Issue 58 BHPC Newsletter - Issue 58

The British Human B H P C Power Club

Exclusive!!! First Racing Bike To Conform To New UCI Regulations Revealed! Autumn 1999 Issue 58 BHPC Newsletter - Issue 58

Front Cover: Bike rack outside Barclays Bank, Romsey, Hampshire. Back Cover: I Predict The Future...

Contents Events 3 News, Views, and Membership Matters Various 4 Secretarial Stuff Steve ‘n’ Sherri Donaldson 10 Ron’s House Party Ron Beams 12 Advices For Faired Bike Builders Paul Davies 14 2 Plus 1 Harry Fullagar 18 Tyre Rolling Resistance Data John Lafford 21 Tales Of The City Tina Larrington 24 Racing News Dave Larrington, Nigel Sleigh, Clan Donaldson 26 Stop Press!!! Peter Bainbridge, Dave Holladay, John Keen... 39 European Championships 2000 HPV-Belgium 41 Suppliers & Wants 43 Back page 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. Never buy a second- hand boat from a hippie...

OFFICERS Chairman & Press Officer Dave Cormie ( Home 0131 552 3148 143 East Trinity Road Edinburgh, EH5 3PP Competition Secretary gNick Green ...is in the middle of moving... E-mail: [email protected] Secretary Steve Donaldson ( Home 01224 772164 Touring Secretary Sherri Donaldson 15 Station Road Dyce, Aberdeen AB21 7BA Treasurer & Membership ...volunteer(s) required - see within 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] or: [email protected] Librarian Pete Cox ( Home 01244 376776 11a Lorne St Chester CH1 4AE

Issue 59 closes: 1st December 1999 (in time for the Millennium Bug!) Letters, articles, pictures, vintage port, 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.

A Day At The Races

BHPC 1999 Season By the time you read this, I imagine the balance of the season will be much like this: October 17th AGM meeting, Eastway

2000 Events

May (tba) French Championships, Roubaix - Villeneuve d’Ascq, France

Next year’s French Championships will be organised by l’Ecole Centrale Lille. No further details yet; contact person is: Noël Aurélien ([email protected]).

9 – 16 July European Championships, Belgium.

Courtesy of Mats Nilsson, I have just received a copy of HPV Belgium’s hand-out about next year’s Eurochamps. Thanks, Mats! Because putting it here would cause me to have to rearrange the entire publication, it can instead be found towards the other end of the issue, just before the “Suppliers & Wants section.

A Night At The Opera

WHEELS IN MOTION FOR SPOKESFEST

An international event celebrating cycling and pedal power is planned to take place in Leicester next summer, right in the heart of the U.K.

Spokesfest 2000 will take place from July 28th - 31st 2000 and will promote the alternatives in cycling, regardless of people’s abilities or circumstances and will include innovations in cycling such as recumbents, concept bikes, work bikes, human-powered boats and even aeroplanes!

3 Throughout the Spokesfest weekend there will be organised rides, social events, displays, films, talks and past and present cycling innovations. For all those planning to make a weekend of it, Leicester racecourse has been booked to provide secure camping facilities.

Co-ordinated by Leicester Spokes, a local group campaigning for better cycling facilities, the event is the first of its kind in Leicester and has the support of the local city and county councils. Plans are being made to develop Spokesfest into an annual event celebrating Pedal Power.

Spokesfest co-ordinators would like to hear from manufacturers, designers, and inventors who would like to take part in next year’s event and sponsors are invited to contact the organisers with ideas on how they can get involved and make Spokesfest the best cycling celebration ever.

For further details contact the event director, Roger Lovell, 23 Michael Ramsey Court, Glen Parva, Leicester LE2 9QS. Telephone (0116) 2781360. E-mail address [email protected] or visit the Spokesfest web site at: www.spokesfest.freeserve.co.uk The Editor Paints His Toenails Red

New Records

Firstly the good news that Kevin Doran’s three arm-powered records set back in June have now been ratified by the IHPVA, and are as follows:

4 km standing start: 7:32.967 19.75 mph (31.79 km/h) 10 km standing start 18:22.8 20.28 mph (32.64 km/h) 1 Hour standing start 20.58 miles (33.11 km)

Next, news just in from Jürg Hölzle, about the Rail HPV Championships, held at the end of August in Laupen, Switzerland:

“There were only two vehicles but these championships were as tight as never before! The long-time champion team of Romeo Gridelli and the newcomer Snapper Team of Robert Stolz, Bruno Guhl and Charles Henry have invested in new vehicles. The Snapper rail vehicle is the same as raced in the HPV World Championships in Interlaken - only modified with an outrigger and guidance wheels.

We had some (head) wind but it never exceeded 1.5 m/s during the heats.

Charles Henry reached 70.04 km/h and is so far the first to break the 70 km/h barrier. The former champion Hansueli Russenberger was, with 69.03 km/h, also faster than 1998 where he broke the 60 km/h barrier with 63.55 km/h.

Rosmarie Bühler, multiple world champion, broke the old record of Katrin Ranger (1994 57.62 km/h) with 61.22 km/h and is now the fastest women on rails.

"Oldie" Peter Bretscher (57 years) did a very good 64.17 km/h and "youngster" Lukas Frei (16 years) reached 61.12 km/h.”

And finally, news of the 1Hour record, specifically that any team hoping to be the first to break 80 km and 50 miles for the standing-start hour has left it too late. The new record has yet to be ratified by the IHPVA, but on August 7th, former holder Lars Teutenberg, of Germany, covered 81.158 km, which my calculator reckons is 50.429 miles. The machine was the “Whitehawk”, designed by Andy Gronen and built with the assistance of Aachen Technical University. The run took place on Opel’s 4.8 km test track, located at Dudenhofen, near Frankfurt am Main. An attempt was also made on Paul Buttemer’s 100 km record, but this had to be abandoned due to rain. 29 year old Teutenberg held the record from 1996 to 1998 in the “Tomahawk”, and is more often to be found competing in Six-Day races in Germany. Further details are

4 scarce at present, but hopefully my man Gunnar will supply something before too long. Incidentally, the report on http://radsport-news.com/news/ teutehpv.htm credits Teutenberg with the 12 Hour, 24 Hour and 1000 km records, but these are still safe in the hands of Axel Fehlau.

Anyway, congratulations to all those involved (though I think we can allow ourselves a certain amount of teeth-gnashing over Lars Teutenberg’s success, coz I heard that a Certain British outfit is preparing for an assault on the record Real Soon Now).

Did You See... The Whitehawk - 81.148 km in 1 Hour!

...a report in the Daily Mirror on August 26th? It seems that Ferrari F1 megastar Eddie Irvine has been spotted riding what sounds suspiciously like a faired recumbent! Here’s what the Mirror had to say on the subject:

“"EDDIE Irvine's third place setback in Hungary last week obviously affected him more than he admitted at the time. For in the wake of his Budapest Grand Prix blunder, the race ace has taken to a new mode of transport.

The 34-year-old Formula One star ditched his Ferrari for a futuristic bicycle in an advert for he made for an Italian bank. And while all the top racing teams are chasing the Irish driver, it was the makers of this bubbled-headed contraption who seem to have captured the heart of our sporting hero.

But, race fans fear not, it's only a temporary change of gear. Irvine was snapped on this weird push-bike filming an advertisement for the Banca di Roma in Italy and, rumour has it, he netted a small fortune for his part.”

Well, OK, the less said about Ferrari’s performances in Budapest and Spa the better, but it seems that the article was accompanied by a photo. But the news items collated and indexed by my employer are text- only, so I was rather hoping that someone out there might have seen and saved it. Anyone?

It Was That Time Of Year...

...when people do daft things, like End-to-End rides. Tim Hayes completed his in June, and has prom- ised a “How Not To Do It” guide. Andrew Harrington supplied various cuttings relating to the attempt by Steve Pryor and his Windcheetah to complete the distance in 72 hours, reproduced overleaf. However, his effort is, in terms of sheer bonkers-in-the-nut-ness, left standing by that of Steve Holard - see also overleaf...

I hope it comes out OK - scanning newspaper articles is notoriously hit-and-miss. Ian Bennett, who supplied it (thanks Ian!), commented that this was “...one of the first times that I have ever seen a recumbent accepted by the establishment as ‘an orthodox reclining bike’!”

The Old Order Changeth

News from Dennis Adcock recently - he is intending to resign from his official positions within the Club in order to “let a younger, more enthusiastic person take my place”. So as of the forthcoming AGM in October, we will be looking for a new Treasurer, Membership Secretary and Publications Postmaster. Or Postmistress. You don’t have to volunteer to take on all three tasks... Anyone thinking that they might

5 fancy one or more of these positions would be well- advised to contact Dennis to get the low-down on what’s involved, and should also let Steve Donaldson know, as I’m sure he’s already working on an agenda for the AGM. Aren’t you, Steve?

Dennis has looking after our finances for 12 years, and has been a highly-active member of the Club ever since it was founded. We all owe him ‘nuff respect for his efforts. Cheers, Dennis!

AGM

Leading on from the above, the Club’s Annual General Meeting ap- proaches with some celer- ity. Any matters you feel, dear Member, are worthy of discussion, or if you fancy deposing one of the Club’s officials in a coup d’etat, should be notified to Steve Donalson as soon as possible, as by the time this issue reaches you there won’t be a great deal of time left...

...Especially...

... if the Post Office take umbrage at the mass of this issue. My apologies if your copy of Issue 57 arrived late - this was due to Her Majesty’s Posties deciding that half of the mailing of the said issue were too heavy. The other 150-odd copies, identical in every respect, passed unnoticed through their hands. As did the last several News- letters of identical size... Go figure!

6 7 Tailpiece

A fair few replies to Dennis’ query re lapsed and / or declining membership in the last issue. Various thoughts have been expressed on the matter, as detailed hereafter:

Just a note to say why I am not renewing my membership - Essentially, my tastes and circumstances have changed! For a while I was very interested in HPV’s, but now I have such little time available (work, unfortunately !) that I am quite happy with two ‘cumbersomes’ and a Bike Friday !

However, best wishes and good luck to you all.

Jim Ferrier

As requested by Dennis in the recent mag I am letting you know that I will not be renewing my sub. I guess the reason is that as an employed person I could afford to continue my rather vague interest in recumbents etc by buying mags and joining clubs...... not that I have ever done anything actively about my interest to date! Now unemployed it seems unlikely that I shall ever do anything particularly without a machine although I have to confess to ownership of a tandem trike which is a most expensive item in any event. As the continued use of that for some time is the priority, a recumbent is definitely a low issue. .As BHPC is mainly for the racers anyway other mags now offer more of interest I am afraid. I guess that if membership numbers is a concern you will need to appeal to a broader cross section of people other than just the builders and racers of HPV’s. It seems to me that most clubs are suffering a downturn in active interest and I am told that frequently time trials have more marshals than entrants! Sorry I cannot offer any words of wisdom other than the obvious = website? Best of luck. Richard Whiteley

Sorry, but I won’t be renewing my sub, reasons as follows: • Too much on racing and not enough basic info for beginners. • Sub too high for non UK members. 6 pounds more for postage is not realistic for postage to France

Regards Tony Bryant

On the subject of your declining membership I offer the following meditations:- While I appreciate that the BHPC was originally set up with the aim of furthering all aspects of human power, racing does seems to dominate the Club’s activities. I would guess that many of the ‘disappearing’ members are those who are more interested in the touring/commuting/social/ general interest side of alternative cycling. The relative increase in popularity of recumbents has led to the appearance of other publications and clubs which cater for the ‘leisure’ side of the market. I am thinking particularly of Recum- bent UK, Bike Culture Quarterly and Bycycle magazine. Also Open Road’s new Bycycle Club.

Personally, I like to know that racing is alive and well and am excited by any new design developments that evolve therefrom, but my interests lie away from the race track in the areas covered more compre- hensively by the other magazines mentioned. I continue my membership partly to support HPV design development & testing and partly because I enjoy the editorial brand of alternative humour - which is still better than anything I’ve heard from the Edinburgh Fringe so far!

I don’t think you need to apologise for being a racing club, but rather could build on this as a strength, by attracting more racing members (rather than trying and probably failing to hang on to your tourists). I believe there is considerable potential to recruit ‘political refugees’ from the straight-jacket of the UCI (especially as they have recently tightened the screw a few turns!). Or maybe just those with numb bum,

8 neck, wrists etc. One such new member I have helped to recruit is Vaughn Reed, (who purchased my Ross), a successful ‘conventional’ time-triallist who has recently discovered the joys of recumbenting and feels at home in a competitive environment. I’m sure there’s many more like him out there.

Maybe try an ad for BHPC in Cycling Weekly?

Best wishes, David Kemp

Dear Dennis,

I am writing in response to your plea in the most recent newsletter, about membership.

I think you are actually aware of the reason for the fall in membership when you say :”We are tending to become a racing club only…”

Transport is an important part of the use of human power and innovations in HPV design and development are important, but excessive detail about race meetings and home-made fairings will kill the Club. Keep HPV’s etc to 25% of the Newsletter with another 10-15% news of other cycling issues such as commuting, load-carrying, children, etc.

The other 60% of the space in the Newsletter could then be used for allied environmental issues using human power. For example: • Grinding your own flour • Organic gardening items such as the best way to use hand tools for cultivation ,weeding, etc. • Energy production / saving – i.e. hand-sawing wood for the fire (lots of scrap wood in urban areas) • Running small generators for domestic lighting, TV, etc. – in combination with wind and solar systems • For making things, building tasks, etc. compare the use of hand drills, saws, pole lathes and treadle- operated machinery with their electric counterparts • Boats and marine issues – canoes and rowing boats especially, combined with wind and solar power. • Domestic equipment such as hand-operated kitchen appliances, washing machines, making bread…

And so on...

Best wishes Peter F Addie

And the Editor’s views on this:

• These days, “HPV” is largely taken to mean “recumbent bicycle”. When the Club was founded back in 1983, recumbents of any sort were few and far between, and production ones even rarer. Most people who had (access to) one were turned on to the genre by the speed aspect of these machines. Nowadays, with numerous brands of machine available in dealers countrywide, the “hardcore” is still interested in high performance and racing, but the majority are, I suspect, buying these bikes for their comfort aspect, and riding them to work, on holiday or just around the place for the sake of it. While racing requires some kind of organisation to have any meaning, other bike usage does not. And for the non-competitive rider, membership of the CTC brings more benefits. • Other aspects of Human Power might be perceived as getting short-changed by the Club. I agree. I have only published one short item on HP-aircraft since becoming Editor, and that was a brief one assembled after half an hour’s footling on the Internet. We do see a bit more on watercraft, thanks largely to the indefatigable Tony Hunt, but surely he’s not the only member interested in this aspect of HPV’s? Human Power for non-transportational use? Nope, I’ve had nothing at all on the subject.

9 • Bias in the Newsletter is another, valid, criticism. In my defence:

Ø It’s not as though every three months the binmen cart away sackloads of rejected Newsletter material. Virtually everything I receive gets used. Ø The Newsletter comes out the way it does largely because your Humble Editor writes much of it himself. I’m not complaining – I enjoy it – but if I refrained from so doing, the publication would shrink dramatically. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to write about the aspects of HPV’s which attract my interest. If these are not the same as yours, I’m sorry. Crank up your word- processor, typewriter or pen, and have a go! Ø I have a full-time wife, a full-time job and a full-time bicycle habit. If doing HPV’s full-time could keep me in the manner to which I have become accustomed, I’d be delighted, but it can’t. No-one ever got rich writing about bicycles…

Anyway, enough of this gay banter! This will most probably be the last BHPC Newsletter ever, as the entire human race will soon be wiped out by a giant asteroid consisting of books by, or about, Nostradamus. Hippy Millennium! Secretarial Stuff...

KM160 Just before setting off for Edinburgh we got a call from John Taylor asking if we would be interested in participating in KM160. Those with long memories might recall KM150 when the BHPC joined a whole crew of other cyclists (ancient and modern) to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Kirkpatrick Macmillan’s invention of the pedal bicycle near Dumfries (he used a semi-linear drive that hasn’t been rediscovered by the Kingsburys). The early arrivers enjoyed some of the social rides before a Sunday morning of racing on a 2-mile lap at Drumlanrig Castle with a cattle grid and Border TV crews as hazards.

Suggestions please whether we run the racing again or whether we just enjoy some of the nice countryside for a social tour. Like the last time round we would organise ourselves under the umbrella of the bigger event with the site opening on Thursday evening and closing on the Tuesday morning. AGM The usual exhortations – if you want to do something then now is a good time to volunteer. If you fancy getting the Club to do something differently remember we are a participative group that relies on folk to get things done. One of the Club doers has been Dennis Adcock, our Treasurer, who is hanging up his hat to give someone else a shot. Dennis currently looks after the memberships, Club finances and also the posting of the newsletters. All volunteers welcome but Sherri and I suggest that some of his duties could be taken on by different folk – a Treasurer looking after finance and a Membership Secretary looking after names, addresses, newsletter posting ...

I (not sure which Donaldson – Ed.) would like to propose a change to the points system for next year . . . It means those that attend one event all year and not place in the top ten will get 1 point. Those racing in more events will be higher up the points scale even if they don’t place in the top ten. I think it makes it a little fairer for those that make the effort.

1st – 20 2nd – 16 3rd – 14 4th – 12 5th - 10

6th – 8 7th – 6 8th – 4 9th – 3 10th - 2

Entry - 1

Also, food for thought. What if a rider DNF’s due to mechanical or crash, but they still have more laps than some others in their class? Should the partial result be taken “as is” and placed overall?

10 For example: say Rider X is flying in the velodrome - and currently ahead of Rider Y by over 10 laps when Rider X punctures on the second last lap. Rider Y still won’t complete 15 laps in the remaining seconds. Should we count Rider X’s result (DNF) as beating Rider Y? Or is it just luck on the day?

Another scenario: On a circuit (say Lancaster) Rider X crashes after completing 18 laps. The race finishes and even if Rider X had only completed 18 laps and stayed on, they would have placed 2nd, as 3rd was so far down the line. Should we count Rider X?

A scenario where this WOULDN’T work is in a time trial, which is fair enough.

Thoughts please. Timing Kit and Race Timing Speaking with Tim Elsdale at Edinburgh, following on from Tim’s note in the last newsletter – and the demonstration Tim organised at Hayes – my thoughts on timing kit (for what they are worth). Tim was impressed by the quality and volume of information supplied by the Swiss at the Worlds in Interlaken. Usefully one has accurate results with placings, numbers of laps, average speed, best laps etc – all of which are very helpful when trying to work out whether you have improved, whether your bike has improved, how well you ran your race and so on. All of this is, I agree, most desirable.

Similarly I like Tim’s points regarding readily accessible results, everyone being able to race on the same track and the ease of calculating and running handicap events after the points race. My big difficulty comes with the costs of the system – purchase of the timing kit complete is the equivalent (approximately) of the Club’s costs of track and venue hire for 2 ½ to 3 years. The Club is not in the business of making or hoarding money but I am not sure that the system cost is easily justified – AGM discussion time perhaps – we do have the resources if we really want to.

Likewise I can only see the very regular competitors considering purchasing their own transponder - £100 twice over in a oner is a big lump out of the Donaldson household budget. This would then mean a greater number of Club transponders (though we could do a sale on ‘buy your own mount’ which would be easier for management of the units at events). Working the hire into a higher race-fee might not be a problem – consider that we provide race numbers, event insurance, etc already.

In terms of numbers to service an event to the standard permitting full results and no hassle we may be looking at a minimum of 35-40 units (best attendance 32 riders at Milton Keynes this year and average 24.3 per event– a high of 35 riders twice last year and average of 22.6 per event). Perhaps better quality results will encourage more competitors – who knows. Say £1,600 for the box, £800 for a suitable laptop (and batteries) and £3,000 for the transponders – even spread over three years is a big investment for the Club.

This number would still be insufficient to run the Europeans in 2002 – can we hire further transponders to extend the system when required? (including the additional hires in the race fee charged – Interlaken was £90 for example). Working out numbers on the back of an envelope we get a high figure of an additional £8 or £9 per rider per race to pay for the complete system in 3 years which I think might discourage participation (based on approx. 200 – 210 race rides per year). Alternatively we pay the box and computer directly from funds, looking at recovering the cost of transponders from levy of £2-£5 per race in addition to the fee already covering track hire costs. Any sponsorship or donation would shorten this recovery period.

Like the story of the mice trying to decide who would hang the bell around the cat’s neck, I realise we still need someone to look after the set-up, data-logging and production of timing at the track-side. We would still need someone skilled enough to run a manual back-up in case of technical breakdown. At Cologne the Dutch manually scored the sprints when the electronics (and the Germans) broke down.

11 Having your ‘own’ timekeeper ready before landing on the start-line would speed up the current stopwatch system for example. Have a shot at scoring a race and producing fair results – it isn’t always simple.

Thanks Tim for your hard work in tracking the various systems and getting a demonstration for us at Hayes. We have a fair bit of food for thought (especially for ploughing through the data afterwards). Whilst thinking about spending money at the races – some banners might not go amiss to help competitors and spectators find us, signs to warn others of our racing and to inform riders of the route (where appropriate). A functional clock might be nice too! Convergent Evolution Geoff Bird’s foray into virtual cycling has produced something which shares a striking likeness to the Kingcycle Wasp. Tim Elsdale’s comments about the World’s at Interlaken suggest a mid-European divergence away from full fairings to unfaired machines with quite huge tail fairings (and yet another set of class rules). Wonder what set of maths they have all been using. Lars Teutenberg The ‘magic’ 50/80 barrier has fallen at last for the hour record. At this late hour of the night my brain cannot work out whether the numbers are sufficient to get $2000 for raising the record by more than 3% from the Dempsey-MacCready Prize crowd. I mentioned to Dave Cormie that perhaps we will see the records page updated on the IHPVA site only when a clutch of records get broken on the other side of the Atlantic. Promises and Thanks After much badgering from Dennis (on behalf of the 60+ waiting subscribers to “So You Want To Build ...”) I now have the next set of updates and corrections in hand to pass back to him for the next reprint. The popular booklet has seen wide interest from the Web-site and my thanks to those who have provided corrections from the last print, especially Ian Hague and Sherri. If you have been waiting – not much longer now!

Steve It’s Your Letters, It’s Your Letters!

W.R.E. Beams, ‘Coral Gables’, Park Lawn Road, Weybridge, Surrey, KT13 9EU. Tel. Weybridge 844038

Dear Dave & Tina

Sorry I don’t have a word processor etc. – hope you can find room for this. Most attendees were members but next time I must have membership application forms available as such events are good member recruiting opportunities.

Enclosed photo is probably too dark to print but If something better shows up I will send a copy. I don’t want the photos returned.

Hopefully, when Alan retires at the end of this year we will get together and organise another similar meeting (non-racing!) or a group ride from Cobham to the famous “Anchor” pub in Ripley. If so, we hope you will be free to join us.

On 25th July, a brilliant sunny day, 13 recumbent riders with 12 machines gathered outside my bungalow for coffee, chat and test-riding in the convenient cul-de-sac. Particularly interesting to have side by side were the three best known tricycles; a Windcheetah, Greenspeed and the latest “Explorer” Trice.

12 Riders & Machines

Ron Beams Mk 3 + Chronos – shopper Mk 4 “Eureka” & trailer – for sale Mk 5 “Acorn” trike with Heinzemann hub motor – superb example of John Lafford‘s workmanship Windcheetahs nos. 100 and 312 Dennis Adcock Own build bike – he rode over and left early to get home by 1 p.m.! He and I had machines in the 1980 Brighton event, although we didn’t meet then. Tom Culver Pashley PDQ , now with sprung fork Dave Scutt Interesting own design / build tricycle Alan Fry As ever – own design / build bike, based on pedal/steer John Wolfson Greenspeed touring tricycle with Nexus 7-speed hub and 3 chainwheels Ernie Barnard Latest “Explorer” Trice with interesting heel supports on pedals. Glyn Lewis Much-modified Kingcycle – came in the afternoon so sadly machine not seen

Visitors Without Recumbents

Bob Morgan Developing a tricycle Peter Kitley Developing a folding recumbent Roger Taylor Pashley/Moulton APB

Four of us rode six miles on the Thames towpath to get a pub lunch, then back for tea and chat with Glyn Lewis, after a very interesting day.

Ron Beams

P.S. “Acorn” is brilliant – at 93 I can do 30 miles with the aid of the motor for hillclimbing etc. So still mobile and able to enjoy the company of fellow cyclists.

Ron (2nd from left) and guests

13 The “Acorn” Mk. 5 with Heinzemann hub motor (fitted to offside rear wheel) Machine designed & built by John Lafford 2 Fowlswick Cottages, Allington, Chippenham, Wilts, SN14 6LU 01249 782554

Dear Dave, If you want to use my “Builders’ Corner” diatribe for publication, feel free. Could you include my updated list of HPV prods. in upcoming issues? (Consider it done, dear fellow – Ed.) I’ve made several items, mainly it seems bike front fairings – now fitted to Trice, Hurricane, Festina and several homebuilt machines as a result of the previous ads. Thanks.

You may find this page from the latest Continental cata- logue interesting / amusing / slightly misleading, etc. 200 indoors or out – I think we should be told! (Edi- tor’s note – in case you missed it, Bruce Bursford is claiming speeds of >200 mph solo and >250 mph on a tandem. On rollers. He also claims to have done >70 mph downhill and >175 mph in the slipstream of a car. He probably claims to be King of France as well. Quite why all this requires an ultra-lightweight carbon-fibre monocoque bicycle is a question for better branes than mine. He proposed to make an attempt on Chris Boardman’s back in April, in Palm Springs, California, but my spies on the West Coast have not reported anything thereupon. Further ranting supplied in a plain brown envelope on request, to avoid infringement of the libel laws…)

Thanks again

Paul Davies

14 Builders’ Corner – Aug’ 99

I was very interested in Geoff Bird’s computer-aided bike shell design in the latest Newsletter. My own recent non-aided effort uses the composite randomly-modified panel system, of developed trike shell. Geoff invites comment on “fatal errors” – I can’t see any – but as many people have found – to their cost – I am prepared to comment on anything from HPV design to wet fish prices…

Rider cooling is very important and I notice Geoff’s design features a NACA duct under the front of the shell. My own experience suggests that this is not an ideal place. Quite a lot of air comes in through the wheel cutout anyway and although this offers slight cooling round the legs it doesn’t seem to affect comfort significantly. I think it is quite acceptable to produce a shell which, if you like, ignores rider cooling, and then fit ducts where appropriate. On my own shells one at the bottom of the screen directs air at my face and chest and one in the roof stops me getting sweat in my eyes. I find if I can keep my head cool I’m comfortable. Geoff’s design has no screen or roof, and I have found this allows sufficient cooling without other ducts. But why no roof? I find it difficult to give accurate figures but they do improve speed. With my shells I suggest 1-2 mph at 30 mph (Ed’s note: Jonathan Woolrich estimated that his average speed around Castle Combe increased from 30 to 33 mph after fitting Oscar with a lid). A roof also creates a more “fully-faired” feel, whatever that is…

Rider cooling and associated fluid loss is an interesting area. Logic and “Bicycling Science” suggest that a rider denied the normal cycling airflow will overheat very quickly. So in the interest of research I rode my faired bike 56 miles in 2 hours at Castle Combe yesterday. It was a fairly typical summer evening; 22o dropping to 18o, the wind gentle falling to light force 3-2, 10-5 mph. I was normally hydrated before starting and drank about 300 ml (approx. ½ a small water bottle) of plain water through a tube from a coloured bottle during the ride. I was comfortable throughout the 2 hours and whilst this may not repre- sent an all-out racing-type effort, I wasn’t hanging about at just over 28 mph average. For any time- triallists out there that’s about 1:45 for a “50”…

What I find interesting is that on an upright bike for a 2 hour ride in similar conditions I would probably drink twice as much – or more. Fluid loss during exercise has a significant effect on performance, they tell us, so next time I’ll use a transparent bottle so I can monitor my intake and drink more. Apparently 500 ml per hour is not excessive, and I’ll see if this has any beneficial performance effects. 2 hours – 2 more laps, that’s 60 miles – or will I just have to stop… The cumulative effects of longer durations may be very significant and individuals will of course have different cooling and hydration requirements. Some longer races might be fun…

To cool a rider really efficiently for a record attempt for example would seem to require a shell with well- designed intake and exhaust ducts. John Lafford suggests using the air flowing out, after cooling the rider, to improve airflow round the rear of the shell. As far as I know, in this country at least, no-one has built a shell which explores this area. For general use in “Cool Britannia” it may nor be necessary, but, if it makes you go faster…

Also in Geoff’s design the curve in the side of the shell around hip level becomes slightly concave towards the back. Some aircraft wings have this reflex profile, usually to counter the tendency of a lifting wing to pitch down at its leading edge under certain conditions. It is often found on hang gliders, flying wing and tailless aircraft and it does the job of the tailplane of a conventional aircraft to a certain extent, in that it helps to hold the wing at the correct angle of attack. I’m not sure it has a place in shell design. At Castle Combe a couple of years ago gNick Green had wool tufts on his shell and those in the reflex area indicated an erratic and unattached airflow. My own shells, which have convex sides, when tufted dem- onstrate a much more organised flow.

Geoff aims to produce a practical race bike and my approach is to build the shell in several separate sections. This means lots of plus and moulds but the shell can be dismantled partially, for quick access to the mechanical bits, of completely to fit into the car. A door which opens at least to seat level is a must,

15 and long wide bomb doors which allow your feet to poke out sideways as well as down are also important if you operate without a pit crew. I hope Geoff builds his shell during his enforced layoff, even though he’ll probably beat me when he does…

As far as my bike is concerned, I have now ridden several hundred miles on it, in races and at Castle Combe circuit, and I’m very pleased with its performance. The new chicanes on the track make it slower but I’ve already done 31 miles in an hour, which is about a mile more than on my trike (before the chicanes). I’m no fitter than I was, so I reckon the bike is 2-4 mph faster. I was also pleased to finish second at the excellent Hayes race recently at just over 30 mph. I should have been 3rd but Steve Donaldson’s crank fell off. Someone called Slade won…

On 3 Tuesdays last month, according to my meter, it was blowing a rather windy 20+ mph (that’s moder- ate to fresh, force 4/5 for Radio 4 listeners), and being so open, Castle Combe is the ideal place to practice HPV sailing. In summer however, due mainly to the convection that takes place, the wind will be gusty and can vary considerably (5-25 mph). On such a day it is possible to sail about half the circuit. I can’t get going from a standstill, but if I ride into the area where the wind is at the best angle, I can freewheel up to a mile at speeds around 20-25 mph. I’ve done this many times in the past on my trike, but the bike does it better…(This no doubt explains some of Paul’s unorthodox cornering lines – Ed.)

The problem is, though, the large side area in front of the centre of gravity and the front wheel. If the wind is reasonably constant, you can lean on it, but when you come to a corner and the road goes right with the bike already leaning left, and the wind disappears completely or doubles in strength when you’re halfway round, the effect on the rider is enlightening but not very fast and probably amusing to watch (try Tottenham Court Road on a windy day if Above & opposite: Matt Weaver’s “Cutting Edge” in faired and unfaired states you want real fun – Ed.). Original photos: Jon Schwartz; pinched from “Das Liegerad”, by Gunnar Fehlau Trikes behave in a similar way but in windy conditions are more easily con- trolled. I have found the bike tolerable in wind speeds up to about 15 mph. Nigel Leaper assures me that a shell which tries to turn away from the wind is safer than one which does the opposite. I’m not convinced (Former US racer Matt Weaver agrees with Paul, which was why his machine “Cut- ting Edge” had such a long nose – Ed.) – can anyone suggest a practical way the effects of this very forward centre of pressure can be reduced? There is a picture in an ’89 Newsletter of a Bluebell fitted with what look like aircraft-type spoilers (Ed’s note: I think that this may actually be the door. Though The Bluebell photo of which Paul writes. Sorry the there was a tale doing the rounds back then that quality is such complete pants, but it wasn’t that brilliant to start with...

16 the bike tended to generate lift when cranked over in a bend, to the con- sternation of the pilot. Accordingly a plan was hatched to rig up a cunning system of microprocessors, sensors, solenoids and other bits of Applied Gizmology to control a pair of spoilers. Our illustrious ex-Chairman snorted when he heard this, and asked “why not just pull a piece of string?” Which gave rise to the Burrows String Principle – if it can be done with string, then do it with string…). Perhaps a long wheelbase with the front wheel much nearer the front of the shell?

Still sailing, the best “push” seems to be as sailors would expect, when travelling at 90o to the actual wind, but I find I can sail with the actual wind anywhere between a tailwind and about 45o ahead. I’ve fitted a little wind vane in front of the screen and it is interesting to see the effects of the apparent wind, the combination of forward speed, and actual wind. I remember the Lotus aerodynamicist, in his lecture on the development of the “Burrows Bike” for the ’92 Olympics, talking about yaw angles and sailing effects on a bike with very little side area. I suspect these were computer predictions rather than practical results, and ignored trivial details like the rider’s legs. A fully-faired machine may have 2 m2 of useful side area, so it does make you think of a “variable geometry” shell which can make use of an appropriate wind, We could call it “The Tornado”.

Can I thank Dave for putting the picture of my bike in the News- letter, and mention that Robin Mather, who won races at both Milton Keynes and Hayes on his own design of bike, also designed the back-to-back tandem and LWB Micwic prototype machines. He did use one of my tailbox fairings to win, of course! Rob also produced a very compact trike some years ago for his “A” level project; someone named it “Yellow Peril” and it was seen at Eastway and Herne Hill, as some “oldies” may recall. (Sad to report that after a somewhat Paul & bike heading for 2nd at Hayes. chequered history, it is now to be Photo: Dave Larrington found in two separate pieces in the Tweddles’ garage – Ed.)

I can build trike and bike shells and various other HPV-related bits. Hopefully Dave has included my revised list in the ever-expanding “Suppliers And Wants” section.

P.S. I’ve just updated my 2 hour distance since the previously-mentioned ride. 58.3 miles, 29.1 average, 50 miles in 1:42:20. A slightly cooler and less breezy evening…

17 Builders’ Corner “2 plus 1”

Length max.1778 (70") - min. 1499 (59"). Width 838 (39"). Weight as photo 21kg (46lb). Wheelbase 991 (39"). Track 756 (29 3/4"). Transmission, Sachs 3x7 & 52/ 42 chainset.

Since my visit to Castle Combe last year I have been busy as you can see from the photograph. However before describing “2 plus 1”, how it came to be made may be of interest.

It all started when in 1991 I thought that it would be fun to build a two wheeled recumbent using only my own facilities i.e., a small workshop and the ability to silver solder.

I decided to use aluminium alloy extrusions and bolt everything together largely because it gave plenty of scope for modification. Quite near was an alloy stockist, handy to be sure, but all extrusions came in 4-5 metre lengths! The result was that over the course of building three two wheelers a large amount of odd lengths accumulated. The first was held together with what I now know to be ridiculously oversize bolts with the result it all got very heavy. The second machine “Mini Hyphen” (see BHPC issue 55 page 21) had fixings much more appropriate and the last of three, “The Wedge” was bonded where it would not be catastrophic if the joint came undone. “The Wedge” is also on page 21.

Just before the end of 1998 the dreaded decision to tidy the garage was taken which involved collecting together all the extrusions not used and stowing them in the roof. This presented a challenge of what could be built with them. I was not interested in making any more two wheelers; would it be possible to make a trike? There were pieces of 3"x1.1/2"x1/8"; 1.1/2"x1.1/2"x1/8" box section and a piece of 3"x1"x1/ 8" channel, plus many other tubes and flats. Bearing in mind I did not want to weld the thing together and I would like to keep the nuts and bolts to a minimum it looked like bonding was the answer. Bonding tubes into tubes is of course a very well used construction but I was not aware of it being done flat against flat on a trike.

In a conversation with Loctite it was stressed that care must be taken to eliminate peel stresses and that an adhesive capable of withstanding shock such as Loctite 330 would be preferred in my application. The problem then was how to ensure that all the stresses in the joins were in shear or in tension. Photo 1 shows how this was achieved, the axle beam passing through the main beam (not shown) as a good fit, glued in and then reinforced with angle pieces glued all Photo 1 around. The pop rivets, which are alloy, are only there to hold everything in place while the 330 cures. The ends of the axle beam were carefully machined to fit the tubes which takes the head bearings and a piece of 3mm hard alloy sheet formed to the same tube radius. Theoretically all the main joins at the front end of the frame should in the

18 Left: Photo 2 Right: Photo 3 proper stress mode. Photos 2 and 3 show the axle beam / main beam and axle beam end joints complete.

It was decided to revert to the method used for my first recumbent for the rear wheel mounting, photos 4 & 5, but increase the strength by bonding the spacers as well as bolting them and also taking the bolts into steel spacers inside the main beam. The bolts can be really tight but the beam cannot be com- pressed. In case it looks as though I was cheating on the bonding theme for the rear drop-outs by using bolts, the locating holes were originally sized for pop rivets but none to hand were long enough and bolts were used instead. The bolts were to be removed but got glued in! Those observant souls who are wondering why there is a tapped hole for a rear changer on the left hand drop-out, the answer is left and right were machined as a pair. I got carried away with enthusiasm but you never know it might come in useful so why chop it off!

Left: Photo 4 Right: Photo 5

Incidentally, the frame for the seat used the same method of holding a piece of tubing to a square section as shown in photo 3. In this case 3/4" dia. tube to 3/4"x3/4" box with 16swg “u” shaped straddle pieces.

The seat back is supported by a thin gauge square section and two tube stays. These are bolted to the main beam for ease of handling during assembly. Having recently bought a set of panniers and a top bag, the carrier was made to accommodate these, hence the many slots. A lifting handle is provided between the red LED‘s. The mudguard fits directly to the structure and has no wire stays.

Although the length is less than a trike with a large back wheel “2 plus 1” was only just going to fit into the back of my estate and it was decided to hinge the front section. It has worked out very well needing only the removal of two bolts to effect a reduction in length of about eleven inches. A support is provided for the hinged bit when folded. Photo 7 shows it all including the front changer lever which is accessible when needed.

19 Left: Photo 6 Right: Photo 7 I have a number of pet hatreds, needless friction - at my age I need to use all my energy for forward motion; mechanical noise of any sort - as it generally means friction; to name but two. Thus all the pulleys plain or toothed are ball raced and those without teeth made from polyurethane, old skateboard wheels actually, which run almost silently. Another is front brakes coupled together at a single brake lever in the hope that when applied both wheels will be retarded equally. In the past I have made brake compensat- ing devices based on that popularly used on old cars with cable operated brakes. These have not been satisfactory long term largely I think due to the friction inherent in the devices themselves.

The current system, which is admittedly a bit expensive on ball races, really works the first having done over two thou- sand miles on another three wheeler and which still compensates as evenly as when first made. The secret I think is in the ball races which are 22mm outside diameter and the pulley, of the same diameter, which is brass running on a ground steel bearing. The part-assembled unit is shown on photo 8, The cable connecting the brakes enters the unit via Photo 8 the cable entries on the extreme right. It passes over the lower race then round the pulley via the slot in the pulley carrier and up and round the top race and out. The cable from the brake lever enters the unit by the cable adjuster on the lower right, goes round the left hand race and is clamped in the pulley carrier.

At the time of writing several hundred miles have been ridden and so far no problems. It handles well, something confirmed by others, not just the builder having a biased opinion. For sure it is no light-weight, although made of alloy, but lightness was not the prime reason for the exercise as my machines get used every day under all conditions so reliability is a prime consideration. Time will tell.

Harry Fullagar August 1999

20 C g Test ht = 200 lbs ht = g 1999 y ResistancePower Absorbed g © John Lafford Jul Lafford © John Rollin ht = 185 lbsht = Wei Total g Total W ei g Pressure Res.coef. Prr (20mph) Prr (25mph) Prr (30mph) Prr (30mph) Prr (40mph) Prr (50mph) Temp 32-622 70 0.0083 61 76 91 99 132 165 12 26 x 1.926 x 1.9 35 65 0.0086 0.0074 63 54 79 68 95 81 103 88 137 117 171 147 y y et Cet C 26 x 1.75 26 x 1.75 40 65 0.0087 0.0075 64 55 80 69 96 83 104 90 139 120 174 150 j j g ripper Rockripper Rockripper Rockripper x 1.75 26 x 1.75 26 35x 1.75 26 60 80 0.0105 0.0083 0.0076 77 61 56 96 76 70 116 91 84 125 99 90 167 131 120 209 164 151 g g g ltubes unless stated Rollin y Speed Max 2 Speed Max 2 Cross Bite Cross Bite Cross Bite 2.0 26 X 2.0 26 X 45 26 x 60 1.4 26 x 1.4 0.0086 26 x 1.4 50 0.0076 70 63 85 0.0085 56 0.0077 0.0071 63 79 57 70 52 79 94 71 84 65 94 102 85 91 78 102 136 92 121 84 136 170 123 152 112 170 153 140 Shin Skinwall Shin Skinwall Aqua Shin Skinwall Aqua y y y y y g g ROLLING RESISTANCE OF TYRESDATA TEST - sizes MTB but : Note Ritche Ritche Ritche Ritche Michelin Wild Michelin Wild Ritche Chen Continental and Countr Town Conti Grand Prix foldable MTB 26 x 1 SemislickConti Avenue MTB SemislickConti Avenue 25-559 MTBNokian wUltra Air Tour B latex tubeNokian wUltra Air Tour B latex 120 tubeNokian wUltra Air Tour B latex tube 26 x Chen 1.3 47-559 0.0066 26 x 1.3 47-559 26 x 1.3 72 65 48 90 80 100 0.0055 0.0060 0.0050 0.0054 0.0049 60 41 44 37 40 36 73 51 56 46 50 45 78 61 67 56 60 54 105 66 72 60 65 59 131 88 96 80 86 78 18.0 110 120 100 108 98 17.1 14.6 17.1 14.1 17.1 Continental and Countr Town PrixContinental Grand Hutchison SlickTop Hutchison SlickTop Hutchison SlickTop MetroIRC MetroIRC MetroIRC Nokian Ultra Tourx 1.0 26 Michelin Wild 120 1.2 26 X 1.2 26 X 0.0063 1.2 50 26 X 70 90 0.0077 46 0.0066 26 x 0.0061 1.5x 1.3 26 56 26 x 1.5 49 58 26 x 1.5 50 72 45 75 100 70 0.0103 0.0055 61 0.0084 69 0.0072 56 76 41 85 62 53 73 75 67 95 51 91 77 67 100 79 72 114 61 122 93 125 80 106 123 96 152 66 100 132 86 165 120 133 88 115 206 167 110 144 TYRE NAMETYRE Size psi/bar Crrtest Watts Watts Watts Watts Watts Watts de Conti Grand Prix foldable MTBConti Grand Prix foldable MTB semi-slickConti Avenue MTB semi-slickConti Avenue MTB semi-slickConti Avenue MTB 25-559 Conti Top Tourin 25-559 90 47-559 120 47-559 47-559 0.0078 65 0.0069 80 100 0.0067 57 51 0.0060 0.0055 49 44 72 40 64 62 55 86 50 77 74 66 93 60 83 80 124 72 111 65 106 155 96 138 87 133 12 12 120 109 12 12 12

21 C g Test ht = 200 lbs ht = g 1999 y ResistancePower Absorbed g © John Lafford Jul Lafford © John Rollin ht = 185 lbsht = Wei Total g Total W ei g Pressure Res.coef. Prr (20mph) Prr (25mph) Prr (30mph) Prr (30mph) Prr (40mph) Prr (50mph) Temp 35-55935-55935-559 5535-559 70 80 0.0089 90 0.0083 0.0079 66 0.0072 61 58 53 82 76 72 66 98 91 87 79 106 99 94 142 86 132 125 177 114 165 157 143 y y y y ripper Rockripper Rockripper Rockripper Cit ripper Cit ripper Cit ripper Cit ripper 44-559 44-559 44-559 60 80 90 0.0076 0.0067 0.0065 56 50 48 70 62 60 84 74 72 90 80 78 121 107 104 151 134 130 16.7 Slick Slickx 1.85 26 x 1.85 26 35 65 0.0081 0.0063 59 47 74 58 89 70 96 76 128 101 160 126 g g g g g g g y y ltubes unless stated Rollin y a Factor a Factor g g ROLLING RESISTANCE OF TYRESDATA TEST - sizes MTB but : Note Tio 2 Trek Invert 2 Trek Invert 2 Trek Invert Vredestein SpiderVredestein SpiderVredestein S-lickVredestein S-lick latex - tubeContinental Avenue latex - tubeContinental Avenue latex - tubeContinental Avenue latex - tubeContinental Avenue 26 x 1.51.75 26" x latex - tubeContinental Avenue 26 x 1.5x 4.4 bar 1.9 26 1.75 26" x latexPrimo - Racer tube 26 x 1.5 45x 1.9 26 1.75 26" x latexbarPrimo - Racer tube 6 0.0068 65 501.3 26" x1.3 26" x latexbar Primo - Racer tube 8 85 0.0063 65 0.00851.3 26" x latex1.3Primo 26" x - Racer tube bar 6 50 0.0057 75 0.0071Vredestein 0.0085 Monte PRSCarlo - usedbar 8 90 0.0066Vredestein 0.0072 Monte 0.0060 PRSCarlo - used 46 63Michelin 0.0059 Wild 0.0058 42 52 62 20-559 47-559 0.0053 63 49 53 44 20-559 47-559 44 32-559 43 110 58 78 60 39 32-559 130 52 65 78 80 0.0061 100 75 61 66 56 0.0083 0.0061 120 55 53 0.0076 69 94 0.0058 49 45 63 0.0055 79 93 61 45 81 73 79 67 56 42 66 64 101 75 40 59 56 101 68 85 77 56 108 79 86 72 70 53 135 71 100 69 51 135 64 68 113 90 135 92 67 106 114 96 84 169 64 125 94 92 61 168 142 85 73 113 99 132 143 72 19.7 120 91 69 118 116 19.7 66 106 97 133 96 19.7 121 92 19.7 87 122 166 120 152 115 19.7 109 16.7 19.4 16.7 19.4 16.7 Michelin Wild Michelin Wild Michelin Wild Michelin Wild Michelin Wild Michelin Wild TYRE NAMETYRE Size psi/bar Crrtest Watts Watts Watts Watts Watts Watts de Specialized S ATB Turbo Specialized S ATB Turbo Specialized Nimbus IIISpecialized Nimbus IIISpecialized Nimbus IIITio 26 x 1.0 26 x 1.0 105 115 26 x 1.5 0.0055 26 x 1.5 0.0055 26 x 1.5 35 60 41 80 0.0095 40 0.0070 0.0064 70 51 52 51 47 87 61 65 61 58 105 66 78 66 70 113 88 84 87 76 151 110 112 109 101 189 140 126

22 C g Test John writes:

“I have noticed the interest of HPV builders to use MTB size tyres, so I have listed out a whole load of results on these tyres for inclusion in the BHPC magazine so that builders can make an informed choice.

ht = 200 lbs ht = The general format is as before (Issue 54 g - Ed.). 1999 y Best regards

John Lafford” ResistancePower Absorbed g © John Lafford Jul Lafford © John Rollin ht = 185 lbsht = Wei Total g Total W ei g Pressure Res.coef. Prr (20mph) Prr (25mph) Prr (30mph) Prr (30mph) Prr (40mph) Prr (50mph) Temp 47-55947-559 56 70 0.0081 0.0073 59 54 74 68 89 81 96 88 128 117 160 146 g g ltubes unless stated Rollin Slicker Slicker Slickerx 1.95 26 x 1.95 26 50x 1.95 26 70 90 0.0085 0.0071 0.0064 63 52 47 78 65 59 94 78 71 102 85 76 136 113 102 170 141 127 y y y y Shin Shin Shin 26 x 1.5 26 x 1.5 26 x 1.5 50 70 80 0.0083 0.0068 0.0062 61 50 45 77 62 57 92 75 68 99 81 73 133 108 98 166 134 122 g g g a Cit a Cit a Cit g g g Chen Chen ArronArronTio 26 x 1.75 26 x 1.75 50 70 0.0113 0.0101 83 75 104 93 125 112 135 121 180 161 225 202 ROLLING RESISTANCE OF TYRESDATA TEST - sizes MTB but : Note Tio Tio KendaKendaNokian Ultra TourNokian Ultra Tour 47-559 47-559 26 x 1.75 70 26 x 1.75 90 50 70 0.0069 0.0065 0.0104 0.0084 51 48 76 61 63 60 95 77 76 114 72 92 82 124 78 100 110 165 104 133 137 206 130 166 Conti Top Conti Top Tourin Chen TYRE NAMETYRE Size psi/bar Crrtest Watts Watts Watts Watts Watts Watts de Maxxis 1.9 Worm DriveMaxxis 1.9 Worm DriveMaxxis 1.9 Worm Drive Conti Top Tourin 44-559 44-559 44-559 50 70 80 0.0100 0.0081 0.0075 74 60 55 92 75 69 110 90 83 119 97 90 159 129 120 199 162 150

23 Buses, Motorbikes and Traffic Jams or Everyday Tales of Commuting in London

(Yeah, alriiight - I know that the following is strangely familiar to anyone who commutes or has ever commuted in huge cities like London - or basically cities that aren’t in Holland... My only excuse is that there might be the odd person out there who is thinking about commuting - an awful process as I can recall - and who might want to know what it’s like out there among the tin boxes)... Here we go...

Before I started riding to work (I celebrated my first year in March 1999), I was contemplating it. Do I really want to do this? The alternative is sitting (I usually get a seat being out here) on the tube and reading, surrounded by (or rather very close to) other Londoners. This is warm, it doesn’t rain. It is however not cheap, neither is it very reliable. And they NEVER tell you what’s wrong when they’re stuck for hours. AND it takes 15 minutes to walk to the tube station. AND I am married to this crazy thing that has been commuting for 16 (!!!) years. And he was biased.

Right from the start it was always clear to me that I would use my Kingcycle. My experience with the upright was that somehow, for whatever reason, I just don’t have the endurance. Also I was getting bored with racing so it seemed a shame not to use the recumbent for other things...

So, here I was. Natch I was wearing about 5 million layers of clothes. After all, it’s March and when you get out of the door it’s cold. 1 mile down the road and I was gently boiling away, but it took a bit longer to shed layers, as I didn’t really have any decent cycling gear, so the stuff that I was wearing was highly unsuitable. Just a T-shirt, a sweatshirt and two pairs of leggings. Yes, I was hot going along straights and up the hill, but down the hill I was so freezing cold I was hoping for someone to pass me a folded newspaper.

And then that first journey. Never in my life had I been so scared. The overwhelming feeling was that of extreme danger. They were ALL out to get me (especially the buses), I didn’t know the route, the bike’s handling was unfamiliar as I had only ridden it in races and on country roads before and watching Dave in front of me weaving in and out of traffic and going through non-existent gaps didn’t help much either.

But I remember arriving at work after that first ride with the enormous sense of achievement. I felt good. I was still alive. I even got there in time. I decided to give it one more go...and stuck with it. Dave accompanied me to work and picked me up after work for a week so that I could learn the route and that was that.

However, back then I was still working at an Interior Design Office, where one particular individual had problems with a.) my bike chained up in front of the office (“not a good impression as clients come in”) and b.) my towel (Yes - I admit it now - I am guilty of owning a rainbow coloured towel - most unhip) in the communal WC. I still don’t understand their attitude. No way can you carry an 18kg bike down this narrow twisty staircase as suggested. And there is no way I am going to buy an acceptable dark-blue towel. No, instead I quit!

What a change at the new place. My own shed to lock the bike away. No towel problems. Enthusiasm all round. (In fact they are very happy for clients to see the bike! That proves that Architects are just brilliant and far superior to Interior Designers in bike knowledge). Still no shower though...

Before I cycled to my new job - there was a slight problem. It is, after all, in Clapham. We live in Walthamstow. That’s far. Very far. About 23km too far. Dave, being a hero and all round good husband cycled there to test it out and reported that it would take about an hour. We then did a test run one Sunday afternoon and confirmed that it would indeed take an hour. I decided to stick with it as by now the thought of returning to the tube full time just seemed unbearable.

24 And most of the time I still love cycling to work. I am so much more confident now, I also go for the non- existent gaps, I have nice little scraps with guys on upright bikes, I know my bike inside out (thanks to Jonathan for pointing out that you can ride so much closer to the kerb on a recumbent - I hadn’t noticed [I had, when I forgot I was on my mountain bike and ended up sliding across the pavement to end up at the feet of a rather surprised City Gent standing outside a pub in Lower Thames Street – Ed.]), also I am so much quicker than when I first started (much quicker than the average car speed in the rush hour - hahaha) and I know about stuff (even though no-one told me about the lethal threat that are plastic bags! They eat your rear derailleur! They force you to walk through London pushing your bike to the nearest friendly bike shop. I hate pushing the recumbent, especially in racing shoes!)

I have had my first accidents. One was with a pedestrian who just stepped out in between stopped cars without looking. We both went down and I was in complete shock. I shouted abuse at him and then got back on the bike. A couple of metres down the road and I realised I was shaking. Mad as I was I still cycled to work, but when I got there my nerves were so shot I just felt like crying. That was a really strange experience as the accident itself hadn’t been severe. My speed hadn’t been very impressive at all and I only ended up with some bruises. I had another accident with a truck some weeks later, which could have been very nasty. I had stopped on the left of the truck by the traffic lights. I knew he couldn’t see me, but instead of staying behind him, for some mad reason I decided my best chance would be to just be quicker off the lights. Totally stupid! He clipped me, I went over sideways, he went over both wheels only inches away from my right foot! Dave was frantic afterwards having watched it from behind (and having spent several hours building the rear wheel the previous day – Ed.)- but for some reason I was completely calm. I reckon that was partly because I expected the truck to hit me whereas I was completely taken by surprise when the pedestrian walked into me. Thank goodness I have not had an accident since.

Lots of near misses though - mostly with pedestrians. What is it about pedestrians anyway? I have far less trouble with cars. In fact cars tend to be stuck somewhere, and when they’re going they tend to be fairly predictable. Pedestrians on the other hand just cross the road whenever they feel like it. They also like standing on the road in preparation for actually crossing it. Or they just walk along the road with their back towards you because the pavements are so crowded. Or they cross the lights when they are already red. No-one in London looks in the right direction anyway and they all operate by sound only - if they can’t hear an engine that must mean it’s all clear.

Even though taxis have this bad reputation I find them OK to share the road with. Buses however are just strange and still quite scary. Mainly due to their signalling. Full warning lights whenever they’re stopping, which of course looks like they’re indicated to come out when there are cars obstructing your view. And when they are moving they constantly signal something or other but seldom actually move right or left (this is because the only control on a bus which actually does anything is the indicator switch – Ed.).

Other cyclists are mostly OK, even though I hate the ones with Walkmans on who can’t hear anything and NEVER look over the shoulder before moving out - hey they’re only on a bicycle, they only take up bicycle space, so never mind that you are bolting along at 5000 miles an hour in the process of overtaking them. Scum! On the other hand I now realise how irritating it must have been for others when I first came out to play. You can just tell who hasn’t been riding before. The hesitation, the fear, the stopping back in the queues (the virtually flat tyres, the squeaks emanating from all moving parts, the total ignorance of why bicycles are often equipped with gears, etc., etc. – Ed.)...

And now - just before I go...

I did ride the mountain bike to work when the Kingcycle was out of action. This is what I found:

It is dead easy to throw around, the manoeuvrability is 100% better, it is also about 5 times lighter than the recumbent. Also you can see better, there’s no denying that, and it’s a lovely and quiet ride - no-one feels challenged by the shape of your bike, no passers-by shout at you.

25 But that’s all folks, as far as I can tell. The first thing I found when I rode the mountain bike was how much heavier my breathing is, also I tend to ‘glow’ much more. And boy, is it uncomfortable. And who was it who said you get wetter on a recumbent? My feet never have been so wet in my life. And the muck of the front tyre gets thrown directly into your face if you don’t have mudguards, causing your contact lenses to bite. So I can’t see better than on the upright, but hey - at least people see ME! They give me plenty of space. On the mountain bike I might as well be invisible. And my riding position is higher than that in a Lotus Elise and no-one would hesitate driving that (I would, what with “Lotus” being an abbreviation of “Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious” – Ed.).

On the whole commuting is great fun, easy to learn and with the right clothing and equipment (lights, brakes, no plastic bags) fine in all weathers. Oh and before I forget - a good route helps. Dave worked out a route which only contains two hills and plenty of bus lanes for that added safety. So hopefully I will make it to 16 years as well...

P.S. Could we please get the CTC to campaign for a new hand signal? “I am now going to swerve out into the road for no reason apparent to you, Mr. Car Driver - but there is a crater the size of a small mansion in the road - honest”

P.P.S. Generally I get plenty of encouragement - builders think that a woman on a recumbent is much better than on the upright. Not to mention my personal fan club – a group of “Last Of The Summer Wine” types who lurk by a pedestrian crossing on the Seven Sisters Road every Monday J Racing News Hayes – July 4th 1999

Once again I am thwarted in my desire to race at Hayes. OK, last year it was due to wimpishness in the face of bad weather and a worse hangover, but in this time I’d just had a large abscess on my jaw seen to, making it impossible to get my helmet on... Though on the plus side, not racing meant than Jonathan Woolrich, Geoff Bird and I could stay up late and drink too much the night before the race... On arrival at Hayes the weather was a distinct contrast to the previous two days’ Scorchio! sunshine, with showers threatening and a healthy breeze blowing in an unhelpful direction along the back straight. However...

Not a lot of new stuff that I can recall. Bob Tennant and the rest of the Micwic crew brought along their sociable trike, to join the back-to-back tandem which appeared at Milton Keynes. Paul Lon- don reckons that the Foam Falcon has run its last race in foam-faired guise, and had applied his Kingcycle’s front fairing and the original tail cone to the bike formerly found lurking therein. Ian Chattington had made suitable modi- fications to the seat of the Busy Bee, which served to prevent the rear wheel from wearing large holes in his *back* (Ouch!), while the other victim of Darley Moor, Bob Knight, had reunited the two independent halves of his Speedy, adding a couple of “Frankenstein” bolts through the central casting for good measure. A. Al- Micwic Sociable... exander (who probably has a first name, but not on the results gNick sent me after the event), brought an immaculate and shiny Tour Easy

26 (the first I’ve seen in this country since 1990) with Zzipper front fairing, and Ron Beams had the latest incarnation of his front-drive trike. We wondered why the right rear hub shell was such a huge diameter, our curiosity being answered when Ron and trike shot off up a slight incline without pedalling - it’s a hub-mounted electric motor. And there was a new face, a fit-looking lad armed with Miles Kingsbury’s Wasp. No-one seemed to know who he was...... and tandem To business. Shock announcement from Sherri Donaldson - “I’m not organising anything today!” Into the breach stepped the spectating Iain James, who did an admirable job of beating the Masses into order. I think it was probably the combination of Iain’s considerable size and motorcycle gear which did it :-) First to go are the less-fast group. Robin Mather and Bob Knight set the early pace, ahead of Tim Costen’s Hurricane and the Windcheetahs of Chris Cox and Richard Everett, while at the tail of the field John Lafford sticking to his usual race strategy - starting slowly and carving through the field to take the lead. Which he duly did, until the one of Arrow’s cranks worked loose, leaving Robin and Bob to contest the win, with the former coming in some seven seconds ahead. This result moved Bob up to second place in the Multi-track championship; current leader Richard Everett finishing third in the class and fifth overall behind Chris and Tim. Marcus Hunt came in fourth of the trikes, behind the tandem, but ahead of the duel for Ladies’ honours. Sherri had built up a fair lead at the start of the race, but Fiona Grove gradually caught up and passed her rival. Sherri then attached herself to the Velodynamics’ rear wheel and sprinted clear at the end.

A slight delay to allow the rain to clear, then the faster race got underway, bolstered by John Lafford, who had now reattached his errant crank, and late arrival Dave Redknap. Usual rules apply, with Steve Donaldson leading for the first couple of laps and A. Alexander fettles his Zzipper-faired Tour Easy then being passed by that tatty old yellow thing with Steve Slade inside it. But shortly afterwards something went awry in the works of Steve’s K-drive, putting him out, and the new gent on the *unfaired* Wasp into second place. It turns out that this rider, Rob English, is quite a useful time-triallist and has been “acquired” by the Elder Kingsbury to “use as a weapon to beat Steve Slade over the head with”. He was certainly setting a cracking pace, but the faster faired machines were slowly making up ground, with first gNick Green and then Paul Davies overhauling him; gNick in particular displaying some quite terrifying lean angles at the hairpin. As the race neared its end, Paul again managed to pass gNick (whose new-for-’99 machine, we learn, is *not* “Morse’s Law” but rather the “Wooden Fish On Wheels”), this time netting second place. Nigel Leaper put himself into fourth place ahead of unfaired winner Rob English, who managed to keep himself ahead of Ian Chattington. Next up was the struggle between Dave Richards and the two Prones of unfaired championship leader Matt Norman and team guvnor Tim Elsdale. The trio were nose to tail for virtually the entire race, until the final sprint saw Matt edge out Dave by a whisker. John Lafford’s bike held together this time, but he confessed himself unable to match Tim Hayes and his part-faired Ross into the wind on the main straight.

27 After which your Edi- tor was obliged to leave the scene of the crime, as we had to go shopping. Many thankMiles to Iain Kingsbury James for shouting at people J

Kevin Doran celebrates his recent world records in style... 1530 <-- Length of course according to the Editorial Cat-Eye Race 1 Position Number Name Vehicle Class Laps Min Sec Km/h MPH 1 12 Robin Mather Comfort & Style U 14 33 12 38.7 24.1 2 2 Bob Knight Windcheetah U/M 14 33 19 38.6 24.0 3 0u Chris Cox Windcheetah U/M 14 34 21 37.4 23.3 4 55 Tim Costen Hurricane U 14 34 37 37.1 23.1 5 32 Richard Everett Windcheetah U/M 14 34 53 36.8 22.9 6 29 Bob Tennant & ? Micwic Back-to-Back U 13 34 39 34.4 21.4 7 54 Marcus Hunt Windcheetah U/M 12 33 40 32.7 20.3 8 24 Sherri Donaldson Kestrel U/L 12 34 06 32.3 20.1 9 34 Fiona Grove Velodynamics U/L 12 34 09 32.3 20.0 10 90 Kevin Doran Protobikes III U/A 12 35 24 31.1 19.3 11 22b A Alexander Tour Easy F 10 36 36 25.1 15.6 12 52 Robin Hayes Mean'n'Green U 8 34 37 21.2 13.2 13 108 John Lafford Arrow 99 U DNF Race 2 Position Number Name Vehicle Class Laps Min Sec Km/h MPH 1 28 Steve Slade Wasp F 19 32 48 53.2 33.0 2 123 Paul Davies Faired Bike F 18 34 18 48.2 29.9 3 44 gNick Green Wooden Fish On W heels F 18 34 26 48.0 29.8 4 76 Nigel Leaper Low F 17 33 45 46.2 28.7 5 36f Ian Chattington Busy Bee F 17 34 07 45.7 28.4 6 110b Rob English Wasp I U 17 33 52 46.1 28.6 7 74 Matt Norman Prone U 16 32 53 44.7 27.8 8 94 Dave Richards Kestrel U 16 32 53 44.7 27.8 9 73 Tim Elsdale Prone U 16 33 08 44.3 27.6 10 25 Tim Hayes Ross Low F 14 32 50 39.1 24.3 11 108 John Lafford Arrow 99 U 14 33 10 38.7 24.1 12 66 Dennis Adcock Pig F 13 32 47 36.4 22.6 13 87 Dave Redknap Quadras U 12 33 05 33.3 20.7 14 22 Paul London Falcon F 12 33 49 32.6 20.2 15 92 Steve Donaldson Wasp F DNF

28 Overall Position Points Position Number Na me Ve hicle Class FULAMFULAM 1 28 Steve Slade Wasp F 1 20 2 123 Paul Davies Faired Bike F 2 15 344gNick Green Wooden Fish On Wheels F 3 12 476Nigel Leaper Low F 4 10 5 36f Ian Chattington Busy Bee F 5 8 6 110b Rob English Wasp I U 1 20 7 74 Matt Norman Prone U 2 15 8 94 Dave Richards Kestrel U 3 12 9 73 Tim Elsdale Prone U 4 10 10 25 Tim Hayes Ross Low F 6 6 11 108 John Lafford Arrow 99 U 5 8 12 12 Robin Mather Comfort & Style U 6 6 13 2 Bob Knight Windcheetah U/M 7 1 4 20 14 0u Chris Cox Windcheetah U/M 8 2 3 15 15 55 Tim Costen Hurricane U 9 2 16 32 Richard Everett Windcheetah U/M 10 3 1 12 17 66 Dennis Adcock Pig F7 4 18 29 Bob Tennant & ? Micwic Back-to-Back U 11 19 87 Dave Redknap Quadras U 12 20 54 Marcus Hunt Windcheetah U/M 13 4 10 21 22 Paul London Falcon F 8 3 22 24 Sherri Donaldson Kestrel U/L 14 1 20 23 34 Fiona Grove Velodynamics U/L 15 2 15 24 90 Kevin Doran Protobikes III U/A 16 1 20 25 22b A Alexander Tour Easy F9 2 26 52 Robin Hayes Mean'n'Green U 17 #N/A 92 Steve Donaldson Wasp F Lancaster – August 1st 1999

Once again I am thwarted in my desire to race at Lancaster. This time I made it to Salt Ayre, but the combination of hot weather, too much beer and not enough other liquid saw me spend the entire meeting asleep in the shade. Fortunately, Nigel Sleigh had his camera with him, so all was not quite lost.

Before: Sober and Sensible BHPC Members After: Let Sleeping Editors Lie... Or maybe it discuss gear ratios: L-R: Jonathan Woolrich, was just shock after Susan casually mentioned The Editor, Kevin Doran, gNick Green, Dennis having a heart rate of 186 while following Adcock, Tim Hayes Dennis!

29 Left: A bevy of resting Kingcycles. The 2nd up from the bottom is BLUE! Right: Latest mods to Ian Chattington’s Busy Bee. Not as successful as hoped...

1330 <-- Length of course according to the Editorial Cat-Eye Race 1 Position Number Name Vehicle Class Laps Min Sec Km/h MPH 1 26 Nigel Brown Kingcycle F 17 35 28 38.3 23.8 2 78 Clive Sleath 3 Seasons F 17 36 48 36.9 22.9 3 41 Neil Jones Low Black Bike U 17 37 22 36.3 22.6 4 83 Susan Laughton Tchaikovski U/L 16 37 58 33.6 20.9 5 91 Dennis Adcock Pig U 16 37 38 33.9 21.1 6 90 Kevin Doran Protobikes III U/A 15 35 40 33.6 20.9 7 24 Sherri Donaldson Kestrel U/L 15 37 14 32.1 20.0 8 61 Anne Coulson Kingcycle F/L 15 35 46 33.5 20.8 9 71 Keith Rogers Kingcycle F 14 37 07 30.1 18.7 10 43b Jill Jones Polecat U/L 13 36 32 28.4 17.6 11 72 Sue Hayes Aerobike Sprint U/L 11 36 45 23.9 14.8 12 52 Robin Hayes Mean'n'Green U 11 37 32 23.4 14.5 13 64 Eric Bowman Varna Handcycle U/A/M 10 34 53 22.9 14.2 Race 2 Position Number Name Vehicle Class Laps Min Sec Km/h MPH 1 92 Steve Donaldson Wasp F 21 33 18 50.3 31.3 2 44 gNick Green Wooden Fish On Wheels F 21 34 34 48.5 30.1 3 76 Nigel Leaper Low F 19 33 18 45.5 28.3 4 121 Nigel Sleigh Plastic Maggot F 19 33 56 44.7 27.8 5 73 Tim Elsdale Prone U 18 34 04 42.2 26.2 6 25 Tim Hayes Ross Low F 18 34 48 41.3 25.7 7 36f Ian Chattington Busy Bee F 18 35 06 40.9 25.4 8 2 Bob Knight Windcheetah U/M 18 35 14 40.8 25.3 9 32 Richard Everett Windcheetah U/M 16 34 12 37.3 23.2 10 6 Chris Martin Windcheetah U/M 15 32 04 37.3 23.2 11 75 Ian Squires Windcheetah U/M 16 35 37 35.8 22.3 12 62 John Coulson Windcheetah U/M 14 33 35 33.3 20.7 13 88 Bob Dixon Windcheetah F 14 34 17 32.6 20.3 14 37 Guy Greaves Windcheetah U/M 13 33 46 30.7 19.1 Susan did beat Dennis, in spite of what the average speeds say… Ditto Sherri and Anne

30 Overall Position Points Position Number Na me Ve hicle Class FULAMFULAM 1 92 Steve Donaldson Wasp F 1 20 244gNick Green Wooden Fish On Wheels F 2 15 376Nigel Leaper Low F 3 12 4 121 Nigel SleighPlastic Maggot F 4 10 5 73 Tim Elsdale Prone U 1 20 625Tim Hayes Ross Low F 5 8 7 36f Ian Chattington Busy Bee F 6 6 82Bob Knight Windcheetah U/M 2 1 15 20 926Nigel Brown Kingcycle F 7 4 10 32 Richard Everett Windcheetah U/M 3 2 12 15 11 6 Chris Martin Windcheetah U/M 4 3 10 12 12 78 Clive Sleath 3 Seasons F 8 3 13 41 Neil Jones Low Black Bike U 5 8 14 75 Ian Squires Windcheetah U/M 6 4 6 10 15 83 Susan Laughton Tchaikovski U/L 7 1 4 20 16 91 Dennis Adcock Pig U8 3 17 90 Kevin Doran Protobikes III U/A 9 1 2 20 18 24 Sherri Donaldson Kestrel U/L 10 3 1 15 19 61 Anne Coulson Kingcycle F/L 9 2 2 12 20 62 John Coulson Windcheetah U/M 11 5 8 21 88 Bob Dixon Windcheetah F 10 1 22 37 Guy Greaves Windcheetah U/M 12 6 6 23 71 Keith Rogers Kingcycle F 11 24 43b Jill Jones Polecat U/L 13 4 10 25 72 Sue Hayes Aerobike Sprint U/L 14 5 8 26 52 Robin Hayes Mean'n'Green U 15 27 64 Eric Bowman Varna Handcycle U/A/M 16 2 7 15 4 British HPV Championships Edinburgh 28-29 August 1999 Words – The Donaldsons. Pictures: Nigel Sleigh The Friday dawned bright and clear – having skived off work in order to get down the road in time to collect the trophies and to Ingliston before the early birds, we were surprised that one of our number had arrived before us when we spoke with Mr Security at the gate. Despite losing the hairpin to the dog-show we were told that we shouldn’t expect any trouble from the Scottish Kennel Club – “I’ll just throw them off the site if they are anywhere they shouldn’t be”. A discussion about the flowers at the gate lodge and tropical fish (piranhas) ensured that the BHPC were seen in a very favourable light compared to the pampered pooches.

A quick wrestle with the mini-marquee borrowed as a race HQ beat the arrival of Team Hayes and Nigel Sleigh. Susan arrived on foot beneath a mound of luggage having let the train take the strain (some of the way). Dave Cormie hadn’t expected the efficient arrival of everyone else so was miss- ing the pleasures of his book and sandwiches.

The ‘late’ Tim Elsdale hadn’t lived up to his nickname by Dave Cormie, Tim Hayes and The Plastic being early – circulating round the track and being rudely Maggot - loitering within tent...

31 accosted by Mr Security who had mis- taken him for a dog owner. The outcome was access to the Angus Suite and hot water for washing. Rain frightened Tim off to Edinburgh, while attracting gNick Green to the marquee / beer tent. A near full moon was nearly outshone by the family Hayes’ collection of candles, lights and lanterns – thanks Robin.

gNick and Nigel opted for the basic camper van – gNick on Transit floor (dis- covering that no windows = total dark- ness) and Nigel in Espace (having previously emptied it onto the grass and into the beer tent). A tip boys – try the higher comfort models like Bob Thackeray’s or the Daltons’. Another Sleigh Exclusive! BHPC Chairman Rides HPV Horror! Saturday morning – bright and clear, trying to repel Neil Coles who was in the process of climbing the main gates (we have the key for Gate 16!). A second non-motorised arrival was Richard Everett on his Brompton – gNick having filled some of his van with Richard’s Speedy. The bonny weather even attracted some spectators including a hirpling Dave Holladay laden under various wares for sale (for those that read his note in Cycling Plus the only flights were the other side of the fence in the airport and Nigel Sleigh was the only one to see a Brox).

A sweep around the track, some signage and much discussion made sure that gNick and Steve decided on a mental set of Speedy corners wholly unsuited to fully faired two-wheelers. The complex of bends followed by some sweeping straights offered a good test for the unfaired race. The pot-hole that ate Roy last time round smiled gently – the yew tree at the opposite corner of the course didn’t catch anyone trying to cut that bend either.

Andy Harrington on one of the two Edin- burgh built Aerobike Sprints present gave a good showing to designer Robert Turner (and arch-competitor, his father Dennis). Tim Elsdale showed his race sense by getting a good tow in behind before overtaking Andy for first with Richard Everett not far behind in third. Local rider Akash Chopra on a Hornet led in Susan Laughton and Neil Coles. Neil had shuffled about the placings before settling to a more comfortable pace. The ladies race was well fought with Sherri dropping a lap to Susan after leading for the initial laps.

The back of the pack saw Robin Hayes beating his Mum this time (on the other Sprint) and Bob on the Spirit long-wheelbase. Bob hadn’t intended racing – he Andy Harrington & Aerobike Sprint was just on his way to the Open Road do at Berwick.

32 A quick shuffle around of the stopwatches and flags plus the arrival of more spectators – including a family on bikes and some unsuspecting Japanese who had come to visit the Agricultural Museum. Seven starters for the faired race. Memo- ries of Farum in 1993 when the entire British contingent grass-tracked the first lap as Steve discovers a lack of grip at the start of the tight corners. Hot weather (not a usual problem in Aberdeen) caused the front tyre to over-pressure. Slower than normal lap times and call for the track pump indicating to the assembled masses that something wasn’t right. Excitement in the Chattington camp as well, as Ian stopped twice to fiddle the Bumble Bee . . . and then it was racing as usual. Assorted Unfaired Types These hiccups reinforced Nigel Brown’s Richard Everett nearest face to camera bike handling, securing a brilliant first place (last time we lend him a fairing!) after making a great start. Neil Marshall powered in for fourth place, ahead of the mighty Tim Hayes with nose and tail (get a bag Tim). Nigel “Sledge” Sleigh managed a respectable sixth place, after visiting the Yew tree – he put this down to being put under race pressure by Tim Hayes – watching his mirrors instead of the road ahead. gNick DNF’d after just eighteen minutes with transmission failure.

Lunch saw the arrival of Liam and James Murphy on Kingcycle + TrailerBent (with monster luggage), Brian Dalton arrived bemoaning having missed the points race again but completing the entry list.

Clockwise on a shortened course (without the twiddly bits) meant more space for overtaking with 17 on the track but still managed to include ‘Roy’s Pothole’. Andy Harrington led the grass-tracking on the first lap with Steve taking five laps before managing to keep it on the tar all the way round. Murph (having shed the trailer, son and luggage) was rediscover- ing bike handling with Robin Hayes again riding a very steady race.

Sue Hayes & other Aerobike Sprint Susan led away from Sherri and Sue for the ladies without being spooked by Steve and gNick squeezing into the same tight corner as her at full tilt 5 laps from the end. Faired, Ian made better work of cutting a path through the back-markers in the latter stages of the race but hadn’t the final sprint to catch Steve on the final uphill past the Museum. Unfaired saw Tim Elsdale make his move after 7 laps, gaps opening between him and Andy and also Andy and Richard. The two-up between Akash and Neil finally fell in Akash’s favour – a good opening to his race career, or just home advantage.

The spirit of organisation takes over with the announcement by Brian that the Woodside Bistro is closed for renova- tions. Team Hayes and gNick are intent on dining al-fresco. A swift run to the nearby Quality Hotel and a phone call to the equally close Airport Stakis books a space at the Stakis for our evening meal. This gives us the chance

33 to tidy the signs up, tidy ourselves up and laugh at the dog-show folk wheeling their pets about on trolleys. Nigel is delighted at the more upmarket surroundings (compared to usual BHPC standards) whilst the vagaries of a new menu cause some problems at the Dalton and Coles table. Our table benefits from their difficulties (and a rapidly tiring young Liam).

Early start for the Kirkliston time-trial. Earlier recces had decided a reversal of the rolling course with the turn at the roundabout on the outskirts of Kirkliston. Warning signs were placed out on the circuit and a prompt start at Bridgend under Dave Cormie. First away were the two-up teams of James and Liam Murphy followed by Sue and Robin Hayes. Brian Dalton was the only one to ride out from Ingliston (his missus having sensibly stayed tucked up in bed), he later commented that it was the first time he had ridden to an event in thirty years – he did better times when he rode out and the 8 mile warm-up showed again with a 5th unfaired place.

Though 9th away Neil Marshall made it first back to the start/finish for 5th overall. He had a fair wait to find out whether he had beaten Nigel Brown in near identical Kingcycle and bag, Nigel having a much later start. Unfaired saw Richard Everett first back but behind later starters Tim Elsdale and Andy Harrington in 1st and 2nd respectively.

Very little traffic saw a good fight for the ladies between Sherri and her ‘minute-man’ Susan. A difference of 18 seconds gave the race to Sherri who had not been able to see Susan in her mirror for the whole 10 miles. Faired – gNick rides the Wooden Fish to third with Ian having a good run to the turn but finally pipped by Steve. Nigel Sleigh reckoned on packing if the wind was too much but turned in for 6th faired and 7th overall (including LED’s which some saw and others didn’t).

A wait at the finish between Nigel Brown completing and then the team rides of Robin and Sue (again beating Mum) followed by James and Liam. First race finish for the TrailerBent and a good race debut for Liam (pity your father held you up!) – Sue Hayes commenting how much she had enjoyed the course. A mad dash collecting the signs and back to Ingliston to break up camp. Got to get across town to Meadowbank before the weather breaks.

Lot less bother dismantling the big tent with many hands before various convoys set off to tackle the Festival traffic. 10am start for the track obviously optimistic but we do have some patient spectators already (and a Culty three- wheeler). For the first time we might get the races in before being rained off!

Remembering problems with too many laps for the stopwatches we decide on 20 minutes plus five. One slip before the start by Ian then a false start with gNick before getting under way. Quite a good show for the spectators – especially once the wind gets up. gNick gets a lap on Ian before settling down to pacing round together (and getting caught by the same gusts). Neil in the red bag slots midway between the Wooden Fish / Bumble Bee pairing and the pairing of Nigel Sleigh and Tim Hayes. Tim almost gets a lap on Nigel and the Plastic Maggot at the finish with Steve keeping the Wasp in contact to take first from gNick by four laps despite losing the front wheel twice in the bigger gusts.

Darkening skies encourages a quick turnaround for 9 starters to the unfaired race. Tim Elsdale gradually gets the measure of the Prone on the steep banking (having psyched himself out a bit while walking the track to check the boards before racing started) overtaking a better starting Andy Harrington twice before the finish. A surprisingly fit Richard Everett hugging the Cote d’Azur makes fourth behind Akash on the Hornet, first time out on the boards – this despite Richard having to work hard to get around the other bottom line huggers of Brian Dalton on the Trice and Robin on the Mean & Green. Susan takes three laps out of a tiring Sherri though the effort shows once she climbs off the Tchaikovski beating Neil Coles by just over a second for 5th place.

With mutterings of lunch and the hope of Pursuits, Sherri and Steve retire to the shelter of the Timer’s Cabin. The weather doesn’t quite hold and just before the heavens finally open folk get mostly packed up and into the Club Rooms for the prize giving.

34 Loch Tay mugs in three sizes with ‘BHPC 99’ cover a table as Chairman Dave does the handshaking. Honourable mentions to Richard for taking the Speedy into the unfaired placings and to Robin Hayes for riding in all the races for a junior prize (bet he slept well). Big thanks to Dave Cormie for sorting out an excellent 10 mile TT course, to Mr Security at Ingliston for a fine welcome and hot water, to Meadowbank for a track in perfect nick (unlike the now torn up Leicester).

We will be running the same format next year with a tweak to the Sunday timings – here’s hoping for weather like Saturday (after the flood it was a beautiful evening) and a good turn-out. Prize winners: Back Row: Akash Chopra, Steve Donaldson, Richard Everett, Andy Harrington, Ian “Beanpole” Chattington, Tim Elsdale. Front Row: A Dog, Susan Laughton, gNick Green, Sherri Donaldson

850 <-- Length of course according to someone else's Cat-Eye Race 1 Position Number Name Vehicle Class Laps Min Sec Km/h MPH 1 26 Nigel Brown Kingcycle F 28 36 53 38.7 24.1 2 92 Steve Donaldson Wasp F 27 37 53 36.3 22.6 3 36f Ian Chattington Busy Bee F 26 37 26 35.4 22.0 4 49 Neil Marshall Kingcycle F 25 37 28 34.0 21.1 5 25 Tim Hayes Ross Low F 24 36 58 33.1 20.6 6 121 Nigel Sleigh Plastic Maggot F 23 37 04 31.6 19.7 #N/A 44 gNick Green Wooden Fish On Wheels F DNF Race 2 Position Number Name Vehicle Class Laps Min Sec Km/h MPH 1 73 Tim Elsdale Prone U 25 38 14 33.3 20.7 2 19 Andy Harrington Aerobike U 25 39 20 32.4 20.1 3 32 Richard Everett Windcheetah U/M 24 39 20 31.1 19.3 4 81 Akash Chopra Hornet U 23 39 18 29.8 18.6 5 83 Susan Laughton Tchaikovski U/L 22 38 22 29.2 18.2 6 99 Neil Coles Festina U 22 38 59 28.8 17.9 7 24 Sherri Donaldson Kestrel U/L 21 38 16 28.0 17.4 8 52 Robin Hayes Mean'n'Green U 16 38 22 21.3 13.2 9 100 Bob Thackeray Spirit U 16 38 25 21.2 13.2 10 72 Sue Hayes Aerobike Sprint U/L 14 40 55 17.5 10.8

35 Overall Position Points Position Number Na me Ve hicle Class FULAMFULAM 126Nigel Brown Kingcycle F 1 20 2 92 Steve Donaldson Wasp F 2 15 3 36f Ian Chattington Busy Bee F 3 12 4 49 Neil Marshall Kingcycle F 4 10 5 73 Tim Elsdale Prone U 1 20 625Tim Hayes Ross Low F 5 8 719Andy Harrington Aerobike U 2 15 8 121 Nigel SleighPlastic Maggot F 6 6 9 32 Richard Everett Windcheetah U/M 3 1 12 20 10 81 Akash Chopra Hornet U 4 10 11 83 Susan Laughton Tchaikovski U/L 5 1 8 20 12 99 Neil Coles Festina U 6 6 13 24 Sherri Donaldson Kestrel U/L 7 2 4 15 14 52 Robin Hayes Mean'n'Green U 8 3 15 100 Bob Thackeray Spirit U 9 2 16 72 Sue Hayes Aerobike Sprint U/L 10 3 1 12 #N/A 44 gNick Green Wooden Fish On Wheels F

10 mile Time Trial Position Points Overall Position Numbe r Na me Ve hicle Class Min Se c Km/h MPH FU LAMFULAM 1 92 Steve Donalds on Was p F 20 00 48.28 30.01 1 20 2 36f Ian Chattington Busy Bee F 22 16 43.36 26.95 2 15 3 44 gNick Green Wooden Fis h On Wheels F 22 44 42.47 26.40 3 12 4 26 Nigel B rown Kingcy cle F 23 27 41.18 25.59 4 10 5 49 Neil Mars hall Kingcy cle F 23 43 40.71 25.30 5 8 6 73 Tim Elsdale Prone U 24 43 39.07 24.28 1 20 7 121 Nigel Sleigh Plastic Maggot F 26 12 36.85 22.91 6 6 8 25 Tim Hayes Ross Low F 27 05 35.65 22.16 7 4 9 19 Andy Harrington Aerobike U 27 45 34.80 21.63 2 15 10 32 Richard Everett Windcheetah U/M 29 20 32.92 20.46 3 1 12 20 11 99 Neil Coles Festina U 32 11 30.00 18.65 4 10 12 24 Sherri Donaldson Kestrel U/L 32 47 29.45 18.31 5 1 8 20 13 83 Susan Laughton Tc haikovski U/L 33 05 29.19 18.14 6 2 6 15 14 13 Brian Dalton Trice U/M 36 49 26.23 16.30 7 4 15 52 Robin Hayes Mean'n'Green U 52 53 18.26 11.35 8 3 James Murphy Kingcycle & 16 101 U 53 01 18.21 11.32 9 2 Liam Murphy Tra il e rB en t 17 72 Sue Hayes Aerobik e Sprint U/L 53 58 17.89 11.12 10 3 1 12

250 <-- Length of course according to someone else's Cat-Eye Position Points Position Number Name Vehicle Class Laps Min Sec Km/h MPH FULAMFULAM 1 92 Steve Donaldson Wasp F 67 20 56 48.0 29.8 1 20 2 44 gNick Green Wooden Fish On Wheels F 63 21 12 44.6 27.7 2 15 3 36f Ian Chattington Busy Bee F 62 21 04 44.1 27.4 3 12 4 49 Neil Marshall Kingcycle F 56 20 59 40.0 24.9 4 10 5 25 Tim Hayes Ross Low F 52 21 07 36.9 23.0 5 8 6 73 Tim Elsdale Prone U 52 21 14 36.7 22.8 1 20 7 121 Nigel Sleigh Plastic Maggot F 52 21 22 36.5 22.7 6 6 8 19 Andy Harrington Aerobike U 50 21 29 34.9 21.7 2 15 9 81 Akash Chopra Hornet U 47 21 33 32.7 20.3 3 12 10 32 Richard Everett Windcheetah U/M 47 21 36 32.6 20.3 4 1 10 20 11 83 Susan Laughton Tchaikovski U/L 45 21 30 31.4 19.5 5 1 8 20 12 99 Neil Coles Festina U 45 21 31 31.4 19.5 6 6 13 24 Sherri Donaldson Kestrel U/L 42 21 35 29.2 18.1 7 2 4 15 14 13 Brian Dalton Trice U/M 34 21 30 23.7 14.7 8 2 3 15 15 52 Robin Hayes Mean'n'Green U 29 21 18 20.4 12.7 9 2

36 Arm-Powered

Faired

Name Vehicle(s) Position Number Eastway Milton Keynes Darley Moor Hayes Lancaster Ingliston Kirkliston Meadowbank Curborough Castle Combe Eastway AGM Total Worst Three Adjusted Total 1 92 Steve Donaldson Wasp 15 15 15 0 20 15 20 20 120 30 90 2 28Steve Slade Wasp 202020200000 800 80 3 44 gNick Green Wooden Fish On Wheels 12 12 10 12 15 0 12 15 88 22 66 4 36f Ian Chat tington Busy Bee 0 0 0 8 6 12 15 12 53 0 53 5 76 Nigel Leaper Low 10 8 8 10 12 0 0 0 48 0 48 6 123Paul Davies Faired Bike 01012150000 370 37 7 25Tim Hayes Ross Low 64068848 448 36 8 26 Nigel Brown Kingcycle 0 0 0 0 4 20 10 0 34 0 34 Plast ic Maggot 8 121 Nigel Sleigh 406010666 384 34 Millennium Bug 10 49 Neil Marshall Kingcycle 0 0 0 0 0 10 8 10 28 0 28 11 31 Ian Willett Ironing Board 8 6 0 0 0000 140 14 1266Dennis Adcock Pig 22240000 100 10 1368Dave Larrington GTO 03400000 7 0 7 1422Paul London (Foam) Falcon 11030000 5 0 5 150 Chris Cox Windcheetah 30000000 3 0 3 15 78 Clive Sleath 3 Seasons 0 0 0 0 3000 3 0 3 1589Dave Bridges New Bodge 00300000 3 0 3 1822bA Alexander Tour Easy 00020000 2 0 2 1861Anne Coulson Kingcycle 00002000 2 0 2 2088Bob Dixon Windcheetah 00001000 1 0 1 205 Phil Wray Kingcycle 00100000 1 0 1 2260Brian Hampton AS-327 00000000 0 0 0 2271Keith Rogers Kingcycle 00000000 0 0 0

Multi-Track

Name Vehicle(s) Position Number Eastway Milton Keynes Darley Moor Hayes Lancaster Ingliston Kirkliston Meadowbank Curborough Castle Combe Eastway AGM Total Worst Three Adjusted Total 1 32 Richard Everett Windcheetah 20 15 0 12 15 20 20 20 122 27 95 2 2 Bob Knight Windcheet ah 0 20 0 20 20 0 0 0 60 0 60 3 13Brian Dalton Trice 121000001515 52052 4 54Marcus Hunt Windcheetah 15120100000 370 37 5 0uChris Cox Windcheetah 000150000 150 15 6 6 Chris Martin Windcheetah 000012000 120 12 7 75 Ian Squires Windcheet ah 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 10 0 10 8 62John Coulson Windcheetah 00008000 8 0 8 8 65Matt Loader Trice 08000000 8 0 8 1037Guy Greaves Windcheetah 00006000 6 0 6 1164Eric Bowman Varna Handcycle 00004000 4 0 4

37 Ladies

Na me Ve hi cle (s) Position Number Eastway Milton Keynes Darley Moor Hayes Lancaster Ingliston Kirkliston Meadowbank Curborough Castle Combe Eastway AGM Total Worst Three Adjusted Total 1 83 Susan Laughton Tchaikovski 0 0 200 20201520 950 95 2 24 Sherri Donaldson Kestrel 20 15 15 20 15 15 20 15 135 42 93 3 34 Fiona Grove Velodynamics 15 20 12 15 0 0 0 0 62 0 62 4 72 Sue Hayes Aerobike Sprint 0 0 0 0 8 12 12 0 32 0 32 5 43b Jill Jones Polecat 0 0 10 0 10 0 0 0 20 0 20 Moulton APB 6 10 Lorna Wray 010800000 180 18 Brompton 7 61 Anne Coulson Kingcycle 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 0 12 0 12

Unfa ire d

Na me Ve hi cle (s) Position Number Eastway Milton Keynes Darley Moor Hayes Lancaster Ingliston Kirkliston Meadowbank Curborough Castle Combe Eastway AGM Total Worst Three Adjusted Total 173Tim Elsdale Prone 12 10 15 10 20 20 20 20 127 32 95 2 74 Matt Norman Prone 15 20 20 15 0 0 0 0 70 0 70 3 32 Richard Everet t Windcheetah 3 3 0 1 12 12 12 10 53 4 49 4 19 Andy Harrington Aerobike 0 0 0 0 0 15 15 15 45 0 45 5 36Ian Chattington Ross Festina 2012000000 320 32 6 83Susan Laughton Tchaikovski 00404868 300 30 7 94 Dave Richards Kestrel 0 15 0 12 0 0 0 0 27 0 27 8 2 Bob Knight Windcheetah 0 6 0 4 15 0 0 0 25 0 25 9 81Akash Chopra Hornet 0000010012 220 22 9 99 Neil Coles Festina 0 0 0 0 0 6 10 6 22 0 22 11 110b Rob English Wasp I 0 0 0 20 0 0 0 0 20 0 20 1224Sherri Donaldson Kestrel 00201484 190 19 1396Derrick Tweddle Velodynamics 141200000 170 17 1441Neil Jones Low Black Bike 00608000 140 14 1412Robin Mather Comfort & Style 08060000 140 14 16108John Lafford Arrow 99 40080000 120 12 1655Tim Costen Hurricane 001020000 120 12 18 6 Chris Martin Windcheetah 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 10 0 10 1840Iain James Project X 100000000 100 10 2087Dave Redknap Quadras 01800000 9 0 9 217 Roan Allen Humming Bird 80000000 8 0 8 2152Robin Hayes Mean'n'Green 00000332 8 0 8 2313Brian Dalton Trice 00000043 7 0 7 2475Ian Squires Windcheetah 00006000 6 0 6 2414Pete Cox Lune Low Tide 60000000 6 0 6 2690Kevin Doran Protobikes III 00302000 5 0 5 2754Marcus Hunt Windcheetah 22000000 4 0 4 280uChris Cox Windcheetah 00030000 3 0 3 2891Dennis Adcock Pig 00003000 3 0 3 30100Bob Thackeray Spirit 00000200 2 0 2 James Murphy Kingcycle & 30 101 00000020 2 0 2 Liam Murphy TrailerBent 3072Sue Hayes Aerobike Sprint 00000110 2 0 2 3339Aarn Tate Aarn 00100000 1 0 1 3417Bob Johnson Hi Bike 00000000 0 0 0 3429Bob Tennant & ? Micwic Back-to-Back00000000 0 0 0 3443David Hembrow Flevo Oke-Ja 00000000 0 0 0

38 Unfa ire d

Na me Ve hi cle (s) Position Number Eastway Milton Keynes Darley Moor Hayes Lancaster Ingliston Kirkliston Meadowbank Curborough Castle Combe Eastway AGM Total Worst Three Adjusted Total 3464Eric Bowman Varna Handcycle 00000000 0 0 0 3434Fiona Grove Velodynamics 00000000 0 0 0 3437Guy Greaves Windcheetah 00000000 0 0 0 3443bJill Jones Polecat 00000000 0 0 0 3462John Coulson Windcheetah 00000000 0 0 0 Moulton APB 34 10 Lorna Wray 00000000 0 0 0 Brompton 3465Matt Loader Trice 00000000 0 0 0 34 9 Ralph Williams Pashley PDQ 0 0 0 00000 0 0 0 3445Tom Cohen Road Bike (UCI) 00000000 0 0 0 This Just In...

Peter Bainbridge sent this clipping, from the Daily Echo (I assume a local paper from the Poole area)…

Wheels Go Across The Channel By Louise Isaacs

Forget about taking the ferry or the tunnel under the English Channel – this Poole adventurer is going to “get on his bike” and tread water for at least 13 hours

Scott Bonnar is hoping to set a world first by cycling from France to Poole Quay on his home-made aquabike.

The unemployed engineer, from Sandbanks, is now looking for business sponsorship to finance his fin- ished pedal design – called Bycoo – as well as cash donations for charity.

“The problem will be applying constant pedal power,“ he said. “If I stop pedalling, just for a minute, the current will take me off course. “for training I’ve been doing eight-hour walks up and down the Purbecks, and cycling on New Forest roads. Three police cars and five officers surrounded me once on a training ride, in the early hours of the morning, because I looked suspicious. They had been watching me cycling the route for days.”

39 Keep-fit fanatic Scott, who is in his early thirties, says that the trip could range from anything between 65 and 100 miles – depending on the currents. He will be followed throughout by a safety boat, containing a trainer, navigator and skipper. Music will also be piped to him, during the ride, because he says it wil inspire him to keep going. “they’ll play different types of music depending on my mood,” he said.

Because of his background in engineering and a course in computer-aided draughtsmanship, Scott has been able to create his designs himself. Several prototypes of the bike have been made. He aims to embark on his adventure this August. If you want to sponsor him, contact 01202 749976.

However, the best-laid plans of mice and waterbikers… Dave Holladay sent the information below:

Gerard Laurent - a French endurance cyclist made landfall in Normandie (St Vaast la Hourgue) at 16.30 UK time today (Saturday) after leaving Freshwater Bay (IOW) at 10.00 on Friday morning. He was riding a Gitane racing cycle fitted onto the Italian made SBK Shuttle Bike - 2 inflatable pontoons which assem- ble on a frame to take a conventional bike in around 15 minutes, and are carried in a rucksack weighing around 20lb all-in. The journey distance was approximately 85 miles,

This is the longest open water crossing yet for the Italian kit, which was first seen in the UK when Jonathan Edwards rode the length of the Thames, and in 1998 Paul Lasenby (Team Marin, and Wightmax MTB champion) crossed the Solent in 35 minutes from Lepe Park to Cowes West Pier, later that year the Italian company made a 60 Km crossing from Elbe to Corsica in 8 hours.

The UK attempt to cross in the reverse direction between Cherbourg and Poole by Scott Bonnar on a specially built seagoing craft ran into difficulties when the drive system began to seize up and was abandoned shortly after departure from Cherbourg. The team sends best wishes for his future attempt to make the this crossing.

Dear Dave,

Following Dennis' note in the Summer BHPC news about membership some observations by me may be useful.

I've been a member for several years although to my regret I so far haven't participated in any of your activities. However, I remain very interested in the club and its work.

There is no doubt that racing 'improves the breed' and I believe some element of competition is a useful incentive in any technological development. So I think the racing activities of recumbent-based machines is great and long may it continue. However, from my own point of view the appeal of the club would be greatly widened if other forms of HP vehicles could be included - from the development and competitive viewpoints.

Things like HP aircraft, marine craft, agricultural equipment, four-wheel 'go-kart' type vehicles , etc, etc would interest me and maybe others as well. I believe that someone developed a HP lawnmower in the past - sounds like a fun project to me, especially if if could be made reasonably compact.

Hope above is useful. Meanwhile, thanks for BHPC in its currrent form.

Regards, John Keen

Some more dates for your diaries: Open Road week 8-15 July, Nottuln, near Münster Cyclefest 3-8 August, Lancaster Open Road week 5-12 August, Escrick, near York

40 HPV-Belgium e-mail: [email protected] 76, 1860 Meise, Belgium François Heyché, Vilvoordsesteenweg

41 In addition to the events described overleaf, Jan van Dyck tells me that there will be an hour race at the Zolder motor racing circuit on July 9th. Zolder is the former home of the Belgian Grand Prix, and is located near the town of Hasselt, north-west of Liege. As such, it’s quite a distance from Gent.

42 Opposite: Some photos I didn’t have a chance to use before...

Top: Paul London tries a bike for size, Horsens, Denmark, 1998 Bottom left: Tom Patton’s Gnat - the fibreglass full-suspension folding trike built to the design of Nick Andrews. Bottom right: Paul London (again) writes: “Number 87 in an occasional series of things to do with your HPV.

A mobile solar eclipse observatory. ----- You don't get to use it very often, and it is hard work pedalling at 2000mph to keep up with the totality! I took the Trice to France, just south of Dieppe, with some friends to watch the eclipse, the 3 wheels made it a stable platform to mount my binoculars on, which I used to project an image of the event onto a white card (you could also use it for making shadow puppet animals!!).”

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 be more truthful than Melita Norwood. We'll gladly do you as shiny an advert as we can, bearing in mind that the magazine is assembled with as much finesse as it takes to fish with dynamite; please take out an advert at the above rates and send the money to the Treasurer. Whoever that should turn out to be. If your address, phone number, prices or products change, please tell me...

John Lafford, Arrow Bicycle Company, ‘Leonidas’, Manor Lane, Baydon, Marlborough, Wilts, SN8 2JD Phone/Fax: 01672 540384 e-mail: [email protected]

Custom CAD design and manufacture of all types of bicycles and tricycles, including recumbents, time trial, fast tourer, and power assisted vehicles. Cromoly tubing in round, aero and oval sections. Net-type seat fabric to suit tubular seat frames. Narrow bottom bracket assemblies. Composite wheels in 650c and 20” sizes, with narrow hubs. Tyre rolling resistance testing. Aerodynamic drag testing.

Bicycling Books, 309 / 311 Horn Lane, London W3 0BU Phone: 0181 993 3484

"Possibly the greatest stock of bicycling books in the entire world" – Grandpa Kingsbury

BikeFix, 48 Lambs Conduit Street, London WC1N 3LJ Phone: 0171 405 4639 Fax: 0171 242 6931 e-mail: [email protected] WWW: http://www.bikefix.co.uk/bikefix.html

Recumbent-friendly shop in central London. HP Velotechnik Street Machine & Wavey, BikeE, Pashley PDQ, Flevo Oke-Ja, Trice, Leitra, Anthrotech, plus folders / transportables from Brompton, Birdy, Bernds, Animal & Moulton APB. Alesa rims in 406, 507, 559 and 622 sizes; Continental, Primo and Vredestein tyres in 305, 406, 451 and all the big sizes. Recumbent luggage, fairings and everything else you can fit on a recumbent. Test rides and social weekends. Get on the mailing list...

Comfort Cycles, Yate, Gloucestershire Phone: 01454 620377

Recumbents from Rans, Challenge and M5 (Blue Glide & Citymate). Recumbent-specific luggage from Allfa and M5.

Dave Holladay, , PO Box 15174, Glasgow, G4 9LW Phone / Fax: 0141 332 4733 e-mail: [email protected]

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.

43 Paul Davies, 2 Fowlswick Cottages, Allington, Chippenham, Wilts, SN14 6LU (2 miles from Castle Combe) Phone: 01249 782554

Composite products for HPV’s: Mk. 5 bike shell, in 6 separate mouldings, fits SWB bike from £250 Mk. 4 trike shell, in 5 separate mouldings, fits trike approx. 60 cm track, 100 cm wheelbase from £250 Bike front fairing from £35 Bike rear fairing from £35 Seat from £35 Mudguards (20”, MTB, 700c) from £10 Etc. etc.

Patrick Shaw, Future Cycles, Friends Yard, London Road, Forest Row, East Sussex, RH18 5EE Phone: 01342 822847 Fax: 01342 826726 e-mail: [email protected] WWW: http://www.there.is/futurecycles

Trice from: £1650 Flevo Oke-Ja: £450 Windcheetah: £2795 Vision VR40 long and short wheelbase. SWB from: £995 Front suspension add: £175 Rear suspension add: £245 Pashley PDQ from: £850 Spirit LWB. Frame by Chas. Roberts! From: £1700 Speed Ross: £875 Fateba Long Bike – Swiss LWB. Available with S&S couplings Other Vision models, including tandems, available to order. Plus used machines – please get in touch for details.

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). "RCN is much more fun than ‘TFI Friday’. Does anyone ever read these bits? – Ed.”

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.greenspeed.com.au

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

GB 16/20 Commuter Bike SWB, 7-speed A$2,100 GBR 20/26 Touring Bike SWB, 21-speed, Cro Mo 4130 tubing A$3,700 GT 16/20 Child's Trike 7-speed, 10 years - 5' (152 cm) A$2,200 GT 20/20 Adult Commuter Trike 21-speed A$3,400 GTR 20/20 Touring Trike 63-speed, Cro Mo 4130 frame tubing A$4,400 GTS 20/20 Sports Tourer 42-speed , Cro-Mo 4130 frame tubing A$5,200 GTT 20/20 Tandem Trike 63-speed, Cro Mo 4130 frame tubing A$7,400 GTH 20/20 Hand Trike 42-speed, Reynolds 531 frame tubing A$4,400

Frame kits, plans and parts (e.g. kingpins) available. Write, fax, e-mail, phone or visit for free information package.

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.

44 Hockerton Housing Project Trading Ltd., The Watershed, Gables Drive, Hockerton, Notts, NG25 OQU Phone: 01636 816902 Fax: 01636 816902 e-mail: [email protected]

Hire/Demos/Sales of Flevo Bike, Ross, Anthrotech, Brox plus any others we obtain in the meantime! Also, Site Tours (on foot) of the infamous Hockerton Housing Project- earth sheltered, zero heating, zero CO autonomous housing (as seen on or in every conceivable form of news media in the known Universe!). Full details from2 Nick Martin at the above address.

Inspired Cycle Engineering Ltd, Unit 9B Spencer Carter Works, Tregoniggie Industrial Estate, Bickland Water Road, Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11 4SN Phone / Fax: 01326 378848 e-mail: [email protected] WWW: http://www.ice.hpv.co.uk/

Trice Classic - 26/20 wheels. £1,815.68 frameset £1,369.61 Trice Explorer - 20/20 wheels. £1,899.64 frameset £1,433.98 X2 Tandem - 20/20 wheels. £3,606.24 frameset £2,634.24 Trice XL - 20/20, 8" seat height. Road £1,960.51 Race £2,214.24 frameset £1,494.95 Prices include VAT, exclude pedals & delivery

Kinetics, 15 Rannoch Drive, Bearsden, Glasgow, G61 2JS Phone / Fax: 0141 942 2552 e-mail: [email protected] WWW: http://users.aol.com/UKKinetics/

We're importing the following machines from Germany:

Wavey: nippy SWB, 20" wheels, ASS £600 Suspension Wavey: as above with Ballistic suspension forks £650 StreetMachine: excellent full-suspension SWB, USS fast tourer £1300 Culty: front-drive, rear-steer leaning suspended trike £1500 TrailerBent: mounts behind almost any bike. Sachs Super 7 version £400

We also import the S&S Torque Couplings which braze into any steel frame to split it in half - now available for 50mm tubing - £200. We're also specialising in custom framebuilding, especially the unusual, and have stocks of seamless 50mm cromoly for recumbents, etc. As well as this, we're also agents for ICE Ltd - making the Trice, Ross, Festina, etc., and for Brompton.

Tina Larrington, 166 Higham Hill Road, London E17 6EJ Phone: 0181 531 4496 (eves / weekends) e-mail: [email protected]

Arty stuff – cartoons, business cards, logos, badges, T-shirts, etc. etc. for builders, dealers and end-users of recumbent cycles. Customers include “Recumbent UK”, Animal Bikes, Westcountry Recumbents and the BHPC!

MICWIC Ltd, 12 Oaklands Industrial Estate, Braydon, Swindon, Wilts, SN5 0AN Phone/Fax: 01793 852484 e-mail: [email protected]

Designers and Manufacturers of Recumbent Cycles

Norfolk Recumbents, Sunville, The Street, Hindolveston, Norfolk, HR20 5DA Phone: 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.

45 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, choice of USS or ASS: £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.

The Seat of the Pants Company Ltd, L&M Business Park, Norman Road, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA14 4ES Phone: +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 (prices exclude VAT): The Burrows Windcheetah: £2,400 The Pickup: £1,400

St John Street Cycles, 91-93 St John Street, Bridgwater, Somerset, TA6 5HX Phone: 01278 441500 Fax: 01278 431107 e-mail: [email protected] WWW: http://www.sjscycles.com

All manner of bits, including hard-to-find tyres. Full mail-order service, on-line ordering now available from web site.

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"

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.

Valley Cycles, Unit 2, Nene Court, The Embankment, Wellingborough, Northants, NN8 1LD Phone: 01933 271030 e-mail: [email protected]

Now importing the BikeE medium wheelbase recumbent bicycle from the USA. From: £650

Rob Hague, Westcountry Recumbents, 23 Hamber Lea, Bishops Lydeard, Taunton, Somerset, TA4 3NJ Phone: 0870 7401227 (national rate) Fax available by appointment e-mail: [email protected] WWW: http://www.wr.hpv.co.uk/

Flevobike, Anthrotech, Trice (soon) and Greenspeed machines in Somerset, England. Tioga Comp Pool tyres available: £13 + p&p

46 Small Adz...

Paul Davies, 2 Fowlswick Cottages, Allington, Chippenham, Wilts, SN14 6LU Phone: 01249 782554 Used composite HPV bits: Carbon racing trike chassis and shell £250 Moulds for the above £250 Carbon seat £15 Glass fibre seat £10 Bike front & rear fairings £10 each 2 seat moulds £10 each David Kemp Phone: 01394 385439 KINGCYCLE: Medium frame. Top spec: Magura hydraulics. Sachs gearing. Front fairing. Rear pannier carrier. Halogen lights, mirrors, computer etc. Many spares, inc. tyres and pulleys. Condition as new. Ready to race, commute or tour. Reasonable offers invited.

FLEVO ‘BASIC’: Robust & comfortable all-purpose Dutch recumbent, ideal for commuting & touring. Also handles well offroad. ASS, Sachs 3x7 gearing, hydraulic brakes (disc on front), fully adjustable seat. 559/406 wheels, sturdy carrier, lighting etc. 1998 model. Excellent condition £700 (approx. £300 saving on new price in UK). Note: Please do not confuse with the Flevo centre-pivot bike. The ‘Basic’ is a very user friendly SWB machine, (with same frame as the Dawes ‘Low Rider’ / Batavus ‘Relaxx’ but much improved spec). “Steve in Lancaster” Phone: 01524 33002 Pashley PDQ3 trike, mint condition, 4 months old. £1100 Dawes Street Spirit upwrong: rack, dynamo, midguards, etc. New in May, < 50 miles £300

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 The Laurels Trial issue : £2.50 Church Hill 1 Year Subscription (4 issues) : £10.00 Olveston BS12 3BZ +44 (0) 01454 613497 www.btinternet.com/~laidback/recumbentuk [email protected] Sales & Wants/Events listings are freeeeee . send in your name, telephone number, area/country and the details. Next Issue: Issue 6

47 1568 - Michel de Nostradamus envisions the bicycle of the future...