13. Johnson, at right, cut up several bicycle frames, plus other stuff to build his creation . Paul Pancella, who took the photo, used this bike to pace one of the Sunday morning road races.

The bike show, while foreign to me, was run just like the local car shows I've seen. Bikes were displayed and judged, with the owners sitting around BS'ing with each other and spectators. I have little understanding of the judging or the different classes.
I found it interesting that my 'bent got little attention, but the chopper was deemed pretty cool. In a past post, we (Terry and Mike Eliasohn) talked about the use of gears and making these bike easier/more efficient to pedal. That does happen with some of the bikes. Derailleurs and internal-geared hubs are used by some, but aesthetics, simple clean chainlines, and artistic ideas and interpretation are more important on their bikes, which will seldom see everyday use (like the chopper I dug
out of the garage).
Along those lines, my next build/HPV will be more freak bike than efficient recumbent.
Oh yeah, my chopper won a best-in-class award. (No, I don't know what class and I'm not sure what they saw in it!!!)

The website for the FreakBike Militia - Great Lakes is www.fbmgreatlakes.com.

TERRY'S award winning chopper

OUCH! This bike was built for a bicycle build-off competition. The seatpost was made from an ax, a pitchfork became the seat, hedgeclippers became the handlebars and other "sharp pointy things" also were used in its construction.

M. Jensen Didulo's tilting tricycle

2010-07-03T22:09:00.012-04:00

M. JENSEN DIDULO on his tiling trike, Magic V2.0, during the Michigan HPV Rally.

M. Jensen Didulo of London, Ontario, had his not-quite-finished tilting tricycle, the Magic V2.0, at the Michigan Human Powered Speed Challenge in July 2009, then had it at the Michigan HPV Rally June 12-13, 2010, in finished form. At home, he uses it as his around-town commuter.

Here's what Jensen wrote following the rally in an online discussion about tilting tricycles in the "homebuilders" section on the
bentrideroneline.com site. (Some editing was done by the blog editor.)
In it's current form, the Magic V2.0 has one advantage vs. a bicycle -- its cornering capability. For practical reasons, rather than theoretical), two rear wheels have a little better grip than one and that little extra is enough for the trike to out-corner everything except other tilting trikes.
That said, many tilting trike designers add some kind of zero-speed stability, either with some kind of self-righting mechanism or a tilt lock. I plan to do this also, but have been working on a much lighter mechanism than the typical disk-brake types, or one that engages in more positions than the locking pin type. (Editor: That is, the rider has to
balance as if he was riding a two-wheeler; there's no mechanism to keep it erect when moving, or when stopped. Jensen informed me later that rather than add such a mechanism to his existing trike, he may build a new trike.)
With a tilt lock, a tilting trike has all the static advantages of other three-wheelers, while keeping their cornering advantage over two-wheelers.
The main reason for the development of many more delta tilters (two wheels in the rear) vs. tadpole types (two wheels in the front) has to do with aerodynamics. No matter how sophisticated the design, a tadpole tilter will still have a larger frontal area, whereas a delta tilter can be designed to hide the rear wheels within the wind shadow of the rider.
The reason for all the parallelogram tilters is that they can be any rear track width. No matter the lean angle, the center of mass remains within the footprint area of the three tires and no rollover condition exists. In the case of a simple tilter like the Magic, the pivot height cannot exceed half the rear track width or you can have a rollover condition with high lateral G force. The only reason my tilter has such a narrow track is that the pivot is about 5 inches from the ground. Most single-pivot designs have the pivot at axle height, forcing a track width at least 20 inches.

THE LOW PIVOT POINT, only about 5 inches from the ground, enables the wheels to be only about 14 inches apart. The result, as Jensen demonstrates, is that he can lean to an extreme degree when cornering.

Some specifications:
Main frame: 1 ix 2 in. mild steel
Wheelbase: Approx 42 in.
Gear ratios: 60/52/42 x 7-speed 28-14.
Tilt mechanism: Modified horizontal single pivot based on Magic-type originally designed by Paul Smith. Pivot approximately 5 inches from ground.
Rear track: Approx 14 inches wide, fully adjustable
Rear toe: Parallel fully adjustable
Other: Self-equalizing rear brakes (no brake steer)

Jensen can be contacted at purplepeopledesign@gmail.com.

For a view of two other tilting trikes, scroll down to "Bryant Tucker 100 - June 13, 2009."

26th annual Michigan HPV Rally - June 12-13, 2010

2010-06-26T21:20:00.044-04:00

In the Saturday morning one-hour time trial at the Michigan HPV Rally are, from left, Jeff Hunn on his titanium TiCuda, Bruce Gordon on his front-wheel-drive Zox and Mike Mowett on his Challenge Baron. (Dan Lonowski photo. All other photos by Mike Eliasohn.)

TODD REICHERT powered the University of Toronto's streamliner to the fastest speed ever in the 200-foot flying start sprints, 47.02 mph. A graduate engineering student, he was one of six members of the university's HPV team to make top-speed runs in the streamliner.

To see the charts showing complete results, go to www.recumbents.com/wisil/racing2010/waterford2010_results.htm

By MIKE ELIASOHN, MHPVA vice president

The 26th annual Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Rally, June 12-13 at the Waterford Hills sports car racing track drew at least 40 competitors and several records were set.
Two university teams – a first for the rally – had several riders riding their vehicles over the two days and some riders who long since graduated from high school or college rode more than one vehicle over the two days.
The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology HPV team came from Terre Haute, Ind., with three vehicles and seven people (three undergraduates, two graduate students, one alumni and one professor). One vehicle wasn't raced due to mechanical problems.
This was the fifth year Rose-Hulman has competed in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers HPV competition.
In contrast, this was the first year for the University of Toronto's team, which came to Waterford Hills with nine graduate and undergratuate students and two vehicles. Garrie Hill loaned the team a tricycle so more students would have the opportunity to race.
Dennis Grelk of Donnellson, Iowa, may have set a record by competing in/on four vehicles -- in one event, the hill climb/coast down. MHPVA President Mike Mowett of St. Clair Shores completed in/on three vehicles, including for the first time, the Norus streamliner that he bought three years ago.
A total of $200 in prize money was distributed to the top finishers in each class. First and second in each class were:
Streamliners (14 entries on Saturday, 12 on Sunday) - 1) John Simon, Moby streamliner, Portland, 120; 2) Dennis Grelk, Barracuda streamliner, 110.
Superstreet (five on Saturday, two on Sunday) - 1) Bill Hannon, Springfield, Ohio, Lightning F40, 120; 2) Tedd Wheeler, Reed City, Alleweder velomobile, 100.
Superstock (one both days) - 1) Bruce Gordon, Zox FWD low racer, Centralia, Ill.
Stock (16 entries on Saturday, 13 on Sunday) - 1) Sean Costin, NoCom low racer, Arlington Heights, Ill., 120; 2) Dennis Grelk, homebuilt lowracer, 110.
Junior (one entry both days) - 1) Jonathan Costin (son of Sean), upright bike, 120.
Women (three entries both days) - 1) Dora Cortez, Chicago, Chicago, Ill., low racer built by Rick Gritters, 120; 2) Ariel Young, Rose-Hulman team member, Dennis Grelk-built low racer, 110.
Tricycles (seven entries both days) - 1) Dennis Grelk, homebuilt low racer, 120; 2) Jeff Hunn, North Manchester, Ind., Catrike Expedition, 110. Dennis races the same homebuilt front-wheel-drive low racer in the stock and tricycle classes, swapping the single rear wheel for the tilting two-wheel setup he built for trike races.

MHPVA PRESIDENT Mike Mowett bought the used Norus streamliner in April 2007, then endured three years of ribbing from fellow HPVers for owning it, but not riding it. Finally, at this year's rally, he rode some practice laps on Saturday evening and then on Sunday morning, shown here, pedaled it to 41.45 mph in the 200-foot sprints. (Mike Eliasohn photo)

IN ADDITION to his Baron low racer and Norus streamliner, "Upright Mike" Mowett raced his carbon fiber Cervelo. He bought the frame off Craigslist for $700 from a fellow in New Orleans, mounted all the components the same week as the Michigan rally, then on the Tuesday before the rally raced it in a time trial at Waterford Hills. He's shown here during the one-hour time trial. In the hill climb, Mike finished first in the superstreet class and second overall with a time of 21.37 seconds.

Here's the top two in each event:
SATURDAY
One-hour time trials: Streamliner - 1) Dennis Grelk, 31.7 miles (first place overall; 2) John Simon, 29.0 miles. Superstreet - 1) Bill Hannon, 26.3 miles; 2) Jim Iwaskow, Richmond Hill, Ontario, WAW velomobile, 20.7 miles. Superstock - 1) Bruce Gordon, 19.9 miles. Stock - 1) Dennis Grelk, 26.7 miles; 2) Sean Costin, 25.8 miles. Junior - 1) Jonathan Costin, 11.5 miles. Women - 1) Ariel Young, 18.2 miles (class record); 2) Dora Cortez, 17.9 miles. Tricycles - 1) Amanda Chu, Univ. of Toronto, Catrike, 14.6 miles; 2) Marj Branch, Xenia, Ohio, Catrike, 10.3 miles.
Hill climb: Streamliner - 1) Todd Reichert, Univ. of Toronto, 22.7 sec., 2) Danny Sing, Univ. of Toronto, 24.1. Superstreet - 1) Mike Mowett, St. Clair Shores, Cervelo upright with body sock fairing, 21.4; 2) Bill Hannon, 25.6. Superstock - 1) Bruce Gordon, 26.7. Stock - 1) Sean Costin, 20 sec. (first place overall); 2) Robert Palmer, Walled Lake, Volae high racer, 23.2. Junior - 1) Jonathan Costin, 44.3. Women - 1) Dora Cortez, 33.4; 2) Jane Hunn, North Manchester, Ind., Specialized Sequoia upright bike, 33.8. Tricycles - 1) Dennis Grelk, 24.6. 2) Jeff Hunn, 26.3. Dennis Grelk also had to make a run up the hill on his Surly Big Dummy cargo bike for the urban transportation contest, 27.1 sec.
Coast-down: Streamliners - 1) John Simon (first place overall); 2) Dennis Grelk. Superstreet - 1) Bill Hannon, 2) Jim Iwaskow. Superstock - 1) Bruce Gordon. Stock - 1) Sean Costin, 2) Dennis Grelk. Junior - 1) Jonathan Costin. Women - 1) Dora Cortez, 2) Ariel Young. Tricycles - 1) Dennis Grelk, 2) M. Jensen Didulo, London, Ont., homebuilt tilting trike.
Standing start kilometer: Streamliners - 1) Todd Reichert, 1:11.7 (first place overall), 2) Dennis Grelk, 1:14.9. Superstreet - 1) Bill Hannon, 1:24.8, 2) Mike Mowett, 1:32.1. Superstock - 1) Bruce Gordon, 1:44.7. Stock - 1) Sean Costin, 1:13 (class record), 2) Dennis Grelk, 1:19.9. Junior - 1) Jonathan Costin, 2:58.9. Women - 1) Dora Cortez, 1:45.03 (class record), 2) Ariel Young, 1:54.5. Tricycles - 1) Dennis Grelk, 1:24.97 (class record), 2) Jeff Hunn, 1:42.3.

SEAN COSTIN on his NoCom low racer won the stock class, which had the most entries (16). He also set the fastest time ever for the stock class (no streamlining added except for wheel covers) in the 200-foot sprints, 42.75 mph. Notice the lonnnnnnng chain.

SUNDAY
Flying start 200-foot sprints: Streamliners - 1) Todd Reichert, 47.02 mph (class record; previous record held by Rick Gritters, 45.9 mph ); 2) Alex Rankin, Univ. of Toronto, 43.6 mph. Amanda Chu of the Univ. of Toronto rode its streamliner 41.57 mph to become the fastest-ever female rider at Waterford. Superstreet - 1) Bill Hanon, 37.1 mph, 2) Tedd Wheeler, Reed City, Alleweder velomobile, 34.9 mph. Superstock - 1) Bruce Gordon, 32.4. Stock - 1) Sean Costin, 42.75 mph (class record), 2) Thom Ollinger, West Milton, Ohio, homebuilt low racer, 40.6 mph. Junior - 1) Jonathan Costin, 17.8 mph. Women - Dora Cortez, 40.95 mph (class record), 2) Ariel Young, 26 mph. Tricycles - 1) Dennis Grelk, 36.76 mph (class record), 2) Jeff Hunn, 30.8 mph.
Road race (twenty 1 km laps): 1) Streamliner - 1) Dennis Grelk, 27.8 mph average, 2) John Simon, 27.5 mph. Superstreet - 1) Bill Hannon, 24.8 mph (18 laps completed). Superstock - 1) Bruce Gordon, 20.6 mph (13 laps completed).
Road race (fifteen 1 km laps): Stock - 1) Sean Costin, 25.7 mph, 2) Dennis Grelk, 24.9 mph. Women - 1) Dora Cortez, 20.2 mph (12 laps completed), 2) Ariel Young, 17.8 mph (11 laps completed).
Tricycle road race (ten 1/3rd mile laps): 1) Dennis Grelk, 27.6 mph, 2) Jeff Hunn, 26.4 mph.
Thanks to Luke Gilbert, Bill Frey and Garrie Hill for doing timing; Terry Gerweck and Ann Roeske for score keeping; Terry for doing vehicle inspections; Mike Mowett for compiling the results; Paul Pancella for running the urban transportation contest; and John Simon, Chris and Dora Cortez, Jeff and Jane Hunn, Tedd Wheeler, Brian Stevens, Dennis Grelk, Bruce Gordon, Jim Iwaskow, Wally Kiehler and many others for assisting in running the events.

ON SUNDAY MORNING, before the racing started, members of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and University of Toronto human powered vehicle teams were talking HPV technology, of course. This is the Rose-Hulman streamliner that's being dissected.

HERE'S THE Rose-Hulman streamliner. I (Mike E.) think the photo was taken during the one-hour time trial, which would mean the rider is Daniel Sing. He was one of four team members to race the streamliner during various events.

VICTOR RAGUSILA, University of Toronto HPV team leader, on the team's front-wheel-drive low racer.

Terry Gerweck's new recumbent

2010-06-24T23:26:00.025-04:00

TERRY GERWECK intended his new recumbent as an around-town errand runner. He's shown here at the Michigan HPV Rally. He is a co-founder of the MHPVA.

Terry Gerweck of Monroe built his first recumbent about 30 years ago and several since then, but hadn't built anything in recent years, but has now made up for the deficit. He had his latest recumbent in unfinished form at the MHPVA winter meeting in February. Except for a few refinements, it's now done. He had it at the Michigan HPV Rally June 12-13, where these photos were taken.
Here's Terry's description:
The bike was designed (I dislike that term) as a 'round town errand runner with a reasonably upright seating position and as short a wheelbase as possible on a long wheelbase recumbent with a 20-inch front and 26-inch rear wheel.

I wanted to get away from tiller steering to simplify mounting of a small fairing eventually. Besides, I like the way remote steering feels.
The bike should accommodate inseams from 28 to 32 inches. Seat height is 23 inches and wheelbase is 64 inches.
It is truly a recycled bike, with frame parts from five or six bikes, home furniture, and commercial store fixtures. Seat parts include used seat parts and assorted wheelchair parts. (Editor: The seat bottom is from a used Sun EZ-1 recumbent. Terry made the seat back.) Drive and other components are from the assorted collection of accumulated parts in my garage.
The crankset, a Campagnolo Record triple, is worth more than the rest of bike. Pedals also are Campagnolo.
Paintings was done using rattle/spray cans. The color scheme just happened. The stem I used was already green, so I picked out a can of matching gloss engine enamel from AutoZone for the accents. The rest of the frame was covered with satin black Rustoleum. Satin covers a whole host of "less than perfect" preparations and still has a serviceable finish that a flat paint lacks.

TERRY PREFERS this remote steering, using universal joints, over a conventional handlebars/stem arrangement, which can result in a "tiller" effect.

Dan Lonowski's Quadster HPV

2010-06-22T22:51:00.015-04:00

DAN AND BRENDA LONOWSKI on their Quadster top the hill during the hill climb-coast down portion of the Urban Transportation Contest on June 12. (Mike Eliasohn photos)

Dan and Brenda Lonowski of Novi participated in the Urban Transportation Contest on their Quadster HPV, which Dan designed and built. Construction started in July 2009 and he finished in December. "I've had the idea for probably 10 years," he said.
There are two separate 21-speed (3x7) drivetrains, one for each rider. The rider on the left does the steering and braking. Both pedal independently at their own cadence.

Dan welded the frame from 1- by 1-1/2 inch 16 gauge mild steel tubing. With its long wheelbase, the frame flexes slightly to provide passive suspension. Front wheels are 20x1-3/4; rears are 700c. There's an Avid disk brake for each rear wheel.
Dan also made the rear wheel hubs. Each short rear axle is supported by two pillow bearings.
He plans to replace the seats shown with mesh seats. Position of each seat is adjustable to accomodate various sized riders.
Some dimensions: Weight, 73 lbs. (33.2kg) ; wheelbase, 68 in. (1725mm); width, 47.2 in. (1200mm); length, 92 in. (2330mm).
Dan and Brenda have undertaken 10- to 20-mile rides on the Quadster, including some on unpaved trails.
Dan says the Quadster is another aspect of human-powered vehicles -- for utility and recreation, rather than speed. He said some day there might be a market for such vehicles, starting with bicycle rentals in tourism areas and pedestrian communities.

Urban transportation contest - June 12, 2010

2010-06-20T21:36:00.017-04:00

Former MHPVA President WALLY KIEHLER, shown here during one of the Sunday morning road races, won the urban transportation contest Saturday on his carbon fiber Lightning R-84. (Mike Eliasohn photo)

By Paul Pancella, UTC organizer

This year, six vehicles were entered in the urban transportation contest at the Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Rally. Despite this small sample, there was great variety among the vehicles and competitors, including veterans and first-time participants. All seemed to have fun with the event, taking on the various tasks with the proper attitude.
Contestants, vehicle numbers, their vehicles, and their final scores were:

1) Wally Kiehler (345), Grosse Pointe Woods, Lightning R-84 carbon fiber short wheelbase recumbent, 69.4 points.
2) Dennis Grelk (820), Donnellson, Iowa, Surly Big Dummy upright cargo bike, 68.9.
3) Daniel Sing (12), Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Ind., partially faired leaning recumbent trike, 51.4.
4) Dan and Brenda Lonowski (816), Novi, homebuilt Quadster HPV side-by-side quadricycle, 49.2.
5) Jim Iwaskow (110), Richmond Hill, Ontario, WAW velomobile, 47.6.
6) Miguel Jensen Didulo (967), London, Ontario, homebuilt recumbent leaning trike, 40.7.

It was a close finish between Dennis and Wally, both veterans of past UTC events. Wally won with a score close to what he earned in previous years riding a different Lightning bike, while the powerful Grelk improved considerably over his score in 2008, using a similar upright bike.
Wally's carbon fiber R-84 scored much better on weight (27 lbs vs. the Surly's 57) and aerodynamics, of course, while vision, visibility, and a small passenger bonus allowed the cargo bike to make up most of the difference. These two competitors also had the best times in the simulated grocery run, which helped separate them from the rest of the field. The top two finishers each received a modest cash prize.
Grocery abuse was unfortunately widespread this year, which caused three of the four other competitors to fall off the lead. Multiple items were actually ejected from one vehicle during its exit from the slalom part of the course.
It was very unusual to have two leaning tricycles in the contest. These vehicles demonstrated the two shortest braking distances, but in each case their relatively low rider position decreased their scores. A high ratio of vehicle to operator weight and rather large turn radius hurt the Rose-Hulman entry, while Jensen's trike was not well adapted for carrying groceries. The long time required to repack the grocery items (only a single bag’s worth) caused his entry to post the lowest score in the grocery run.
The Lonowski side-by-side quadricycle was competitive, despite its large size and weight. It performed very poorly on the coast down test, which might have been due to a correctible mechanical problem. Its braking was excellent, stopping only a foot and a half farther than the best vehicle this year, at the end of a pretty fast grocery run.
The velomobile entered by Jim Iwaskow could have ranked higher if it had lights, but its turning radius was huge. While it may be a nice feature, I do not award points specifically for the fact that a cigarette stays lit within the WAW fairing while underway, and the small bonus for carrying a pencil was not enough to overtake fourth place.
I want to thank all of the contestants for their enthusiastic participation, the MHPVA for its support, and especially Rick Wianecki for helping to run the grocery errand part of the event. Even with a late start we were able to run all six contestants and finish before the start of the kilometer runs.

DANIEL SING rode the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology entry to third place. The rear axle assembly, which enables the machine to lean when cornering, can easily be replaced with a single rear wheel. Cargo capability was built in behind the seat. (Paul Pancella photo)

26th Michigan HPV Rally - June 12-13, 2010

2010-05-05T10:55:00.024-04:00

2008 rally photo by Jeff Hunn

The 26th annual Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Rally will be June 12-13, 2010, at the Waterford Hills sports car racing track on the Oakland County Sportsmen's Club grounds in Clarkston, near Pontiac.
The oldest such event in North America is open to riders of all human powered vehicles -- recumbents, regular bicycles and tandems. There are classes for streamlined, unstreamlined cycles, tandems, women, youth and tricycles. The rally is conducted using Human Powered Race - America rules (www.recumbents.com/hpra/rulesand.htm). Note: HPRA rules require all vehicles to have mirror/mirrors enabling rear vision to both sides.
The track is 1.4 miles around, with nine turns and one hill.

ENTRY FEES: One day only, $30; both days, $40 (includes MHPVA membership). Test ride pass, $5. Spectators free. (Even if you have no interest in racing, come and see some unusual and some very fast bicycles and tricycles.)

SATURDAY, June 12, 2010

9 a.m. - One hour time trials.
Lunch break. (Bring your own food or eat at a nearby restaurant.)
After lunch - Hill climb/coast down, 1-kilometer standing start sprint, urban transportation contest (see article below).
6 p.m. - Steak and pasta dinner/barbeque at Oakland County Sportsmen's Club lodge, $12.

SUNDAY

9 a.m. - Top speed runs, then short track road races (no hill).
Awards ceremony tentatively by 1 p.m.

The event address is 4770 Waterford Road, Clarkston, MI 48346. For a track map visit http://www.waterfordhills.com/info/facilitymap07.pdf

Overnight camping at the track is allowed (no charge) with shower facilities available.

For additional information, contact: Mike Mowett, 586-863-3902 or mowett@aol.com, or Mike Eliasohn, 269-982-4058 or mikethebike@acd.net.

TO GET TO THE RALLY
From I-75, get off at exit 91. Take M-15 south to Dixie Hwy. (US-24). Turn left, continuing south about 1 mile and turn
left onto Waterford Road, then proceed to track.
If coming from the west, take U.S. 23 north (or south) to M-59 (Highland Road). Go east on M-59 to Airport Road, then left
(north) to US-24. Turn left, then immediately right onto Waterford Road. Go about a half-mile to track.

PLACES TO STAY ON YOUR WAY TO MICHIGAN HPV RALLY. Calling in advance to make a reservation is suggested.

MOTELS (with approximate distances/direction from Waterford Hills track)

Clarkston -- Clarkston Motor Inn, 6853 Dixie Hwy. (US-10), 248-625-1522, 12 rooms, 2 miles northeast.

Hartland -- Best Western of Hartland, 10087 M-59 at US-23, 810-632-7177, 61 rooms. About 18 miles west.

Waterford -- Comfort Inn of Waterford, 7076 Highland Road (M-59), 248-666-8555, 111 rooms. About 3 miles southwest.

Waterford -- Waterford Motel, 2201 Dixie Hwy. at Telegraph Road, 248-338-4061, 50 rooms. About 6 miles southeast.

Waterford – Holiday Inn Express, 4350 Pontiac Lake Road, 248-674-3434, 83 rooms. About 7 miles southwest..

Whitmore Lake -- Best Western of Whitmore Lake, 9897 Main St. (off US-23, exit 53), 734-449-2058, 61 rooms. About 33 miles southwest.

CAMPING

Free camping available overnight Friday and Saturday at the Waterford Hills track, starting at 6 p.m. Friday. Restrooms, showers available and possibly electrical hookups.

STATE CAMPGROUNDS (www.michigan.gov/dnre, then click on "outdoor recreation," then on "state parks and camping."

Highland Recreation Area, 5200 E. Highland Road (M-59), White Lake, 248-889-3750. Two miles east of Highland,

Holly Recreation Area, 8100 Grange Hall Road, Holly, 248-634-8811. Five miles east of Holly.

Ortonville Recreation Area, 5779 Hadley Road, Ortonville, 810-797-4439. Four miles northeast of Ortonville.

Pontiac Lake Recreation Area, 7800 Gale Road, 248-666-1020. Closest to Waterford Hills track, about 4 miles west.

PRIVATE CAMPGROUNDS

Flint/Holly KOA, 7072 E. Grange Hall Road, 248-634-0803, www.koa.com. About 12 miles northwest of Waterford (I-75, exit 101). RV and tent camping, cabins.

URBAN TRANSPORTATION CONTEST

By Paul Pancella, coordinator

Starting in 2001, the Michigan HPV Rally has included the Urban Transportation Contest (UTC), which again this year will be conducted on Saturday afternoon.
The UTC is designed to test vehicles, de-emphasizing rider skills and athleticism. The intent is to judge the best human-powered vehicles for moving people around town on their errands and commutes, on paved roads, in all weather conditions, mixing it up with other kinds of traffic, and carrying light cargo.
This contest is open to all competitors entered at the rally, at no extra charge. The results will not be included in the HPRA points series, but there will be prizes for the top finishers. Vehicles will have to pass the same technical requirements as for the rest of the rally, with the exception that rearview mirrors will earn points, but are not a requirement for UTC participation. UTC vehicles must have more than one wheel. (Editor: A requirement after a rider finished second in 2006 on a unicycle.)
The UTC will run at the same time as the hill climb/coast down event. Since only a few vehicles can be judged at a time, you may do the hill before or after your turn in the UTC. The score from the coast-down will be part of the UTC scoring, as a way to judge aerodynamics. You can use the same vehicle that you race during the rest of the rally or you can enter a different vehicle, since scoring will be independent of the rest of the rally. Some vehicles that people race are appropriate for street riding, others are not.
     To compete in the UTC, register on Saturday morning like everyone else. There will be additional paperwork to fill out for the UTC. If you enter a separate vehicle in the UTC, get a vehicle number from me, then be sure to run it in the hill climb/coast down, in addition to your racing vehicle. I need to have your UTC forms by about 11 a.m. The contest will start when I get back from lunch.
Points will be awarded more or less equally in three areas:
Utility -- The basic ability to do the job, and do it efficiently.
Safety -- Mostly of the operator, but including security against theft.
Convenience -- The ideal urban vehicle is fun and easy to use. Here I will include items that affect operator comfort, as well as vehicle storage capacity.
On the UTC form, you must record your largest and smallest useable gear ratios, preferably in gear-inches. If you don’t know these, you will have to count sprocket teeth. If you have a standard derailleur system, I need the number of teeth on the largest and smallest chainrings on the front and sprockets on the back, along with your drive wheel diameter, and any step-ups or step-downs in gearing in between.
The rest of the judging occurs at three stations, which can be done in any order. Contestants should keep their own scoring sheets with them until all tasks are completed, then turn them in to me.
One station, as mentioned, is the hill-climb/coast-down. If using the same vehicle for the UTC as for the rest of the events, you only need to run this once. You can then make changes to your vehicle if necessary for the UTC. I will only use the coast-down distance for the UTC score, not the hill climb time.
     The second station will be static testing. The vehicle and operator will be weighed and measured. We will evaluate daytime visibility and lighting system. Reflectors and bright colors are good and bright lights will earn points. Weather protection and rider comfort will be evaluated. We will check for tools, spares and anti-theft devices.
     The third station will consist of some dynamic tests. The turning radius --the smaller the better -- will be measured by operator demonstration. Each contestant will be allowed up to three attempts to make the tightest possible turn without a foot touching down, at any speed, but in a reasonable overall time.
     This will be followed by a short, timed slalom course in the parking lot, where the timing starts with the operator at some distance from the vehicle, choosing zero, one, or two bags of dummy groceries. The groceries are loaded, the driver mounts, and starts the course. Groceries can't be hung from handlebars; they must be secured to the vehicle or rider.
     The clock stops at the finish line, but the rider must then apply the brakes, attempting to stop as quickly as possible while maintaining control. Points are awarded for faster times completing the course and for shorter braking distances. Fifteen seconds of time is subtracted for each bag carried. Penalties will be assessed for dropping or abusing groceries, hitting cones, falling off the bike, etc.
Here is a more specific account of how points are awarded:
     1) Coast-down -- Ten points to the vehicle which coasts the farthest, fewer points for the rest.
     2) Weight -- vehicle weight divided by rider weight. 10% or less gets 10 points, one fewer point for every 4% greater than 10%.
     3) Rider vision -- one point awarded for every 6 inches of eyeball height starting with zero at 24 inches off the ground. Subtract one or two points for minor or major obstructions/restrictions to forward vision. Add a point for a functional rear-view mirror, another if there is more than one.
     4) Daytime visibility-- measure highest point on vehicle/rider (may include helmet or flag). Award a point for every 8 inches above 30 inches. Bonus point for substantial area of bright color (vehicle, not clothing), another for kinetic device such as flag or spinner in clear view.
     5) Nighttime visibility -- one point for any headlight, two if it is brighter than my flashlight. One additional point for basic taillight, another if it is large and/or bright. One point for rear-facing reflector(s) of sufficient size, another for good reflectors facing all sides.
     6) Size -- smaller is better. Multiply overall length by width at widest point (may be the operator) in inches. Six points for 1,000 or less, subtract a point for every 500 square inches larger than 1,000.
     7) Weather protection -- if rider is protected from wheel splash, one point for front, another for the rear. Another one, two or three points for fairings; partial front, full top with head out, fully enclosed respectively.
     8) Other comfort factors -- start with three points. Deduct one if seat lacks a back rest or two points if the seat is small and hard. Subtract another point if weight is borne by hands/arms, or if seat is extremely laid back with no head rest. Add a point for single wheel suspension or two for full suspension. (Front and rear Pantour suspension hubs earn only one point combined.)
     9) Gear ratio for hauling and hills -- determine lowest useable gear ratio in gear-inches. Five points if less than or equal to 10 gear-inches. One fewer point for every 5 gear-inches greater.
     10) Tools/spares/lock -- one point for spare inner tubes (all required sizes) if accompanied by a means to inflate. Another point for a patch kit. One point if carrying a few tools, another for complete kit. One point for some kind of lock, another for excellent lock or clever anti-theft device.
     11) Turning radius -- one point for every 30 inches less than 350-inch diameter turning circle
     12) Grocery slalom run. Total elapsed time from accepting groceries some distance from parked bike to crossing finish line (thus including packing and securing cargo, mounting vehicle and starting). Subtract 15 seconds for each bag carried. Add 10 seconds for each course violation or abuse of groceries. A point is earned for every 5 seconds that the adjusted time is below 110 seconds.
     13) Braking distance -- measure from finish line to farthest point on vehicle when stopped. Award one point for every 3 feet less than 32 feet. Penalties for lack of control may be assessed.
Passenger Bonus: 5 extra points for each adult after one, 3 for each child which can be carried safely.
Judges reserve the right to make adjustments as deemed necessary due to unforeseen circumstances, but we will try to keep the contest fair and fun. This has worked pretty well in the past, so I hope you will give it a try.

Dave Moller's latest wood wonder

2010-05-02T19:35:00.012-04:00

DAVE MOELLER stands with his latest creation, Dragonwood, at the Michigan FreakBike Militia exhibit at the Ann Arbor Bicycle Show April 25, 2010. (Mike Eliasohn photo)

David Moeller and his creations have been shown in this blog previously. Here's his latest and his description:

I call it Dragonwood and it's made of laminated ash and walnut, including the seat, handlebars and grips. It's 8-1/2 feet long. A four-speed hub "transmission" is under the seat. There's dual disk brakes in the rear; no front brake. The front wheel is 20-inch. The rear wheels use handmade rear hub, with the axle running in four pillow block bearings.
I will mount an electric hub motor on the front. There is room behind the seat for batteries. From start to finish, building Dragonwood took about 6 months.
(Editor's note: Dave wrote an article about the construction of Dragonwood for the Atomic Zombie June newsletter. There's also several construction photos. Go to www.atomiczombie.com, click on "news and blog," then under "Atomic Zombie news" click on "June 2010.")

The other articles by/about Dave on this blog are dated March 5, 2008; Dec. 14, 2008; and March 30, 2009.
Dave, who lives in Linden, near Flint, was the "Meet an AZ Krew member" featured in the April issue of the Atomic Zombie online newsletter (www.atomiczombie.com).
He's hoping to bring Dragonwood to the Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Rally June 12-13, to show, not to race. The other Dragonwood photos were taken by Dave.

Ann Arbor Bicycle Show

2010-05-01T21:08:00.014-04:00

LOOKING FOR A BIKE? Except for recumbents, there's lots to choose from at the Ann Arbor Bicycle Show. Some vendors, especially those with lots of bikes to sell, set up outdoors. Others rent an inside space.

Article and photos by Mike Eliasohn

If the only kind of bicycles you're interested in are recumbents, then the Ann Arbor Bicycle Show and Swap Meet, held on the final Sunday each April on the Washtenaw County fairgrounds between Ann Arbor and Saline, probably isn't for you.
But if you like bicycles in general, then the show is a fun time. You can spend hours looking at the thousands of bikes. I did at the April 25 show.
There is a judging for bikes, held in one building, but most of the event consists of vendors selling used bikes and parts and collectors looking for that "certain something" to add to their collection or parts so they can finish their latest project. Most of the bikes being sold are in need of restoration, but some are in rideable condition and some have been restored.
Most of the bikes for sale are old balloon tire bombers from the 1930s-60s, because those are most collectible, but there's also Schwinn Stingrays (also very collectible) and similar bikes, plus some nice 10-speeds, older mountain bike, and a few 3-speeds. (For some reason, it doesn't seem like many people collect 3-speeds, mostly British.)
There are bargains to be had. A collector I know bought a 1939 Dayton balloon tire bomber for $300. He had seen another such Dayton on eBay for $900. And I crossed paths with a fellow carrying a made-in-Britain Bob Jackson frame and fork, made of Reynolds 531 tubing, for $50. There were some slight dents in the top tube, but the frame was still useable as-is. He was planning to build it into a commuter bike.

THIS 1937 ELGIN originally sold for $36.95. At the Ann Arbor Bicycle Show, the price was $2,500, which is in line with current price guides.

If a recumbent builder is looking for diamond frames to cut up to use in building a recumbent, there's lot of raw material available. Not all the bikes for sale are too valuable to cut up to make into something else. (But please don't cut up a Bob Jackson frame.)
I did see 2-1/2 recumbents at this year's show, a short wheelbase ATP Vision with under-the-seat steering, for sale for $450; a long wheelbase Rans Stratus, waiting to be sold at the noon auction; and a tandem, I think made in Europe, with the front rider in a recumbent position and the rear rider upright.
The Ann Arbor show is one of the largest, and maybe the largest, such event in the country. In addition to being a show and sale, of course, it's also a gathering for people interested in old bikes. (Birds of a feather flock together.)
The 2011 show, the 31st annual, will be on April 24. Hours, unless they change, are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Web site is ww.ann-arbor-bicycleshow.com

THIS CICLI AQUILA was made in Italy about 1969, according to the owner. It has a deraileur and a four-sprocket freewheel. If it was for sale, I forgot to write that down and the price. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I thought it was gorgeous bike.

MHPVA annual meeting - Feb. 27, 2010

2010-03-20T21:50:00.025-04:00

ALAMGIR CHOUDHURY, Western Michigan University Dept. of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering associate professor and Chainless Challenge team faculty adviser, made a presentation at the MHPVA meeting on the team's efforts. The Chainless Challenge is sponsored by Parker Hannifin, a maker of motion and control systems. WMU has entered the competition for college engineering students four times. The WMU team won first overall and reliability in 2007 and first in reliability and second overall in 2008. Dr. Choudhury stands with the team's two entries - a modified Catrike and a Surly - built for the 2009 competition, which was canceled. The Chainless Challenge is/was limited to hydraulic drive systems, which are not as efficient as conventional chain drive, Choudhury said, but they can store energy to use as needed. He said for maximum efficiency, it will be necessary to use hydraulic components made specifically for bicycle drive systems, rather than the industrial components used so far. (For more information, do an Internet search of "Western Michigan University Chainless Challenge."

By MIKE MOWETT, MHPVA president
Photos and editing by Mike Eliasohn

Approximately 25 people attended the MHPVA annual meeting Feb. 27, 2010, in the engineering building on the Western Michigan University Parkview Campus in Kalamazoo. This was the first time since the first annual meeting in 1984 that the meeting has been held farther west than Jackson and East Lansing.
Board members elected were: President, Mike Mike Mowett, St. Clair Shores; vice president, Mike Eliasohn, St. Joseph; secretary, Paul Pancella, Kalamazoo; treasurer, Bill Frey, Grosse Pointe Farms; and at-large, Don Smith, Chesterfield, and Terry Gerweck, Monroe. Terry was the only person newly elected, replacing Paul Bruneau of Portage. Not that Terry is really new; he and Mike Eliasohn organized the first two Midwest HPV Rallies in 1983 and 1984 in Monroe that led to creation of the MHPVA.
The 26th annual Michigan HPV Rally will be Saturday and Sunday, June 12-13, at the Waterford Hills sports car racing track in in Clarkston, the site since 1986.
Mike Mowett described potential events, but there wasn't time to vote on which ones will take place. So probably we will run the same events as in the past:
Saturday – One-hour time trials, hill climb/coast-down, standing start kilometer runs.
Sunday: 200-foot sprints (top speed runs), 20-lap road races (about 12.5 miles) on a course that bypasses the hill, tricycle race.
Presumably Paul Pancella will again run the urban transportation contest on Saturday.

RICK WIANECKI (left) of Okemos showed his homebuilt hybrid electric-pedal tricycle, which combines a Rohloff 14-speed hub and electric drive. There's suspension on all three wheels and a fairing is under construction. At right is Mike Mowett. For more, especially on the fairing construction, go to www.recumbents.com, then click on "forums," then "velomobile 6."

Other events considered included a race with a LeMans start (riders run to their vehicles), a slow race and last man out race
"We also thought of an idea where the first five laps of the one-hour TT could be looked at as sort of a mini-time trial,"Mike wrote. "The AMB computer with the transponders can give you lap-by-lap times making it easy to get this info out. I iscussed this with Bill (Frey) on the ride over. The local upright (bicycle racing) guys who train twice a week at Waterford do a five-lap time trial every three weeks to gauge their fitness. Last year, they had more than 60 riders do this, and all together there's been something like 250 riders do this in the past eight years.
"I've compared this data to the fastest times guys like (HPV racer) Dennis Grelk (from Iowa) have done on their first five laps of their one hour. Dennis would be third overall compared to all these (upright) riders. And remember, that was only the first five laps of his longer one-hour.
" I hope to get some of these fast upright riders out (to the HPV Rally). One of them is a state Masters champion, who's been to nationals several times. I competed in their time trials twice last year. They also let me ride my recumbent around with them on another occasion."

TEDD WHEELER of Reed City showed his Rick Gritters-built No. 11. (For details, see article below.) Tedd was on his way home to Reed City, north of Grand Rapids, from Florida, and had started that morning in Kentucky. He rode his new bike about 300 miles in Florida, including participating in the HPV races Feb. 20-21 in Canyon City. "Every time I get on it, I like it more," he said. Despite the crank being at the end of long boom, "I can detect no flex."

The only questions asked about the racing were:
1) Explanation of any changes in Human Powered Race - America rules for this year. Rick Wianecki and Mike M. attended the HPRA meeting and Rick explained, "There will be no class jumping allowed this year. Whatever vehicle you have can only race for HPRA points in the class that it is in. Also, if there are two separate races for say streamliner and superstreet in race No. 1 and all others in race No. 2, then a stock class bike cannot race in the streamliner/superstreet race."
There was some concern about fast stock class guys upgrading to get streamliner points and/or being a hazard to the streamliners on the course. The streamliner guys somethings can't see a lowracer on the course.
2) There will continue to be trike-only races. This is a growing field. We'll have to go over the details of the trike course at Waterford again. On the Sunday we had the race in 2008, some cars were parked in the infield too close to the course, so we changed the course at the last minute. Maybe this year, we'll have to rope parts of it off beforehand.
We will have to follow up on plans for a barbeque dinner Saturday night at the Waterford Hills lodge, which we did at the 2008 rally.
Three HPVers attended the meeting from the Chicago area, Chris Cortez, Ed Gin and Gary Toy.

JOHN FOLTZ of Haslett showed his M5 Carbon High Racer (made in the Netherlands), which he purchased last year. Both wheels are 700c and it weighs 23-24 pounds. He went from triple chainrings to double and installed a TerraCycle tilt stem, which added a half-pound. He said it's the best handling recumbent he owns.

TERRY GERWECK of Monroe showed his project-in-progress. (This is a photo taken by Terry prior to the meeting, by which time he had fitted a temporary seat.) The frame includes pieces from four bicycles, a day bed and a store rack.

John Morciglio's latest carbon fiber wonder

2010-02-08T11:18:00.010-05:00

Here's the latest carbon fiber creation from John Morciglio of Waterford, who started building it prior to the Michigan Human Powered Speed Challenge in July 2009.
Then the customer lost his job, so John returned his deposit and worked on the bike when he had extra time, so only finished it recently.
“Hammerhead” is front-wheel-drive and steering, with the bottom bracket moving back and forth as the wheel moves. “So far I like the format, but need more seat time to see if I will race this bike, sell it or keep for hilly rides,” John wrote. “It is very strange to have the feet connected to the steering.”
The geometry is geared toward climbing, with a high seat angle and low bottom bracket.
Some specifications: Wheelbase, 44.5 in.; seat height, 20 in.; bottom bracket height, 19.5 in.; weight with wheel covers, platform pedals, and tailcone brackets, 21 pounds, 2 oz.
For now, there's no front deraileur, so the only gearing is the nine-speed cassette, but John plans to add a front deraileur “when I get a chance.”
Here's what John posted about his bike on the bentrideronline.com homebuilders discussion group site:
“I finally got to try out my Hammerhead.
It CAN be hammered!
The pedal torque is minimal. This is a surprise, but a good one.
Had two short rides so far. First one, about 1 hour. Went better than I expected. It took a lot longer to learn to ride the Fujin (first bent). So being able to keep it up and turn on the first try was re-assuring.
I think putting it on the rollers reduced the learning curve.
Steering feels strange. Having input from the feet will take some getting used to.
I could make tight turns on day one. Didn't think I could pedal through the turns due to crank length changing, but this does not seem to be an issue.
The only way I can ride it no-handed now is with my feet off the pedals.
It will take some time to learn to steer with the feet.
(It) Feels like it pulls left or right, with left or right foot forward.
To see some of John's earlier carbon fiber creations, scroll down to the Michigan HP Speed Challenge report, posted Aug. 13, 2009; Bryant Tucker 100, July 5; and MHPVA annual meeting report, Feb. 21, 2009.
Morciglio makes custom carbon fiber bikes (recumbents and uprights) and other products for customers. For more information, go to www.thundervoltman.com or call 248-499-9915.

Tedd Wheeler's new race bike

2010-02-05T22:28:00.006-05:00

Tedd Wheeler of Reed City, north of Grand Rapids, who has been a regular competitor at Human Powered Race America events the past few years, will be competing this year on a new machine, Gritters No. 11, replacing (mostly) his Easy Racers Javelin.
Builder and fellow racer Rick Gritters of Pella, Iowa, finished Tedd's new bike on Dec. 24 and Tedd plans to race it for the first time at the HPRA Florida Challenge Feb. 20-21 in Canyon City.
The main frame tubes are 1.75 inch chromoly, with the rear chain stays 1.25 x .049. The rear dropouts are 3/16 inch. The front fork is 4130 streamlined tubing, .035 thick, with a 1-inch threaded steerer tube.
Here's some specifications: Wheels/tires, Schwalbe Kojak 20x1.35 rear/16x1.25 front; wheelbase, 45 in.; weight, 26.5 pounds; seat height, 8 inches; bottom bracket height, 15 inches.
Dennis Grelk, another HPV builder/racer from Iowa, machined the 72 tooth chainring. The nine-speed cassette has 11-32 teeth, giving a gear range of 45-131.

An electric car project

2010-01-09T22:11:00.013-05:00

Editor's note: Paul Pancella's electric car isn't human powered, but since he and Rick Wianecki are active members of the MHPVA and many HPVers are gearheads, I thought this article would be of interest.

MY ELECTRIC CAR CONVERSION PROJECT
By Paul Pancella, Kalamazoo

Our editor, Mike Eliasohn, asked me to describe a recent non-HPV project of mine for this blog, and I am happy to oblige. I hope some of you will find this interesting, and there are some connections with the HPV world.

In early 2007 I found myself with a golden opportunity. My 1992 Honda Civic hatchback motorcar, with 192,000 miles on it, was dying. What, that doesn’t sound like a good thing? Well the only problem was in the engine, and it wasn’t worth repairing.

Still not following? For a long time now I’ve wanted a street-legal electric car. The big carmakers keep promising, but mass production is always a few years away. I had learned that many hobbyists, tired of waiting for a commercial product, have been converting gasoline burners to battery electric cars for some time, and have built up a considerable knowledge base online (with pictures! See www.evalbum.com

Since my little Honda was already a second car in my small household, the limitations of electric vehicles should not be a problem. It should be possible for us to use even less fossil fuel by replacing short trips in our Prius with an EV around town. I could even drive it to work when I had too much cargo for my recumbent, or when weather or road conditions were awful.

Turns out early 1990’s Civics are nearly optimum for this conversion. They were already very efficient, getting hybrid-like gas mileage in part because of their light weight and good aerodynamics. (This may be why two of the first HPV guys I ever met, Bryant “Bad Cat” Tucker and Bill Murphy, drove this same car; we all appreciated efficiency.) If you want to convert a gas car to electric, your range between rechargings is mainly determined by how many batteries you can stuff into it. Batteries are heavy, so you definitely want to start with a light car.

Although a 15-year-old Civic with a bad engine is nearly worthless on the open market, my car had several other features which made it an attractive platform for electric drive: Manual transmission. No air conditioning or power steering to steal drive power. (A white car in Michigan hardly ever needs air conditioning.) No power windows, door locks, etc., means relatively low load on the existing electrical system. Many were manufactured, and they last, so spare parts are plentiful. Driver’s side airbag.
Rest of the structure and systems were all sound; I knew this car’s history.

The only problems (besides convincing my wife we should spend a bunch of money on this project) were finding a place to do it and getting some people who knew about cars to help me.

It took a while, but I eventually concluded that I could do it in my own two-car garage if I had enough help. And when I got Rick Wianecki, a real craftsman and experienced car (and HPV) project guy, interested enough to help, it was time to start. That was the summer of 2008. I finished the design, ordered most of the items with long delivery times, and we started tearing my car apart in mid-July, with the deadline that it had to be moveable again before the first snowfall (so we could get the shiny Prius back in the garage).

HERE IS THE CAR up on jackstands in my garage at the start of the project. Hood and front wheels are off, and we are getting ready to pull the engine.

I couldn’t have met that deadline without the help of Rick and a bunch of other guys around here. Since I know very little about cars in a practical sense, I especially needed help removing stuff correctly. The electric drive system is very simple compared to all the things you need to run an internal combustion engine. So you start by taking out a whole lot of dirty junk: engine, radiator, air intake, exhaust system, fuel tank, hoses, wires and tubes. In my case, I also removed the clutch, its pedal and hydraulics, but kept the original 5-speed transmission.

HERE'S RICK attaching the new electric motor to the old transmission. That motor sure looks small, but it should have enough power for me to keep up with city traffic, if I can give it enough volts and amps.

In common with HPVs, the severely limited power available forces one to design for efficiency. Fortunately, a modern electric motor can convert over 90% of the power stored in a battery to useful motion, whereas a similar figure for internal combustion is less than 25%. Other choices are determined by available financial resources. The most expensive part of a conversion is usually that big pile of batteries. Very useful conversions have been done by amateurs for less than $10,000. These all use lead acid batteries, the same chemistry used in ordinary car batteries. There is a lot going on in the world of storage batteries, and I could write several pages on the various options, but I’ll try to keep it brief.

Lead acid batteries have pros and cons for powering vehicles. They are the least expensive option, with a lot of built-up experience. However, they are extremely heavy and must be replaced every few years if you really use them. (In a car like mine, it takes about 30 pounds of lead acid battery for every mile of range.) Lithium-based batteries can store a lot more energy per mass, but are much more expensive and only now becoming available in large formats. In between lies nickel-metal hydride (NiMH), the same battery chemistry now used (in small quantities) in gas-electric hybrid cars. NiMH has proven longevity in cars, has almost double the storage capacity per mass that lead acid has, and "on paper" should last three times as long. It’s really hard to obtain large NiMH batteries, but when I lucked onto a source, I went for it. Instead of 1,200 pounds of batteries, I could have a 500-pound pack that theoretically would give me 35 miles of range at city-type speeds. Theoretical lifetime was triple that of good lead acid batteries, albeit at almost triple the price.

HERE IS WHAT the batteries look like. They are built as nominally 12V modules. Five of these modules, wired in series, are seen here in the spare tire well at the rear of my car. Seven more plus a partial battery were placed up front under the hood. My conversion maintains the original seats and most of the cargo space.

I also drove up the cost by specifying a non-standard motor. My electric drive system is DC, with a nominal battery voltage of 150V. Most converters don’t bother with regenerative braking because it is very difficult to do with DC systems and the most common motors, and the gains are small. However, I couldn’t bear wasting all that energy in heating the brakes, so I paid extra for a controller and motor combination that would be able to recover energy whenever the car needed to slow down (with the drive motor acting as a generator). The place where the clutch pedal used to be was a great spot for a new pedal to control regen.

With all that, the bill for parts, materials, and a few special tools came to a bit more than $15,000. Even if gas goes up to $5 per gallon, it will take a long time for the car to pay for itself in fuel saving alone (although the equivalent electricity is dirt cheap). But it was a very fun project, and I enjoy having a car that pollutes a lot less than even our Prius. One should also note that EVs generally require a lot less maintenance than gas-guzzlers. No oil changes, muffler, pipes, radiator, etc. The motor has one moving part!

If regen works, the brakes should last forever. Yes, it still uses fossil fuel, in that some of the electricity I use to charge my Civic comes from burning coal and natural gas, but the basic efficiency advantage means much less CO2 produced per mile traveled, and pollution controls at power plants are much better than on individual automobiles.

FROM THE OUTSIDE, the finished EV still looks like a normal car. Just a few aerodynamic modifications so far. Side grill openings at the front are covered; the one on the driver’s side hides the charging port. The right outside rearview mirror has been replaced by a camera and LCD screen to reduce drag. And since I don’t have to change the oil or the drain the radiator, there is a big coroplast sheet covering the bottom front half of the car.

The batteries have been a disappointment so far, however. They were not as robust as I thought, in terms of maximum power drain. This past March, in testing the range, I went over 30 miles on a charge, but that seems to have caused some damage. Most of this summer (2009) was spent replacing some modules and nursing others back to health, while learning how such damage appears and what to avoid.

Now I’m confident I can go 20 miles without damage, and probably more, (depending on speed and terrain, of course) but nowhere near the 35 miles I designed for. Even at that, there are still a lot of trips for which the EV will be useful, and they don’t all have to be round trips, since I can charge anywhere there is a standard outlet within 50 feet that has 20A service. After a 20 mile trip, I need less than 3.5 hours to recharge back to full. Since the charger tapers the current as the batteries get full, the amount of partial recharge is not a simple fraction of that time. Even an hour of charging allows me to go another 8 miles or so.

HERE IS THE VIEW under the hood, with the motor, transmission, and some of the batteries hidden from view. The long silver box at left is the controller, the electronic brain that takes input from the accelerator pedal to regulate how much current to send to the motor. The yellow top battery powers the old 12V system for lights, radio, wipers, etc. The silver box in the middle converts the 150V DC from the traction pack down to 13.5V DC to keep the yellow top charged (since there now is no alternator). The dark gray box at front right is the charger for the main battery pack, mounted on board so I can use regular AC house current to recharge anywhere. (I carry a 50 foot extension cord.) Those fat orange wires are 2/0 gauge welding cable, used to carry the main current, which can go as high as 300 amps. The “Electric Vehicle” graphic is on the front nose of the hood.

Lots more details and pictures can be found on my blog at http://www.michiganeaa.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=205&sid=8da247e39e5d719988e8fbf209797cef, and my EV album entry is at http://www.evalbum.com/2224 .

Michigan Recumbent Rally - West - Sept. 12, 2009

2009-10-07T22:59:00.022-04:00

The annual rally, organized by Paul Pancella, took place on the Western Michigan University Parkview Campus. (Photos by Mike Eliasohn and Paul.)

DON AND JODE TAYLOR of Hersey brought their homebuilt recumbents, "loosely based on the Meridian" design from the www.atomiczombie.com site, Don said. These were No. 1 and 2; Don was almost done with No. 4 as of when the rally was conducted.

THIS IS JODIE'S MERIDIAN, shorter than her taller husband's bike. The main frame tube is 1-1/2-inch; 18 gauge (.049 in.) on Jode's, 16 gauge (.065) on Don's. On the Meridian, the seat position is fixed; the bottom bracket position is adjustable to fit different-sized riders. Rear tires are a fat 26x2.1; fronts are 20 inch.

ONE CHANGE DON MADE to the Meridian design was addition of sprung seats for a comfortable ride. He taught himself how to weld and built his first bike during 2006-07. "I built jigs for everything." Jode sewed the upholstery.

TERRATRIKE of Kentwood (www.TerraTrike.com), also known as WizWheelz, brought some of its recumbent trikes for people to try. The smile on this woman's face was typical. (And no doubt the WizWheelz folks had smiles on their faces if some of the people who went for test rides ended up buying a TerraTrike.)

JOHN MATHIESON OF BREAKAWAY Bicycles and Fitness (shops in Kalamazoo, Grand Haven and Muskegon) bought several recumbents bikes and trikes (Sun and Bacchetta) for people to try. Here he helps a potential customer try a Bacchetta. (www.breakawaybicycles.com)

PAUL BRUNEAU tries David Middleton's CruzBike. CruzBikes, with front-wheel-drive and moving bottom bracket, are available as kits to convert a mountain bike, such as this one, or as complete bikes. (www.cruzbike.com)

UNFORTUNATELY WE DIDN'T GET the name of this gentleman, who brought his made-in-England Trice with fold-under (for transporting) rear suspension.

Michigan Human Powered Speed Challenge

2009-08-13T22:42:00.045-04:00

DOUG PERTNER of St. Claire Shores rode his Predator – an Optima Baron with homemade fairing – 100 miles in 4 hours, 3 minutes and 52 seconds, during the 6-hour event on Sunday. His average speed was 24.6 mph.

ARTICLE AND PHOTOS by MIKE ELIASOHN, MHPVA VICE PRESIDENT

The Michigan Human Powered Speed Challenge July 17-19 at the Ford Motor Co. Michigan Proving Grounds near Romeo was a big success. Several world records were set and more than 50 competitors came from the United States and Canada, of course, plus the Netherlands, France and Slovenia.
(The count, according to MHPVA treasurer Bill Frey was 54 riders and 50 HPVs, plus four Electrathon electric vehicles. Some riders rode more than one vehicle and some vehicles had more than one rider.)
Complete results, plus lots of photos and videos, are at www.recumbents.com, then under "Recumbent racing," click on "2009 Ford 1 hour challenge."
All competition was on the 5-mile oval at the proving grounds. World records set were:
DISTANCE IN ONE HOUR:
Women: Barbara Buatois, France - women: 51.1 miles on Friday in the Varna Tempest, then on Sunday, she broke her two-day-old record with 52.2 miles. She continued on for 100 km (62 miles) and set a record for the distance of 50.3 mph.
Men: Sam Whittingham on Sunday, 56.3 miles. He continued on for 100 km (62 miles) and set a record for the distance of 54.2 mph. Sam and Barbara rode the same Varna Tempest, designed and built by Georgi Georgiev. He and Sam are from British Columbia, Canada.
DISTANCE IN SIX HOURS (Sunday)- Women: Ellen Van Vugt, Netherlands, 187.1 miles. During the six hours, she also set a record of 35.6 mph for 100 miles. Men: Hans Wessels, Netherlands, 233.3 miles for six hours and 100 miles at 39.1 mph.
ARM POWER – During the mass start 1-hour race on Saturday, Greg Weslake from Canada set a record of 20.6 miles in his hand-cranked steamlined tricycle.
ELECTRATHON – Vehicles are powered by electric motors and limited to two car batteries totaling 67 pounds. C. Michael Lewis of Portland, Maine, set a record Sunday of 62.1 miles in an hour on Sunday, breaking the record he set last year of 58 miles. (Michael also did the artwork for the Speed Challenge T-shirts and other things.)

Some non-record performances of note:
Damjan Zabovnik of Slovenia in his head-first, feet-last Eivie streamliner (he sees through a mirror) lost his one-hour record to Sam Whittingham, but did have the top speed in the 200-meter sprints on Saturday, 66.2 mph. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing too fast for that to be a record. He was the only one of the world-class competitors to run in the sprints. Second fastest was Sean Costin of Arlington Heights, Ill., on his NoCom, 44 mph. Sean also had fast time for the standing start quarter-mile, 28.24 seconds, but the wind speed was high for that to be a record.
Rick Gritters of Pella, Iowa, in his homebuilt streamliner, won the one-hour mass start road race on Saturday at a speed of 39.5 mph.
Despite rain on Friday evening and on Saturday, we got all the scheduled events in except for the tricycle race planned for Sunday, though finding space to conduct it would have been a problem. Some of the 1-hour record runs had to be postponed until Saturday or Sunday. A planned coast-down event was cancelled prior to the start of the Challenge because of lack of time. To much to do, too little time.

ROBERT TEREGAN and stoker Merlin Elsner, both of Warren, rode the entire six hours Sunday on Bob's Rans Screamer. They rode 19 laps for a total of 95 miles.

JOHN MORCIGLIO of Waterford raced his latest carbon fiber creation at the Speed Challenge. In the one-hour mass start race, he rode 25.2 miles. He also makes carbon fiber bikes for customers. (www.thundervoltman.com or call 248-499-9915)

TEDD WHEELER of Reed City in his Aleweder velomobile pedaled 23.3 miles in Saturday's mass start event and in Sunday's 6-hour, rode 65 miles in 3 hours and 4 minutes, for an average speed of 21.1 mph.

Here's some comments from MHPVA President Mike Mowett (with editing by Mike E.), who had the idea for and organized the Speed Challenge. Working as an engineer for Ford gave him access to the officials who had to approve the event:

I want to thank everyone who worked to make this event a success. Without an incredible amount of dedication and efforts on the part of many people, this event couldn't have been the success it was.
I cannot believe that an idea I pitched to my management at Ford 10 months ago, just before many of us left to attend the World Human Powered Speed Challenge at Battle Mountain, Nev., would turn into a major international event where 13 records for human powered and Electrathon vehicles were bettered (some twice!). Eleven records in all were set for human power by the end of the weekend and numerous people did their personal bests. Final records are subject to review by the International HPV Association Records Committee.

WALLY KIEHLER (in front) of Grosse Pointe Woods and Bob Krezewinski of Ypsilanti rode their Lightning R-40s during the 6-hour event on Sunday, but started late and no times were recorded. During the mass start 1-hour on Saturday, Wally averaged 22.3 mph.

This event was a success because we had a core group of people who stepped up when needed. All the past races and big events gave many people experience in running things at the Michigan HP Speed Challenge. An incredible amount of work went into this event before, during and afterwards. There was countless e-mails, phone calls and meetings held to make this event a reality.
There are dozens of individuals I'd like to thank, who were invaluable in making this event a reality, including:
PLANNING COMMITTEE – Bill Frey, Mike Eliasohn, Mike Mowett, Sean Costin, Al and Alice Krause, C. Michael Lewis, Garrie Hill, Don Smith.
TIMING and RECORDS MEASUREMENT – Paul Pancella, Garrie Hill, Jun Nogami, Jim Karnes, Luke Gilbert, Warren Beauchamp,
Scott Wilson, Mike Mowett.
SUPER VOLUNTEERS – Tedd, Donna and Trent Wheeler; Brian Martin; Charlie Doran Jr.; Chris and Dora Cortez; and many others, including the names above.
T-SHIRTS – C. Michael Lewis (design) and Mike Eliasohn (sales).
WEB PAGE – Warren Beauchamp.
FORD STAFF – Mark Mikolaiczik, Michigan Proving Grounds manager; Kevin Halsted, MPG external customer manager; Rick Willemsen, section supervisor; Vickie Jaje, MPG supervisor; Bill Gipperich, MPG test coordinator; Mark Hockenberry, Ford manager; Jim Downs, Ford supervisor; Sharon Vostal, Christina Mullins, and Oscar Monroy, Ford employees; and the staff and security people at the proving grounds.
Without Sean Costin and Garrie Hill stepping up to the plate to run the events, we would not have had a successful event.
There are no immediate plans to have this event again year. I do not think it would be feasible financially to hold it year after year. Like the Olympics, a record setting event is good every few years or so.
Next year, the Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Association likely will again conduct the Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Rally – the 26th annual – at the 1.4-mile Waterford Hills race track.
The Michigan Human Powered Speed Challenge was the second major event conducted by the MHPVA, the first being the the International Human Powered Speed Championships in 1989 at the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway. I am proud to have been a participant at the first in 1989, which got me very inspired to be a part of the HPV movement, and now
as a race organizer 20 years later.

BILL FREY of Grosse Pointe Farms took time out from his extensive volunteer activities at the Challenge to ride his Easy Racer Fold Rush with homemade tailbox during part of the 6-hour. He rode five laps (25 miles) at an average speed of 16.1 mph.

Bryant Tucker 100 - Northbrook, Ill., June 13, 2009

2009-07-05T19:49:00.037-04:00

Photos and captions by Mike Eliasohn

THE RACES AT NORTHBROOK and the next day in Kenosha, Wis., were both on velodromes, so Tedd Wheeler of Reed City raced his Bianchi fixed gear track bike. In the stock class at Northbrook, he finished 9th in the 50-lap race at an average speed of 20.6 mph; in the 200-meter time trial, 5th at 29.02 mph.

AT THE MHPVA WINTER MEETING in February, John Morciglio of Waterford showed the carbon fiber low racer he custom built for Alan Arial of Illinois. Here's Alan on the bike at Northbrook. In the 50-lap stock class race, he finished third at an average speed of 25.21 mph.

MHPVA PRESIDENT MIKE MOWETT, no longer "upright Mike," on his Baron. In the stock class at Northbrook, he finished fourth in the 50-lap race at 24.74 mph and in the 200 meters, 31.82 mph. Mike, next time, for safety's sake, helmet straight on your head, not tilted back.

TWO VIEWS of the leaning tricycle built and raced by Tim Hicks of Barrie, Ontario. He won the 20-lap tricycle race at an average speed of 23.54 mph, and again on Sunday in Kenosha. For more information on his very innovative trike, go to his Web site:www.fleettrikes.com, then click on "BlackMax."

AFTER Tim Hicks won both tricycle races at the HPRA races in Indiana April 25-26, Dennis Grelk of Donnellson, Iowa, built his own leaning trike. The rear axle assembly, with drum brakes (Tim uses disk brakes) bolts onto one of Dennis' home-built front-wheel-drive low racers. He finished fourth at Northbrook, switched the axle to a different bike for Sunday, then finished second at Kenosha.

Three homebuilts from Zeeland

2009-06-06T10:13:00.016-04:00

JERRY MEYAARD'S first EZ Clone, which is his personal bike. He also made the seat.

By MIKE ELIASOHN (photos by Jerry Meyaard)

When Jerry Meyaard showed up at work riding his homebuilt recumbent bicycle, two of his co-workers wanted one.
So he recently completed building bike No. 3, with plans for No. 4.
The Zeeland resident said he first got interested in recumbents about 11 to 12 years ago when a neighbor won a Linear in a raffle. (Linears were/are manufactured aluminum frame long wheelbase recumbents, most with under-seat steering.) Meyaard bought the bike from the neighbor, but, “I just wasn't comfortable.”
After that, he said, he thought about building a recumbent with above-seat steering and looked for plans. In the summer of 2008 he finally found what he wanted on the Internet, www.recycledrecumbent.com, which has two designs similar to the manufactured Tour Easy. The plans are free.
The first three bikes are EZ Clones, which are made (mostly) from two cut-up steel frame road bikes. Jerry said plans to make No. 4 using the more complex Mach 2 design, which uses one cut-up frame.
The EZ Clone design gives a choice of using a 16- or 20-inch front wheel. Meyaard has used 16-inchers. The Mach 2 requires a 20-inch front wheel. Both designs use a 26-inch or 27-inch/700c back wheel.
His next recumbent may have a disk brake in the rear. “I do think it could use a better brake (than a caliper),” he said.
Jerry's first EZ Clone was welded by his nephew, Keith Brown, builder of the Bike-N-Bar (see story below) and son of Kelvin Brown, who now owns the previously mentioned Linear. Jerry's brother-in-law, Ken Breuker, has welded the bikes built since then.
Meyaard, 60, said he weighs 270 pounds, so his Clone obviously is strong.
When he pedaled his creation to his job at Zeeland Wood Turning Works Inc., two co-workers wanted copies. So bike No. 2 and 3 went to the co-workers. Jerry said after he builds bike No. 4, he plans to sell his first bike.

THE SECOND EZ-CLONE, built for a co-worker, who bought a seat used on Sun EZ recumbents. The seats can be purchased without having to buy a whole bike.

He said he used a grinder at work to grind some metal pieces to fit. Last Christmas, he got a Sawzall reciprocating electric saw and a hand held grinder, both handy for recumbent building.
Incidentally, don't look for Meyaard to eventually try building a wood recumbent. “When I get home, I don't want anything to do with sawdust,” he said.
In addition to riding his creation 1 mile to work, Jerry said he also likes to go on early Sunday morning rides.
One attraction of building recumbents: “People ask you if you made that,” he said. “It gives you a good feeling.”

THE THIRD EZ-CLONE, also built for a co-worker, and with a different homemade seat.

Ride and imbibe

2009-05-04T22:59:00.021-04:00

KEITH BROWN (left), with his father, Kelvin, and his Bike-N-Bar, powered by four riders on each side. There's five seats on each side, but there wasn't space to install a crank for the rearmost passengers.

By MIKE ELIASOHN

Some cyclists like to have a beer after their ride.
Keith Brown's Bike-N-Bar enables cyclists to have a beer (or non-alcoholic beverage) while they're pedaling. And they don't even have to worry about steering straight.
The Holland resident's creation has 10 seats, eight of which include pedals.
The chains from the eight cranksets run to a driveshaft that runs to a differential/rear axle from a Ford pickup.
The driver is “behind the bar,” so to speak, so doesn't pedal. There's usually also a bartender there.
“I built it in my parents' garage,” Brown said prior to the Bike-N-Bar, powered by family members and relatives, taking part in the Blossomtime Grand Floral Parade in St. Joseph and Benton Harbor on May 2. Construction took about a year, finishing in April 2008. His father, Kelvin Brown, helped.
Keith's sole “blueprint” was a photo off the Internet of a similar creation in Amsterdam in the Netherlands (as opposed to Holland in Michigan.). After that, “I started guessing.”
The only bicycle parts are the one-piece steel cranks, chains and freewheels, all purchased new. There's a freewheel on the driveshaft for each crank, so each pedaler can stop pedaling. The chains on the left side are twisted into a figure-8 so people on the left side of bar can still pedal in a forward motion.
Brown made all of the front end components except the rack and pinion steering, which is from a Ford Mustang II.
There's an adjustable tensioner for each chain and the position is adjustable for each seat. Brown made chainguards from plywood for each chain. The upholstered seats are shaped like bicycle saddles, but were custom made for the Nike-N-Bar.

EACH OF the eight cranks run to this driveshaft, which connects via a universal joint to the rear axle/differential from a Ford pickup truck. The only brake is this disk brake is from a Honda motorcycle.

The frame is made from 1-1/2 by 4-inch rectangular steel tubing. The wheels and tires are automobile “emergency spares.”
The sole brake consists of a disk brake from a Honda motorcycle mounted on the driveshaft. Crossing the St. Joseph River from St. Joseph into Benton Harbor means going downhill, then up over the bridge, then downhill again. Despite that and 12 people on board, Brown said, “the brake held great” and they got up the hills okay.
A marine deep cycle battery powers headlights, taillights and lights under the canopy.
Brown guesses his creation weighs at least 600 pounds.
In addition to parades, the Bike-N-Bar is available for rent and Brown has had it at weddings, parties, 50th birthday parties and other events. If interested, e-mail Bikenbar@yahoo.com or call 616-405-6779.
Brown, 24, does engineering work and maintenance at Agritek Industries in Holland, which is letting him use its facilities for his new project. He's building a motorcycle three-wheeler, with the two wheels in front and power from a 900cc Honda motorcycle engine.

THE BIKE-N-BAR, with 12 people on board, in the May 2 Blossomtime Grand Floral Parade in downtown St. Joseph (shown) and Benton Harbor.

MHPVA annual meeting - Feb. 21, 2009

2009-04-28T22:51:00.019-04:00

JOHN MORCIGLIO of Waterford brought two carbon fiber low racers he built. He's climbing on (or laying down on) a bike he built for Illinois HPV racer Alan Arial. He built the bike he is holding for his wife, still missing some key parts, but as of the meeting, it was for sale. It's not as low as Arial's bike. John built his first bike in February 2008. "Hopefully I can keep on building bikes for a living," he said. John also makes disk wheel covers, forks and handlebars. If interested, go to www.thundervoltman.com or call 248-499-9915.

By MIKE ELIASOHN, vice president

Despite terrible driving conditions, 15 people were brave enough (or foolish enough) to come to the Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Association annual meeting Feb. 21 in Erickson Kiva on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing.
Prior to the start of the meeting, Tim Potter, coordinator of the MSU Bikes program, gave a tour of the program's shop in nearby Bessey Hall. (www.bikes.msu.edu) Our thanks to Tim for arranging use of the meeting room.
There was extensive discussion of the Ford Human Powered Speed Challenge, to be conducted by the MHPVA July 17-19 on the 5-mile oval at the Ford Motor Co. proving grounds near Romeo, instead of our usual Michigan HPV Rally at the Waterford Hills sports car racing track. Recumbents.com Webmaster Warren Beauchamp has created a special Web site for the event, so all information about the event is/will be posted there: www.recumbents.com/home.asp?URL=wisil/fordchallenge2009
All officers were reelected: President: Mike Mowett, St. Clair Shores; vice-president, Mike Eliasohn, St. Joseph; secretary, Paul Pancella, Kalamazoo; treasurer, Bill Frey, Grosse Pointe Farms; and directors-at-large, Paul Bruneau, Portage; and Don Smith, Sterling Heights.

PRIOR to the start of the annual meeting, MSU Bikes coordinator Tim Potter (center), gave a tour of the program's shop. Reconditioned bikes are available for sale or rent, parts are for sale and repairs made. Donation of bikes and parts is welcomed. (www.bikes.msu.edu)

WALLY KIEHLER of Grosse Pointe Woods brought his new carbon fiber Lightning R84. Weight, once the the chain and cables were installed, is under 25 pounds. As of the meeting, Wally was debating whether to transfer the full fairing from his Lightning F40 to the R84. Catrike Speed in the background belongs to Chris Evans.

Big Moe's bikes – the last chapter (for now)

2009-03-30T14:18:00.046-04:00

OrangeAppeal after Dave replaced the ape hanger handlebars with remote link steering and made other changes.

By DAVID MOELLER, Linden, Mich.

At the end of the last installment, we left Big Moe contemplating how to progress with his all wood "DragonWood" creation. While waiting for parts, etc., I ended up reworking my last project, "OrangeAppeal."
Originally, I had used ape hanger handlebars and although the looked kinda neat, they were not real practical. I moved the handlebars back on the frame and connected them to the front steering post with a connecting rod.
I replaced the rear cassette with a 7-speed internal hub and installed a front shifter, so I now have 21 speeds. A slight adjustment to the seat helped. I also made custom walnut handlebar grips.

DragonWood

DragonWood has a main frame made from a standard 2X8-inch plank. After cutting and joining (using Titebond yellow glue) to get the profile, there are join lines in various places. To insure sufficient strength, I felt I should add a outer lamination. I planed ash boards down to a half-inch and screwed them in place.
I intended to put lightening holes in several places, but reconsidered. Because of my X-seam (nominally 48 inches) and weight (300 pounds), I didn't want to gamble with structural failure.
Yes it is heavy. Originally I wanted a low racer but as things progressed I went with the dragon theme and opted to make a parade/fun ride vehicle. I can't wait to ride in a parade with other members of the Michigan Freak Bike Militia.
The fishbone seat back is very comfortable. I contoured it to fit my back and the openness will help keep my back cool. The custom made ash grips feel great. The dragon's eyes are multi-flashing lamps.
There's a six cog cassette on the rear. No shifter in front, but by using a derailleur tightener I can move the chain manually
on the front rings.
The length is 8 feet, 10 inches. (Editor: Part of the reason for the length is Dave is 6-foot-5.) Obviously not a speed bike. But
I don't know what I'm gonna do next. My list is down to three "next ones". Ride on!

THE LATEST FROM DAVE: Believe it or not, I've already torn down the OrangeAppeal. I'm trading the frame to a friend. I'm using all the parts on a long wheelbase racer. (A generic term considering my age and weight.) Lower and I hope faster than OrangeAppeal, which just didn't fit me right.
The racer is painted and awaits cables. It sits very well, much better than the OrangeAppeal, and is very low. I custom fit the seat back to fit my lower back. The frame is 1x2-inch steel tube. Again, very long, around 9 feet to fit me. As light as I can build it using street bike components and steel.
The ideas keep coming. I'm at the point where I have to replace something when I build cause I've got no more storage space.

Dave plans to bring the DragonWood, his new low racer, and if he can get it in or on his van, one of his trikes, to the Ann Arbor Classic Bicycle Show Sunday, April 26. (Worth attending by any bicycle "junkie." For more information: www.ann-arbor-bicycleshow.com)

DragonWood's eyes are multi-flashing lights.

Builder Dave Moeller says the fishbone seat back, contoured to fit his back, is very comfortable.

Dave Moeller is now making custom wood grips. These on the DragonWood are ash. He's made a dozen sets, which he's planning to sell at the Freak Bike Militia booth at the Ann Arbor Classic Bicycle Show April 26.

Three wheels (maybe two) & an old crank (cont'd)

2008-12-14T16:14:00.020-05:00

By DAVID MOELLER

In March 2008, Mike Eliasohn was gracious enough to allow me to write an article for this blog about my adventures in bike building. (Mike: Actually, as editor of this blog, I asked Dave to write an article and he was gracious enough to write it.)
Recently, during some e-mail exchanges he asked if I would be interested in writing a follow-up of what I have been doing since. Because my ego is as large as I am, 6'5, 300 lbs, - here goes. For your edification and amusement, I am about to chronicle how I got here in just three years. If I were a younger man, you wouldn't be seeing these pictures because of my fear of losing macho points.
After 16 years with the Michigan Department of Corrections, I retired in December 2003, when I turned 62. We moved to Linden, south of Flint, and I built a 16-by-24-foot woodworking shop that had been a lifelong dream. I made walking sticks, chess sets, furniture, stools, pens, toy chests, sideboards, etc., etc. and was having a ball. My wife resumed quilting and I bought a longarm quilting machine and we make more than 20 quilts a year together.
Suddenly I realized that we had all the furniture we needed and I needed something else to make. Why not a wood bicycle? More on that later. I started to spend every night on the Internet. In the meantime, I had begun to ride my Fuji town bike which is now about 30 years old. I hadn't ridden in so long I was afraid to make a pedaled U-turn on my street.

Photos 1 and 2: Bike 1, June 2005. Ya gotta start somewhere. I found a standard size dirt bike and tried a wood extension for the pedals and then went to some pieces of EMT conduit and brazed with TWO Maap gas torches. That takes about 40 minutes per joint! I rode it up the street about a hundred yards and back and cut it up. A young man would have liked it, but this old fat man wasn't gonna ride this one. If you chuckled at this one, you're gonna fall down gasping for air when you see the next two.

Photo 3: Trike 1, August 2005. Took the rear end off a worn out granny trike (that is, an adult tricycle). Brazed a new sprocket to a collar and hooked this wobble wheel to the rear axle. This thing just oozes with engineering expertise, doesn't it! Still brazing. I didn't know why the chain kept falling off. Even the neighborhood cats were laughing at this one.

Photo 4 - Long wheelbase bike 1, Nov 2005. Actually, this one is not bad. I was getting there now. I laid it out acurately and took it to a 72-year-old professional welder and we lined it up right. My first remote steering, loose and wobbly, but it worked. Heavy and clumsy, but so was the rider. It worked. I took off the front parts and converted it into an exercise bike that is still being used in my basement.

That pretty well brings me up to the Flowroller mentioned in the previous MHPVA blog article. While still doing online research, I saw my first wood frame bike and was ready to build when I saw the Flowroller by Robert Horn. Bought my own welder, bought the steel. Game on!
In September 2007, I converted the yellow DeltaWolf into a front-wheel-drive trike, bringing my trike count to 3. I couldn't resolve chain issues on the Wolf while trying to incorporate a 7-speed hub "transmission." The concept is OK, including dual rear disc brakes. It's just about as low as they can be too, That was my all-winter project. but I just don't like it. Movin' on.

Photo 5: In May 2008, I finished the OrangeAppeal. Single speed at this stage, but I can add shifters if I want. It was inspired by my first ride with the Michigan Freak Bike Militia. Built for fun and as a parade vehicle.

In July 2008, I bought, yah dats right, a Sun EZ-3 USX trike. (Editor: It's a manufactured two-wheels-in-the-rear recumbent tricycle with under-seat steering and a form of suspension with a pivot and shock absorber mid-frame.) Don't care what the pundits say! I love it. It's the comfort trike that gets me around town on errands and gives that exercise I need. July, 38 miles; August and September, over 100 miles; October, 82 miles (wife was in then hospital). November, she was still recovering and the weather went bad, but I still got in 37 miles, including two 10-mile runs. The last run was with the Michigan Freakbike Militia, my second ride with them, but that's another story. What a great group.

Photo 6: I built the grocery cart for the trike in November out of red oak and ash.

In October, I did a 8.5-mile ride with my son-in-law and his dad. We rode Indian Trails Park, northwest of Detroit. Flat and woodsy, with a 30 mph downhill at the start, which translates to a 5 mph uphill at the end. Son-in-law was on a high end trail bike and his dad was on a LeMond. I tried to keep up and did OK, but ran out of gears on the EZ-3. I may be 67 years old and overweight, but the little boy in me still wants to compete. I know I can't beat them, but I want something that will make them grunt a little.

Photo 7: Remember that wood bike reference earlier? Somewhere between all the other builds I tried a couple of wood-framed ideas, but they just didn't work out and never got on the ground. Take a look at the last photo. This is the Dragonwood. Wood frame, long and low, 21 speeds, incorporating the 7-speed hub from the delta trike and the seat from a previous wood bike attempt. More later. Stay tuned, this is a serial.

Northbrook, Ill. HPV races - July 13, 2008

2008-08-30T21:55:00.051-04:00

MICHIGAN HPV ASSOCIATION President Mike Mowett of St. Clair Shores raced his Optima Baron at Northbrook. In the stock class,he finished 8th in the 200 meter sprint at a speed of 34.494 mph; in the 50-lap race, he finished 10th at an average speed of 23.559 mph. The Northbrook velodrome is 383 meters around. (Mike Eliasohn photos)

SO WHO'S DRIVING? It's Chris Burkhardt on the left who's steering; Bill Cook is the stoker. Cook owns Barcroft Cycles, but this tandem isn't one of his production bikes. They only raced in the 200 sprint, at a speed of 29.766 mph. A mechanical problem kept them out of the 50-lap race.

THE PANTHER streamliner built by Steve Spencer and his father, LaVerne, of Illinois, was still experiencing teething problems at Northbrook, but is technically very interesting. In the streamliner class, Steve finished third in the 200 meter sprints at 36.050 mph and, minus the top half of the canopy, was fourth in the 100 lap race at an average speed of 17.813 mph.

LAVERNE (at right, wearing straw hat) and Steve chose to use 700c x 23 (27-inch) wheels front and rear for minimal rolling resistance. The frame is chromoly steel tubing, TIG welded. The seat height is only 4 inches from the ground, and there's only about 1.25 inch of space between the bottom of the seat and the fairing, through which the chain has to run to the rear drive wheel. Front-wheel-drive was considered, Steve said, but he and his father decided that would make the drive train even more complicated.

In order to get a lower "hood line," instead of using a conventional front fork, LaVerne designed and machined this center pivot hub, which uses two bearings.

THE LAUNCH TECHNIQUE call's for Steve's wife, Teresa, on in-line skates, to hold the Panther upright until Steve has enough speed to pedal away. Unfortunately for Teresa, when Steve went down, which happened more than once, she also went down. (What some wives will do for their husbands.) Notice that until it's time to launch, there's a blower blowing air inside to keep Steve cool. See more about the Spencers' streamliner at www.wisil.recumbents.com/
wisil/spencer/panther.htm

Rick Gritters' (and others') big trip

2008-08-20T23:45:00.019-04:00

RICK GRITTERS on his low racer, shown here on Blue Star Highway, north of St. Joseph, on Aug. 14, was quite a contrast compared to riders on regular bikes. He was riding here with Doug and Joy Lutke of Dorr, Mich. (Photos by Mike Eliasohn)

By MIKE ELIASOHN, MHPVA vice president

Rick Gritters of Pella, Iowa, usually pedals about 4,000 miles a year – a lot more than most cyclists, it's safe to say.
But this year, he and a lot of other cyclists are pedaling 3,881 miles in only two months.
Rick is one of the fastest riders in Human Powered Race – America events in the Midwest, and races on bikes he built. He's also built several low racer recumbents for other racers.
But rather than racing, Rick is riding in the Sea to Sea: Ending the Cycle of Poverty tour conducted by the Christian Reformed Church in North America and the Reformed Church in America.
Riders started their long journey June 30 in Seattle and will finish Aug. 30 in Jersey City, N.J. The route is longer than most coast-to-coast trips because of the leg through Michigan, done because both churches have their headquarters in Grand Rapids. Overnight stops were in South Haven on Aug. 14, Grand Haven, Grand Rapids Laingsburg and Richmond (on Aug. 19), before crossing into Canada.
To aid in those two churches' programs to help end poverty worldwide, cyclists riding the entire 3,881 miles were asked to each raise at least $10,000, and those going part of the route, $4,000. Rick said the goal was to raise $1.5 million, but as of when I (Mike) met with him in South Haven Aug. 14, close to $2 million had been raised.
Rick's personal goal was $10,000, but he and another rider from Pella raised almost $28,000 combined. “It takes a lot of letter writing,” Rick said.
You can read about Rick's adventures along the way at www.rickgritters.blogspot.com, which has links to the Sea to Sea Web site and for making a contribution.
About 125 riders, including Rick, are making the entire trip. Others are riding part way. For instance, about 60 riders joined the group in Grand Rapids to ride the final leg to Jersey City.
Rick is riding one of his front-wheel-drive bikes he previously raced. For the tour, he made substantial changes. Both wheels are 20 inch/406 mm size. He replaced the original drive wheel with one using a Sturmey-Archer 8-speed hub gear. He added two sprockets for a total of three. That, plus two chainrings gives him a total of 48 speeds, and gearing good for a range of about 5 mph to 40 mph.
Despite some reservations about going up mountain passes, Rick said the bike did fine. The only time he's gotten off and walked was to cross some bridges with a rough surface. And downhill, of course, and on flat surfaces, if he wants to, “It just flies...”
Rick rebuilt his low racer from the down tube back, in order to raise the seat and to get a steeper head tube angle. To make the bike easier to transport, he made the bike a take-apart, the joint being where the down tube meets the main horizontal tube. Three bolts on each side hold the two parts together.
Although Rick rides a lot of miles each year, he said, “Basically, this is my first tour of any kind.”
Interestingly, to those of us who think recumbents are the ultimate in comfort, Rick said his low racer is one of only five recumbents being ridden the entire 3,881 miles – three two-wheelers, including the Rans Mike Mowett mentions below, and two tricycles.
Since riders only have to carry items they need during each day's ride, most of the bikes on the tour from what I observed are road bikes, not touring bikes.
The shortest daily distance on the Sea to Sea was 41 miles; the longest, 113 on two consecutive days, followed by 100 miles on the third day. The most climbing in one day was 5,723 feet, with the ride that day totaling 95 miles. Each Sunday is a rest day.
UPDATE: On Aug. 30, Rick and about 190 other cyclists completed the Sea to Sea Tour, though not everyone went the entire distance. Final statistics, from Rick' s blog: Total miles, about 4,100; tires changed, two; no falls or accidents; and the only mechanical problem some broken front wheel spokes.

RICK GRITTERS and his homebuilt low racer, at the Sea to Sea overnight stop at Baseline Middle School in South Haven on Aug. 14. As of then, and hopefully for the rest of his journey, he had few problems with the bike. "Just in case," spare tires and an extra front wheel are among the items he carried in the semi-truck trailer that transported riders' belongings.

By MIKE MOWETT, MHPVA president
(Editing and some comments added by Mike Eliasohn)

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Tonight, I had the opportunity to see Rick Gritters and the Sea to Sea: Ending the Cycle of Poverty group.
Rick's been in Michigan since Thursday, Aug. 14, and several Michiganders got to see and support him. Mike Eliasohn, our vice president and blog editor got to have dinner with him in South Haven on Thursday. The route came within a few blocks of Mike's apartment in St. Joseph.
John Foltz on his Baron rode with him Monday as the group neared Lansing. Don Smith on his Velokraft NoCom rode with him today on most of the leg. Tomorrow, the group crosses into Canada via a ferry across the St. Clair River.
The travelers were camped out this evening at Richmond High School f and I got there about 7:30 pm, as they were doing their nightly discussion/riders' meeting. I didn't get a chance to ride with Rick due to my work schedule.
An interesting announcements at the meeting were that you can't cross into Canada carrying potatoes or berries on your bicycle. The organizers cautioned against that.
Rick said more than half of the riders are Canadians. This past weekend, 60 new people joined the group for the final leg from Grand Rapids to the Atlantic coast. More than 200 riders are doing some or all the portions of the trip. About 125, including Rick, are riding the entire 3,881 miles from coast to coast. Rick said it is the largest group of bicyclists to ever cross the U.S. in an organized trip, bigger than even the RAAM event. About 10 people have dropped out so far for various reasons.
Rick gave me a booklet showing the route. The preparations that went into this ride were enormous by some individuals, including Ed Witvoet, who drove the entire route in February, logging all the mile markers, distances, elevation gains from his GPS, and checking in and making reservations/arrangements at each school or park they are staying at.
This big of a trip requires a lot of planning and commitment from the riders and the volunteers who are making it happen. At the riders' meeting, several speakers shared about why they are here and what led them in their life to go on this trip, considering it is for such a long time (up to two months). There was spiritual guidance involved, and the guidance of others.
People are from all over the country on this trip. Rick only really knew one person, before the trip, a gal from Pella, Iowa, but she had to drop out after hooking her handlebars on a brush or tree one day and crashing badly. In sharing more stories of how riders came to meet and know each other, some other amazing stories unfolded. Rick said he was out riding one day on a trail in Iowa, and came across a group of cyclists. In that group was a gal from California. Rick mentioned his trip, and she asked, "Is that the Sea to Sea trip?" She already knew about it, because her brother-in-law was going on it, and he wound up being with Rick in the same small-group nightly discussion group.
Tonight's featured topic was about a man named Mark, a Rans recumbent rider. He was a church pastor who put a considerable amount of his time and energy into making this trip happen, not only for himself and others. Unfortunately, Mark died suddenly of a heart attack in February, before he could go on the trip.
Two speakers spoke about him, and how he influenced them to go on the trip. One said he was contacted by Mark's wife to see if someone would be willing to ride his Rans recumbent on the trip, as sort of tribute to Mark. That was only a month before the trip, and the speaker was worried that everyone had their bikes already, and to switch to a new bike at the last moment was a risk few would take. After e-mails to the group, someone volunteered to ride the Rans, feeling greatly fulfilled to do so.
One rider received money from Mark's church to do the ride on a Friday, just before Mark had his heart attack on a Monday. The last speaker was Mark's wife, who gave a moving testimony about his life.
Rick told me it must be remembered the important thing about the Sea to Sea tour is not the ride but its mission to end poverty. The money the riders raised all goes to that purpose. (He said the goal was to raise $1.5 million, but close to $2 million has been raised so far.) The money needed to support the riders and the truck caravan came from corporate sponsors.
One semi-truck trailer Rick showed me houses a commercial kitchen, where workers traveling with the tour prepare breakfast and dinner for the riders and a lunch they carry with them to eat on the road.
Another semi trailer is filled with row upon row of shelves, filled top to bottom with white laundry baskets holding all the riders personnel belongings. Each rider gets two baskets. Non-breakable items, such as tents and sleeping bags, go in duffle bags which go in the trailer's center aisle. Each rider is allowed only 60 pounds of goods, counting their tent. (Among Rick's items are spare 20-inch/406mm tires and an extra front wheel.)
Such things like a portable public address system and folding tables and chairs also are transported and set up for the meetings each night.
Rick said 20 support staff are on the trip, with the motorized fleet including the aforementioned two semis, another semi truck carrying food, two motor homes and two 12-passenger vans. One trailer carries a portable toilet, for use at rest stops, which are set up about every 20-25 miles.
Rick is currently doing a tour of duty on the "sweep crew,” which has to clean up the campground or school property in the morning after the other riders depart. Everyone else has to be on the road by 9 a.m.
Members of the sweep crew rides check at rest stops with volunteers, who check in each rider as they pass through. Riders have gotten lost when going to stores and it may take hours to find them and get them back on the route. Each night, a sheet of paper is given to each rider, showing them the route for the next day.
There isn't a professional bicycle mechanic on the Sea to Sea, so Rick and some others have become the unofficial mechanics. While we were chatting, one lady asked him to check her tires. It seems most of their air pumps are worn out by now, according to Rick. I can imagine they were put to good use! (He said the group is averaging about 20 flat tires a day.)
Rick said he only had to change his front Schwalbe Stelvio tire, due to it getting damaged by something and then flatting. The rear tire is still going strong – with more than 3,000 miles on it since before the start of the trip. (He also uses Stelvios for racing.)
The weather was getting cold when I left. Rick said they had a lot of very hot days in the first half of
their trip, before about Missouri. Now the days are getting shorter and he says riders have to spend more time waiting for the sun to come up in the morning.
Photos I took are at:
http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f152/uprightmike/Rick%20Gritters%20SeatoSea/

THE DRIVETRAIN of Rick's bike consists of a Sturmey-Archer 8-speed hub, which he fitted with three sprockets, and dual chainrings, for a a total of 48 speeds. Since Rick uses the big chainring most of the time, shifting to the smaller chainring and back is done by hand; there's no front deraileur. The big chainring is on the inside, the opposite of normal, for better chain alignment. Notice that the bottom run of the chain runs directly from the chainring to the hub sprockets. Despite lack of an idler, Rick said the arrangement works fine.

Mich. Human Powered Vehicle Rally - June 21-22, 2008

2008-07-20T22:13:00.020-04:00

DENNIS GRELK, shown here during the one-hour time trial in his Barracuda streamliner (built by Warren Beauchamp) won the streamliner class. He also won the stock class on his homebuilt low racer. (Photos by Mike Eliasohn)

By Mike Eliasohn, MHPVA vice president, and Mike Mowett, MHPVA president

The 25th annual Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Rally June 21-22, 2008, attracted 34 competitors to the Waterford Hills sports car racing track in Clarkston, the site since 1986. Several competitors entered more than one vehicle (and Dennis Grelk had three), so a total of 44 vehicles competed.
Of those, 28 competitors and 36 vehicles competed both days. Human Powered Race – America has added a tricycles-only class this year, which included a trikes-only race on Sunday, which no doubt was an incentive for some to compete both days.
In addition to Michigan, entrants came from Iowa, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Ontario.
This being the 25th annual, the hope was there would be a record turnout, but that was not to be. (The record of 50 was in 2001) Nevertheless, there were several first-timers who hopefully will return and several “regulars” who weren't there, but hopefully will be in 2009. Obviously, the price of gasoline may have been a deterrent.
Points were first awarded in each individual event on a 60, 55, 50, 45, 42, 39, 36, 34, 32, 30, 29… etc basis. Then points were totaled to give one score per day. This was a new rule put into place this year by the HPRA race directors to hopefully balance the scoring a bit.
Here's the top two overall in each class according to the HPRA Points system, where each rider can get a maximum of 60 points per day. No tandems competed.
Streamliners (four entries): 1) Dennis Grelk, Donnellson, Iowa, Barracuda;, 120 points; 2) John Simon, Portland, Michigan, Moby, 115.
Superstreet (three entries): 1) Chris Burkhardt, Daisy, Md., Go-One velomobile owned by Garrie Hill, 120s; 2) Tedd Wheeler, Reed City, Easy Racers Javelin with homemade tailbox, 110.

CHRIS BURKHARDT, riding Garrie Hill's Go-One velomobile (made in Germany) won the SuperStreet class. It's shown here during the one-hour time trial, minus the canopy. The Go-One was very popular for test rides.

Superstock (one entry): Garrie Hill, Granville. Ohio, Barcroft Oregon, 60. (He didn't compete Sunday.)
Stock (20 entries) – 1) Dennis Grelk, homebuilt low racer, 120; 2) tie: Mike Mowett, St. Clair Shores, Optima Baron lowracer and Tim Hicks, Barrie, Ont., homebuilt lowracer, 100 each .
Junior (one entry) – Nick Myers, Holly, Trek upright bicycle, 120.

JULIE PITKO on her Challenge Fujin lowracer (top) tied with Dora Cortez for first place in the women's class. Dora is shown racing her Rick Gritters-built low racer at the July 13 HPV races on the velodrome in Northbrook, Ill.

Women (three entries) – 1) tie: Dora Cortez, Chicago, Rick Gritters-built lowracer; Julie Pitko, Sault Ste. Marie, Challenge Fujin lowracer, 115 each.
Tricycle (nine entries) – 1) Chris Burkhardt, Greenspeed SLR, 115; 2) Chris Cortez, Chicago, Greenspeed, 110.
A total of $405 in prize money was distributed, typically $25 for first place in class, $20 for second and $15 for third, provided there were participants in the class racing both days. Because the stock class had the most participants by far, the winner received $40 and prize money was paid down to sixth place ($10).
Here's the first place winners in the individual events, not including the two classes with one rider. Complete results are available at: http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/racing2008/Waterford2008Results.htm

SATURDAY: One-hour time trial: Streamliner – With John Simon dropping out due to a blown tire and Dennis Grelk due to a suspension part breaking, Warren Beauchamp of Elgin, Ill., was first with an average speed of 32.035 mph. Superstreet -- Bob Krzewinski, Ypsilanti, Lightning F40, 21.863 mph. Stock – Dennis Grelk, 27.442 mph. Women – Julie Pitko, 19.178 mph. Tricycles – Chris Burkhardt, 20.527 mph.
Hill climb – Streamliner – Dennis Grelk, 22.61 seconds. Superstreet – Bob Krzewinski, 23.85 sec. Stock – Dennis Grelk, 22.23 sec. Women – Jane Hunn, North Winchester, Ind., Specialized Sequoia upright bicycle, 29.09 sec. Tricycles – Tim Hicks, 22.05 sec.
Coast down – John Simon in his Moby once again coasted the farthest from the top of the hill, but the top four – all streamliners –– came to a stop within about 31 feet of each other. Dennis Grelk was second, Rich Myers of Xenia, Ohio, in his Moby was third and Warren Beauchamp was fourth. Superstreet – Bob Krzewinski; stock, Dennis Grelk; women, Dora Cortez; and tricycles, Chris Burkhardt.

SUNDAY: 200-foot sprints: Streamliners, Dennis Grelk, 43,71 mph, just ahead of John Simon at 43.43 mph. SuperStreet – Chris Burkhardt, Go-One velomobile, 35.05 mph. Stock – Dennis Grelk, 38.30 mph. Junior – Nick Myers, 28.89 mph. Women – Dora Cortez, 32.78 mph. Tricycles – Chris Burkhardt, Greenspeed SLR, 32.94 mph.
For the first-ever tricycle race, a special course 0.33 miles per lap was laid out for the 15-lap road race, with the emphasis on cornering. Nine trikes competed. Tim Hicks on his modified CatTrike was first at an average speed of 17.504 mph, followed by Chris Cortez on a Greenspeed, borrowed from Garrie Hill, 16.910 mph.
The final event was the 25-lap road race for the two-wheelers. This was the same course used in the past, about 1 kilometer in length, with S-turns and for the racers' benefit after a long weekend of racing, did not include the hill! Streamliners – John Simon, 29.210 mph, followed by Richard Myers. Dennis Grelk and Warren Beauchamp had to choose between racing their streamliners or stock class bikes and chose the latter. John was the only competitor to race 25 laps; after he finished, the race ended for all others the next time they crossed the finish line. Superstreet – Tedd Wheeler was the lone competitor, 18.461 mph (17 laps). Stock – Dennis Grelk, 26.149 mph (24 laps). Junior– Nick Myers, 16.845 mph (16 laps). Women – Julie Pitko, 19.619 mph (18 laps).

WARREN BEAUCHAMP on his Velokraft NoCom leads MHPVA President Mike Mowett on his Optima Baron during the one-hour time trial on Saturday.

Special mention should be made of Dennis Grelk, who came with his parents, Dwayne and Mary. Their normal 10-hour trip from and to Iowa took 12 hours because they had to detour far from their normal route to get to a bridge that was open across the flooded Mississippi River. In addition to Dennis' streamliner and stock class bike, they also brought urban transportation contest entries for him (a mountain bike fitted with an XtraCycle extension and Mary's Hase KettWiesel tricycle). Brad Bosworth also came from Iowa (the town of Nevada).
Oakland Press reporter Randal Yakey and photographer Jose Juarez were at the rally on Saturday and their article on Sunday, in time for some people who read it to come watch the morning's events. To see the article, plus a short video, go to www.theoaklandpress.com, click on “archives” at left and then on the date of the article, June 22.
Thanks to all those who helped conduct the event – Mike Mowett, Bill Frey, Warren Beauchamp, Garrie Hill, Luke Gilbert and Terry Gerweck. Apologies to anyone omitted. (Terry Gerweck and Mike Eliasohn started the Michigan HPV Rally, with the first two events held in Monroe.)
Thanks also to Reverse Gear (www.reversegearinc.com), a new maker of recumbent-specific clothing, based in Toronto. It donated a jersey worth $70-80. Sunday competitors participated in a drawing and the winner was Scott Forthoffer of St. Clair Shores. (Actually, Scott got a letter telling him how to contact the company. That way, the winner could get a jersey in his or her size.)

IN THE FIRST-EVER TRICYCLE RACE, Chris Burkhardt on his Greenspeed SLR leads Tim Hicks on a modified CatTrike. Tim finished first and Chris fourth in the 5-mile race. Chris Cortez on a Greenspeed was second. The trikes were leaving skid marks on this tight turn.

Mich. HPV Rally Urban Transportation Contest - June 22, 2008

2008-07-07T22:41:00.009-04:00

BOB KRZEWINSKI OF YPSILANTI, WON THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION CONTEST IN HIS LIGHTNING F40. HE'S SHOWN HERE DURING THE ONE-HOUR TIME TRIAL, WHICH WAS NOT AN UTC EVENT. (Mike Eliasohn photos)

By Paul Pancella

Five contestants accepted the challenge of the Urban Transportation Contest at Waterford this year. One highlight was the first entry of a real velomobile (#144). In the following table I list the contestants, their vehicles, and their final scores, in finishing order:

Table 1 UTC contestants and final scores, in finishing order

140 Bob Krzewinski LCD Lightning F40 faired bicycle, 2007 68.2
822 Richard Myers WizWheelz tricycle (tadpole) 2002 65.7
806 Dennis Grelk mountain bike with XtraCycle extension 62.6
807 Mary Grelk Hase KettWiesel tricycle (delta) 59.6
144 Chris Burkhardt Go-One 3-wheel velomobile, 2008 49.3

RICHARD MYERS OF XENIA, OHIO, FINISHED SECOND ON HIS WizWheelz TRICYCLE FITTED WITH THIS COLORFUL AND VERY VISIBLE CLOTH FAIRING, WITH MATCHING WHEEL COVERS.

Another highlight was the entry of Dennis Grelk’s mother, Mary, who performed very respectably on a well-equipped delta trike (two wheels in rear). The delta configuration is known for its ability to make tight low-speed turns; Mary took advantage of this and got the best score on turning radius (no reversing required). She also had the shortest stopping distance by a good margin.

Editor: The second table can't be reproduced here due to technical difficulties. It shows the breakdown of each competitor's total score, with points being awarded on the coast down result; rider visibility day and night (that is, lights); turning radius; time of grocery run; braking resistance; weather protection; comfort; carrying of tools and lock; and pulling gear ratio.

Editor: The top score in each judged category was: Coast down, Krzewinski; day vision, Myers; night visibility, D. Grelk; turning radius, M. Grelk; grocery run, Myers; braking distance, M. Grelk; weather protection, Burkhardt; comfort, Burkhardt; spares, Krzewinski; gear ratio, Myers.

While the fully-enclosed and suspended Go-One scored well for comfort and weather protection, it took some penalties for being heavy, lacking functional lights, and no tools aboard. Chris’ braking was hampered by some lever interference on the handlebar, resulting in perhaps the longest braking distance this contest has ever seen at ~53 feet! (Something we missed in the tech inspection?) Adding lights, tools and spares and fixing the brakes probably would have put the Go-One in the top tier of scores.

DENNIS GRELK OF DONNELLSON, IOWA, DEMONSTRATES HOW TIGHT HE CAN MAKE A TURN. URBAN TRANSPORTATION CONTEST ORGANIZER PAUL PANCELLA IS AT LEFT. DENNIS' MOUNTAIN BIKE IS FITTED WITH AN XtraCycle EXTENSION TO ADD LOAD-CARRYING CAPACITY.

This year’s winner was Bob “WolverBob” Krzewinski, a veteran and previous winner of the urban transportation contest. In 2004, Bob won the UTC with his Ryan Vanguard/Burley trailer combo. In a sense, the winning vehicle this year was also a repeat. In 2006, then MHPVA President Wally Kiehler won with very similar scores and a very similar F40 setup (same number, different vehicle).
With the number of contestants dwindling, perhaps the UTC has run its course at Waterford. Cash awards will be made for first and second place finishers. Congratulations to Bob K. and Richard Myers!
If you want to keep the UTC running next year, and especially if you want to enter, write to the newsletter/blog editor, come to our winter meeting, or let me know some other way, so we can determine if it is worth continuing this event.

MARY GRELK DEMONSTRATES THE TURNING ABILITY OF HER HASE KETTWIESEL, WHICH IS MADE IN GERMANY. HER TRIKE HAD THE TIGHTEST TURNING RADIUS OF THE FIVE COMPETITORS.

Some interesting cycles

2008-07-06T22:52:00.038-04:00

TIM HICKS of Barrie, Ont., was a first-timer at the 2008 Michigan HPV Rally, bringing with him two cycles that he built. Top: He warms up on his low racer, using rollers, prior to the Sunday morning races, while talking to Ken Scott of Muskegon, seated on Tim's tricycle (bottom photo). Tim uses mild steel tubing for all of his frames because it's cheap. The low racer uses 1-1/2-inch square, .0625 wall. The rear wheel is 700c (27 in.); front, 451mm (20 in.); wheelbase is about 50 in. In addition to making the frame, Tim made the seat frame (from EMT tubing), built the wheels, shortened the cranks to 140mm and made the oval chainrings. A clever feature of his tricycle is the boom supporting the bottom bracket is hinged at the axle, so it can be folded for easy transporting. Ken rode Tim's trike in the 5-mile tricycles-only race, while Tim raced and won on his modified Catrike. All the details about the many HPVs Tim has built, plus a lot of other information, is available on his Web site, www.fleettrikes.com.

VINCENT ROBINET of Toronto came to the 2008 Michigan HPV Rally to spectate, but brought the take-apart front-wheel-drive bike he built with him. In two pieces, it fits in the trunk of his Volkswagen Jetta sedan. The rear section of the square tube under the seat fits inside the front piece. A clamp and pin hold the two parts of the frame together. The cable to the rear brake comes apart. The front wheel is 20x1.5; the rear is 26 in. A 24 in. fork is used for the rear stays. The bike has 148mm cranks and 15 speeds. The seat is from an old Rans. Robinet first rode the bike in 2007, but as of when the photos were taken, was still doing some tweaking before painting the frame. If it's not obvious, the cranks move horizontally as the front wheel is steered. Robinet said starting to move is the hard part. "It's a bit of a leaning curve, but I've gotten used to it by now."

DAN WILSON of Bridgman cut up two chopper bikes in order to take advantage of their very wide rear wheels and tires, to build a beach bike for riding over sand. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as he wanted, his thought being that the tires, though wide, have a rounded tread, so they "dig" into the sand, rather than riding over the top. But it's still an interesting looking bike. That's Dan riding it. The only part of the project he didn't do was the welding, which was done by Dave Anstey of Stevensville.

I'LL BE ADDING OTHER INTERESTING CYCLES IN THE FUTURE, SO PLEASE CHECK THIS SPACE PERIODICALLY. MIKE ELIASOHN

St. Joseph Human Powered Boat Meet - June 14, 2008

2008-07-02T22:08:00.006-04:00

St. Joseph Human Powered Boat Meet organizer Dan Grow carries his boat into the St. Joseph River. This was the third annual event organized by the St. Joseph resident. For more information about his boat, which weighs about 50 pounds, see article below about the 2007 gathering. "Idling" in the background in Jake Free of Elkhart, Ind.

Bill Goldthorpe of Palos Hills, Ill., prepares to unload his 12-foot long boat. It's his own design, made from 1/4-inch plywood bought at a Home Depot store and covered with fiberglass. In front of the fixed-position seat is the dry well, in which the drive unit drops. To accommodate different size riders, there's multiple positions for the drive unit.

Bill Goldthorpe holds his homemade drive unit, which uses a bicycle cottered crank and part of a bicycle fork, McMaster-Carr sprockets and chain (smaller than a bicycle chain) and a model airplane propeller. (If anyone knows how to get this photo upright, please e-mail mikethebike@acd.net.)

Bill Goldthorpe's and Dan Grow's boats in the water and almost in the water respectively. (Photos and text by Mike Eliasohn)

25th annual Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Rally

2008-06-08T19:48:00.001-04:00

Saturday-Sunday, June 21-22, 2008
Waterford Hills sports car racing track, Waterford, Mich. (near Pontiac)

Open to riders of of all human powered vehicles -- recumbents, regular bikes, tandems. Classes for streamlined, unstreamlined cycles, tandems, women, youth, tricycles. Conducted using Human Powered Race - America rules (www.recumbents.com/hpra/rulesand.htm). Note: HPRA rules require all vehicles to have mirror/mirrors enabling rear vision to both sides.

This is the 25th year of the Michigan rally, conducted by the Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Association. It is the longest-running HPV event in North America and one of the oldest in the world. Please join us to make the silver anniversary rally the best ever!

We are looking for many of the "old-timers" we haven't seen in recent year to get your HPV out of the garage, storage shed or basement and remember the fun you used to have. Also, if you are one of those "stud" racers in the West, East, overseas, etc. who has never come to Waterford, we'd love to have you come and race! You don't know what you've been missing! (Non-stud racers also welcome.)

Here's the schedule of events:

SATURDAY

8-9 am - Registration, vehicle Inspection, practice.
9:30 am - ONE HOUR TIME TRIAL 1 (streamliner, superstreet clases. Multirider vehicles can race in either 1-hour).
11:30 am - ONE HOUR TIME TRIAL 2 (superstock, stock, women, junior, tricycle classes). Contestants pedal for 60 minutes around the track. While not really racing against each other, each contestant's final distance will be computed and compared to others. Drafting not allowed in this event.
Lunch - Bring your own food or eat at nearby restaurant.
2 pm - HILL CLIMB/COAST-DOWN. Contestants timed as they pedal to the top of the hill (28 feet climb); then they stop pedaling and coast as far as possible, with scoring based on how far they coasted compared to competitors in their class. The best streamliners have coasted over a mile!
2 pm – URBAN TRANSPORTATION CONTEST. Test your vehicle in a variety of activities, including carrying cargo, stop-and-go and tight turning. Note: You can run in this event and the hill climb/coast down and scores in that event will be included in the UTC score.
3:30 pm - STANDING START KILOMETER: Contestants are timed as they pedal 1 kilometer (0.621 mile) as fast as they can from a standing start on a flat part of the course. There are three turns.
6 to 9 pm - DINNER at the track: The Oakland County Sportsmen's Club will be serving a steak and pasta dinner for only $10 at its lodge, just outside and within walking distance of the track. Cash bar is available with $1 draft beer and $2 mixed drinks. This will be a public event, all are welcome, pay at the door. Music and entertainment after 8 pm. This replaces the previously scheduled Saturday evening barbecue at the track.

SUNDAY

8-9 am - Registration, vehicle inspection, practice.
9 am - SPRINTS (top speed runs). Contestants start on top of the hill on the course, then pedal down and speed through a 200-foot section of the back straightway, where they are electronically timed.
10:30 am - TRIKE ROAD RACE - Short course race, 10 laps through the S-bends and with a hairpin turn thrown in just for fun! Race distance: about 4 miles.
11 am - 25-LAP ROAD RACES. 25 laps (15.6 miles) around the track (one for each year of the rally) on the flat section. First race for the fastest vehicles in the sprints and second race for everyone else. Note: Probably not a HPRA series point race.
1 pm - Awards ceremony for both days' races. Cash prizes! Can't stay? We'll mail certificates and prizes to you.

ENTRY FEES: One day only, $30; both days, $40 (includes MHPVA membership). Test ride pass, $5. Spectators free.

For more information: Contact Mike Eliasohn, 269-982-4058 or e-mail mikethebike@acd.net .

TO GET TO THE RALLY
From I-75, get off at exit 91. Take M-15 south to Dixie Hwy. (US-24). Turn left, continuing south about 1 mile and turn
left onto Waterford Road, then proceed to track.
If coming from the west, take U.S. 23 north (or south) to M-59 (Highland Road). Go east on M-59 to Airport Road, then left
(north) to US-24. Turn left, then immediately right onto Waterford Road. Go about a half-mile to track.

PLACES TO STAY ON YOUR WAY TO MICHIGAN HPV RALLY. Calling in advance to make a reservation is suggested.

MOTELS (with approximate distances/direction from Waterford Hills track)

Clarkston -- Clarkston Motor Inn, 6853 Dixie Hwy. (US-10), 248-625-1522, 12 rooms, 2 miles northeast.

Hartland -- Best Western of Hartland, 10087 M-59 at US-23, 810-632-7177, 61 rooms. About 18 miles west.

Waterford -- ConCorde Inn of Waterford, 7076 Highland Road (M-59), 248-666-8555, 111 rooms. About 3 miles southwest.

Waterford -- Highlander Motel, 2201 Dixie Hwy. at Telegraph Road, 248-338-4061, 50 rooms. About 6 miles southeast.

Waterford – Holiday Inn Express, 4350 Pontiac Lake Road, 248-674-3434, 83 rooms. About 7 miles southwest..

Whitmore Lake -- Best Western of Whitmore Lake, 9897 Main St. (off US-23, exit 53), 734-449-2058, 61 rooms. About 33 miles southwest.

CAMPING

Free camping available overnight Friday and Saturday at the Waterford Hills Sportsman Club, site of the HPV rally, starting at 6 p.m. Friday. Restrooms, showers available and possibly electrical hookups.

STATE CAMPGROUNDS (www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails)

Highland Recreation Area, 5200 E. Highland Road (M-59), White Lake, 248-889-3750. Two miles east of Highland,

Holly Recreation Area, 8100 Grange Hall Road, Holly, 248-634-8811. Five miles east of Holly.

Ortonville Recreation Area, 5779 Hadley Road, Ortonville, 810-797-4439. Four miles northeast of Ortonville.

Pontiac Lake Recreation Area, 7800 Gale Road, 248-666-1020. Closest to Waterford Hills track, about 4 miles west.

PRIVATE CAMPGROUNDS (www.michcampgrounds.com)

Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park of Holly, 7072 E. Grange Hall Road, 248-634-8621, or 800-442-9644. About 12 miles northwest of Waterford (I-75, exit 101).

Mich. HPV Association annual meeting - March 1, 2008

2008-04-15T22:11:00.012-04:00

By Paul Pancella, MHPVA secretary
Photos by Mike Eliasohn

The annual winter meeting of the MHPVA and Wolver-Bents was held March 1 at Washtenaw County Community College near Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. About 20 members and guests were in attendance.
At 12:40, Bob Krzewinski of the Wolver-Bents gave his “Buying your first recumbent” talk to some interested neophytes.
“Show and tell” began at 1 p.m. Bob K. opened by showing his (partially) new Lightning F-40. Insurance paid for the new frameset and body sock after Bob was struck by a motorist a couple of years ago, while riding his old F-40.
Dave Moeller showed a front-wheel drive tricycle he built. (See separate article below.)
Perennial speedster Chris Evans showed two vehicles, his new VeloKraft NoCom carbon fiber low-racer, then his Catrike Speed tricycle with homemade fairing. The fairing was made with pink foam insulating panels, and is not extremely aerodynamic. The purpose of the fairing is mainly weather protection, allowing Chris to ride more outdoor training miles.

CHRIS EVANS OF FLINT ON HIS VeloKraft NoCom. (Photos were taken in the foyer of the Washtenaw County Community College building following the meeting.)

CHRIS EVANS TALKS TO BILL FREY AFTER THE MEETING. CHRIS MADE THE FAIRING IN THREE EVENINGS FROM FOAM INSULATING PANELS MOUNTED TO A FRAMEWORK OF PVC TUBING, WHICH IN TURN IS MOUNTED TO THE FRAME OF THE Catrike Speed. THE WINDSHIELD CAN BE FOLDED DOWN FOR MORE VENTILATION. IT MAY LOOK CRUDE, BUT IT ENABLES CHRIS TO KEEP RIDING IN COLD WEATHER. HE SAID IF THE TEMPERATURE IS MORE THAN 25 DEGREES, HE GETS TOO WARM. "ANYTHING MORE THAN THAT AND YOU'RE JUST COOKING."

John Foltz showed his Optima Baron and Mike Mowett his Norus Streamliner, which he bought from Rob Wood of Ohio, who acquired it from the designer and builder, Gilles Poirier of Canada. (Ask Mike about the “butt bubbles.”)

JOHN FOLTZ OF HASLETT ON HIS BARON LOW-RACER.

Bob K. made some Wolver-Bents announcements before the MHPVA business meeting started at 1:55.
Treasurer Bill Frey presented his report covering 2007. It showed expenses of $1,226 and income of $1,412, for a net gain of $186. We maintain about $1,700 cash in reserve, so even with the added $50 expense to rent the WCCC meeting room, we are in sound financial shape. The treasurer's report was accepted unanimously.
Rick Wianecki, our Human Powered Racing - America representative, attended the recent HPR-A race directors meeting, but could not attend today’s meeting. He forwarded the minutes to the MHPVA officers. Not much startling news to report. A separate tricycle class is now available for scoring if enough vehicles show at a given event. The lap timing system is aging, and it may be necessary to purchase some new transponders this year. There was some discussion (and a little confusion) about who will pay, and when it might become more economical to replace the whole system.

MIKE MOWETT AND HIS NORUS STREAMLINER, WHICH HE HAS YET TO RACE. HE BOUGHT IT IN APRIL 2007 FROM ROB WOOD OF OHIO, WHO PEDALED IT TO 58 MPH AT BATTLE MOUNTAIN, NEV., AND 39 MILES IN A ONE-HOUR TIME TRIAL IN OHIO. WOOD BOUGHT IT FROM GILLES POIRIER OF CANADA, WHO BUILT IT IN ABOUT 1999. THE NORUS HAS 451mm (large size 20-inch) WHEELS WITH PANTOUR SUSPENSION HUBS AND FRONT-WHEEL-DRIVE. IT HAS RETRACTABLE LANDING GEAR FOR STARTING/STOPPING.

Paul Bruneau gave a brief report on our new blog, http://mhpva.blogspot.com/. Although items are open to comments, primary postings should still go through our newsletter editor, Mike Eliasohn. This arrangement will allow us to post news in a more timely fashion, so be sure to check it out, if you haven’t already.
This year’s Michigan HPV Rally will be our 25th, and will take place June 21-22 at the Waterford Hills raceway. Much of the weekend will be the same as we are used to, with the usual lineup of events, free camping available on site, and cash awards on about the same prize budget. The entry fee will be $30 per vehicle to compete one day or $40 for both days, which will include an MHPVA membership.
We will sell commemorative T-shirts and have a special cookout on Saturday evening. The MHPVA will provide ice and charcoal, and maybe some other stuff. Anyone who wants to join in can bring whatever they want to cook and/or share with others.
A motion to add a “UCI-legal” class for regular upright bicycles to the Waterford competition was raised but failed on the vote. A motion to donate $100 for HPRa timing system upgrades passed.
The final item of business was elections. The following members were nominated and elected to serve as officers:
President: Mike Mowett, St. Clair Shores
Vice-President: Mike Eliasohn, St. Joseph
Secretary: Paul Pancella, Kalamazoo
Treasurer: Bill Frey, Grosse Pointe Farms
The members expressed their great appreciation for Wally Kiehler’s many years of outstanding service as our president. Four nominations were made for two directors-at-large: Paul Bruneau, Terry Gerweck, Wally Kiehler, and Don Smith. Gerweck and Kiehler declined the nominations, so Bruneau of Portage and Smith of Sterling Heights were elected.
The meeting adjourned at about 3:30 pm.

Three wheels and an old crank

2008-03-05T22:21:00.036-05:00

By DAVID MOELLER
Linden, Mich.

MY FIRST BIKE, THE TWO-WHEEL F'LOWROLLER

I'm psycho about trikes.
How did this mania begin? I need to make things. I have been a lifelong woodworker/wood turner, along with many other interests. My wife made 17 quilts last year and I machine quilted them for her.
I retired in December 2003, and we moved to Linden and a new purpose-built woodshop. About two years later I realized we had all the furniture we needed and was looking for a new challenge (along with the new quilting hobby). And then I saw Howard Hung's Wooden Chopper. (Go to www.bikerodnkustom.homestead.com/index or try www.mywilson.homestead.com/gallery.html and find his entry. (Editor: Or go to www.bikerodnkustom.homestead.com, scroll down to "articles," then click on "more wooden bikes.") There was no going back now.
While I began plans for my own bike, I continued to surf the Net and found Robert Horn's F'Lowroller. (There are two versions shown in the bikerodnkustom gallery). I was helpless. I bought a welder.
I made a short series of bikes and scooters to learn to weld. These have all been dismantled to hide the evidence. I then built the F'Lowroller, according to Horn's plans.
It was more of a challenge learning to ride it than building it. I soon discovered it took a lot of uumph to get it going. I should explain that by then I was about 64 years old and I'm 6-foot-5 and weigh around 280 pounds. I hadn't ridden any bike in years and now I was trying to ride my butt down the street on this thing. I learned to ride it but the physical strain soon took the fun out of riding it.
It was trike time. I bought two 20-inch and two 26-inch front forks and two 20-inch BMX wheels with 14mm axles from the local bike shop and converted the bike to a trike. It is front-wheel-drive with a seven-speed hub. Yes, there is some pedal steer but I'm a recreational rider, so it is not a problem. I did discover that during hard cornering there was a tendency to lift a rear wheel, which of course was a little disconcerting.

THE FIRST VERSION OF MY TRIKE, CONVERTED FROM THE TWO-WHEEL F'LOWROLLER

This led to what is the latest version, the MOEroller. I used the same forks but reconfigured them into a more flowing design, which also lowered the center of gravity by about 4 inches. Success! I also switched from foam seating to a web seat using trampoline material.

THE MOE ROLLER

DAVE ON THE MOE ROLLER AT THE MHPVA ANNUAL MEETING MARCH 1, 2008. (Mike Eliasohn photo)

This configuration reduced pedal steer by changing the alignment of my legs in relation to the pedals. Yes, the wheel kicks your foot off the pedal in a tight turn. At high speeds you don't turn the wheel that far anyway (more than once). To make a U-turn on the street, I get up enough steam to zoom through the turn without pedaling. I feel as if I were in my Triumph TR4 roadster again!
During all this, I discovered www.atomiczombie.com. Between alterations on the F'Lowroller, I built the Delta Wolf Speed Trike. (Plans are available from atomiczombie.) After the photo was taken, I added a seven-speed hub "transmission" just behind the seat, making it a 21 speed.

THE DELTA WOLF SPEED TRIKE

My only criticism of the Delta Wolf is that it is heavy. It currently is on the workbench and torn down. Note: Measure doorways before making the rear end. I'm narrowing it so I don't have to tip it up and rassle it through the doorway.
The transmission works well, but under heavy pedal pressure the assembly twists and throws the chain. A heavier, better designed mount should correct this. The foam and vinyl seat will be replaced by a web seat and won't be quite as laid back.All the trikes can be found on the Zombie site' gallery.
I live in Linden, about 10 miles south of Flint. You can contact me at dfmoeller@earthlink.net if I can be of any assistance.

Pedal powered boats

2008-01-11T22:10:00.040-05:00

CROSSING UNDER the Blossomland Bridge during Daniel Grow’s second annual gathering for human powered boats are (from left) Daniel Grow of St. Joseph; Warren Beauchamp, Big Rock, Ill.; and Jake Free, Elkhart, Ind.

DANIEL GROW idles in the St. Joseph River on the pedal-powered, propeller-driven boat he built. It’s 20-feet long and with the outriggers, 8 feet wide. Almost everything is made of foam and covered with fiberglass or carbon fiber.

Article and photos by MICHAEL ELIASOHN

ST. JOSEPH – Amidst the pleasure boats on the St. Joseph River near Lake Michigan on a Saturday morning in June 2007 were three boats that didn’t look like any other boats.
They didn’t have motors or sails or paddles or oars. What each of the three boats had was a person pedaling in a recumbent position, with a bicycle chain driving a propeller. Each of the boaters was also the builder, at least in part.

The second annual gathering of human powered boats was organized by St. Joseph resident Daniel Grow.

The other two participants were Jake Free of Elkhart, Ind., who built his first pedal-powered propeller-driven boat in 1977 and manufactures parts for other human-powered boat builders, and HPV builder/racer/Webmaster Warren Beauchamp of Big Rock, Ill., who was pedaling the third boat he has built.

Grow said he decided to build his own boat after attending Beauchamp’s annual Hydrobowl Human Powered Boat Rally in 2004 in Rockford, Ill. Grow competed then on a surf ski, which is paddled like a kayak, but has a foot- controlled rudder.

He discovered the pedal-powered boats were faster, so decided to design and build his own.
The boat is Grow’s own design. “I wanted to test an idea for the hull shape,” he said.
The hull is 20 feet long, 12 inches wide and at the most, 8 inches deep. It sinks into the water about 4 inches.

He made the hull by tracing the cross sections onto 2-inch thick pieces of foam. He then cut out each section using a hot wire, glued each section to the next with epoxy – that’s a total of 120 sections – then sanded the foam hull to the final shape. Grow then covered the foam hull with from one to four layers of fiberglass and/or carbon fiber.

The outrigger floats are 5 feet long and 8 feet apart. Construction of the outrigger assembly, which easily detaches for transporting the boat, was similar to that for the hull.
Grow also made the seat and propeller. His first driveline incorporated a propeller shaft, but had too much friction, so he replaced it with part of a bicycle frame upside down, so the pedals would be high enough. The chain twists as it runs to a sprocket driving the propeller.

THE DRIVETRAIN OF DANIEL GROW'S BOAT. The propeller is on the front of the strut and "pulls" the boat forward, that is, Grow moves through the water going forward, not backwards.

The boat weighs 50 pounds maximum, much less than similar boats, he said.
Grow sits on top of the hull, not in it. At speed on a calm surface, only the trailing edges of the floats are in the water.
Grow first lauched his boat in 2005 and usually only gets it in the water three times a year, for his event and the races organized by Free in Elkhart and by Beauchamp.
At those other events, Grow has won sprint and drag races, which don’t require turning . “It’s basically like a 20-foot long rudder in the water and it doesn’t want to turn,” he said about his boat, which for that reason works best in a straight line.
During Grow’s gathering on June 16, he, Beauchamp and Free pedaled their boats about 1.5 miles up the St. Joseph River from the launch site near where it enters into Lake Michigan.
Free’s “Liza” is a monohull, 24 feet long and 10 inches wide. The patented pedal drive is laminated into the hull and has been pedaled hundreds of miles so far, he said in an e-mail.
The boat is stabilized by two outrigger floats that are out of the water when the boat is steady and skim the surface when needed to stabilize it.
In contrast to Grow’s and Free’s homebuilts, Beauchamp started by buying a manufactured Necky sea kayak, 19 feet long and made of Kevlar.
He then made an opening in the hull, called a dry well, to accomodate a drop-in drive unit made by Seawind Boat Corp., which has the propeller at one end and the pedals at the other end. The drive unit can be removed easily to transport the boat or to unclog the propeller.
Pedal powered, propeller-driven boats have several advantages over using oars or paddles, according to Grow:
+ Power is continuous, rather than the in-and-out of the water propulsion provided by oars or paddles. In rough water, it may be difficult to keep oars or paddles in the water, but a propeller under the boat is always providing power.
+ The most efficient rowboats use sliding seats so that the rower is using his leg muscles as well as his arm, shoulder and back muscles. But with the rower moving back and forth as he rows and the seat slides, the bow and stern rise and fall.
In contrast, pedal powered boats go through the water smoothly since the rider isn’t moving back and forth.
+ Rowing at maximum efficiency requires learned skills. Riding a pedal-powered boat is no more difficult than riding a bicycle.

On the Web:
www.humanpoweredboats.com, which has a link to Free’s Web site.
Beauchamp is Webmaster of the www.recumbents.com site. To read about his boat projects there, click here.
Grow can be contacted at grow.daniel@gmailcom

This article originally appeared in The Herald-Palladium newspaper, St. Joseph, Mich., on July 27, 2007. Some minor changes have been made.

A message from President Wally

2007-12-30T21:39:00.000-05:00
Presidential Blog
Wally Kiehler
MHPVA President

At last year's winter meeting, I announced that this year (2007) would be my last as your MHPVA president. It is time to turn over the reins to another volunteer, with a new vision. My MHPVA pension is now fully vested and I am looking forward to an early retirement with full club benefits.

I would like to review my 15 years with with the MHPVA including the last 10 as your president. I attended my first Waterford rally around 1992 and rose quickly through the ranks. I became vice president in 1995 and after a long hard-fought political campaign became your president in 1998.

I ran my campaign with only two goals on my agenda (increase MHPVA membership and start a MHPVA Web site). Well, I only succeeded at the latter. I contacted Bill Duemling, the League of Michigan Bicyclist's Webmaster, and he offered to develope our first MHPVA Web site in 1999.

Before this new Web site, our typed newsletters were started by Mike Eliasohn, continued by Charles Brown in Florida, then were taken over by Ray Carpenter, and discontinued in 2003 after 88 typed newsletters. At this time, new club member Paul Bruneau volunteered to be our club Webmaster. He developed every thing that you see today on our Web site including a new "blog". This "blog" will provide us with more current up-to-date information and allow contributors to get their ideas to all of us more quickly.

During my 10-year tenure, I have been fortunate to have seen many things that have been new for me, such as recumbent trikes, streamliners (one with a video camera and screen to watch for steering, instead of a window), the introduction of low racers, an enclosed "Air Force One Screamer", got to ride Leon Chassman's 1,500-speed bike that made it into the Guinness Book of World Records, and many others.

I want to thank all of the current and past officers I have worked with for their support in providing what I have heard from many competitors is the best-run HPRA event in the racing series. Of course, I am talking about our Waterford rally.
And also Bob Krzewinski for organizing the WolverBent Cyclists club and finding us a location every winter for our annual meetings.

2008 will be the 25th Annual MHPVA Rally at Waterford. June 21 & 22 is our weekend this year. As usual camping, restrooms, and showers are included with the entry fee.

Thank you for your support and I look forward to seeing you all on March 1st at Washtenaw Community College and at Waterford in June.

Some Thoughts from Charles Brown

2007-11-04T12:57:00.000-05:00
Charles wrote the following to Mike Eliasohn in September 2006 in response to his query whether we should continue the "best homebuilt" prize at the Michigan HPV Rally:

Now, originally the International HPV Association was concerned strictly with speed, which resulted in streamliners that were good only for racing. Trying to come up with more practical vehicles, they came up with partially-faired and unfaired classes. These ultimately resulted in low racers, which are about as high as the hubcaps on a SUV, so again, maybe not so practical.
Why not just give that (best homebuilt) award to the best "street racer," the one that best combines speed with real-world practicality?

There are a LOT of MHPVA people who are into developing such a bike, probably more than any other HPV group...

Our Michigan group probably has the highest proportion of its members interested in fast bikes you can still use on the road, and we really don't have a contest for it.

The stock/semistock/etc. classes didn't work, the urban transportation contest depends on a questionable set of criteria. This (a new contest) could really give practical vehicles a boost.
I know I would sink my teeth into it. Ideally there would be a first, second and third place, and several people judging to eliminate (single) judges' biases.
I would belately nominate Wally's Lightning F-40 for the '06 season.

And in response to my comment that it would be nice to have more racers of conventional upright bikes competing at Waterford, Charles wrote:

I was thinking about this for a while and think the solution is to come out with a new "UCI legal" class...This would be a division of the stock class. Roadie-types would have some of their own kind to race against, and it would keep us (recumbent riders) on our toes, as well as to stay ahead of them.

Third edition of "The Recumbent Bicycle" published

2007-11-04T12:52:00.001-05:00
Jeff Potter of Out Your Backdoor Press in Williamston has come out with a third edition of Gunnar Fehlau's "The Recumbent Bicycle." Better paper, better photo quality and photos of some HPVs you will recognize. There's even a photo of and lengthy paragraph about Charles Brown's wood recumbents. Some other photos include John Simon in his red Moby. the lineup for the start of one of the races at the Michigan HPV Rally and the Black Bear race.
Even if you have the first two editions (like me, Mike E.), buying the third is worth the money -- $24 including postage.

Jeff also has numerous other books available, some on bicycle topics. Go to www.OutYourBackdoor.com

2007 MHPVA Rally Photos

2007-11-04T12:26:00.001-05:00
Available here:
2007 MHPVA Rally Photos

2007 Michigan HPV Rally

2007-11-04T11:21:00.000-05:00
By Mike Eliasohn

The 24th annual Michigan Human Powered Vehicle Rally June 23-24 attracted 38 riders and at least that many vehicles. There were two tandems and at least four riders competing with two or more vehicles.

It was Dennis Grelk’s weekend in more ways than one. He won the stock class on his homebuilt low racer. That class had the most entries, 16. Riding the Barracuda streamliner built by Warren Beauchamp, which Dennis now owns, he finished second in the streamliner class behind John Simon in his Moby. And riding a Bachetta Corsa, Dennis also competed in the urban transportation contest.

The 38 riders was an improvement over the 29 we had last year, Many of the regulars were missing, but we had several newcomers, including a contingent of low racers from Ohio recruited by MHPVA President Wally Kiehler at the Calvin’s Challenge ride in Ohio.
Also encouraging were the 34 vehicles and 32 riders competing in the Sunday events. (Three riders competed with two vehicles and there was one tandem.)

In addition to Ohio, Iowa, and Michigan, of course, riders came from Iowa (Dennis Grelk), Ontario (Jim Iwaskow) , Indiana and Illinois.

This was the first year we gave cash prizes instead of merchandise. Nobody kept track of who got how much, but the total, coming from entry fees, was $335.

The first event was the one hour. In the streamliner class, Dennis edged out John Simon of Portland, 31.5 miles to 31.2 miles. In the second one-hour, Dennis won first place in the stock class on his homebuilt front-wheel-drive low racer, 26.7 miles.

Other class winners were: superstreet, Mike Mowett, St. Clair Shores, on his upright Cervelo with fairing and body sock, 24.9 miles; superstock, Chris Cortez, Chicago, on a Rick Gritters-built low racer, 23.6 miles; tandem, Bob Teregan and Merlin Elsner, Warren, on a Rans Screamer, 19.9 miles; women, Dora Cortez, Chicago, Optima Baron, 19.5 miles; and junior, Ryan Miller, Vandalia, Ohio, upright bike, 17.4 miles.

The first event after lunch Saturday was the the hill climb-coast down. Scott Forthofer of St. Clair Shores had the third best time ever going up the hill to win the stock class, 18.69 seconds, on his upright Softride Powerwing. (Thanks to Mike Mowett for keeping track of the records.) The other class winners were: Superstreet, Mike Mowett, 19.97 seconds; superstock, Paul Bruneau, Portage, Velokraft VK2; 22.35 seconds; junior, Nick Myers, Holly, Maserati upright bike, 24.72 seconds; streamliner, John Simon, 24.78 seconds; tandem, Teregan/Elsner, 24.97 seconds; and women, Amy Miller, Vandalia, Ohio, Bianchi upright bike, 28 seconds.

At the top of the hill, competitors stopped pedaling and then coasted. Winners were: Streamliner, John Simon; stock, Thom Ollinger, West Milton, Ohio, Velokraft NoCom; superstreet, David “Doc” Pearson, Mooresville, Ind., Infinity front-wheel-drive; superstock, Chris Cortez; women, Dora Cortez; tandem, Teregan/Elsner; and junior, Nick Myers.
Saturday's final event was the standing start 1-kilometer time trial: Streamliner, John Simon, speed at end, 29.5 mph; stock, Dennis Grelk, 28.9 mph; superstreet, Mike Mowett, 27.9 mph; superstock, Paul Bruneau, 26.5 mph; tandem, Teregan/Mike Mowett (subbing for Merlin Elsner, who had to leave early), 24.5 mph; women, Dora Cortez, 21.6 mph; and junior, Nick Myers, 19.2 mph.

Sunday started with the 200-foot sprints. Frank Geyer of Brighton has his one good run of the weekend by winning the streamliner class in the Rick Wianecki-built Frank-n-Liner, 43.6 mph. Other class winners were: Stock, Thom Ollinger, 36.7 mph; superstreet, Mike Mowett, 34.1 mph; superstock, Chris Cortez, 33.8 mph; tandem, the father/daughter duo of Dan Thorne and Julie Pitko, Sault Ste. Marie, on their WizWheelz tandem tricycle, 29.9 mph; women, Dora Cortez, 28.5 mph; and junior, Nick Myers, 21.4 mph.

Garrie Hill generously posted some cash prizes for the 200-foot sprints. Here's his description of the prizes: “The GeeBee Cup cash awards for the 200-foot sprints this year were for the top speed in streamliner, stock (male), stock (female). I'd originally said that the winners would receive their speed in cash, i.e. 29.33 mph would win $29.33. There would be an additional cash bonus for speeds "above and beyond" certain numbers (which I don't remember) I listed (somewhere!). I do remember the streamliner mark was 45 mph. Frank Geyer posted a top speed of 43.56 mph. I presented him with $75 because he managed to turn in that speed after crashing the new Frank-n-Liner about 15 times in launching! Dora Cortez got $75 for her effort of 28.52 mph because I was feeling generous, and still laughing from Frank's escapades. Thom Ollinger received $75 for his 36.65 mph run because he proved that putting an old guy (Thom) on a fast machine (my NoCom) does make the old guy fast!”

The final events were the two road races using the .624 mile short course, which does not include the hill.

John Simon won the 20-lap race in his Moby streamliner at an average speed of 27.8 mph, followed by Dennis Grelk on his stock class lowracer, with Warren Beauchamp on his Velocraft NoCom in third.

Wally Kiehler on his superstreet class Lightning F40 won the 15-lap road race at an average speed of 21.7 mph, followed by Scott Forthofer on his stock class Softride upright bike second and David “Doc” Pearson third in in his superstreet Infinity.

First and second class overall in each class were: Streamliner (5 entries) – 1) John Simon, 285 points; 2) Dennis Grelk, 280. Superstreet (5 entries) – 1) Mike Mowett, 295 points, 2) Jeff Hunn, North Manchester, Ind., Reynolds TiCuda, 265. Superstock (4 entries) – 1) Paul Bruneau, 285 points, 2) Chris Cortez, 280. Stock (16 entries) – Dennis Grelk, 275 points, 2) Thom Ollinger, 259. Junior (2 entries) – Nick Myers, 295; Ryan Miller, 280. Women (4 entries) – 1) Dora Cortez, 295 points; 2) Amy Miller, 275. Tandem (2 entries) – Dan Thorne/Julie Pitko, 280 points, 2) Bob Teregan/Merlin Elsner, 240.

As the sole judge for the “best homebuilt prize, I (Mike E.) couldn't make up my mind, so $10 was given to Warren Beauchamp of Big Rock, Ill., builder of the Cuda-W streamliner, and Jim Iwaskow of Richmond Hill, Ontario, builder of the Figure 8 carbon fiber short wheelbase.
Niether bike is new. Jim built his short wheelbase bike in 2002, but has made improvement since. He shaped the frame out of foam, then covered it with carbon fiber. He also make the fork, seat and handlebar mast from carbon fiber. (the mast and, I think, the fork have since been replaced.) New this year was the tailbox. He first made a plug, then a mold, then a single layer of carbon fiber (or fiberglass – I neglected to write it down) inside the mold. The tailbox weighs 5.5 pounds. The bike, 24 pounds. The rear wheel is 700c; the front, 20 in.

Reg Rodaro of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, built the plug, female mold and fairing to Warren's design. Warren did the rest, including the front subframe that bolts to the monocoque. It's a front-wheel-drive, with gearing provided by a 14-speed Rohloff Speedhub driving a 406mm (20-inch) wheel. The rear wheel is a 700c that bolts to dropouts that bolt to the monocoque.

In 2005, Warren pedaled the Cuda W to 64.4 mph at Battle Mountain, Nevada. As of the rally, he still have front and rear wheel fairings to make and was still fiddling with the subframe.
If you want to see the entire building process for the Cuda W,. go to www.recumbents.com (of which Warren is the Webmaster), then click on “recumbent building,” then “human powered vehicle research and development,” then on “Reg Rodaro builds the Cuda-W.”

Other homebuilts of note at the rally – there aren't many of them these days – included Dennis Grelk's stock class entry, previously mentioned, and the Rick Wianecki/Frank Geyer Frank-n-Speed streamliner that was still experiencing teething problems.

TWO TRICYCLES FROM PENNSYLVANIA

2007-11-04T10:30:00.000-05:00

TIM HEIST (seated) and son Louis Jasinski of Reading, Pa., with their front-wheel-drive, rear-wheel steering trike at the Michigan Recumbent Rally - West Sept. 9 2006 in Kalamazoo.

By Mike Eliasohn

Timothy Heist and his son, Louis Jasinski, came all the way from Reading, Pa., – 627 miles each way – with their two homebuilt trikes to participate in the Michigan Recumbent Rally - West Sept. 9, 2006, on the Western Michigan University campus in Kalamazoo.

The following day, they rode them in the Vineyard Classic Bicycle Tour that starts and ends in Paw Paw. As of then, Tim said they had built five recumbent trikes. “It’s just a hobby,” said Heist, who does steel fabrication for a living. Although a hobby, their creations have a name, Scorpion Trikes.

He said he first got interested in building recumbent trikes after his 86-year-old father saw a photo of one in the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper. “My dad showed it to me and said, ‘Maybe you can build one of these.”

He started building his first a couple of years ago. Before then, he said, he used to drag race motorcycles and built his own drag bike (”drag bike” as in “motorcycle.”) “I enjoy the fabricating and design process, learning what works and what doesn’t.”
Trike No. 5 has been a real learning experience – propulsion is via the single front wheel, which Tim straddles, and the rear wheels do the steering.

That’s not a new concept, and some lean while cornering. The Heist/Jasinki rear-steerer doesn’t lean, but apparently does solve a problem many of them don’t – instability at higher speeds.

Moving a lever changes the ratio in the steering. At slower speeds, it’s 1:1. At higher speeds, it’s less than that – that is, moving a lever changes the ratio so moving the steering a given amount changes the direction of the rear wheels a lesser amount. “I’ve only had it up to 28 (mph), coasting down a hill, but it seemed okay,” Tim said. “What happens after that, I don’t know.”

The other Scorpion trike at the rally is more conventional in that it’s rear wheel drive, and the two front wheels do the steering. But instead of using hubs that require building special wheels for the front, the frame supports two head tubes and two regular front forks, so regular front wheels can be used.

Each trike at the rally weighed about 70 pounds. The frames are made from regular 1-1/4-inch square tubing (not thinwall chromoly) and 1-1/2-inch wide steel channel. The wheels and components come from bikes bought at Wal-Mart.

Tim and Louis are now working on tricycle number 6 and hope to bring it to the Michigan HPV Rally in June. The two front wheels will be in a fixed position. The single rear wheel will do the driving and steering!

Thanks also to Breakaway Bicycles in Portage for bringing several recumbents to the rally on Sept. 9 for people to test ride – and hopefully buy.

LOUIS JASINSKI rides the “conventional” trike they had at the rally. Notice use of steel channel for the rear stays and interim freewheel and deraileur, in addition to the rear wheel freewheel and deraileur. There’s also a deraileur for the chainrings.

THE FRONT-WHEEL-DRIVE TRIKE. Shifters are at the sides of the seat. What looks like handlebars above the front wheel is the mount for the rearview mirrors.

Urban Transportation Contest - June 23, 2007

2007-06-23T22:27:00.000-04:00
By Paul Pancella

We had a nice, relaxed Urban Transportation Contest at Waterford this year. Only six contestants entered; I guess that’s what I get for outlawing unicycles. Besides the new multi-wheel requirement, the only other rules change since last year was a slight reduction in the passenger bonuses. In the following table I list the contestants, a little about their vehicles, and their final scores, in finishing order:

Table 1 UTC contestants and final scores, in finishing order

# Contestant name(s) Vehicle description Overall score
701 Dan Thorne/Julie Pitko WizWheels Tandem TerraTrike, 2006 74.3
910 David “Doc” Pearson Sun EZ-3 delta tricycle, 2003, front fairing 70.8
140 Wally Kiehler LCD Lightning F40, faired bicycle, 1991 70.1
486 Paul Pancella Volae Club “highracer,” 2003 68.3
905 Richard Myers Kickbike large-wheeled scooter, 2007 65.5
611 Sue Lyons Raleigh C500 “hybrid” upright bicycle 2004 59.9
911 Dennis Grelk Bacchetta Corsa “highracer,” 2007 57.4

The first thing you might notice is that I have listed seven entries, instead of six. With the relatively small field, I took the opportunity to enter my own commuting machine to see how well we would do. Of course, I was not eligible for any of the prizes. It was interesting to me that I fell squarely in the middle of the pack, with a numerical score barely above the average.
The second thing you might notice (if you are a true UTC aficionado) is that the winning scores are higher than they have ever been before. I attribute this to the fact that the top three finishers are veterans of previous contests and used their experience to increase their scores. More on this later.
The next table shows the details of where the scores came from. Table 2 contains the points awarded, not actual weights, times or sizes. The highest scores in most columns are indicated in bold. Points were awarded for safety, utility, efficiency, and comfort factors, specifically the coast down time, driver vision (day and night), turn radius, timed grocery run, braking distance, weather protectin, comfort; tools, lock and spares; pulling gear ratio; and a "passenger bonus.".

Table 2 COULD'T BE INCLUDED FOR TECHNICAL REASONS

Despite my efforts to keep things tidy by adjusting the rules, contestants still had a few surprises in store. I was not thinking about scooters when I designed this contest, but I think it gave Ohioan Rich Myers’ Kickbike a fair shake. This vehicle is nimble, but not as efficient in forward motion as a pedaled machinE and I think the low score for comfort is justified.
This year’s winner was the huge tandem tricycle, made here in West Michigan by the WizWheelz company. The Thorne/Pitko team, veterans of the 2006 UTC, studied the rules well and made a huge improvement over their previous score of 58.7, which was good for fourth place in a field of nine last year. They got 6.8 out of a possible 9 points in turning radius by exploiting a loophole in the rules. While the ordinary turn radius of their 10.5 foot long machine would max out my scoring formula (giving them no points in this column last year) the rules do not specifically forbid reversing direction during the turn demonstration. Thus they were able to execute a ~50-point turn in a space just larger than their overall length! It took a long time (and they used all three attempts), so in the interest of keeping the contest moving, I may have to make another rules adjustment next year.
Doc Pearson of Indiana also improved over his previous score, 62.2 points that earned him third place in 2004 with the same vehicle. Once again, the strengths of the delta trike showed in a very tight turn and excellent braking. Although not part of the scoring formula, it should be noted that this was one of the least expensive vehicles in the contest this year, about a factor of ten cheaper to purchase than the winner or the third place machine.
With so few entries, I had decided early in the contest that I would only make awards to the top two finishers. However, since the second and third place contestants were so close, I ended up giving out three prizes. I don’t claim precision better than + or – 1 point on this roughly 100 point scale, so I consider Doc and Wally to have roughly tied for second place. These were the only two vehicles sporting fairings of any kind, the EZ-3 with a Mueller Windwrap up front, and the F-40 getting top points for weather protection. Not much else to say about president Kiehler’s machine, I think it is extremely well-suited to urban commuting and am not surprised that it scores high (he won the UTC last year with the same vehicle). I appreciate Wally’s support for the UTC over the years. Not only has he entered every time we ran it, he even supplied his offspring to compete on occasion.
As to the rest of the field, Sue Lyons’ upright was done in by relatively poor aerodynamics, as revealed in the coastdown score, and it took her quite a bit of time to pack her groceries. Dennis Grelk entered his training bike, one of three vehicles he brought to Waterford this year. Although more practical than his racers, it was still not set up particularly well for urban transportation. Since he won everything else that weekend, I hope he was not too disappointed with his low finish in the UTC. It was nice to have another high racer to compare with my Volae, and most of our scores were similar. His long stopping distance was probably a fluke, but my vehicle rightfully scored better for the tools and spares carried, the lighting system, and the lower gearing.
So that’s the story from the UTC this year. I think the contestants all had fun, which is the primary goal. Special thanks go to my crew of volunteer helpers, especially chief assistant UTC official Paul Bruneau of Kalamazoo, who handled the simulated grocery run for most of the field. See you next time.