Issue 54 B H P C Newsletter - Issue 54

The British Human B H P C Power Club

Constant Bad Weather During The 1998 Race Season Forced The BHPC To Exercise A Certain Amount Of Ingenuity Autumn 1998 Issue 54 B H P C Newsletter - Issue 54 ... gain ver, a Front Cover: Barefoot Waterskiing On The e co n th Cote d’Azur... ve o Ste Picture: Came From Aberdeen In A ving r ha Plain Brown E-mail gies fo Contents polo NewsA and Views Compiled by Dave Larrington 3 Very Small Race Info Me! 8 New Records Carole Leone / Paul Buttemer / Jeff Wills 9 Correspondence You, The Public 11 Slightly Larger Touring Info Various Artists 15 Rolling Resistance And Tennis Balls Richard Middleton 16 European HPB Championships Tony Hunt 19 The GTO Project - Part 3 Dave Larrington 21 Rolling Resistance of Tyres John Lafford 26 Racing News & Results courtesy of Dennis Adcock & gNick Green 30 Hands-On Experience Jonathan Woolrich 33 Kirkby to Carrock Fell Susan Laughton 38 Carmen Brück freely adapted from InfoBull by Tina Larrington 40 Things Danish Chairman Dave / JW / The Eds. 40 Erik The Viking Tina Larrington 48

Objectives: The British Human Power Club was formed to foster all aspects of human-powered vehicles - air, land & water - for competitive, recreational and utility activities, to stimulate innovation in design and development in all spheres of HPV's, and to promote and to advertise the use of HPV's in a wide range of activities. Now will you join Henry Cow? OFFICERS Chairman & Press Officer Dave Cormie ( Home 0131 552 3148 143 East Trinity Road Edinburgh, EH5 3PP

Competition Secretary gNick Green ( Home 01785 223576 267 Tixall Road Stafford, ST16 3XS E-mail: [email protected]

Secretary Steve Donaldson ( Home 01224 772164 Touring Secretary Sherri Donaldson 15 Station Road Dyce, Aberdeen AB21 7BA

Treasurer & Membership Dennis Adcock ( Home 01494 721088 all cheques to be 29 Chequers Hill made out to the Amersham, Bucks BHPC HP7 9DQ

Newsletter Editorial Team Dave & Tina Larrington ( Home 0181 531 4496 166 Higham Hill Road (after 19:00 weekdays...) London E17 6EJ E-mail: [email protected] Copy date for Issue 55: 1st December 1998! And I mean it! Letters, articles, pictures, previously unknown Shakespeare manuscripts, etc. are always welcome - please send to the Editor at the address opposite. Technology being what it is these days, we can cope with most file formats readable by a PC (text in ASCII, WordPro/AmiPro or Word easiest to cope with), but if you haven't got one, items on paper are just as acceptable. The Editor Launches A Frenzied Attack On His Keyboard

A Sort Of Hors d’Oeuvre

Not much new to report since the last issue, especially as the only event we’ve actually attended has been the European Championships. Missed Hayes because the weather was so horrible - went home to watch the British GP and the World Cup Final instead. Missed Lancaster due to being en route to the Europeans. Missed Kirby and The Lakes due to not having recovered from illnesses picked up while at the Europeans... Anyway, the Europeans were as much fun as usual, and you can’t read all about them in this issue, as there’s insufficient space available. I’ve discovered one thing, though, namely that riding a long distance to an event is not necessarily the best training for racing. Put another way, I didn’t go any faster...

Of Boing, Bars And Bottles

Following the decision by those eminently sensible chaps at the UCI to ban monocoque frames, further acts of idiocy have crossed my computer screen recently. Firstly, a couple of the US Postal Service team were told prior to this year’s Paris-Roubaix race that their bikes were illegal. Their crime? Having suspension... Next we read that those Cinelli bars with the sort of mini-tri-bar bit in the middle have also been banned. And the crowning glory; the makers of the Camelbak drinking system developed a soi- disant “aero” version for time-triallists. An independent test showed that the difference it made was negligible. However, this wasn’t good enough for the UCI, who have now banned all strap-to-your-back drinking systems, whether “aero” or not, from all road races and time trials. Next week, how pneumatic tyres give an unfair advantage...

...However...

... it seems that the UCI are not the only people around who want to stamp on innovation. A while back, the organisers of one of Sweden’s biggest mass cycle rides decided to ban recumbents, because, apparently, they are “dangerous”. In what manner they are “dangerous” was not specified. But, the event takes place on unclosed public roads, 300 km around the one of the largest lakes in Sweden. So the local recumbent enthusiasts decided that they would exercise their right to use the public highway... by riding round the same lake, at the same time, but in the opposite direction!

Then there’s the Trondheim - Oslo saga. You may remember Gooner Fehlau’s article describing how Bram Moens set a new record for the event. Sadly, this seems to have had Repercussions: Time to Defend the Future of Recumbents

Last year the leading endurance ride in Norway, the Great Trial of Strength, was won by Dutch recumbent rider Bram Moens. This year recumbents were banned.

By Ernst Poulsen

Only a handful of races are as tough as the Norwegian endurance event - The Great Trial of Strength. The distance is a staggering 540 km across the mountain range - or fjell - between Trondheim and Oslo. And just to make it a serious riders only-event, the time limit is 30 hours.

Usually the ride attracts some 3000 cyclists - including the best riders in Norway, many foreigners, - and a handful of recumbent riders. For years none of this constituted a problem, until the Dutch HPV-rider

3 Bram Moens shattered all records, and won the 1997 event with a full one hours and 45 minutes in front of number two.

But instead of celebrating Bram Moens as a winner, the organizers gave the first prize of $2000 to another rider - and to top it all off recumbents were banned in the 1998 event.

“They simply ignored me, when I arrived”, explains Bram Moens, who later went back to Norway and used part of his vacation to speak to the organizers. This didn’t change the decision.

Örn Ulf Pedersen from the event organization, admits that HPV’s never constituted a problem - earlier on. They were only a rarity. Bram Moens’ fast ride changed this:

“This isn’t a competition - it’s an endurance event1", explains Örn Ulf Pedersen, who admits that the 1997 event did have a special “record group” which competed for prizes. Recumbents were allowed to sign up for this group, and the rules - which state that helmets must be worn, and that Triathlon handlebars are not allowed, did not state anything about recumbents.

Apparently the organizers underestimated the speed of the recumbents. Only one or two minutes before the start, Bram Moens and the other recumbents were taken out of the record group, and were told to start 10 minutes later.

This soon became a problem, when several of the recumbent riders had to overtake the entire record group soon after the start. At the finish line in Oslo, two of the recumbent riders finished way ahead of the rest of the pack. But the fact that recumbent suddenly proved to be much faster than the record group, also constitutued a problem.

“The cost of police patrolling is also of importance. We pay 180000 Nkroner (20000 Euro), and it gets more expensive when some of the riders arrive that early, as the police have to follow them too”, Örn Ulf Pedersen explains.

The organizers did get an early warning that recumbents would be faster than all other riders. Bram Moens participated in the 1991 event and was ahead of everyone else - until 50 km from the finish line, when a serious stomach ache took him out of the race. But according to Örn Ulf Pedersen, the organizers never realized this: “We only see the final results”.

Despite the dispute this year - the door may not be entirely closed to recumbents in the future. “As we see it, recumbents may be back next year. We would of course like to see as many participants as possible”, explains Örn Ulf Pedersen, who hopes to meet with HPV-riders later this year. A Potentially Useful Gadget

While golfing2 the ‘net recently, I came across a product called the “Shockster”. This is a device cunningly wrought to convert your boring old hardtail mountain bike into one with rear suspension. It attaches to your existing rear dropouts and cantilever bosses, and gives you of the order of 3.5” of suspension via a coil spring / oil damper arrangement. Ed Gin in Chicago has already fitted one to his Lightning SWB recumbent bike, and reports himself well-pleased with the result. As well as the canti bosses, you need some sort of rear triangle, so all you lot fantasising about putting one on your Kingcycle can stop right now. Ed has a detailed report on the fitting and performance of the thing on his Web page, at http:// www.mcs.net/~gkpsol/shockster.html, while the manufacturer’s site is at http://www.shockster.com/. I don’t know if it’s available in this country yet, but I’m sure that if you contact the makers, at [email protected], or BikeControl Inc, 9640 SW Sunshine Ct., Suite #700, Beaverton, OR 97005, USA, they’d be delighted to sell you one. Over there it retails for $329.

1 - Hence, no doubt, the $2000 “prize” for the “winner” - Ed. 2 - “Surfing” the ‘net makes it sound all dramatic and full of action and movement. The reality is short periods of excitement followed by a lengthy amount of hanging around...

4 Of Records (Assorted)

No further news on the alleged Graeme Obree hour record machine, but we’ve seen the fairing which Pa Kingsbury intends someone to use for same, and it’s very pretty; all small and natural carbon/kevlar coloured and stuff. The goalposts, however, have been moved a bit - earlier this summer Sam Whittingham, riding one of Georgi Georgiev’s Varna machines, upped the hour record to 49.17 miles during an intensive period of record setting, which saw seven new low-altitude records established by Sam, Paul Buttemer and Robert Lafleur. Four of these are outright World records. Full details can be found elsewhere in this issue.

Hot news from Jürg Hölzle, about the recent Rail World Championships in Switzerland. Another new 200m record, set by existing record holder Hansueli Russenberger, at 63.55 km/h (39.5 mph). In fact, the fastest three machines exceeded the old mark of 58.62 km/h; runner-up Oliver Sigg also managed to crack 60 km/h. It looks as though Future Bike’s Web page is being thoroughly rebuilt at the moment, but I’ll keep a lookout for pictures. If any of our readers have any... Listed amongst the competitors is Bob Ing, of Britain, who reached 40.98 km/h. Are you a member, Bob? Have you got any text or pictures?

Other Matters Swiss

Next year’s World Championships are to be held in Interlaken, and not Laupen as may have been previously reported. Water events will be on August 14/15, and the land events August 18-22. The latter will be based around Interlaken Airport, where this year’s Swiss Championships were held. Looks like a good venue. There was a very spiffy full-colour handout available in Roskilde, but like a fool I failed to pick one up... Details will be posted on Future Bike’s Web site - http://www.futurebike.ch - and can also be obtained from Mr. Future Bike Secretary Jürg Hölzle, Spitzackerstrasse 9, CH-4410 Liestal, Switzer- land, e-mail [email protected]. Ian Hague has stated his intention to ride there and back - details elsewhere in this issue. However, the Editorial Posse will not be joining the party; I’ve been to the last nine European / World-When-Held-In-Europe Championships, and so reckon it’s time for a proper holi- day for a change. Nothing against Switzerland, honest, guys!

Fame Beckons

Latest HPV notable to get The Treatment in the national press is Nigel Frost, of London Recumbents: A park-and-ride-scheme that’s one of London’s wonders The Joys Of Modern Life;2. Comedy Bicycles

From The Independent June 16th, 1998 by John Walsh

WE HAD a gaggle of French exchange students in town last week, swapping cultures with my daughter and her coven of 10-year-old sophisticates, and we threw at them everything the English Tourist Board could offer:

Buckingham Palace (“Eez vey beautifoo”), the Millennium Dome (“Eez vey beeg”) and Kew Gardens (“Eez fool of naase fleurs”). They were appreciative, but their responses lacked a certain oomph. So by the third day, I made a resolve - the first tiny window that appears in their busy schedules, I’ll introduce them to the London Recumbents and see what adjective they come up with for that. The Recumbents is a one-man bicycle-hire company, but the bikes are spectacular. The first time I encountered them was one Sunday afternoon in Dulwich Park in south London.

We noticed a peculiar, two-person cycle-chariot going by, pedalled by two relaxed-looking pubescents, and discovered it was for hire. The rest of the afternoon passed in a delighted blur. The chariots are called “Side-by-Sides”, and can be pedalled by the most broken-winded middle-aged couple sitting as though in adjacent deckchairs (you can wedge a couple of children between you). You start out gingerly, sticking responsibly to the pathways; within 10 minutes, you’re traversing the park at impossible speeds,

5 whizzing past snoozing picnickers, with the children clinging for dear life, laughing like drains. Instead of emerging exhausted from the exercise, you instantly try out the other half-dozen varieties: gleaming silver tandems, an impossibly tall Pedersen bike with a hammock seat, a sweet family machine that bolts two extra children on saddles behind an ordinary bicycle, a four-wheel taxi-bike that takes two passen- gers in Edwardian splendour. If there are enough of you, you can have a convoy of these Heath Robinson machines racing, whooping, across the grass. They’re the work of one man, Nigel Frost, a former Peckham train driver, who sold recumbent bikes (they’re another variant - you lie supine on them and steer with your arms behind you) for six years before discovering it was easier to rent them, because they advertise themselves.

He buys the things from Denmark and Holland, though the tandems come from Stratford and the cycle- taxis from Manchester. The Side-by-Sides were originally designed for “people with special needs” to ride - but everyone kept asking if they could have a go on them. I turned down three or four offers before the penny dropped. What’s nice is that a granny and a two-year-old can be riding them one minute, then a couple of teenagers.

They appeal to non-cyclists and to groups.” Mr Frost has been hiring his menagerie of funny cycles for just a year. They cost pounds 10 an hour, and you can only get them in Dulwich Park. “I’ve tried to do it in other ones, like Hyde Park, but the authorities tend to ban cyclists. The Dulwich authorities are much more enlightened about it.” And the French babes? Mon dieu, they loved it. They were souls in bliss as they careered all over on tandems and Side-by-Sides, scattering pigeons, harrassing squirrels and utter- ing shrill Gallic cries. When we asked what they’d most enjoyed about our charming nation (Covent Garden? Full English breakfast? Eastenders?) they replied in chorus, “Faire les bicyclettes! Fantastique!” Nice one Nigel. Ancient History

The photo of Steve D. in the last issue caused our illustrious Hon. Sec. to trawl through his archives, and came up with the following. The accompanying article was translated by Ian Sheen; remaining stuff by Steve: Here is a rough translation (my French is best suited for the under-age drinker i.e. a mixture of schoolroom and bar-room French). The photo was taken at about 9.15am. on Friday 24th July ’87 near the start of an 88 mile, 9000ft of ascent, day up the Col de Rousset by a reporter for ‘Le Dauphine’.

The Bike For The Year 2000 ?

We bumped into a very strange machine, decorated with a little flag, the other morning on the CD93, between Saillans and Espenel. After having thought that it was a little invalid carriage, it became clear to us the occupant was pedalling and seemed in possession of all his faculties. We stopped him and charmingly, he explained he was Scottish and was touring France on his curious vehicle. Mr. Donaldson camps and travels on his tricycle, comfortably seated to see the countryside. After the night at Crest, he was to climb the Col de Rousset and thought he would stay twelve or so days in the Alps. His vehicle is a tricycle equipped with three chainrings and six gears at the back. It is a ‘Recumbent tricycle’ built by M. Burrows, of Windcheetah (Norwich) in England who put only 50 into service. On the flat in a straight line, it cheerfully (gaily?) slips along at 40 to 50 kph without effort and climbs anything, thanks to its gears. So there may be a Tour de France soon, with a finish ‘in an armchair’ every time.

French joke at the end doesn’t translate well, remarkably accurate - better than most here - considering the reporter’s English and my French!

*****

The tour started at Valence having taken the train from Aberdeen to London, swapped to Victoria, across to Paris by boat-train then down south through France on a cheap ticket. En route I vowed not to travel the French railways with a bike again - the bike will/won’t travel on the same train - we must load it/ you must load it - do you have insurance - do you have a reservation ... cheapest method was to pass the trike

6 not as a bike but as a piece of awkward baggage by weight (usually reserved for the sorts of ship’s trunk without handles seen in the guard’s van containing the dead body in Hercule Poirot murder mysteries).

Anyway - off train at 4am in Valence and up into the Vercors. Excellent touring, excellent food and wine, nice weather. Only two English speakers in my fortnight of crossing cols and cycling through various gorges (one from Greenock in a car who spotted a Braemar sticker on the Speedy, the other a Parisian doctor training for a Cols Dur event round Grenoble who I rode with for a day). At one restaurant the staff commented as I left (in perfect English) “Your Spanish is better than your French” after I had unwittingly ordered the meal in French then spoken with the waiter from Columbia in Spanish all through the evening, settling the bill in Spanish at the end. Some nice climbing opportunities including one where I discovered titanium plated racing shoes are great for edging but no use for smearing and thus no substitute for a set of rock boots. Watched the Tour spin through one of the stages (and one of the few Tours Feminin). Completely faded the Speedy brakes on a 22km descent with hairpins - Mike B. didn’t believe me until he did the same in a fully faired Speedy on the Tour de Sol in Switzerland the following year. Ate all my money (food and wine too good) and came home slightly early.

Return from Lyons to Paris. Wait almost all day for trike to arrive on a different train in Paris. Balls-up on cross-channel ‘boat-train’ meant that trike was left on the quayside and not forwarded for another day. Much to-ing and -fro-ing extracted compensation for the delay and inconvenience from BR and also compensation since it was obvious that somebody had ridden the beast. All the way along the line (as I tracked its progress up country) I was assured that it was in good condition (customs at Victoria, dis- patch at Kings Cross ... ). I had to remind BR that the Athens convention etc. does not cover damage in transit within countries. ...

7 After that I vowed no to touring with bikes on SNCF or BR - too much hassle and grief. If the Dutch and Danes can manage so easily what is the problem. Might try the ‘Bike Express’ coach from Middles- brough next year. .deciMach News

The first runs for the $18000 .deciMach Prize, for the first HPV to exceed 75 mph at low altitude, were held in conjunction with the HPRA Speed Championships in Indianapolis in late June. The sprints took place on the fabled Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but a combination of stiff headwinds and generally hot and sticky conditions meant that speeds were not exceptional, especially when compared with Sam Whittingham’s efforts. Fastest was Freddie Markham and Gold Rush, with a speed of just over 51 mph.

BHPC AGM (and Further Matters Stevular)

The AGM approacheth. Please inform Mr. Secretary Steve Donaldson of any matters which you think require discussion. One thing which has already been suggested, by Dennis Adcock, is the following:

“In the Club Objectives stated in every newsletter, it is proposed to foster all aspects of human powered vehicles, therefore should we not be encouraging riders of all “non-approved” bikes to race in the unfaired class and so to have really open meetings. I mean Moultons, Bike Fridays and other small spe- cials, there was a certain interest for this at Cyclefest and I feel that it should be encouraged.” Over to you, Constant Reader.

Steve has also kindly supplied the following points, on which you may wish to ruminate prior to the meeting itself:

IHPVA proposal that we levy $1 per member for running the show. I believe the necessary is on the web from Christian and Theo - reckon we should discuss this at the AGM especially now that the leviathan that is the North American HPV is finding its feet again. The Dutch, German, Swiss and Swedish Clubs are already doing this. My initial scepticism two years ago has been steadily replaced by a reckoning that this is a good thing.

Worth mentioning that one of the most useful bits to come from the IHPVA discussions (before I bogged off to the organ recital in Roskilde Cathedral with Sherri) was a committment to sharing and publicising dates of events between clubs so that we don't clash with other countries and so that those of us with a mind to travel can work out where to go if they want to catch some HPV action.

Mutterings in the woods that Europeans 2000 will be in Ghent (Belgium). These may be the Worlds too if no-one in the States offers. Easy to get to. Nice beer. Good chocolate.

Also for AGM notes. Your chance to moan about/ congratulate/ offer to help the Club. Any offers or thoughts about events - give us a shout so that we can try to integrate them into the calendar.

Jonathan Woolrich...

...says: “It crosses my mind that there might be a significant demand for wheel disks like the Doug Milliken ones on Kevin’s bike, but for 406 rims. They are vacuum moulded over a form made of wood. They have a radius that comes out from the rim, which is intended to clean up the airflow off the tyre. Doug sells his services to car manufacturers as an aerodynamicist, so I should think he knows as much as anyone in that area. He also works with Steve Hed, who is the best on aero wheels. I think I can make the forms and find a company that will make them, but I suppose I will have to order some quantity to make it economical. The disks are as light, tough and rigid as you could wish for our uses. Just don’t let Lauda Air get at them! If you think this is a goer, let me know. I don’t intend to make money out of this, just to cover any costs and break even. I won’t do the same for Moulton size as I would be competing with Doug, and he is a more useful ally than enemy.”

8 Contact Jonathan at: 31 Hummer Road, Egham, Surrey, TW20 9BW; phone 01784 436796 (home), 0181 562 4989 (work), e-mail: [email protected] Jonathan would also like to make it known that he is now no longer emigrating to Spain, as was previously his intention...

And Finally

Latest in a long line of Club members to be smitten by a dreadful ailment is Dennis Adcock. Here’s hoping for a rapid recovery. And now I’m going to work on my fairing. No I’m not, because it’s raining! $%^(£*!!!

A Day At The Races

October 4th Castle Combe, near Chippenham, Wilts October 18th AGM, Eastway, London E15

The chances of getting this issue through your letter box in time for Curborough are non-existent (written before Curborough, natch), and frankly I wouldn’t hold out much hope for Castle Combe either, but just in case you missed it, the remainder of this year’s activities are shown above. I’ve ditched the maps, cos they were illegible... So there’s actually very little to put in this bit. So I won’t.

Editorial Note: The following stuff was all copied from the IHPVA’s web site. The picture, of the Varna Orpheus, was taken by Jeff Wills in 1996. Whether the Mephisto is any different, or whether the Orpheus has changed much since then I know not. The top of the fairing is gold in colour, and the bottom black. Very pretty, in my opinion. Congratulations to Sam, Paul, Robert and Georgi for their efforts. This does mean, however, that there are now no world records left in British hands, chiz...

VARNA (and others - Ed.) sets new records!

From: Carole Leone

From July 16 to the 24th George and I were official observers at a record attempt session by the Varna team outside of Montreal. The venue was a huge auto test track (approx. a 4 mile oval). The track had not been repaved in many years and was very bumpy in sections, otherwise I believe the speeds would have been even greater. After the first week, John Tetz drove up to be an observer, along with Pierre Laliberte of Quebec, who was the main person who secured the site for the team and who was an observer the entire time.

During the two weeks a total of 7 records were broken by the two Varna bikes and riders, Sam Whittingham (200 m, 500 m, kilometer, mile and hour) and Paul Buttemer (10 k and 100 k). Four were better than the high and low altitude records, three were new low altitude records. One record, the 4000 meter, was broken by Robert Lafleur. He broke both the previous high and low altitude records.

9 LAFLEUR/VARNA RECORD REPORT

In late July of 1998, Robert Lafleur, Team Varna (builder George Georgiev, riders Sam Whittingham and Paul Buttemer), and IHPVA officials (Pierre Laliberté, Carole Leone, George Leone and John Tetz) con- gregated in Blainville, Québec, Canada. PMG Technologies, a company in Blainville, allowed us the use of their large racetrack to make record attempts in various categories as recognized by the IHPVA.

THE VENUE

PMG Technologies owns a large facility and several tracks. The track we used, called Alpha, is 6.86 km in length and is very level, the difference between the highest and lowest point being 3.8 meters. The track is roughly oval, with the corners and both straight-aways all being about 1.7 km long. The front straightaway has two very slight S-bends. The track surface is hard and has low rolling resistance, although it was paved about 20 years ago and has some cracks and repaired sections. The bumps were noticeable, but we were able to find a path that missed most of the ones that would cause speed loss, and PMG staff did some beautiful last-minute repair of the very worst ones.

The sprint courses were set up on the back straightaway, which is the smoothest section of the track, and has an average downgrade of about 0.07%, dropping about 1.2 meters in 1700 meters. (This is close to one tenth the allowable grade - the IHPVA rules allow a 0.67% downgrade, or a drop of 11.3 meters in 1700 meters.) When Sam made a sprint attempt, he would take one full lap of the track to get gradually get up to about 70 kph, then would have over 2 km to accelerate to final speed.

Normally, the weather in Blainville at the end of July is perfect for HPV riding - daily high temperatures around 25C - 30C, relative humidity below 50% and calm winds. However, July 1998 was an exception (el Niño aftermath?). Temperatures were a little colder than expected and the humidity was higher than normal, but it was the wind that gave us a real scare. Every day the winds averaged between 25 and 40 kph, and varied up and down in random cycles. Several places on the course were gusty because of the surrounding terrain, and as a result, the track was generally not rideable at all during the day. On most days there was a window (of calm wind conditions) in the early morning and just before sunset. The early morning window was very unpredictable. Sometimes we would get up before dawn, and the wind would already be howling. Sometimes we would get up, see calm conditions and hurry to the track only to see the wind rise before we could even warm up. We were at the track for 15 days, and were only able to take advantage of the morning window once, for some of Sam’s required sprint backup runs. Paul had one morning 100 km record nullified by winds over the legal limit. We also missed a couple of morning chances due to bad luck and/or poor planning. In the evening, the winds would usually calm down to within legal strength about 30 to 60 minutes before sunset. Unfortunately, the temperature would also plummet (making for more air resistance). But, in the end, we had five evening sessions, four of which resulted in records with legal wind conditions.

The PMG Technologies facility is actually a proving grounds and is not suitable for public-view events. All vehicular movement is governed by a controller, and one must ask permission by radio to enter a track, and inform the controller when leaving a track. A small paved area and garage are adjacent to the entrance to the Alpha track, where we were given some space for our operation. We have discussed the future possibility of holding a small invitational event on the Alpha track, and the track manager has agreed in principal.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank all our officials for their time, patience and proficiency. Each venue presents unique problems for officiating. To make attempts on eight records, we had six different course arrange- ments which required planning and time to set up. The officials were busy all day, every day, and in no way could the job have been done any better! Pierre took three months out of his life prior to our arrival to take care of all the thousands of details that needed to be attended to. The record attempts would not have happened at all without his help.

10 We would also like thank all the staff at PMG Technologies. They were always friendly, helpful, and frequently went far beyond the call of duty to accommodate our unusual and unfamiliar requests. We hope that we have made a good name for the HPV community at PMG, and that we will be welcome guests in the future.

RESULTS

The following chart summarizes our results. At the date of writing (Aug. 26, 1998), none of these are official, but all have been submitted for approval by the IHPVA. SS denotes standing start.

Re cord Time KPH MPH Ride r De signe r(s) Ve hicle 200 m - low altitude 7.196 100.060 62.170 Sam Whittingham Georgi Georgiev Varna Mephisto Old record - low altitude 7.570 95.110 59.100 Carl Sundquist Terry Hreno Moby 3 500 m - outright 18.150 99.170 61.620 Sam Whittingham Georgi Georgiev Varna Mephisto Old record - high altitude 18.502 97.290 60.450 Mike P rime UC Berk eley Z Prime Old record - low altitude 19.645 91.630 56.930 Pat Kinc h John K ings bury / M iles Kings bury Bean 1000 m - low altitude 37.328 96.440 59.930 Sam Whittingham Georgi Georgiev Varna Mephisto Old record - low altitude 40.170 89.620 55.690 Pat Kinc h John K ings bury / M iles Kings bury Bean 1 mile - low a ltitude 60.957 95.040 59.050 Sam Whittingham Georgi Georgiev Varna Mephisto Old record - low altitude 66.350 87.080 54.110 Pat Kinc h John K ings bury / M iles Kings bury Bean 4000 m (SS) - outright 03:29.55 68.72 42.70 Robert Lafleur Robert Lafleur Lafleur IV Old record - high altitude 03:34.33 67.19 41.75 Wimpie van der Merwe Mike Kramer / Willie Meissner Jr. Spirit of Mobil II Old record - low altitude 03:43.79 64.35 39.98 Fred M arkham Gardner Martin Gold Rush 10000 m (SS ) - outright 07:53.02 76.11 47.29 Paul B uttemer Georgi Georgiev Varna Orpheus Old record 08:42.95 68.84 42.78 Wimpie van der Merwe Mike Kramer / Willie Meissner Jr. Spirit of Mobil II 1 hour (SS) - outright - 79.14 49.17 Sam Whittingham Georgi Georgiev Varna Mephisto Old record - 78.04 48.49 Lars Teutenberg Guido Mertens / Andy Gronen Tomahawk II 100 km (SS) - outright 1:19:05 75.87 47.15 Paul B uttemer Georgi Georgiev Varna Orpheus Old record (1) 1:24:06 71.34 44.33 Ralf Würtele Ralf Würtele La Freccia Old record (2) 1:23:45 71.64 44.53 Bram Moens Bram Moens M5 1 - record currently listed by IHPVA 2 - record not (yet?) listed by IHPVA It's Your Letters, It's Your Letters!

Can anyone identify this machine? See overleaf for further details...

11 22nd July 98 28, Tadorna Drive, Holmer Park, Telford, Shropshire. TF3 1QP. To Dave & Tina, I am writing to you to see if you would publish a picture in the newsletter, the picture was taken at Curborough two to three years ago. The bike in the picture was being ridden by a man with a beard around the track, having unusual sized wheels (16 inch I think) and being FWD I went and had a look. I asked if I could sit on the bike and before I knew where I was, I was being pushed along the track on the bike, the bike was very quick and responsive, but had a limited turning circle. Could somebody please tell me: a) Who owns the bike? Ignore the man in the picture, that’s my dad. b) Does it still exist or has it been cut up for another project? If anybody knows any information could they please contact me at the above address. Yours. Anthony Shingler. Note: I’ll be racing as soon as my new project is finished.

38 Thorpewood Avenue London SE26 4BX

7 September 1998

Dear Dave & Tina,

In case you are stuck for something to put in the mag., I’ve enclosed some photos showing progress on the fairing. It has now had its first coat of plaster and now needs a finishing coat. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to work on it for a couple of months so it won’t be ready this year. I hope your fairing is progressing faster [Er… – Ed.] I think it makes a lot of sense to make a roadgoing fairing. I was hoping to make mine dual-purpose butI moved towards racing not really thinking about visibility in the rain (well I hadn’t had a race in the rain in the first two years of racing). So I don’t really know if I’m going to be able to see out with raindrops on the screen. I do have plans for an alternative top though. It’s just time that’s the problem.

Roy MacDonald

12 2 Fowlswick Cottages, Allington, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN14 6LU 01249 782554

8/6/98

Dear Dave,

Many thanks for the continuing supply of Newsletters. I was interested in your lubrication problem! I use car gearbox oil – it’s thick and sticky – on all chains including my mountain bike. It’s got to be cheaper than aerosols and whilst it may not be very e.friendly the gallon I bought in about 1980 should last me – at my present rate of use – well into the next century! I’ve never tried it, but a friend suggests that chainsaw chain oil may also be useful.

Your shell design looks very promising (and similar to ideas of mine which I hope to get round to soon, along with a boat, maybe – when I’ve finished my fibreglass workshop extension / shed). You have probably though of these things already, but I’ll bore you anyway…

For use on the road I think the screen should be angled at about 45º; any less and looking safely through dusty, wet, scratched plastic into oncoming sun / headlights is difficult.

A NACA style duct just below the screen directs air onto your face quite nicely and some of it can be used to demist the screen with a bit of baffling – providing you are moving! One in the lid also directs air pleasantly onto your head. These can be closed partially or completely with sticky tape and can be moulded in as part of the panel. I can supply said ducts ready to glue in – find enclosed sample in Kevlar, vacuum-bagged onto the mould with no gel coat – but low weight is more important than a perfect finish! Incidentally, NACA ducts are designed to work where the airflow over the surface is laminar and smooth. I put my roof one in an area where the air should be accelerating – I’m not sure that this is theoretically sound, but it works well except when riding in a crosswind…

I tried a forward-opening canopy, opening in a wind was a problem, it was too far away to reach when open and climbing in or out while trying to stop said canopy destroying itself on a windy day was something best attempted without an audience! A side-opening one is better – just.

My recent shell designs have been split horizontally about 150 mm up from the bottom to allow access to the machinery. This avoids having to insert an unwieldy machine through the canopy hole. The bottom panel remains fixed to the chassis. In my ’92 shell design the whole top part lifted off, but this was till awkward – the top was big, fragile and hard to handle alone. This design later acquired another split (dotted line) which allowed the rear panel to be removed for access to rear wheel etc. The current ’96 design is constructed of 5 separate mouldings which are bolted and taped together. This is a better design, the panels have built-in return edges which makes for a more rigid shell which is quieter in use and with easier access to the interior. Though making 5 separate plugs and split moulds was more time-consuming, the mouldings are smaller, lighter and easier to handle in manufacture.

When trying to establish positions of knees, heels, elbows etc. for a new design, I have found it helpful to make a wire frame of thin welding rod twisted or taped together. This frame can then be pushed and

13 pulled and stretched into the desired shape whilst sitting on the bike / trike. Measurements can then be taken from this framework. I’ve also found that this gives a good impression of the shape of the shell in 3D.

I usually use polystyrene for my plugs finished with a layer of glass cloth using epoxy resin and then filled and rubbed down etc. What sort of foam is Jablite? [it’s basically polystyrene by another name - Ed].

Anyway, I can ramble on… Best of luck with your project, and you may like to remind people that Castle Combe circuit is an ideal place to test new designs on Tuesday evenings during the summer. Occasion- ally there is bike racing, so ring me and I can check.

[Request for advert insertion removed – Ed.]

Could I also thank everyone involved in the Manchester event – I can imagine 20 fully-faired machines thundering round…

Editor, BHPC Journal 26 July 1998

Dear Sir,

Many of us consider recumbent cycling to be part of a general philosophy of enjoying life rather than enduring it. It was therefore pleasing to see in the Summer issue a picture of 8 year old Jane Middleton starting early. The creator of that machine, and in part its rider was Richard Middleton, interna- tionally known calligrapher, lesser known bowyer and little known cycle builder and racer.

I enclose a picture of his godson, Will Hain, on board his father’s Kingcycle at the age of 6 days. He appeared to enjoy the experience, although I might leave it a year or two before taking him out in traffic.

Sincerely

John Hain

At this year’s European Championships, there was a class for children, but methinks young Will would probably have been outclassed...

On a slightly more serious note, it was good to see the children in Denmark getting involved, and I think it’s definitely something we need to encourage here. There seems to be a shortage of “young blood” in the Club - Ed.

14 Days At The Unraces

Not a huge amount to go in here at present either, though it is good to report that ten people rode from at least Esbjerg to Roskilde and back for the European Championships. The only item I have on the agenda so far is a proposal from Ian Hague to ride down to Interlaken for next year’s World Championships (see Editorial for dates, etc.) The proposed route is: Calais - Arras - St. Quentin - Laon - Reims - Neufchateau - Montbeliard - Neuchatel - Interlaken, returning either through France or along the Rhine. The latter route was tested by Ymte Sybrandy and Theo van Andel when riding their Alleweders from Lelystad to Italy, so ought to be suitable, as well as conspicuously lacking in hills. Ian will be camping, but anyone too old / rich / lacking in luggage space / whatever for this is still welcome. Any takers should get in touch with Ian at: 24 Cedar Avenue, Tiptree, Essex, CO5 0NR, 01621 815476.

This just in!! There WILL BE A SOCIAL EVENT BEFORE CASTLE COMBE - call Paul London for details . . . 01843 586 653 (home)

gNick Speaks!

Having had two proper social tours this year there was a notable lack of interest - particularly from those who raised questions at the AGM last year. I know that more publicity could be given but neither myself or Sherri mind people phoning up about information and in the event that either of us are out, we both have answering machines. Several people have put a lot of effort into organising these events over the past few years, with the general intent of having an HPV-orientated event that is not about speed but fun, and this effort seems to be a bit of a lost cause. I know that the Lake District and the Cotswolds (to name but two) are not the flattest parts of the world - unfortunately this seems to a slight by-product of interesting scenery. If you would like an event to be in an area that you know please get in touch - we’ve just stuck to where WE know.

Please think over the whole concept of social events and what you would like to see happening and then pass the information on. It would be helpful if you could contact myself or Sherri before the AGM even if you are coming so we can at least start work on something that will be a viable solution for everyone. I apologise for the marginally grumpy nature of this but having tried to provide something for the non- racing members, the majority response seems to be from the racing fraternity and I would like to know why.

To which Sherri adds:

Not only did gNick and myself organise social events, but also Roger Hulme did a sterling job in the South Shropshire Marches. Unfortunately I couldn't attend but Roger, Geoff Bird, Fiona Grove and gNick (plus another who I can't remember) enjoyed themselves immensely. With a little more patronage, these type of events will become permanent fixtures in the BHPC calendar - but we need your support.

Using "local knowledge" you will get an insider's view on their part of the country and special places that you would probably miss if you just drove through (if you go at all). Just try it...

PS: I can't climb hills - I DID walk my bike up some hills in the Lakes District and everyone waited at the top. Don't panic! Don't be embarrassed! Come along to the social events - you might just enjoy yourself!

15 Photo: Dave Larrington Logo from Walter Berger’s Birk streamliner Berger’s Walter Logo from

Rolling Resistance and Tennis Balls

In order to prevent my brother, a man blessed with fiscal optimism, from wasting his savings on patent fees for something which must have been thought of before by someone else, I submit the following.

In a discussion with a brother of mine who by good fortune is not only an engineer but also a former Mileage Marathon team competitor, and who designs, among other things for which the world has a pressing need, the machinery to wrap felt onto tennis balls, it became apparent to both of us that as a suspension unit the tennis ball has a future. My brother observed to me that the springiness of the frame of a vehicle reduces rolling resistance in the same way that high pressure tyres do. Unknowingly echoing Jonathan Woolrich (Newsletter 48, downhill skiing being an intensive aerobic exercise) in the rolling resistance debate, he said that a completely solid frame with no give whatever, means that road shocks which fail to be absorbed by the tyres are transmitted directly to what he unkindly referred to as ‘the bag of guts sloshing around’ in my abdomen. Sloshing these guts uses energy, and he opined that a conventional racing cyclist who through the excitement of the race holds his abdomen wall in tension, loses less speed that a more relaxed cyclist. The tension of the abdominal muscles acts as a shock absorber. His Mileage Marathon vehicle was required at the time to average 15 mph, and at that speed rolling resistance was of first importance. The frame for his vehicle slightly flexed to absorb road shock. The Kingcycle’s two oval-section 531 members similarly flex during the ride.

The idea of using tennis balls is in one of Richard Ballantine’s books: it seems to have been pio- neered by a Dutch eye surgeon, Wim van Wijnen. I applied it to a hinge-frame medium

16 wheelbase machine, positioning a tennis ball between the seat and the rear triangle. It provided a soft but comfortable ride.

On a machine with a shorter vertical member of the back triangle the leverage proved too great for the tennis ball: it squashed flat and I replaced it with a solid rubber exhaust mount block from a motorcar, giving slight suspension and a harsh ride.

In conversation with my brother it became apparent to both of us that a high-pressure tennis ball might work. He told me that a tennis ball loses all its pressure above ambience over a period of about three weeks. It occurred to us that a sew-up tubular tyre, modified, might provide an answer. The theory is that bounce energy absorbed by my rubber block is lost in hysteresis, and not returned to the road as it would be were it used to compress an air-spring.

I took some motorcar seat belt webbing and with very tight stitching sewed it into a tennis-ball sized bag. Waxed dental floss provides strong, easily sewn thread: Oral B Mint Fluoride helpfully prevents caries as the end is sucked to make it go through the eye of the needle. Into this bag was introduced a short length of bicycle inner tube, the valve protruding. The ends of the length of inner tube were sealed by folding each upon itself and winding a rubber band very tightly round the stump. I pumped it up to 50 psi and the machine was instantly more comfortable, road shock having disappeared. Scarcely surprising if indeed a solid rubber tyre (the exhaust mount) was being replaced with a pneumatic tyre (the sew-up ‘tennis’ ball).

After six miles, the inner tube burst within the bag. I unpicked the sewing, and being deeply stupid replaced the inner tube, sewed it in, pumped it up, and it burst shortly afterwards in the same way. It was apparent from the rupture that the inner tube had suffered an aneurysm, which we know from the curious way that rubber stretches to be quite likely. (Rubber under tension initially requires a heavy load to deform it. Once deformed, however, it needs very little additional load to deform it still further. It is more likely that any existing deformation will to continue to swell, rather than an area of unstretched rubber will share the load.) My other brother, a scientist but not a tennis-ball maker, suggested I replace the ball with a steel leaf spring which he kindly explained would be less prone to bursting, and with difficulty it was intimated to him that a bag of air weighs less than a lump of steel. Fortunately a curious geographical quirk of Leicestershire makes gypsum lorries shed tennis-ball sized pieces of solid rubber at the road- side and I had a fall-back measure waiting anywhere on the verge.

Experiments revealed that bursting happens at high pressures unless the inner tube is a perfect fit inside the bag: this I eventually achieved by sewing the bag into a tube and leaving the inner-tube as an open ended tube within it, and then sealing both the bag and the inner tube together by means of a steel clamp at each end. I sewed up a tube 8 inches long and 4 inches in circumference, and pumped it to 70 psi which gave a vastly comfortable ride.

Roll-down tests on a smooth bit of road showed no benefit over the solid rubber, but the machine is more comfortable and at low speeds certainly feels easier to pedal, a characteristic one might expect if the rolling resistance really is reduced. It may be that rougher roads would show a measurable advantage: my Moulton has hopeless rolling resistance on the open road but is faster along the canal towpath than my diamond-framed racing bike.

17 Experimentally pumping the tube to 120 psi pro- duced a spectacular and loud rupture not only of the inner tube, but also of the seatbelt webbing, and since the stress on the circumference of a tube is double that along the length of a tube, I took to sewing the webbing in a helix. Seatbelts are designed to take loads along their length, not their width.

The suspension travel can be increased simply by sewing a larger diameter webbing tube, but unfortunately the stress on a pressurised tube is proportional to its diameter - hence, no doubt, the tendency for high- pressure tyres to be of very small section - and this increases the likeli- hood of bursting. Meas- uring the air pressure within the airbag when seated on the machine shows that as ought to have been obvious to me, my body weight increases the air pressure. My tiny brain suggests to me that a larger diameter tube of air might be per- suaded to function, therefore, only if its length is also increased, so that body weight does not greatly affect overall pressure: my tiny brain does not tell me whether this would affect the shock-absorbing qualities of the airbag and hating sewing as I do, I shall be pleased if this provokes anyone to comment with or without the benefit of experiment.

All this doubtless betrays my ignorance of what others have already done. I do know that at Birmingham Roan Allen had an inflated inner-tube as part of the seat of Hummingbird, which though I don’t know the details of it, may be working on a similar principle. Peter Carruthers of Bromakin who make arm-powered machines, uses bits of inflated inner-tube to prevent chafing of the skin where the legs are strapped rigidly in place.

A convenient source of inner tubes is not hard to imagine, and a convenient source of seat-belt material is any parked car where the owner has shut the seat-belt in the door and a short length dangles in the road. Since if the experimenter is spotted harvesting such material he is unlikely to receive a sympathetic hearing from the car-owner, an alternative source is Anchor Surplus of the Cattle Market, Nottingham, who when last I was there had 100 metres for sale at £50. However a better material seems to be the webbing used in sailing harnesses, which appears to be strong both along its length and across its width.

18 Human Powered Boats - European Championships - 31st July-2nd August 1998

Upon arrival at the Ratzeburg Rowing Club, it didn’t appear that much had changed on the HPB scene since last year’s Worlds in Cologne. All the leading contenders from last year were there: the Italian catamarans from Trieste, those of the German university teams, plus the slightly revamped monohull Macbath from Delft University, which now sports a less than totally balanced rudder, thus avoiding its previous embarrassing tendency to death-roll. Tyson Rigg from Henley was the only British competitor this time, sporting a new set of longer, lighter (inflatable) hulls under his diamond bike frame. The other Brit in Cologne, Oxford Uni’s David Witt, was not at this year’s championship, but is said to be developing a hydrofoil - human powered, of course.

Then there was a stirring among the crowd, and people started talking about the ‘Mücken’ (gnats) - not in the air though, the heavy contingents of swallows and martins saw to that. No, they meant these ‘frames’ darting about the water, each carrying a pogo-ing rider. Constant readers of the BHPC Newsletter would have had no difficulty in recognising these devices, however, as the latest incarnation of the Trampofoil, described on pages 18-20 of issue 49. Now immaculately turned out in a production version with custom aluminium alloy sections, these craft had the same impact at the Europeans as the first successful windsurfers had on the yachting world. First there was the disbelief that such a concept could work at all, then there was the confirmation that lots of wet practice is necessary before one gets the knack (though it’s certainly easier than windsurfing, to judge by those brave souls who had a go and mastered the beasts). Finally there was the shock when these ‘gnats’ went on to turn the established order on its head by winning the 100m sprint (first and seventh) and the slalom (first and second). Amongst HPV’ers, of course, there’s no resentment, only fascination that a new concept has been added to the already rich collection of different approaches to HPV watercraft.

That there remain such diverse design concepts is perhaps explained by the varied disciplines in which the craft compete. When the event moved on to the 10km long distance race, the displacement craft came into their own. Just as in the sprint, however, they could only be hot on the heels of the Trampofoil for the first two and a half kilometres. Then Alexander Sahlin, the Swedish Trampofoil builder and rider, got that sinking feeling as he ran out of energy and slowed below the critical gliding speed - the rescue boat gave him a lift home. This left the catamarans out in front, and the expected challenge from Macbath, the fastest displacement craft (though in planing mode) in the sprint, receded as she suffered transmission problems.

The other serious disciplines, the drag race, a series of two-boat knock-out races over 10 metres from a standing start, and the bollard pull, were hardly available to the Trampofoils since they couldn’t float still in the water! Thus it was that the drag race was won by the fastest of the cats, the winner of the long distance race, Duisburg Uni’s “Close to Perfection” (which she probably is given her concept). As a crowd pleaser, however, C. to P. was then pitted over 10 metres against Sahlin’s Trampofoil, launched from the jetty. Propellers proved to provide better acceleration than a flapping foil, and C. to P. won easily, probably due to a lack of sufficient controlled angular deflection of the foil.

But it wasn’t all gnats and cats. The most interesting boat, for the reporter at least, was a beautifully designed and built one-man prop-driven hydrofoil, very close in concept to the record-holding Flying Fish from the States, but using a, for HPV’s more usual, recumbent riding position. Jochen Ewert said it had taken him five years on and (mostly) off to build the machine, but it was certainly worth the attention to detail: to his great surprise, ‘Wet Wing’ worked perfectly and became foil-borne straight out of the box. Indeed, this craft flies so easily that he was able to initiate takeoff by leaning forward and using arm- power alone! On the other hand this suggests that maybe the foils are too big (2.1m span, profile based on model glider wings) to allow Wet Wing to attain her best potential top speed, though fifth in both the slalom and sprint was no mean achievement against the gnats and two-man boats. Also, of course, large wings mean that longer flights can be maintained relatively effortlessly, and Jochen spent much of Saturday ‘flying’. An added fun aspect is the way the boat banks in the turns - like a bike or, more accurately, an aircraft. Unfortunately, it was such good fun that he flew too much between races and was

19 in no fit state to start the 10km race! Nonetheless, with a fit rider there seems no reason to suppose that a hydrofoil like Wet Wing or even, with a super fit pogo-champion, Trampofoil could not complete the long distance course. Time will tell.

At the other end of the scale was the Fischboot (fish-boat), a glass fibre shark in which a concealed rider flapped the tail using a string and stirrup arrangement to attain an astonishing 0.81 knots in the sprint! It’s nice that there’s still room for pure fun entries at boat champs, as also evidenced by four assorted commercial water bikes and a pedalo, which at least went to prove that the leaders have made design progress! One of the water bikes, made in the States and sold commercially as a ‘Waterbike’ (try regis- tering that!), was more sophisticated than the others and like last year’s Spiderman achieved a good placing in the Slalom. Indeed, the Austrian rider had high hopes in the Drag Race, but with sheer aggres- sion broke the twisted 6mm drive chain at the critical moment.

All in all, then, another very successful HPB championship. What a pity though, that there weren’t more British competitors - surrounded by all sorts of useable water, we’ve no excuses. The more important results are reproduced below, and if you find yourself thinking that the speeds look slow, just try doing 10 knots on water - it feels like 50 mph on a bike! For comparison, sea-kayakers reckon that 4 knots is a good non-stop average.

Long Distance Race Boat DescriptionTime Speed Min sec knots Close to Perfection Large 2-man cat. Crew transverse 49 50 6.50 l'Ordegno Large 2-3 man cat. 50 36 6.40 Macbath Long slender 2-man planing monohull 52 16 6.20 Clementine Large 2-man vario-paddlewheel trimaran 64 10 5.05 Katastrophe Large 2-man cat. Crew transverse 64 47 5.00 Azubi Power Large 2-man trimaran 65 23 4.95 Nederwood Older 'runabout' style mono. 2 crew transverse 67 06 4.83 Banana-Duck Medium 2-man vario paddlewheel cat. 70 07 4.62 Anni Older 'runabout' style 2-man mono. 75 54 4.27 Roter Ferrari Commercial 'Waterbike' cat. 1-man, arm+leg power 80 54 4.00 Schmilau Workcamp Commercial small cat. 1-man on diamond frame 81 04 4.00 Ratzeburg Commercial small cat. 1-man on diamond frame 84 35 3.83 Hydro Tandem Commercial small tri. 2-man on diamond frames 84 36 3.83 Alma Maria Medium inflatable cat. 1-man on diamond frame 86 10 3.76 Argo Older 'runabout' style mono. 2 crew. Paddlewheels 95 20 3.40 ReCycling Surfboard-hulled 2-man cat. Crew transverse 101 50 3.18 Leah* Boating pond pedalo. 2-man + 'crew'. 119 56 2.70 Quirli* Canoe with 'clonking' rope/chain waggly-prop drive 138 00 2.35 Wet Wing 1-man recumbent hydrofoil. 2 inflatable hulls dns - - UFO Large 2-man trimaran dns - - Fischboot 1-man fish with horizontally oscillating tail dns - - Trampofoil 1 1-man hydrofoil frame with vert. oscillating foil dnf - - Trampofoil 2 1-man hydrofoil frame with vert. oscillating foil dns - -

All conventional e.g. crew fore-aft, prop-driven unless otherwise stated * one lap time doubled

20 SlalomTime Sprint Time Speed Min sec sec knots Trampofoil 1 0 43.9 Trampofoil 1 17.4 11.16 Trampofoil 2 0 44.8 Macbath 18.8 10.36 l'Ordegno 1 4.3 l'Ordegno 19.5 9.96 Roter Ferrari 1 4.5 Close to Perfection 19.5 9.95 Wet Wing 1 10.0 Wet Wing 20.8 9.35 Anni 1 15.3 UFO 20.9 9.30 ReCycling 1 32.1 Trampofoil 2 21.0 9.26 Argo 1 33.8 Katastrophe 24.3 7.99 UFO 1 37.4 Clementine 25.1 7.75 Banana-Duck 1 50.5 Nederwood 26.4 7.36 Schmilau Workcamp 2 10.9 Banana-Duck 27.9 6.96 Ratzeburg 2 12.3 Roter Ferrari 30.0 6.48 Close to Perfection 2 17.4 Azubi Power 30.3 6.41 Hydro Tandem 2 29.9 Anni 32.8 5.93 Katastrophe 2 36.7 Alma Maria 33.4 5.83 Leah 3 10.8 Argo 36.1 5.39 Azubi Power 4 17.8 ReCycling 40.5 4.79 Alma Maria 6 58.6 Schmilau Workcamp 45.0 4.32 Nederwood dns - Hydro Tandem 47.0 4.14 Macbath dns - Quirli 66.7 2.92 Quirli dns - Leah 75.9 2.56 Fischboot dns - Fischboot 240.0 0.81 Clementine dns - Ratzeburg ? ? GTO - The Editorial Fairing Project – Part 3

“Designer’s” Note: Did I say “Copydex” in the last issue? Yes, I did, but I didn’t mean Copydex, I meant Evo-Stik wood glue. Apologies for any confusion.

Build Process - Part 3

When last I set two fingers to word processor, I was at the stage of carving the plug into shape. I am pleased to report that this stage is now complete, and lurking in my shed was then something which looked pretty much like what I had “designed”, albeit with a somewhat rough and lumpy surface. The main reason for this is that eventually one will get fed up with scraping away with Surform and sandpaper, and will decide that filling the gaps between the separate layers is an easier option. And so it proved. Normal bog-standard Polyfilla was used, and seemed to present few problems, except the ever-present one of running out just before you finish the job…

At this point it’s decision time. If you are proposing to use your plug as the basis for a mould, best stop reading now, because I’m not. I felt it unlikely that I, or anyone else, would want another GTO, and the extra time and / or money involved in making a mould could not be justified. Anyway, at this point you have to decide whether you are going to make the main part of your shell as a single enormous moulding, or whether to do it as two (or more) parts. A single one will remove the problem of joining the bits together, but it will be impossible to separate from the plug without destroying the latter, which might prove to be a problem later on. So I decided, on the advice of gNick (who apparently knows about these things), to do it in two bits (or three if you include the lid). This meant that I had to split the finished plug down the middle again, which was a bit more of a problem than antici…….pated, due to the fact that the “head fairing” part had now been stuck on top.

21 Not for long, though, as due to incompetence, it didn’t stick too well. Vast amounts of d/s tape finally cured this… Next the plug needs to be sealed, in order to allow the use of polyester resin, rather than epoxy, as the latter apparently costs only slightly less than Hennessy XO. As “So You Want To Build…” points out, there are many ways to achieve this, but I elected to use one not listed therein. First, though, I gave it a couple of coats of emulsion, which I suspect achieved little other than wrecking a perfectly good pair of jeans when I had to get it back into the shed in a hurry following the onset of Rain. Then the major blemishes, holes and pockmarks were obliterated with more filler, and any unsightly lumps, paint runs and dead flies were ground off with a quick pass of the power sander. All of which left a mainly-white half-plug, still with a surface more akin to that of the moon than that of a mirror.

However…THIS DOESN’T MATTER! Well, not much, anyway, for a fairing primarily intended for road use. Heresy to the average composites expert, I know, but there is a way to achieve a reasonable finish and seal your plug at the same time. For this, I am indebted to Nick (not gNick), an acquaintance from the pub, who builds theatre props and the like for a living and has considerable experience of mouldless GRP construction techniques. What you use is aluminium foil, just glued onto the surface. It bridges most of the holes without a problem. Nick recommends 3M Display Mount spray adhesive for this task, but a quick shufti in the London Graphics Centre revealed that the stuff costs over twelve quid for a half- litre can. The local hardware shop had something superficially similar for £3.25, but it turned out to be only superficially similar, as it reacts with the foam. Blast!

So I decide to use up the remainder of the IKEA wood glue first, and then try Copydex. Bad idea. The wood glue is fine, but the Copydex dries too quickly to get the foil in place and smoothed before it sets. Thus you end up with, well, how can I put this delicately? I can’t – half-dried Copydex looks the way the contents of Lemuel Gulliver’s nose would appear to a Lilliputian. But at least it can be easily peeled off, which is a curiously satisfying thing to do.

One half of the plug, half coated with aluminium foil

22 Anyway, armed with a suitable adhesive, apply the aluminium foil in fairly small pieces – no more than about a foot long. Apply glue to the back of the foil and spread evenly with a brush – a 1” paint brush seemed to work fine. Then turn over and apply to the plug. Dragging it across the surface into position seems to help get it to stick without too many unsightly creases, and a wallpaper seam roller is used to smooth the whole thing out. It might still look uneven, but because the foil is so thin, even the biggest lumps are still pretty small. Coat the entire outer surface thus, and don’t forget to go “around the back” a few inches, to prevent accidental resin spillage from eating the plug. Then give it another layer, to be on the safe side, and possibly even another one after that. Repeat with the other side until you have a Shiny Thing.

The next week or so after this stage was reached were largely spent in attempting to track down suppliers of various useful things required to complete the project. Glass fibre, for instance. You may be surprised to learn that East London is the armpit of the universe as far as suppliers of composites goes, and the nearest place I could find was in Brentford. However, I’d also obtained the product list for Polyfibre, of 18 Wainwright Street, Aston, Birmingham, (whose postcode, phone number and fax I seem to have lost along with their price list), who had everything I required and more. Since the Brentford outfit aren’t open at weekends, I needed a day off. And since Polyfibre had everything I needed, and since you can drive from Walthamstow to Birmingham in about the same time as from Walthamstow to Brentford, I went to Birmingham instead. Polyfibre are nice and friendly and, according to gNick, cheap as well. Plus they take plastic money and will deliver. So I lightened my wallet a little further, and then came home.

Next stage is to wax the plug, so you can actually get the GRP off once it’s set. You can spend a lot of money on release agents of one sort or another, or you can buy furniture polish in your local supermarket. Apply with a cloth or spray it on. Don’t polish it – the aluminium foil is non-porous, so all you will succeed in doing is rubbing it off again. And try to avoid the lavender-scented stuff…

Finally, finally… Laying up the glass. The bottom bit is easy – just a 2.5 m length of 280 g/m2 woven rovings with the appropriate bits you want to leave open carefully cut out – in my case the rear wheel opening and the side portion of the lid. The upper part is less simple, as there are all sorts of odd shapes and windows and things to take into account – in retrospect it would probably have been easier just to glass the whole lot and cut the holes out afterwards, rather than trying to assemble a coherent whole out of a patchwork of small pieces. Mix up resin and catalyst, stir vigorously. You will definitely need gloves for this, and probably overalls as well. Also a well- ventilated space, as the fumes from the resin will get you pleasantly stoned. It’s better to mix small quanti- ties of resin than large ones, as otherwise the contents of your bucket will suddenly go “GLOOP” and turn into something which you might expect to find ‘twixt pastry and meat in a pork pie three months past its “best before” date. Consolidating the glass & resin with a roller

23 Then splat the stuff on with a brush and, if you have one, squidge down with a roller. Polyfibre will sell you brushes for about a tenth of the price of your local DIY shop. This was the most nerve-wracking part of the process so far, as I had only Nick’s word for it that the aluminium foil would work. Not that I don’t trust him or anything, but he does seem to spend an awful lot of time in the pub… Anyway, it did work, and as I write this, from my window I can see half a fairing gently setting in what would be the sun if the weath- erman had been right, rather than something resembling arch-villain Clarence Boddicker at the end of the first “Robocop” film, which is what I half-expected. Hopefully it will dry enough soon, so I can get on with the second part, maybe even in time for the Holland-Argentina match…

I did, and the following day added a second layer of glass. Next comes Big Fun Part #2 – Getting The Damn’ Thing Out. Actually, this turned out to be several orders of magnitude easier than I’d expected. When laying your new tongue-and-groove floorboards, you need to bung little triangular plastic wedges between the wall and the floorboards, and these turned out to be extremely useful for the first stage of separating the glass from the plug. As they’re only about 3 inches long, though, you need something a bit more substantial as you work towards the middle – I found a wedge-shaped piece of wood lying around which turned out to be ideal. Once you get even further into the middle, you can use your hands and forearms, though sturdy gloves are a must, as the edges can be very sharp. And after about an hour of hammering, grunting and straining the whole thing just popped out. True, there were a fair few bits of aluminium foil still attached, as the wood glue holding down the second layer hadn’t dried fully, even after about ten days. 99% of this was easily peeled off, though. The second side, which had the benefit of a coat of “solid” wax polish as well as the spray stuff, came off more easily. Next, the excess glass was trimmed off from around the edges, using a couple of pairs of sturdy scissors, a hacksaw for bits where two pieces of glass overlapped and cable cutters for the awkward corners. This meant an end to lacer- ated shins caused by having to store the two halves in the kitchen, as the shed is still full of plug, as I didn’t want to start cutting the plug up before I’d got the main part of the shell together, just in case of some horrendous cock-up, like making the lid opening on the left two inches longer than on the right, Yes, I did, though I can’t figure out how1…

On to Big Fun #3 – Joining The Two Halves Together. gNick said that all you have to do is join the two halves with masking tape and then apply glass to the joint. Easy to say, but when the two halves are wobbly things with thin edges, intent on not sitting peacefully together, well, imagine trying to put Humpty Dumpty together again while all the King’s Horses keep giving him a sly little nudge every so often. Experiments with piles of ordinary house bricks were unsuccessful, as were experiments with Tina crawl-

24 Half the shell, awaiting union with its mirror image ing inside and trying to hold the bits in place while the tape was applied. Then it got dark, and the following day I got home late, and the weather went all manky, and I nearly smeared myself along the Seven Sisters Road outside Holloway nick2. And there’s the Hayes race, and the start of the Tour de France, and the World Cup Final, and the British Grand Prix, and I have to go and pick up the polycarbonate for the windows from Enfield, and... So the latest Cunning Plan will have to wait until, oh I don’t know, later. The above photo should give you a clue, though.

1 Actually, I didn’t, it just looked that way when first trying to marry up the two halves…

2 - Took delivery of new tent and Red Cross Food Parcel full of German Delicacies unavailable in the UK. Loaded same onto BoB trailer. Discovered that high speeds can lead to uncontrollable snaking. How high? Dunno, I was too scared to look at the speedo… chopper seen in Roskilde Born To Be Wild... German (I think) Born To

25 “LEONIDAS” MANOR LANE BAYDON MARLBOROUGH WILTS SN8 2JD

Tel / Fax: 01672 540384

4th June 1998

Dear Dave and Tina,

Please find enclosed 2 sheets of data on Rolling Resistance of Tyres for Recumbents.

The lists have been collated to represent popular and available tyres that can be used on HPV’s. Also included at the end are three high performance 700C tyres at reasonable prices for use on rear wheels of recumbents.

Notes:

1. Some of the tyres are tested at pressures above the manufacturer’s recommended pressure. This does not imply approval of operating tyres above the manufacturer’s recommended pressure. 2. Most of the tyres are tested at several pressures to show the effect of pressure on rolling performance. 3. The 700C tyres shown are among the very best on the market. Most 700C tyres are not nearly as good as these. Some 700C tyres are awful. Do not be misled into thinking all 700C tyres are good just because the three shown are good! 4. One cannot assume that all tyres from a particular manufacturer are fast or slow. Generally they have a range of rolling performance that does not necessarily have any relationship with their advertising blurb. 5. General rules for good rolling performance: • Thin tread thickness tyres roll better • Fat section tyres roll better • Knobbly tyres roll badly • Kevlar often gives poor rolling performance (except Vittoria) 6. For additional rolling resistance data see reports in magazines: • Cycling Plus, issue 62 (Feb ’97) – Winter tyres • Cycling Plus, issue 68 (Mid-summer ’97) – Road tyres • Cycling Plus, issue 81 (Aug ’98) – Time trial tyres • Total Bike, issue 6 (Oct ’97) – MTB tyres 7. Thanks are due to the following for the loan of tyres for testing: • Hilary Stone • Richard Grigsby • John Kingsbury • Michelin Tyres • Cambrian Tyres • Dillglove

Best regards,

John Lafford

26 at 25mphat Tim e los t to best tyre best to Unfaired bike Unfaired Rolling Resistance Power Absorbed Power Resistance Rolling Unfaire d We ight = 185 lbs Faire d Weight = 200 lbs Res.coef. psi Watts Watts Watts Watts Watts Watts Seconds TYRE NAMETYRE Size Pressure Crrtest Prr (20mph) Prr (25mph) Prr (30mph) Prr (30mph) Prr (40mph) Prr (50mph) over miles 10 GENERALLY AV TYRES AILABLE SIZE RECUMBENT Rolling ROLLING RESISTANCE OF TYRES - TEST DATA - TEST TYRES OF RESISTANCE ROLLING 1998 Lafford May John © IRC RoadIRC Lite (new ) RoadIRC Lite (new )Conti Top Touring (new )Conti Top Touring (new ) RoadIRC Lite (old) RoadIRC Lite (old)Michelin 20" x 1 1/8"Michelin (new 20" ) Ramp x 1 1/8" Comp Tioga 37- 406 (new ) Ramp Comp Tioga 100 37- 40625 HP Hutchinson 11525 HP 20" xHutchinson 1 1/8" 7025 HP 0.0090 20"Hutchinson x 1 1 7/8 20 x 1/8" 90 0.0089Conti Top 1 7/8 20 x Touring 100(new )Conti Top Touring 0.0092 (new )(new 115Touring 85 ) Top Conti (new ) 0.0079 66 100Touring Top Conti 0.0068 28-440 65 x (450 28A) 25-451Michelin 0.0064 28-440 0.0080 x (450 28A) 25-451Michelin 68 0.0079 (new ) Prix Grand 25-451Conti 58 37- 70 406 (new 115 ) Prix 37-406 50Grand Conti 37- 90 406 82 (new 37-406 ) Prix 59 90 47Grand Conti 82 58 100 (new ) Rubber Vee 0.0078 0.0080 70 100 84 (new ) Rubber Vee 0.0071 28-390 90 115 0.0089 (new 73 ) Rubber Vee 28-390 0.0086 28-406 x (as 63 is) 1 3/8 16 Primo 99 0.0080 57 28-406 0.0090 59 73 x (as 59 is) 1 3/8 16 100Primo 0.0084 98 73 52 0.0081 28-406 x (as is) 1 3/8 16 65 115Primo 100 (new 101 63 ) Pool Comp Tioga 120 2.125 20 x 59 (new ) 0.0065 Pool 87 Comp Tioga 66 140 62 2.125 20 x (new 75 ) 0.0064 Pool 107 0.0072 Comp Tioga 60 71 74 88 2.125 20 x 37-349 (new 71 ) Pool 106 0.0067 40 Comp 87Tioga 65 37-349 81 0.0066 60 48 woff 110 ground .Kenda tread 79 37-349 80 1.75 47 20 x woff ground .Kenda tread 53 74 100 94 0.0114 1.75 20 x woff 83 ground . 49Kenda tread 77 110 143 81 0.0105 86 1.75 20 x 74 88 95Mic 49 helin 120 Hilite 141 77S'compHD 90 95 0.0097 78 0.0078 1.75 20 x Mic 1.75 16 x helin 100 Hilite 98S'compHD 146 60 0.0071 84 95 Mic 1.75 16 x helin Hilite 110 S'compHD 59 0.0070 67 89 77 1.75 16 x 126 120 0.0074 178 80 99 61 93 0.0071 72 108 57 93 127 95 90 89 176 61 0.0069 102 52 126 650 84 100 x 20c 183 0.0065 106 52 72 105 103 650 0.0068 54 x 20c 52 71 650 80 96 0.0064 x 157 20c 96 0.0066 51 100 100 108 136 74 89 159 72 92 123 48 127 110 158 128 73 97 50 65 90 112 141 120 126 137 47 65 78 96 0.0062 68 48 65 77 128 0.0058 86 116 133 71 143 63 0.0055 80 107 154 159 86 49 72 60 79 129 141 71 176 78 63 41 45 136 171 78 59 104 43 81 60 160 125 102 78 40 115 167 179 116 76 106 93 68 73 72 161 105 85 76 54 181 89 57 130 84 84 70 53 88 167 128 72 144 84 73 50 155 80 133 82 93 124 132 78 226 113 74 82 68 112 43 76 209 117 64 78 42 113 57 193 60 110 155 47 103 141 45 139 109 140 74 101 146 122 141 104 69 107 137 65 69 129 136 55 127 54 98 130 60 54 92 87 51 43 50 123 41 44 115 109 36 29 22

27 at 25mphat Tim e los t to best tyre best to Unfaired bike Unfaired Rolling Resistance Power Absorbed Power Resistance Rolling Unfaire d We ight = 185 lbs Faire d Weight = 200 lbs Res.coef. psi Watts Watts Watts Watts Watts Watts Seconds TYRE NAMETYRE Size Pressure Crrtest Prr (20mph) Prr (25mph) Prr (30mph) Prr (30mph) Prr (40mph) Prr (50mph) over miles 10 ROLLING RESISTANCE OF TYRES - TEST DATA - TEST TYRES OF RESISTANCE ROLLING 1998 Lafford May John © GENERALLY AV TYRES AILABLE SIZE RECUMBENT Rolling Hutchinson HP 25 HP Hutchinson 25 HP Hutchinson 25 HP Hutchinson (new ) V Monster Primo (new ) V Monster Primo 28AMichelin28AMichelin x 600A 24" 100Primo w . x 600A gr 24" 120 ound off w. off tr treadground eadPrimo 1.75 20 x x 600A 24" 100 w. off treadground 1.75 20 x Primo 0.0059 120 w. off treadground Primo 0.0052 140 65 w. off treadground Primo 0.0070 80 w. off tread-wground armPrimo 0.0068 (new ) 43 tread line 37-349Wolber x 37- Moulton 349 0.0068 (new ) 38 tread 0.0074 line 37-349Wolber x Moulton (new ) 52 tread 1/8 0.0078 37-3491 line x 37-349 17 xWolber 28A 600 Moulton 100 501/81 x 17 37-349 tube x 28A 600 w. off tread,latex ground Primo 85 50 1101/81 x 17 tube 55 w. off tread,latex ground 70Primo 54 37-349 120 80 120 tube 57 w. off 100 tread,latex ground 0.0063Primo 48 100 37-349 140 120 0.0064V 37-349 65 redes 0.0066 tein Monte(new ) Car Carlo lo (new 100 0.0092 0.0060Monte 0.0060Vredestein 63 0.0075 ) 0.0084 (new 0.0072 ) Carlo 120 Monte 0.0060Vredestein 63 47 0.0079 68 65 600 140Hutchinson 47 72 0.0066 58 600 49Hutchinson 37-406 68 44 44 55 0.0061 37- w 62 tube 406 Prix 77 latex Grand 53Conti 37-406 44 0.0058 w tube 58 Prix latex 76Grand Conti w 49 tube Prix 75 100 latex Grand 58Conti 82 70 (used) Jet 45 City 120 90 Spezial 59Schw albe 86 28-406 62 61 (used) 42 Jet City 85 56 55 Spezial Schw 69 albe 28-406 78 0.0067 84 66 55 32-406Nokian City Runner 28-406 (new (new 73 ) 0.0064 82 Runner ) City 0.0069 32-406Nokian 100 (new ) 61 81 Runner 70 City 89Nokian 125 94 56 (new )City 49& 70 100 93Mount Nokian 140 83 102 53 73 (new 67 )City & 66 0.0077 47 83 120Mount 112Nokian 93 79 51 (new )City 0.0069& 66 Mount 109Nokian 87 40-406 0.0065 (new 40- )City & 0.0067 406 Mount 109Nokian 73 40-406 76 118 0.0063 117 57 67 47-406 76 124 62 110 104 51 100 64 47-406 72 140 79 71 58 89 101 48 72 49 86 120 47-406 136 63 71 46 94 50 47-406 136 148 0.0078 79 101 80 155 31 0.0071 71 73 0.0083 102 147 100 74 18 64 69 134 120 106 96 0.0083 119 95 70 53 60 115 61 58 0.0072 95 76 50 126 58 0.0068 52 126 50 106 61 0.0063 61 127 184 61 85 97 68 80 168 53 149 77 132 120 92 119 76 50 143 72 74 119 157 72 47 82 70 132 65 40 76 76 92 121 41 97 107 66 83 115 81 62 101 34 46 33 63 78 57 80 86 58 33 71 109 75 78 46 91 134 123 91 35 110 126 79 29 75 104 106 93 137 70 100 85 153 99 99 47 138 86 130 40 133 81 124 126 76 50 113 131 67 132 52 114 109 44 47 156 101 39 141 164 165 143 136 126 69 55 78 78 57 49 40

28 Testing Procedure

The tyre testing procedure at 25mphat Tim e los t

to best tyre best to involves rolling the tyre/ Unfaired bike Unfaired wheel combination along a flat surface and so repre- sents the real case of using the tyre on the road. The tyre is also loaded with a representative weight and rolled at a controlled speed. The speeed of rolling is slow so that aerody- namic forces do not come into play.

The power to propel tyres along the road is directly proportional to the rolling Resistance Coefficient, the

Rolling Resistance Power Absorbed Power Resistance Rolling weight of the bike plus rider, and also the speed of the bike. Unfaire d We ight = 185 lbs Faire d Weight = 200 lbs Res.coef. psi Watts Watts Watts Watts Watts Watts Seconds TYRE NAMETYRE Size Pressure Crrtest Prr (20mph) Prr (25mph) Prr (30mph) Prr (30mph) Prr (40mph) Prr (50mph) over miles 10 ROLLING RESISTANCE OF TYRES - TEST DATA - TEST TYRES OF RESISTANCE ROLLING 1998 Lafford May John © GENERALLY AV TYRES AILABLE SIZE RECUMBENT Rolling Nokian Mount & Ground (used) Ground & Mount Nokian (used) Ground & Mount Nokian (used) Ground & Mount Nokian 47-406 (new Jet ) City Schw albe 47-406 (new Jet ) City Schw albe 47-406 (new ) Marathon Schw albe 45 (new ) Marathon Schw albe 80 (new ) Marathon Schw albe 100 (used) Carlo Monte 32-406Vredestein 0.0104 (used) Carlo Monte 32-406Vredestein 0.0100 32-406 (used) Carlo 0.0089 Monte Vredestein 32-406 (new )City & 37-406 100 Mount Nokian 32-406 76 (new )City & 120 37-406Mount Nokian 100 73 (used) 37-406 20 x 1.5 66Primo 115 0.0087 90 (used) 20 x 1.5 Primo 130 0.0082 100 0.0097 (used) 20 x 1.5 Primo 47-305 20 x (used) 1201/8 1 0.0101 Roadlite IRC 47-305 95 20 x (used) 0.0077 price. 1/8 1 64 0.0100 reasonable at Roadlite Very performance good IRC for 0.0069 92comparison. WHEELS 60 REAR 82 FOR 72 50 TYRES 0.0068 700C 37-451 28-451 75 80RECOMMENDED 37-451(used) 57 28-451 73 Roadie Nokia 51 114 37-451 0.0135V redes 80 50 tein 100 Fortez 110 85 Supercomp Axial za 0.0103 Pis teMichelin 76 99 100 120 89 120 93 100 0.0068 71 0.0066 92 124 0.0065 64 76 0.0064 x 25c 700 119 96 63 0.0062 700 23-622 x 23c 107 91 107 50 48 112 100 124 48 47 10 bar 110 85 165 110 46 76 95 159 104 75 0.0046 142 0.0043 116 98 0.0046 63 121 61 149 60 59 119 206 92 34 57 114 82 198 139 32 34 81 178 155 131 161 76 161 73 159 71 71 119 123 123 69 42 110 174 112 40 42 193 109 91 163 201 215 82 79 198 77 77 154 164 138 75 51 87 136 51 48 107 269 77 114 109 105 112 103 102 205 67 55 99 51 55 50 52 182 136 131 129 128 118 124 73 73 69 50 45 43 42 91 38 91 86 5 5 0

29 Racing News

As stated elsewhere in this issue, I don’t have a whole lot to report on this matter, having not actually attended any races since the Hetton / Darlington weekend. Tim Hayes rang me yesterday to say that he actually finished ahead of Pete Cox at the Ryde meeting, so Tim should have earned ten points from that race and Pete eight. Anyway, once I’ve got all the results from the events I missed, I will update the tables accordingly.

Hayes

Hayes Overall Position Points Overall Position Number Name Vehicle Class Laps FULAMFULAM 1 11 St eve Slade Wasp II F 17 1 20 2 92 St eve Donaldson Wasp II F 17 2 15 3 55 Roy MacDonald Wasp II F 15 3 12 4 94 Dave Richards Kestrel U 15 1 20 5 36 Ian Chat tington Ross XLR U 14 2 15 6 40 Iain James Project X U 14 3 12 7 73 Tim Elsdale Prone LP U 13 4 10 8 44 gNick Green Morse's Law F 13 4 10 9 22 Paul London Kingcycle F 13 5 8 10 14 Pete Cox Lune Low Tide U 13 5 8 11 25 Tim Hayes Ross Low U 13 6 6 12 32 Richard Everett Windcheetah U/ M 13 7 1 4 20 13 0 Chris Cox Windcheetah U/ M 12 8 2 3 15 14 83 Susan Laughton Tchaikovski U/ L 12 9 1 2 20 15 24 Sherri Donaldson Kestrel U/ L 11 10 2 1 15 16 66 Dennis Adcock Pink Pig F 11 6 6 17 50 Geoff Bird Velodynamics Mk II U 11 11 18 31 Ian Willett Ironing Board U 11 12 19 34 Fiona Grove Velodynamics Mk III U/ L 10 13 3 12 DNF 1 Yan Sheen Kingcycle U 3

Lancaster

1500 <-- Length of course in metres according to Pete Cox Lancaster - Slow Race

Number Name Vehicle Class Laps Min Sec Km/h MPH Position 83 Susan Laughton Tchaikovski U/L 15 32 50 41.1 25.6 1 0 Chris Cox Windcheetah U/M 15 33 01 40.9 25.4 2 82 Barry Hankin Myddleton No. 8 U 15 33 39 40.1 24.9 3 126 James Bridge Cab U 15333940.124.94 46 Chris Skoyles Mean 'n' Not Green U 15 33 44 40.0 24.9 5 61 Anne Coulson Kingcycle U/L 15 34 09 39.5 24.6 6 97 Neil Coles Festina U 15 34 26 39.2 24.4 7 62 Jon Coulson Windcheetah U/M 14 33 06 38.1 23.7 8 170 Colin Andrews Kingcycle U 13 33 31 34.9 21.7 9 84 John Hain Kingcycle U 13 33 49 34.6 21.5 10 165 Alan Dinning Windcheetah U/M 13 34 53 33.5 20.8 11 75 Stewart Bennett Trice U/M 13 * * ##### #### 12 43 Jill Jones QE3 U/L 12 35 04 30.8 19.1 13 90 Kevin Doran Woolrich A/U 12 37 17 29.0 18.0 14

30 Lancaster - Fast Race

Number Name Vehicle Class Laps Min Sec Km/h MPH Position 17 Jonathan Woolrich Oscar II F 19 32 54 52.0 32.3 1 36 Ian Chattington Ross XLR U 18 32 56 49.2 30.6 2 66 Dennis Adcock Pink Pig F 16331243.427.03 116 Mark Timbrell Kingcycle U 16 33 16 43.3 26.9 4 25 Tim Hayes Ross Low U 16 33 18 43.2 26.9 5 14 Pete Cox Lune Low Tide U 16 33 27 43.0 26.8 6 71 Graeme Blance Kingcycle U 15 32 56 41.0 25.5 7 33 Phil Skoyles Mean 'n' Not Green U 15 33 54 39.8 24.8 8 121 Nigel Sleigh Plastic Maggot F 15 34 27 39.2 24.4 9 41 Neil Jones Black Low Bike U 15 34 47 38.8 24.1 10 78 Clive Sleath 3 Seasons U 15 35 12 38.4 23.8 11 93 Jim McGurn Windcheetah U/M 12 34 48 31.0 19.3 12

Lancaster Overall Position Points Overall Position Number Name Vehicle Class FULAMFULAM 1 17 Jonathan Woolrich Oscar II F 1 20 2 36 Ian Chattington Ross XLR U 1 20 3 66 Dennis Adcock Pink Pig F2 15 4 116 Mark Timbrell Kingcycle U 2 15 525Tim Hayes Ross Low U 3 12 6 14 Pete Cox Lune Low Tide U 4 10 7 83 Susan Laughton Tchaikovski U/L 5 1 8 20 8 71 Graeme Blance Kingcycle U 6 6 9 0 Chris Cox Windcheetah U/M 7 1 4 20 10 82 Barry Hankin Myddleton No. 8 U 8 3 11 126 James BridgeCabU92 12 46 Chris Skoyles Mean 'n' Not Green U 10 1 13 33 Phil Skoyles Mean 'n' Not Green U 11 14 61 Anne Coulson Kingcycle U/L 12 2 15 15 97 Neil Coles Festina U 13 16 121 Nigel Sleigh Plastic Maggot F 3 12 12 17 41 Neil Jones Black Low Bike U 14 18 78 Clive Sleath 3 Seasons U 15 19 62 Jon Coulson Windcheetah U/M 16 2 15 20 170 Colin Andrews Kingcycle U 17 21 84 John Hain Kingcycle U 18 22 165 Alan Dinning Windcheetah U/M 19 3 12 23 75 Stewart Bennett Trice U/M 20 4 10 24 93 Jim McGurn Windcheetah U/M 21 5 8 25 43 Jill Jones QE3 U/L 22 3 26 90 Kevin Doran Woolrich A/U 23 1 20

Any misspelt names from Lancaster ain’t my fault - it’s probably coz Dennis couldn’t read your handwrit- ing!!

31 Kirkby (by gNick)

Faired - It was pissing it down and winding a lot as well. Tried running with the full lid on but could only occasionally see the white line at the edge of the track let alone the red and blue ones! Kirkby - Faired

Number Name Vehicle Class Laps Min Sec Km/h MPH Position 92 Steve Donaldson Wasp II F 41 25 10 47.9 29.8 1 36f Ian Chattington Plastic Maggot F 40 25 34 46.0 28.6 2 PD Paul Davies Trike F 38 25 25 44.0 27.3 3 44 gNick Green Morse's Law F 36 25 35 41.4 25.7 4 NB Nigel Brown Kingcycle F 32 25 19 37.2 23.1 5 17 Jonathan Woolrich Oscar II F 30 26 05 33.8 21.0 6

Unfaired - Rain had stopped but the wind picked up a lot Kirkby - Unfaired + Nigel

Number Name Vehicle Class Laps Min Sec Km/h MPH Position 94 Dave Richards Kestrel U 36 25 52 40.9 25.4 1 36 Ian Chattington Ross XLR U 35 25 53 39.8 24.7 2 14 Pete Cox Lune Low Tide U 32 26 01 36.2 22.5 3 25 Tim Hayes Ross Low U 32 26 03 36.1 22.4 4 83 Susan Laughton Tchaikovski U/L 30 26 37 33.1 20.6 5 24u Sherri Donaldson Kestrel U 27 26 15 30.2 18.8 6 121 Nigel Sleigh Leaper F 13 19 24 19.7 12.2 DNF

Kirkby is a pretty reasonable track - dead easy to get to being right next to the motorway. Surface is between Herne Hill and Welwyn - not bad at all if you stay above the blue line. Shame about the not too good turnout - late arrival to the list probably doesn’t help.

The races were very damp and uncomfortable - not as bad as Hetton but not far off - with myself and Jon having to lose bits of fairing. I just removed the screen this time so not as bad a handicap but the engine is in dire need of a metaphorical rebuild. Paul, having a screen close to his face and also being on a trike, wasn’t too fussed about not being able to see - might have satellite navigation though. Ian riding the new improved open top Maggot had the advantage of being able to see over the top although his earlier test ride nearly trashed the poor unsuspecting beast by dropping it for no readily apparent reason. By dint of sliding into a sandbank (by the long jump sandpit in the middle there was a raised border) he beautifully

Kirkby Overall Position Points Overall Position Number Name Vehicle Class FULAMFULAM 1 92 Steve Donaldson Wasp II F 1 20 2 36f Ian Chattington Plastic Maggot F 2 15 3 PD Paul Davies Trike F 3 12 444 gNick Green Morse's Law F 4 10 5 94 Dave Richards Kestrel U 1 20 6 36 Ian Chattington Ross XLR U 2 15 7NBNigel Brown Kingcycle F 5 8 8 14 Pete Cox Lune Low Tide U 3 12 925Tim Hayes Ross Low U 4 10 10 17 Jonathan Woolrich Oscar II F 6 6 11 83 Susan Laughton Tchaikovski U/L 5 1 8 20 12 24u Sherri Donaldson Kestrel U 6 2 6 15 DNF 121 Nigel Sleigh Leaper F

32 scrumpled the nose cone, and due to the Wasp’s frame geometry he nearly ended up talking a wee bit higher as well! Steve just rode like it was a lovely Aberdonian day - which of course it was.

The racing itself wasn’t all that exciting - too few competitors - although by telling Tim to make Pete Cox do some work and him actually doing it cost him second place - the logic doesn’t pan out. Many thanks to Susan’s parents who came to cheer on and ended up lapscoring as well. Jolly nice people. Hands-On Experience

You may have seen my efforts with hand-powered vehicles with rider Kevin Doran. Here is the story of how it came about and the progress so far.

Some years ago, my friend Jo Wright was involved in an accident. Her injuries included a low spine break, so she is now a wheelchair user. Her partner, Mark Silver is a time-triallist, sometime HPV builder and general useful bloke and we both looked at building hand-power vehicles for her. I built a very crude 2 wheeler, which I never managed to tempt her to try. At about the same time I went to the US and got to know the various arm-powered racers. One of the best, David Cornelsen, had a two-wheeler, which I tried and could ride. I suggested to him he should put a fairing round it and beat all the records. He didn’t do it.

Fast forward a few years. I got a call before last season from Kevin Doran asking about arm powered HPV racing. He told me he had a racing-wheelchair-type trike with cranks on the front wheel. We talked a bit about the pros and cons of this. Kevin impressed everyone with his speed and determination. I talked to him about bikes and he was interested in giving it a try. I set up Mk. 1, a small wheel shopping bike, with a full seat and foot platform and a pair of handlebars. At Birmingham, Ian Sheen and I helped Kevin on to it and pushed him down a hill. Success! Kevin had not ridden on two wheels since his early teens, but he proved to have excellent balance and no trouble controlling the unpowered bike. The next step was to put cranks on. I did that in time for the next event at Darlington. Most of the riders had a go and the bike was considered easy to control. Kevin had done the long time trial on his trike and hurt his elbow, but he was able to ride a bit. The next outing was at Lancaster. Kevin nearly equalled his trike lap time on Mk. 1 and rode it in the second race.

By the time of the race in Scotland, Mk. 2 had been built, with another shopper frame and plywood seat. As usual it was finished at the last minute and so very imperfect. Nevertheless, Kevin managed a flying lap of the road course 7 second faster on the bike compared to the trike, on a 2 minute lap. He also raced it at Meadowbank velodrome and went very well, scor- ing his first win over a leg-powered competitor (sorry Brian). The next event was at Castle Combe, by which time Mk. 2 had been lowered somewhat and fitted with 406 size wheels. That was a low point. The huge lap was disheartening and the bike had various mechanical and ergonomic problems. Mike Bishop turned up on his Moens trike and went faster than Kevin.

We got the problems sorted out for the most part and Kevin trained on Mk. 2 in the winter. I started a new bike. The drawings suggested we needed to use Moulton size wheels in order to get enough room for frame/crutch clearance. I wrote to Dr. Moulton and he very kindly supplied some wheels. There was a good deal of gloating over the Hope hubs and slick tyres. Kevin & the Mk.2 at Meadowbank

33 Plywood mock-up of the Mk. 3

At Manchester in March, I had a new narrower plywood seat. Unfortunately too narrow. Another low point as Kevin had been unable to train due to illness and so found the velodrome very hard to ride. Much more work ensued and we finally got a seat, with urethane foam formed round Kevin. I worked from there and completed a full mock up in plywood. Albert Cope described me as the Barry Bucknell of bike building. We had forks made by Helmut at Sonic Cycles and I did the rest of the metal work. Kevin came down and tried it. He rode off down the road, leaning over somewhat as the stem had slipped, but came back with a big smile. We were on.

Mk. 3 is made from Fibrelam honeycomb sandwich material, which is used for floors on Boeing aircraft. I work for BA and had accumulated scraps from the rub- bish skip. It can be used in the same forms as the plywood but is lighter stronger and stiffer. In true HPV tradition I finished it at 3.30 on Saturday morning, the day of the race at Hetton. Kevin could not get to that race, so I met up with him that night. We went straight on to mould the foam seat. He first rode it on Sunday morning, before the Darlington time trial. With a few tweaks and a very successful test done, Kevin rode off round the time trial circuit. He managed to ride all the way up the huge first hill, and in spite of breaking a gear cable near the end, he was delighted with a 20 minute improvement over the trike. Mk. 3 tracks straight and rolls very easily, whereas Mk. 2 was a bit of a strug- gle. He was able to descend at high speed.

His next race was a handbike race in Austria. Kevin had been training hard and went in to the race with a lot of confidence. He mistimed his sprint and came Mk. 3 rear - suspension, Moulton slick and second but was well ahead of the rest of the field. He Milliken wheel disc

34 did the 13.2 miles in 48:27, 27 seconds behind the leader. 16.35 mph doesn’t sound that impressive but it was very windy and wet. The winner also won last year, in 41 minutes, which equates to 19.3 mph. I reckon Kevin could equal that. Unfortunately the bike got damaged in transit, with a dented wheel and the forks cracked, so we missed Hayes. I got it repaired again in time for Lancaster, where Kevin went very well. In Denmark we were disappointed that Kevin was the only arm-powered competitor. Still, he had a good weekend including the long road race, which was as long as Darlington and quite hilly. He went quite a lot faster on a windier day.

We next went to the handbike, wheelchair and inline skate race in Rotterdam with high hopes. The race was only 10 km, so Kevin had been training for it and doing about 20 minutes. I had done a lot of work on the cables before Lancaster, to prevent the problems we had in Darlington. In Rotterdam we discovered the gear cable sleeve had shredded at the other end. I managed to get some more cable and replace it. We had taken the trainer; Kevin warmed up on the line and was very well prepared. He belted off the line first. Kees van Breukelen came past and Kevin went to tuck in. He tried to change up and nothing happened. The rest of the fast riders went past and Kevin abandoned. It turned out the new cable sleeve had shredded again. I did not get the chance to take it apart and find out why. Kees won, in about the time Kevin had done in training. It was very disappointing, but we got the chance to talk to Kees afterwards. He was very enthusiastic about Kevin’s involvement. He thinks he and Kevin are the leading edge of hand biking in Europe.

It looks as if we need to do a bit more work on the cables, it should work for Curborough. I have nearly finished a tail fairing, built mouldless like my head fairing. The next step is a full fairing. I took photos of Kevin on the mock up against a squared background. I’ll make some drawings from those and design a fairing on Loftsman on my computer. We had hoped to make a monocoque shell, but having done so much work on Mk. 3, we are now looking at putting a light shell round that. The result will be heavier but less noisy inside. As soon as it is done we will be doing some speed testing, looking for locations and setting records.

There are also some other developments in the offing. I want to try an interchangeable tilting trike back end, like the one Dennis recently made. I think it could have a locking mechanism, and might form the basis of a production version. Kees said he would like to have something of the sort in his shop. We also want to have a decent training bike. Kevin doesn’t like the old one any more…

Mouldless construction of Oscar’s head fairing

35 Mk. 1 - Shopper frame. 20x1.25 front, 500c rear. Campagnolo Mirage chainset & gear mechs. Sun Tour block. Home made hand grips with old type gripshifters and reverse brake levers. Plywood platform. Forks adapted from shopper and Tange cycle polo forks. Stem/BB home made. Old Shimano side pull brakes.

Mk. 2 - Shopper frame. 406 wheels. Same transmission, later switching to Chevron hand grips and Shimano MTB brake levers and “piano key” shifters. Shimano block. Plywood seat and platform. Forks and stem/BB as above. Brakes as above.

36 Mk. 2 with improved seat and paint job

Mk. 3 - Fibrelam frame. Moulton wheels with Milliken disks. Moulton slicks. Moulton block down to 9 teeth. Chainset as above. Shimano 105 changer. Shimano STX RC 8x3 shift and brake levers. Univer- sal side pull brake front, Tioga BMX brake rear. Columbus tube forks with track crown and steel tube forward extension (Sonic Cycles). Machined-down Haden BB shell. Steel stem and changer tube. Rear suspension with windsurfer mast step rubber bobbin as suspension medium. Venhill cables with special cable ends.

37 KIRKBY TO CARROCK FELL or Boomerangs in the Bog by Susan Laughton (aged 13½)

Sunday 23rd August

A small but dedicated bunch gathered at Kirkby Sports Centre to ride the outdoor tarmac velodrome. The first couple of hours were spent huddled in the entrance tunnel waiting for the rain to stop. Ian Chattington ventured out on Nigel Sleigh’s ‘Plastic Maggot’, which protested by heading off the track into the long jump sandpit. It was abruptly halted by a grass bank, damaging not only its nose, but Ian’s more delicate regions which did not appreciate hitting the frame tube at 24mph. Nigel effected a stylish repair in silver tape (of the Maggot, not Ian).

As the rain seemed unlikely to ever stop the faired chaps took to the track for half an hour of fun (?). Ian risked another spin in the Maggot to loosen his legs for the important race. gNick Green and Jonathan Woolrich worked hard having taken their canopies off to see where they were going. Paul Davies re- sorted to wiping the inside of the screen in his fully faired trike with an entire toilet roll, no doubt wishing he hadn’t made a rare journey north of the M4. Steve Donaldson and Nigel Brown circled unaffected, with Steve taking the chequered flag after 25 minutes - stopped prematurely when the rain took a turn for the worse.

It was then the turn of the unfaired to get even wetter. Who in their right minds would emerge from beneath umbrellas, coats, hats, etc. to pedal round in circles in the pouring rain? Well, seven of us sat dripping at the start line. At the word “GO” we all pedalled – except Nigel Sleigh (in his Leaper machine) who fell over. Sherri Donaldson and I had our ‘Ladies’ race, Tim Hayes and Pete Cox their ‘Ponytailed’ race, whilst Nigel kept falling over. Ian raced again on the XLR, but due to crash damage and the previous race (masochist) was unable to match the speed of Dave Richards, who went on to win.

Once all the bikes were packed away, and it was time to go the rain stopped….

Monday 24th August

In order to give us plenty of time to find Carrock Fell Youth Hostel, then unload the tandem ready for the Lake District Social Tour the following weekend Ian and I set off on Monday.

Knowing the rear Magura brake on the tandem was not working (due to insufficient brake fluid) we found a friendly bike shop in Keswick, who for the price of the fluid, let us use their tools and workshop to refill and purge the system. (A round of applause for Keswick Mountain Bike Centre). The Lake District is not the place to be with only a front brake, especially on a recumbent tandem. The real excitement came after the brakes had been fixed. A sheep ran out in front of us, I slammed on the back brake, locked up the rear wheel and almost overtook Ian!

Friday 28th August gNick, Mark Timbrell and Sherri and Steve Donaldson all arrived just before midnight. Mark having discovered it takes a long time to cycle the back roads from Penrith station with an LED front light and an Owl to show you the way.

Saturday 29th August

Nigel Brown arrived to make the grand total seven – so where were the rest of you!? [Still recovering from the trip to Denmark – Ed.]

38 With Mark, Nigel and Sherri on Kingcycles, Steve on his Wee Bike, gNick on a Speedy, and Ian and I on our M5 tandem we pootled off. Despite trying to avoid the bits on the map with lots of those nasty contour lines, there were still a few uphill bits to overheat the riders and downhill bits to overheat the wheel rims. Nigel however hurtled about the landscape – one minute he is riding next to you then, “Oh look! there he is on the other side if the valley”. “Oooh! here he comes whizzing past in the opposite direction”. “Whoosh! here he is again, overtaking us uphill, whilst NOT pedalling”. And why? “Because he wants to!”. © Billie, Virgin Records.

The Magnificent Seven rolled into Cockermouth for lunch, where gNick managed to find a Tea Shop that served beer, otherwise known as a Pub. We returned along the Whinlatter Pass descending rapidly through the forest, where Sherri clocked a max of 44mph. Next stop a visit to the Cumberland Pencil Factory in Keswick, where not everyone enjoyed our contributions to the obligatory film show. A quick parade through the town centre before panic that we may be late for dinner prompted a dash back along the A66. After a day’s riding of 47 miles gNicks’ Speedy ‘broke’ on the rough track to the hostel whilst avoiding a motor vehicle. The rear derailleur hanger had snapped off. Much filing, swearing and other such displays of fine craftsmanship and the Speedy was repaired in time to carry gNick to the Old Crown in Hesket for an after dinner pint or four.

Adrian (the Warden) fed us almost to the point of explosion – mints anyone? gNick, Mark and Steve then cycled to the Pub. Nigel, Ian, Sherri and I set off to walk off dinner and had to walk so far that we also got to the Pub. Walking back in the dark we managed to avoid the bogeyman, goblins etc., but did encounter some noisy beasts with blinding headlights, which we felt obliged to salute.

Sunday 30th August

Following a good breakfast from Adrian we set off to Ullswater, via Greystoke and Matterdale. After another hurtle downwards towards Glenridding ‘everything stopped for tea’ at Aira Force Tea Shop. Stopping anywhere near the General Public involves the usual barrage of questions : “How do you steer that then?”, “How fast does it go?”, “How much does that cost?” (from the Artful Dodger types), “Why do you ride that then?” Because we want to! Because we want to! © Billie, Virgin Records.

By now the weather was putting on a rare display of SUMMER, as we continued out of the Lake District to Penrith (!?) Another stop for refreshment at a Pub next to a Tea Shop before heading north-west across rolling countryside. The Tandem Club meeting at Newton Reigny brightened up the roads with their matching jerseys. A brief chase ensued, but the couple turned off just as we caught them. Cow- ards! We managed to get as far as Skelton before another Pub beckoned, where a couple on a Bike Friday ‘Tandem Twosday’ were also resting.

Mark had already gone his own way to try his route from Penrith in daylight, without the need for an Owl strapped to the handlebars. Ian and I made our own way back – a shower and a nice cup of tea beckon- ing more strongly than the beer. Back at the hostel pre-dinner recreation took place in the form of boomerang throwing. Ian, Sherri, Mark and Nigel hurled the boomerang across the bog. I got the job of wading in to fetch it.

The weekend was rounded off with another huge meal provided by Adrian. Sherri and Steve then set off on the long trek back to Aberdeen, ready for work in the morning!

**************

39 Carmen Brück

Editor’s Note: This article is freely translated by Tina from one which appeared in Issue 82 of “InfoBull”, the Swiss / German Newsletter. Anyone who was in Laupen or Lelystad may remember Carmen competing in the arm-powered category, while those of us who were in Köln would have seen her riding a leg-powered trike around the velodrome. How was this possible? Read on...

“Carmen Brück, second Chair of the German HPV Club, has been through quite a lot in her thirty-two years. When aged 15, she suffered an accident which left her paralysed from the waist down. At first her sporting career as a bike racer ground to a halt - initially she was con- vinced that her active participation in sport was over. But as she was still keen on racing, she switched to using normal racing wheelchairs instead. At the same time, she was training as a mechanical engineering technician.

Never happy with the lack of power in her arms, and with her background in engineering, she began to investigate other methods of movement. She started development work on a gadget which uses electronic impulses to stimualte the muscles of the leg to bend and stretch through contraction. This allowed her to cover greater distances than before, leading to greater freedom and independence.

An important side effect of electronic stimulation is that the frequently-encountered problems of fluid collection in the legs, and muscle wastage, are greatly reduced.

Her invention is unique - not only did she develop the whole concept, she also built the machine in her kitchen! At the moment she is seeking a licensee or investor to manufacture her machine, to allow more people to use it. Her work has led to increased media coverage for HPV’s in general, while her combination of electro-stimulation and recumbent tricycle have won her the 1998 Innovation Prize for the Rheinland- Pfalz region.”

Further information can be had from Carmen at Postfach 2446, 67514 Worms, Germany gNick Green (3rd!) gNick Green I think Tina took this one European Sprint Champions European L-R: Ulf Krollman & Frank Lienhard (2nd), Walter Berger (1st), Berger & Frank Lienhard (2nd), Walter L-R: Ulf Krollman

40 Pa Kingsbury, contemplating his (first) childhood Photo: Dave Cormie

Top: Izzi Urieli’s latest Grasshopper - belt drive, SA 5-speed hub, Schlumpf Mountain Drive Middle & Bottom: Velomobiles (assorted) Photos: Dave Larrington Stop Press!!

Two part-faired Kingcycles are heading south from The Ladies from Hades... L-R: Sherri Donaldson Camden towards the Euston Road. A group of (3rd), Ellen van Horst (1st), Anja van der Hulst schoolgirls have just crossed the road. (2nd) - prize-winning unfaired sprinters 1st schoolgirl: What stupid bikes! Photo: Jonathan Woolrich 2nd schoolgirl: They’re not stupid, they’re clever!

Stop Press 2!!

Lock up your bicycles! The notorious author, photographer and chronicler of all things Recumbent Gunnar Fehlau is coming to the UK for six months or so. He is unable to bring his own machine with him, and so seeks some kind person or manufacturer who is willing to lend him one... He will be here from October 6th until March 10th next year, at: c/o: Mrs Lloyd, 5 Midhurst Rise, Hollingbury, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 8LP. Tel: 01273 505127 If anyone can help him out, please get in touch. He’s intending to come to the AGM Meeting as well.

41 Boingy Things from Denmark nnw lmn uhrFlevo Back-to-Back tandem Clemens Bucher Unknown A Flux (!) Some of this was a Birdy... old heap The Editor’s

All photos on this page: Dave Cormie

42 that he’s last in the crit... that he’s cares Paul London trying to look as though he Large white thing in the background: Frank Lienhard / Ulf Krollman tandem / Ulf Krollman Frank Lienhard Large white thing in the background:

...Sublime to the Ridiculous! 1998 Euro-Championships!! Full report in living black-and-white in Issue 55... Photos on this page: Jonathan Woolrich

Suppliers & Wants

Advertising rates for the body of this magazine: Full page £30.00 Half page £15.00

Approximately 350 copies of each issue are printed. Entries in the "Suppliers and Wants" section are free, and should not resemble anything the President of the USA might have said about his personal life. We'll gladly do you as nice an advert as we can, bearing in mind how this magazine is knitted; please take out an advert at the above rates. If your prices or products change, please tell me... Oliver Zechlin’s 1997 HPV CD-ROM is now available in the UK.

Today’s most comprehensive electronic archive about Human Powered Vehicles includes pictures, texts, video clips and homepages about recumbent bicycles, waterbikes, railbikes, and aircraft. 18 pounds including P and P.

Contact: Richard Loke, 61 Mulberry Close, Cambridge, CB4 2AS Phone 01954 261557 or e-mail [email protected]

43 Paul Davies, 2 Fowlswick Cottages, Allington, Chippenham, Wilts, SN14 6LU (2 miles from Castle Combe) Phone 01249 782554 Composite products for HPV’s: Trike full shell. ‘96 model in 5 separate mouldings to fit trike 60 cm track, 100 cm wheelbase. Bike nose fairing. Bike rear fairing / boot. Seat. Mudguards for 20”, 700c and mountain bike size wheels. Helmet shell. NACA style ducts, etc. etc. Valley Cycles, Unit 2, Nene Court, The Embankment, Wellingborough, Northants, NN8 1LD Phone 01933 271030 e-mail: [email protected] are now importing the BikeE medium wheelbase recumbent bicycle from the USA. Prices from: £650 Peter Ross, Crystal Engineering, Unit 1A Jubilee Wharf, Commercial Road, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 8AQ Phone / Fax 01326 378848 e-mail: [email protected] WWW: http://www.cycling.co.uk/bikeshop We supply the Trice recumbent tricycle, SpeedRoss recumbent bicycle and Festina XLR Low Racer, with the GEM Sociable recumbent tricycle and Compact Tandem to follow. All machines are available as framesets, and a wide range of accessories is also available:

Trice Now with 20x1.75 HP front / 26x1.95 rear tyres (20x1-3/8 / 700c optional), Shimano Deore LX components. £1599 Frameset: £1299 Sachs Trice Trice fitted with 30cc Sachs motor for powered assistance. Maximum speed with power assist 15mph, adds about 10kg £2100 Electric Trice Fitted with TGA electric motor. Can be ridden without helmet, driving licence, tax or insurance by anyone over 13. £TBA Speed Ross Choice of above-seat or under-seat steering, choice of Shimano Deore LX or Shimano STX components. LX: £875 STX: £825 Frameset: £675. Festina XLR Possibly the fastest unfaired recumbent in the UK. Tail fairing available. £1100 Unpainted Frameset with front & rear wheels: £800 HPV's for the disabled available to special order - please call for details. Build your own - plans for all models available £65 Rear fairing / luggage box, 120 litre capacity £295 Full fairing (GRP nose & nylon body) £400 Many other accessories (too numerous to list here - Ed) available. Orders accepted with £200 deposit (£150 for Speed Ross), delivery £25. All prices include VAT. Middleburn Cycle Technology, Chris Dodman Phone 01420 22995 In addition to their range of cranks and hubs, there are also chainrings. The largest for each type are: Compact drive (94mm PCD) 48T Standard MTB (110mm PCD) 52T Road (130mm PCD) 62T Larger chainrings can be manufactured in small batches. Tiptree Designs (incorporating Els Tees), Ian Hague, 24 Cedar Avenue, Tiptree, Colchester, Essex, CO5 0NR Phone 01621 0815476 "Hand Painted T-Shirts to the Nobility and Richard in Blackpool"

44 Patrick Shaw, Future Cycles, Friends Yard, London Road, Forest Row, East Sussex, RH18 5EE - New & s/h machines Phone 01342 822847 STREETGLIDER - SWB with underseat Frameset: £795 inc. VAT steering, 531 Longstaff frame with negative Complete bike from: £1350 inc. VAT rake forks.

VISION RECUMBENT - The only convertible SWB / LWB in the UK. Complete bike from: £995 inc. VAT

SPARES: Tyres: 500A Michelin - £7.50 450A - £6.95. HP tubes: 500x28A Michelin - £3.50 Swallow 500A/20" - £3.00 450/18" - £3.00 P&P add £0.50 per tube, £1.00 per tyre, to a maximum of £5.00.Credit cards welcome. We also handle European subscriptions for "Recumbent Cyclist News" (RCN). RCN is 100% dedicated to promoting recumbent bicycles and providing and encouraging communications between HPV enthusiasts, home-builders, dealers and commercial recumbent manufacturers. Annual subscription £25.95 (six issues). "A rather fine publication "- Ed. Simon Gershon, Orbit Cycles, Unit 18, City Road Trading Estate, 295 City Road, Sheffield S2 5HH Phone 0114 275 6567 Fax 0114 270 1016 e-mail: [email protected] WWW: http://www.orbit-cycles.co.uk Orbit Crystal recumbent bicycle, Shimano Deore LX components, under-seat or above seat steering. £795 Frameset: £575 Rear rack add £20 Rear mudguard add £8

Orbit cycles are available from many dealers nationwide. In addition, you may visit our Sheffield factory on alternate Saturdays between the start of May and the end of August - please call a few days in advance to confirm that we are open! We also offer a cycle hire scheme, for approximately £40-50 per week - again, please call for details. All prices include VAT. , PO Box 15174, Glasgow G4 9LW Dave Holladay Phone / Fax 0141 332 4733 offers a variety of interesting goodies, including: Primo 37-349 tyres £14.95 + £1.50 p&p Dave can now also supply Primo 37-451 tyres and is investigating the sourcing of other items including IBC hydraulic brakes, small size Salmon mudguards, suspension forks etc. Robert Turner, 2/32 Pentland Drive, Edinburgh, EH10 6PX Phone 0131 445 7497 e-mail: [email protected] Variety of parts available while stocks last. Frame building components & accessories; tubing &rod; wheels, tyres & accessories; nuts and bolts; bearings & pulleys; etc. etc. Send A5 SAE for current list. Highpath Engineering - Chris Bell / Dave Wrath-Sharman Phone 01570 470035 e-mail [email protected] Custom milled chainrings - Any size, any shape. Custom freewheels - 5 speed, 6 speed, 6 compact, 7 speed, 8 speed, 8 compact. Freehub sprockets - Any size, alloy or steel. Also CNC machining, frame building and the undertaking of design work.

45 Greenspeed, 69 Mountain Gate Drive, Ferntree Gully, VIC 3156, Australia. Phone +61 3 9758 5541 Fax +61 3 9752 4115 e-mail: [email protected] WWW: http://www.ihpva.org/com/Greenspeed/

Greenspeed trikes are designed for touring, commuting, racing, or just having fun. The have been well tested on Outback Australia Tours, are world renowned for their handling qualities, and have been successful in HPV racing.

GTR 20/20 Touring Trike, 63 speed, Sachs drums, rack, etc. A$3,500 GTR Sports Tourer Trike, 24 or 42 speed, Sachs Quarz, etc. A$4,200 GTT Tandem Trike, 63 speed, Sachs hydraulic discs, etc. A$6,000

Frame kits, plans and parts (e.g. kingpins) available. Write, fax, e-mail, phone or visit for free information package. The Seat of the Pants Company Ltd, L&M Business Park, Norman Road, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA14 4ES Tel: +44 (0)161 928 5575 Fax: +44 (0)161 928 5585 E-mail: [email protected] WWW: http://www.windcheetah.co.uk/seatofthepants/index.htm Offers the following models:

The Burrows Windcheetah "Coolest Recumbent of Show", Interbike 1996 - Robert Bryant, Recumbent Cyclist News from £2,400 ex. VAT The Pickup Will carry half a Brox with ease! from £1,400 ex. VAT Bicycling Books, 309 / 311 Horn Lane, London W3 0BU Phone 0181 993 3484 "Possibly the greatest stock of bicycling books in the entire world" - ex-Ed Kingcycle, Miles Kingsbury Phone 01494 524004 Although the Kingcycle SWB recumbent bicycle is no longer in production, we will continue to supply spares while stocks last. N.B. We no longer have any 450A (18”) front tyres available. Norfolk Recumbents, Sunville, The Street, Hindolveston, Dereham, Norfolk, HR20 5DA Tel: 01263 861720 Fax: 01263 861162 Kingcycle, Pashley, Radius & Sinner recumbents. Recumbent hire from £25, refundable on purchase. Sale of spares, 24 hour cycle recovery, B&B + evening meal available. Small Adz...

David Kemp, 13 Kings Close, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 4EU Phone 01394 385439 (eves) Speed Ross SWB Recumbent for sale. A unique example, almost new. Several custom extras. Frame supplied ‘96, final components Jan ‘98. Fully equipped for touring, commuting or racing. Lightweight and fast. Higher riding position than most SWB - gives better view in traffic. Top spec. components. Please

46 phone for full details. Photo available. Cost over £1200 new, accept £800 o.n.o. House extension forces sale... Tom Patton, 6 Murieston Way, Livingston, EH549AR, Scotland Phone 01506439900 E-mail: [email protected] Ross recumbent trike. STX Shimano gears, cassette hub. Mavic Aero rear rim. Sturmey Archer front hub brakes. Continental tyres with Kevlar inserts. Shimano SPD pedals. suspended seat. £450 or nearest offer David Price, 67 Broadway, Swanwick, Alfreton, Derbyshire, DE55 1AJ Phone 01394 385439 (eves) I have for sale packs of 100 alloy cable end caps to neatly solve the problem of “frayed ends” on your HPV. These are £1 each, plus SAE, from the above address. [Thanks for the “trial pack”, David - Ed.] Tom Culver, 15 Addington Square, London SE5 7JZ Phone 0171 701 4097 Windcheetah - original model, medium frame, excellent condition. Less than 3000 kilometres, equipped for touring with seat bag, mudguards and dynamo lights. £1500. Lui Frimmel, E-mail: [email protected] (Austria) Looking for a Kingcycle front fairing, new or used, for my daughter’s machine. The Editor will pass on messages if you’re not e-mail enabled... Daniel Vinson, 3 Arlington Road, Bath, Avon, BA2 3PG Phone 01225 424952 E-mail: [email protected] FOR SALE: Kingcycle SWB recumbent bike, large frame, Ultegra bar-end shifters, Conti Grand Prix tyres (20”F/26”R). Shimano hubs, LX derailleurs, 105SC dual pivot brakes, 105SC triple chainset, Sachs chain, Karrimor bike bag, Campag clipless pedals. Mint condition! 1 pair 406 mm trike front wheels (single side supported); SA drum brakes, Rigida rims, s/s spokes, Schwalbe City Jet tyres. Tacx Turbo Trainer - magnetic resistance, portable, handlebar shifter controls resistance. Offers please...

Recumbent UK The independent recumbent magazine for commuters, tourists, randonneurs and anyone else who owns or covets a recumbent. Each issue includes news, technical columns, product tests, completely unreasonable opinions, a 3 month guide to events, a UK source guide, sales & wants, a dealer guide and much much more. Recumbent UK Trial issue : £2.50 The Laurels 1 Year Subscription (4 issues) : £9.00 Church Hill Olveston BS12 3BZ Sales & Wants/Events listings are freeeeee . send in your name, telephone number, area/country and the details. Next Issue : Sorry, I forgot to ask em! Some time towards the end of the year, I expect

47 863 AD - The first Danish Kinetic Sculpture