Dave Moller's latest wood wonder

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.