The 100km ride in Limburg

It's getting a tradition that one week after August 15 (which is a national holiday in my country) one of the members of our forum organises a 100km ride. Start and stop is always in Helchteren in the provence of Limburg. Last year I participated with my velomobile, but since yesterday promised to be an excellent summer day, I decided to take my XP this time. Since Helchteren is around 65km from where I live -and to avoid that everyone had to wait for me like last year, I left home early in the morning, around 06.30 am. I arrived in Helchteren around 09.30 am, where others were arriving and were greeted with fresh coffee and pastries. Around 10.00 am we started with a group of 16 riders on different kind of recumbents.

We had lunch in Schaffen around 01.00 pm, where most of us enjoyed spaghetti. After this break, we continued the tour. It was pretty hot, but luckily there was a breeze to cool you down while riding. After almost 70 km, 2 riders weren't able to ride with the group and headed straight to Helchteren to get home. Since we made 2 stops for icecream (okay, that's my fault, but hey, I cannot help that I'm addicted to icecream!), we arrived back in Helchteren around 07.15 pm. After saying goodbye to everyone I drove back home, where I arrived around 10.00pm with 240km on my bike computer. Not bad at all (did he say in all modesty :-)

Group picture at the second ice cream stop

Finding out the hard way ....

Yesterday, I took my XP to go to work. Nothing wrong with my velomobile, but since the temperatures are still rising (yes, we do have a good summer this year!) I preferred riding the XP. When I was riding home on the tow path near the canal, I noticed a man walking besides his road bike. I stopped and asked him what was wrong. Turned out he had a flat tire but nothing with him to fix it. Since I carry almost everything except an extra tire to fix flats, I offered him to help. With the tire levers I gave him, he got the inner tube out in no time, but neither one of us could find any puncture in it. We then checked the outer tire, but nothing there either. Put the inner tube back in and I handed out my compact SKS CYBER ZOOM pump. The pumps head has 2 positions, one for schrader valves and one for presta, the position of the lever at the pumps head decides which one you need. Although we pumped like madmen, we only managed to get a little bit of air into the inner tube, but nowhere near to be able to ride it. We tried both positions of the pump with the same result. Strange .... Could it be the valve itself ? When looking for what was going wrong, I noticed that during inflation, you could hear a faint hissing of air. I mentioned this to the other guy and he could hear it too. Seems that while pumping, air was getting back into the pump. Hmmm, so was there something wrong with the pump or with the valve ?

Although I've always carried the pump with the XP, I actually never had to use it before. We then stopped another rider passing by asking for a pump. Turned out he also had a SKS compact pump, but a newer version than mine (2 different openings in its head). But nevertheless, the result was the same. I felt sorry for the road bike guy, since he had to walk a couple of miles to get to the next bike shop, so I rode home, picked up my TOPEAK floor pump and returned to the tow path. But alas : the same thing happened, so it had to be the valve. I wished the guy good luck on his walk and returned home.

Back home I took the compact SKS pump and tried it on a couple of spare inner tubes lying around the garage. But no matter what kind of valves the inner tube had, the result was the same : I could not inflate them propperly. Whenever I started pumping, I heard a hissing sound of air getting back into the pump. The SKS pump is now where it belongs : in the trash. Have to get me a decent one that works !

Trash !

Getting the headlight right ....

As I wrote before : the sensor of the CYO is located right at the bottom (end) of it, so in order to let it do its job, there needs to be some space around it. The it was mounted at my bike, it did not work at all. So yesterday I visited the local DIY shop and bought 2 small metal plates for less than a buck and some black spray paint. Back home I painted the silver plates black and let them dry in the garage. Then I went through my collection of nuts and bolts until I found the right size and length. This morning I put everything together, so now the set-up looks like this :


I did not have time yet to see whether the automation on/off function is working correctly, but I'm pretty confident it'll work -no doubt since it's made in Germany ;-). I'll sure find out in the next days to come ...

Life is good ...

Start working early in the morning so you can stop around noon. Get into your velomobile and on your way home, receive a call from a friend asking you to accompany him on a maxiscooter ride. Get home, change into motorcycling gear, get the scooter out of the garage and leave for a nice 2 hour ride with a drink stop on a nice terrace. Get home again, enjoy dinner with your wife and then leave for another 2,5 hour bike ride. When returning home, you have this awsome view to enjoy :

Life is good !!!

New headlight

My recent pair of bike sandals are pretty much worn out and need replacement. I really like the Shimano SPD-sandals, but the latest version has 3 closing straps on each shoe, making it not as airy as the old model (which has only 2 straps). The latest issue of ACTIV RADFAHREN, a German Bike magazine, had an article comparing several bike sandals and one of the best to come out of this test was the Red X SS502 . This brand is not available in my country and can only be ordered online from Germany. Since it's almost impossible to find your correct size through the internet, my wife and I rode all the way to Bocholt in Germany, where the Bike Town of ROSE ( a big German online bike retailer) is located.

When you enter the shop, it's almost like entering bike heaven : only bike-related stuff on 3 floors/ 6,000m², wow !!! Thank God my wife was holding my credit card, or I might have bought way too many things !

After finding the correct size of sandals, I visited the bike light section. It's not that I'm not satisfied with my FLY IQ SENSO PLUS, but I need that light for my RANS 700X. So I went shopping for a new light. Finally I purchased another Busch + Müller LED headlight : the CYO SENSO PLUS. It has an output of 60 lux, which should be plenty enough to see where you're riding at night. Only minor thing is that the sensor of this light is placed right at the back of it, so in the position I put it on the XP right now, the sensor's pretty much useless. I'll need to figure out another way to attach the headlight to my bike.

The new CYO PLUS SENSO

2009 Sculpture Exhibition - Oisterwijk

A couple of days ago, while riding my motorcycle abroad, I noticed several adds besides the road for the Sculpture Exhibition in Oisterwijk (the Netherlands). Yesterday was a beautiful day and since Oisterwijk is not that far from my home town, I took the XP to get me there. It took me about 1,5 hour to get into the centre of Oisterwijk. I never visited this event before, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got there.
The sculptures were exhibited right in the middle of one of the main streets. Visitors could walk between them, viewing each of them in a green decor, on the grass and between the trees. Now I do not know much about art, but I sure like to look at nice things once in a while. Most of the sculptures were pretty nice and I sure had a good time over there. Although it was pretty crowded, I managed to take some pictures of the sculptures I really liked. If you're interested, you can find them here

Art in the middle of the street

New headset

Since I took the XP out of its wintersleep and started riding it, I noticed some drag in the rear disc wheel. Last week I stopped by at my bikeshop to have it checked out, only to find out that the Shimano discs are self centered and can't be adjusted. But they discovered that the spokes of my rear wheel needed to be tensioned, which probably caused the drag of the disc. Since the bike also needed a new head set, I brought it in earlier this week. Yesterday I received a call that the XP was ready. So yesterday afternoon my wife dropped off so I could pick it up. They installed a Shimano LX head set, 'cause that's the one that is the most reliable. The spokes of the rear wheel were tentioned so the wheel was true again, which means no more drag coming from the disc. And they removed some of the tension on the shifting cable, which caused the shifter to jump out of the highest gears. Since the weather was fine, I did not take the XP straight to home but made a wider tour. Really mild temperatures for this time of the year, so I put on my SPD-sandals and enjoyed the sun. Happy Easter to all of ya !

The new head set

Spring is here !

Last friday I took my XP out of the garage for the first time this year. It was the first mild sunny day of the year and instead of taking my old BMW motorcycle for a ride, I really longed to be on the XP again. Amazingly, tire pressure was still excellent, so besides getting rid of some dust and one cobb web, the bike was ready to ride. Although early in the year, the sun was strong enough to ride in shorts (still wearing a long sleeve jacket though) and I really enjoyed the scenery on the XP during my one hour ride. A lot of fellow bikers must have had the same feeling, 'cause I crossed lots of them on the towpath, with lots of happy faces that I looked into !

Since my velomobile had to be taken to my friends' place for adjusting, I even rode my XP to work yesterday. After finishing my early shift, I took it for another ride, this time for a 2,5 hour ride. Still pretty sunny with a mild wind. And even though it's been a couple of months since I last rode my XP, there was no discomfort at all. The only adjustment I had to make was at the rear brake disc, which started to make a screeching sound halfway into my ride. But that was easily fixed with a 5mm allen wrench. i really love this bike !!!

Spring !

Back again ....

Since our winter has been pretty wet these last months, I did not ride my XP very much. Only the last weeks have been really cold with sub-zero temperatures, making it too cold to be on the XP for long times (I'm a whussy, I know).
Anyway, when looking back on 2008, I managed to ride 2,625 miles with the XP, a little more than the previous year. Sure, I wish I did ride it some more, but there's still my velomobile, and my Zenetik Pro, and my 700X, and .... My total cycling distance in 2008 was more or less the same as in 2007, making it a total of 10,170 miles. Not bad, considering the fact that my commuting distance has been halved since January 2008. And it's still more than the motorized miles in my household, so that's pretty good !

So, what's next ? Well, not much. I do need a new headset though. On my latest rides I noticed that the front fork preferred to stay put and that it more or less popped back in a straight position after taking turns. I already had my headset tightened in the past because of this, so I guess it's time to replace it. It should be standard size, so that'll be no problem. I just need to decide which brand and type. Oh, the choices one has to make ...

Happy miles to all of you out there !

Indian Summer ride

Temperatures have been so mild these last days, that at times, it felt more like Spring than Autumn. Today temperatures even exceeded 22° C, so I went looking for my SPD-sandals. I took the XP to ride to Veldhoven in the Netherlands, where I wanted to do some shopping in a watersports shop. Man, I really did enjoy the ride : the sun in my face, leaves in all kind of colors falling from the trees all around me, barefooted in my sandals and only a short and a t-shirt, it was just great ! I did not take major roads but tried to ride in a straight line as much as possible, going mostly through small towns and sometimes through or near some forests. All terraces of the cafés that were open were crowded with people enjoying the beautiful weather. If this is what global warming is all about, I'm really going to enjoy it !

Fall colors all around ....

Keeping the new light ....

The IQ FLY SENSO PLUS is still on my XP and will stay there. I was so impressed with its performance on my first night ride that I"m keeping the little thing ! Light output is twice as much compared with the INOLED 20+ and you really have to see it to believe it, it's an amazing amount of light ! The IQ FLY has an auto on/off function, so there's no need for an extra sensor. The only disadvantage of the location of the IQ FLY is that the light switches on rather quickly. Since it's positioned rather close to the chopper bag fairing which is black, it turns on rather early, even before the sun starts to set. Placing it somewhere else would solve this problem, but this position seems to be the best to have maximum light output. I've ridden many hours in the dark lately and it is a joy with such a decent headlight ....

The new IQ FLY Senso Plus

Reflections ....

I just calculated that last month, I rode my XP a little over 800 miles ! Whew, that's quiet a lot ! Of course my cycle holiday week has a lot to do with that, but still ....
Two nights ago, I left home for a ride with the XP after dinner. Since the days are getting shorter, it starts to get dark around 08.00pm, depending on weather conditions. That's no problem, since I have a hub dynamo and a decent front light. So when it got dark, my front light switched on automically, as it's supposed to do. But after a couple of minutes, it turned off. Of course I stopped, checked the connections, but everything seemed to be okay. When I started riding again, the light turned on again for just a couple of seconds before it went off again. Normally, I always carry some kind of small LED head light, but I left it in my velomobile. Luckily for me, I was riding on the tow path near the canal, where there's no other traffic, but it's also very dark.

So yesterday, I tried to find out what was wrong. When I connected the INOLED headlight to a battery, it worked okay, so it's defenitely not the light. Then I connected the headlight directly to the hub dynamo and that also worked as it should. So it turned out that the Shimano's sensor switch is broken. That's a pitty, since they're not available anymore. The INOLED headlight has no automatic on/off function, so I have to find something else. I still have one sensor switch on my regular MB that I'm not riding anymore, so I'm gonna use that one to have my headlight turn on automatically. To keep me riding, I now installed a
LUMOTEC IQ FLY SENSO PLUS on my XP. It has double the amount of light compared to the INOLED and has an automatic on/off function.
To keep me safer in the dark, I attached some small BLACK SCOTCHLITE stickers on my rim. They look black during daytime, but are bright white in the dark when light shines on them. Pretty cool !

In the dark without light ....

and with light ....

Back from another short holiday

Today I returned from another short bicycle holiday. Some time ago, my wife and me got an offer to spend a week in a cabin in Moerzeke, a small town in the provence of East-Flanders. Last week Saturday, I rode my XP to Moerzeke, which turned out to be around 65 miles from home (isn't it cool to ride your bike to your holidays' destination ???). Moerzeke is situated close to the river Scheldt which runs a part through the west of Belgium. They just finished completing a marked bikeroute all across the provence, which means that there are over 600 miles of bike routes, most of them car free ! Unbelievable ! I spent most of the times with my XP on the riverbanks, it was awesome to ride that close to the river and only meet other cyclists or pedestrians. Of course I did have to spend some time with my wife during last week , but still I managed to ride over 350 miles this week !

Miles and miles of car-free roads ....

Weather was more autumn-like, with lots of wind and showers, but I still could ride my bike a couple of hours every day. There are ferries to take you across the river, and they only take bicyclists and pedestrians. They cross the river every half hour at several places, making it very easy to pick a route. There's no fee to pay, since all the ferries are working for the Flamish Government, very cool ! At several times, the ferry came to pick me up as a sole passenger, now that's what I call pure luxuary, to have the whole ferry to yourself ;-)

Ferry on the other side of the river ...

This week proved again that the XP is the ultimate touring bike, IF transporting it is no issue. Despite the sometimes strong headwinds, I never felt uncomfortable on it and felt like I could ride it all day. Sure, there are faster bikes out there, but none of them are as comfortable as the XP, which still stays my favorite tourer ....

First milestone

Yesterday, I managed to get the first 10.000 km ( = 6,250 miles) on my XP. Earlier this week I managed to find the sweet spot of my seat again, so now I can ride it for hours and hours again without any discomfort. I have over 1,500 miles with the Dual Drive and although I mostly use like 4 or 5 of the same gears, knowing that I can ride it uphill everywhere gives me some comfort (so I will not have any worries if I happen to ride the famous Wall of Geraardsbergen, like last year !). The XP has been my favorite bike these last few weeks, both of my 2 CF bikes have been collecting dust in my garage. The Shimano's LX disc brakes work excellent, although I have a hard time getting the brake pads not to touch the discs.
Although I'm very fond of the XP, there are some things that I'd like to see otherwise. It's probably nitpicking, but here they are anyway :

1. the lenght of the bike.

As you know the XP is a huge and long bike, mostly because of the big 26" wheels. Length and big wheels are very comfy and I'm not willing to give up that. Only drawback is that I can't put
the XP on a bike rack. I could put it on a trailer, but that's such a hassle. If there's any bike out there with the same level of comfort, please let me know !

2. BB height.

The XP's BB heigt is slighty higher than the regular Stratus' BB, but especially when riding uphill, I'd like a higher BB. Not that the XP's a slouch, but a higher BB would defenitely improve climbing. I know that the V3 has a higher BB, but I'm pretty sure that the V3 is not as comfy as the XP, and I'm not willing to give up that.

Other than that, I hope to put many more miles on my XP. No real other plans for the future, execpt maybe matching front panniers. The Schwalbe's Marathon Supremes hardly show any sign of wear, defenitely an improvement from the Big Apples I used to have. Probably not the fastest tires, but no flats so far so I'll stick to them.

Home again ....

Last Fridaynight, my wife and I returned home from our trip. The weather turned out to be great, it rained all day on Monday but it got better every day. Total milage was around 280 miles, a little less than last year because the starting point was way closer to home. We also had the biggest group so far (28 riders), which is a pretty high number of riders. All kind of bicycles were present : regular bikes, LWB's (there were 2 XP's this year !), trikes, velomobiles etc., so we sure attracted a lot of attention when riding through cities.

The XP performed very well, as expected. Towing the trailer never caused any trouble and the only thing I had to keep in mind was the length of my bike (loooooooong), as you can see in the picture. The only thing I did not like was that when arriving last Friday, I had a bit of a sore butt. I don't know the reason for this, I've done more miles than last week last year without any discomfort, but still .... Maybe I have to look at the angle of my seat again and do some modifications .... Anyway, I'm still very happy with the XP and it is a very good and comfortable touring bike !

Somewhere near Oostmalle on day 2

More pictures of our trip can be seen here .

Checking bicycle routes ....

I've been riding the XP on several occasions lately. As long as the weather stayed dry, I preferred to sit on my XP instead on one of my CF bikes. The comfort of the seat is beyond comparison. The only one more comfortable is the ICE mesh seat in my velomobile, but that's another story. A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to test ride a aluminum XP wich is owned by Bruno (he's one of the guys who came over to my place to testride my XP and ordered one for himself after that). The complete bike is set up as a racing bike and that defenitely showed : I could ride that bike up to 26m/h so easily, wow ! Only thing I did not like was the Z-seat with narrow pan. The regular seat on my XP is by far more comfortable, something that even Bruno admitted and regretted. Anyway, I was quiet surprised that a XP could be that fast ! Whew !

Next week, I'm gonna be on a short bicycle trip. Just like last year, I'll take part of the Flanders Tour, a 5-day bike trip. Only difference is that this year, I'm part of the organisation. I'm responsible for the routes of the trip on day 1 and day 2. Just like last year, I'll probably take the XP, only this year I cannot take my BOB-trailer with me. The new SRAM Dual Drive hub also has 2 hub bolts, but only one is accessible because of the click-box on the right side. So this year, I'm gonna tow my BYKEBOOSE 2-wheel trailer. I used the same trailer 2 years ago with my wifes' trike, I'm not expecting any trouble with it behind my XP. Most of the scouting has been done, I only have to check 2 parts of the route before Sunday, so that's plenty of time. Sunday afternoon, both my wife (on her Kettwiesel trike) and I will ride our bikes to Hulshout, where the Flanders Tour will start on Monday. I'll write a report as soon as we're back from this short -hopefully very good weathered- bicycle holiday.

Finally back home again !

Last Friday, I finally picked up my XP from the bike shop. It has been there for almost 7 weeks, so it was about time ! The last couple of weeks had been really sunny and warm, but the XP was not available then. The problem turned out to be the brake hoses for the hydraulic disc brakes. Shimano's hoses are not long enough for the bike and it turned out that they only come in one (standard) size. The guy who runs the bike shop tried to look everywhere to get hoses that would fit the Shimano system and would be long enough for the rear brake. Finally, he found a dealer from Magura who could deliver hoses that are long enough (2m20). They only arrived last week at the bike shop and were installed immediately (after they cleaned the dust from my bike, that is). Turned out the hose was just long enough, a couple of cm's shorter and it would've been too short ! Anwyay, last Friday I received the long awaited phone call that my bike was ready to roll. I only rode it home so for, since I had to work this weekend.

So, what has changed : SRAM DUAL DRIVE 27 speed hub ( with the SRAM twist shifter), new rims (MAVIC X717 DISC's), new hydraulic brakes + brake levers (SHIMANO LX) and a new dynamo hub (SHIMANO DH-3D71) which is supposed to have less friction since it's a hub from the Sports series.

There's quiet a difference between the Dual Drive and the Nexus : there's less friction in the hub, so speed's up a bit. This is very noticable when you stop pedalling : the bike keeps on rolling longer before it comes to a stop. And although the Rollerbrakes were more than adequate, the of the hydraulic brakes are much stronger.

Looking forward to get some miles on the XP now !!!

The new hub with the disc brake

The new Dual Drive hub with disc brake

Extreme makeover ...

Did not do much XP riding lately, mainly because of the weather : although we did not have a cold winter (I'm not afraid of cold), it was a pretty wet one. So most of my cycling has been with my velomobile.

Last week, I had the opportunity to test-ride another XP from a fellow cyclist. A couple of 'bent riders got together in Zolder to testride eachothers bikes and one of them brought his XP.
While I'm very aware that using a NEXUS internal gear-hub always give some kind of friction and therefore slows you down a bit, I was surprised about how easy and fast a XP with a regular set-up (regular hub with cassette) is ! I used to have a DUAL DRIVE on my previous Stratus, which I liked very much. I went looking for some stats that I wrote down in logs I used to keep, only to find out that I was faster on the Stratus. So two days ago, I took my XP to my bike shop to have a DUAL DRIVE II installed. I also ordered SHIMANO LX hydraulic disc brakes, which I already have on my Rans 700X and which I like very much. This should also save me some weight, comparing to the heavy roller brakes that I have on my XP right now. They promised me the bike should be ready from this makeover by the end of the week, so I'll probably pick it up next week, after the Easter weekend.

A little help with the first start is much appreciated ;-)

New front light ....

Always on the lookout for some kind of improvement, I recently bought a second hand INOLED 20+ front light to replace my current one. INOLED is a German company that produces very bright and very expensive front lights using only one LED and can be connected either with a dynamo or a battery pack. A couple of weeks ago I discovered an add on Ligfiets.net from someone who sold his light after only 3 months (nothing wrong with this one, he just wanted the 30+). Today I received a small package from the postal services, containing the INOLED 20+. Since I also wanted to replace the front light on the XP, I mounted the new front light directly on the XP's stem riser, using only a plastic fork mount from one of my bike computers. The front light is now placed higher so I can see more road ahead of me and less front tire. The light output of the INOLED 20+ is much higher compared to my first LED front light, it's more than 20 lux (hence the name of the light) ! This light also has a This is more than double the output I had on my previous light, so road and traffic signs are much more and earlier visible. Since it uses a LED, I'm pretty sure that I'll be well illuminated for years to come ! Who cares about the dark days in winter anyway ;-) ?

My new head light

Something bad and something good ....

It has been a while since I last posted something on this blog, which means that I did not ride my XP very much lately. Not that I did not want to, but mainly because of the wet winter we've had so far. As you know I do not like to ride my XP (or any bike that is, with the exception of my velomobile) in the rain or when it's wet. Total milage on my XP is 4.860 so far, which implicates that I only rode 1,755 miles on it this year. Not much at all, but this year I added another bike to my stable (the Z Pro) and I also rode that one. Oh well, anyway, I still like the XP very much and appearantly so do others. This year I had two people coming over to test ride my XP and were so impressed by it that they ordered their own XP. At the end of this week, a third person is coming over to do the same and he's also considering ordering an XP for himself. I think it's time that I ask RANS BIKES for some kind of commission ;-) !

A couple of days ago I read another terrifying news : R.C.N. has closed down !!! I could hardly believe it when I read the article ! Unbelievable ! It is a very sad thing for the recumbent community that Bob Bryant no longer publishes his magazine .... I've been a subsciber since the first time I knew about his publication. It was R.C.N. that got me convinced to buy my first Stratus all the way back in 1999, since there was no possibillity to testride a RANS bike over here in Europe. A very sad loss indeed .... Let's hope he'll be able to continue his work online or in any other kind of form !

For all you other bent riders out there : many happy and safe miles for all of you in 2008 !

Still my favorite LWB !