My Recumbent Days

I have a few subjects I would like to cover. The first is regarding my Archos 504 and the Helmet Camcorder . I realized after my first video that the camera mount the way it was built was useless. It probably good for the camera made for it, but for the Archos Helmet camcorder it is not. The camera would rotate in the mount making much of the video garbage. I decided that the Viosport Universal Mount could be adapted to my purpose. I first tried using Tie-Wraps around the camera and around the mount. This created an unsightly mess, which was not acceptable to my likes. While asleep last night I came up with an idea, which was slightly risky, but worth the try. My idea meant that I would have to drill four holes in the base of the Universal Mount and thread two Tie-Wraps through the holes and around the camera and base. So this morning I got out the drill and proceeded to drill the holes. The mount idea worked out nice, now I have a secure and stable mount. T he next subject is regardi...

A ll the changes I made to the mounts for the fenders went very well. After today's ride I added some rubber washers behind the mounting screws to prevent any possible rattle. Tomorrow if the weather is OK I will test the setup. The Cadence computer now works perfectly, as well does the speed sensor. T oday's ride was a relatively short one, I did 10.39 miles before I had to head home. My average speed was 13.28 Mph and a top speed of 23.84. The weather was a nice 65 degrees and the wind was very strong at 17 Mph out of the NNE. I burnt 484 calories at a moderate exercise level. Today I made my first video using the Archos 504 and the Helmet Camcorder. This video was far from good as I had a problem with the camera mount. The camera rotated in the mount and everything was on an angle. I have since did a fix on the mount and I will test it soon. Here is a link to the first Video I have ever done . As I write this I still haven't seen it on the You Tube server. I am trying t...

A t 11:00 AM this morning I went out for what I was hoping would be a 20+ mile ride, but unforeseen circumstances prevented this from happening. It was a total disaster as far as my goals for today were. First the new Sigma computer was reading Cadence very erratic, one second it read the RPM the next it would go to zero and remain there. I had to scroll through the computer options ending back at cadence and it sometimes would start. A little farther down the road the speed would not register, on further examination I realized that the mounts I built the other day had come loose. Well to be honest, I built them on a day that my back and neck were giving me a huge amount of pain. So I was not concentrating very well and must have forgotten to tighten them up. In a way I think it turned out well as I modified the mounts internally so they couldn't move around. Time will tell if they will work as I expect them to. I also replaced two of the bolts at the lower fixing point. After I re...

T his afternoon the Sports Instruments ALTA Altimeter showed up, it took a full seven days from Oklahoma City, longer than it took from Hong Kong. Well I am just glad it is here, and now how to operate this thing. It looks like I will have a huge amount of reading to do. I don't think I will get the full use out of it, but it does have the information I need. The photograph on the left shows how the command and control panel for the trike looks as it is with the new altimeter and computer. The Adeo is on the left steering arm, but not in this photo, but in the photo above. Notice the iPod Shuffle plugged into the Adeo. Both the Adeo and the iPod Shuffle are mounted in the Motion case from MotionLingo. F ound out that my SUV should be ready on Wednesday so I can turn in the rental car, which will be my pleasure, as the car was a junker. Tomorrow should be nice trike riding weather and I will be out there as early as possible. Halters called and found out that my new helmet will al...

A s I have written in a prior post, I had purchased a Sports Instruments Alta Altimeter. as of yet the package has not shown. It was purchased and paid for on the 18th and it is coming from Oklahoma City. It was written in the advertisement that shipping is two days, but we no better than that. I have contacted the seller twice asking for the tracking number, and he responded with an email requesting all the sales information including Paypal transaction number. I responded with all the information, and he didn't respond, so I just sent him another request for the tracking number. I am curious if he will answer this request. His EBay rating is 99.1% positive, and he has 4,0879 sales made. I will just sit and wait until Monday, and see if I can contact him. I n the meantime I have installed the addition Minoura Besso accessory mount on the right hand bar-end and moved the Sigma pulse monitor to that lower position. I will install the altimeter on the upper accessory pod allowing tha...

A fter installing the Sigma BC 1606L computer with cadence, I realized that my fender mounts needed to be upgraded. The thoughts behind this was that they are very flexible and the computer speed sensor had to be mounted in a very precarious position, hanging down below the tie-rod. That alone made the upgrade necessary. I had some very lite weight powder coated Aluminum tubing which would work as the outer support for the fenders and computer sensor. So I proceeded to take some measurements of the space between the two angle supports for each fender, which were exactly the same, which I should have known. I then used a tubing cutter to cut each tube to its proper length. I then disassembled each fender mount and slipped the tube over each support and reassembled each side. I checked for tightness and mounted the sensor on the right support. not only does it look good it can now serve another purpose. Below is the photograph of the right support looking through the wheel at the supp...

I have taken a few photographs to reflect the changes to the Black Widow. The changes are the addition of the Sigma BC 1606L and the TerraCycle accessory mount. T he first is the photograph showing the Sigma Sport heart rate monitor and below the BC 1606L with cadence computer. This layout will change when I receive the altimeter. T he next photograph on the right is of the cadence sensor and the magnet mounted on the left crank arm. And the next photo is of the speed sensor mounted on the fender mount. T he photograph below is of the new TerraCycle accessory mount. I love this mount, it is very adjustable and looks way cool. Tis mount design gives a huge amount of flexibility. As soon as the additional Minoura Besso mount comes and so does the altimeter I will take a photograph to reflect any changes.

I have been under the weather for the last few days, and can't seem to shake it. I have Laryngitis and it is impossible to talk, my wife must love it! Even being sick I was able to get a few things done. This morning I moved the middle 40t Q-Ring to the same location as the 53t outer ring. Now the Q-Rings should be set for optimum performance. T his afternoon the Sigma BC 1606L DTC with cadence was delivered and I set out to install it. Mounting the computer was a simple job with the self stick mount and rubber bands. The speed sensor was a bit of a problem due to its size. I had to mount it on an angle which no matter the installation this had to be done. The problem was the width and the shape fitting on the trike without building another mount. The cadence sensor was a simple job using my own 11" Ty-wraps, and that too had to be on an angle. The magnet was installed on the crank using the self stick tape and the ty-wrap provided. Setup of the computer was pretty easy and ...

F riday I received the Javo Screen protector for the Archos 504 and Saturday the case to hold and protect it. This morning I purchased SPORTS INSTRUMENTS ALTA ALTIMETER which will complete the instrumentation once the new computer is installed. I purchased the new Alta from Zursters.com Photograph © Zursters.com Y esterday I readjusted the Q-Rings to where I hope is the sweet spot, but I am waiting for Rotor technical support to get back to me. I should here from them sometime tomorrow. This evening Nathan from MotionLingo sent me an updated MotionTrack desktop software which has been corrected to show the elevation properly. A s you can see from the above graph, my ride has some wicked climbs which are in the beginning of the ride. The sharp drop at the front is the GPS calibrating to start position. I will update as soon as I receive my new equipment and I will have a lot of photographs to share.

A t 11:00 this morning my friend Paul picked me and my trike up to take us to Halters Cycles to have my 40t and 52t Q-Rings installed. It took them about an hour to install them. Jason and Chris each took a ride to test them out. Jason has installed them on his single speed and on his road bike, so he knew how they should feel. I then had my chance to try them out, and they felt perfect and I seemed to have a lot more power and speed. I normally don't get a chance to ride on the flats so I can't say how fast I could go. But today I reached 30Mph without killing myself. I am sure Jason and Chris could get it even faster since they are hard chore bikers, that ride in the rain, snow or anything else nature has to offer. Between the Ultegra cranks and the Q-Rings, this got to be the best upgrade yet. W hile I was there I had Chris change the tube on the rear and add True Goo to the tube. He also adjusted the front and rear dérailleurs. The front had to be raised a little to accom...

F or a long time I have been using a CatEye computer for speed and another for cadence. The one for speed is a CatEye Micro that works fine and never had a problem. The one I use for cadence is a CatEye Mighty Eight, and that also has been working fine. I really don't want to use a separate computer for cadence and didn't have too many options. Now a few companies like VDO and Sigma of Germany have come out with wireless computers that handle both cadence and speed functions. The main thing is that these two computers have separate cadence and speed sensors, allowing me to mount one sensor on the main boom for cadence, and one on the kingpin brake mount. The Sigma is the one I acquired and it has the following distance from sensor to receiver ratings. The cadence sensor can be 90cm or 35" away from the computer and the speed sensor can be no more than 70cm or 27". Both locations on the Black Widow are well within those parameters. The unit should be in my grubby hand...

A fter having a huge amount of problems with my accessory mount on the front dérailleur tube that holds my light and cadence computer, I decided to replace it. I ordered a mount from TerraCycle the people that made my fantastic idler setup. I ordered a double mount with 75 and 100mm arms. Pat said I should mount it with the arms up. The products are first class and show lots of research went into them. If this one works out as well as I think it will I might order a second. I will keep this Blog up to date regarding this project. UPDATE: I received the camera mount from VioSport this afternoon and mounted it to my helmet. The mount itself is a very simple design, but one thing I noticed, is that the sticky Velcro is sewn to the mount so it won't pull apart my mistake. They also gave me extra Velcro to mount on a second helmet or to replace one if damaged. I now need to find a lens cap for the lipstick camera. I was surprised that it didn't come with one.

T oday was my first ride in a bunch of weeks, and my first after the car accident. Well to say the least I am hurting a little, but not from muscle pains, but from the accident. Not as much as I thought, so the Endorphins must be working. I rode 10.05 miles at an average speed of 13.24 and a peak speed of 23.80 miles per hour. I burnt 468 calories which I needed to burn real bad. The weather was perfect for riding, it was 54 degrees and the wind was 1 mile per hour coming from the South. T he main purpose of this ride was to test the new Beta firmware for the Adeo GPS Trainer. There is still a one tenth of a mile error when the Adeo reports distance. Not a bigt deal, but when the Adeo is set up for 1/4 mile distance updates it reads 6.24 instead of 6.25 etc. Like I said not a big deal. I am sure Motionlingo will have a fix real soon. The people at Motionlingo are a pleasure to deal with and they have even added Recumbent Trike to the list of activities. I purchased a screen protector ...

E arly this afternoon the door bell rang and it was the postman with a package for me to sign for. It turns out that the package from Urban Tool in Canada arrived days earlier than expected. My first impression when I opened the envelope was that this is packed very professional. It comes in a very nice thick zipper vinyl bag, to store it when not in use. I quickly removed the holster from the bag and took a closeup look. The holster is made of a spandex like material which stretches where necessary and looks real nicely constructed. I took a quick examination of the different pockets to see which was the pocket that the Archos would be held. The pocket is not just a pocket it also has a sealing flap to hold the device in, all the better as I feared the Archos would fall out. There is a pathway from the large pocket to thread the cable from the camera and remote to the shoulder which worked real well. I threaded the cable down from the retractable key ring down the shoulder band to th...

O n Monday I ordered the set of Q-Rings, the inner 40t and the outer 52t. I will have to have a friend take me to my LBS then pick me up after they are installed. My SUV will be in the shop for three weeks getting body work done from yesterdays accident. The cost for the front end damage is $4,102.00. I am going to be lost without the SUV, but at least I will have a rental car so I am not stranded at home. A fter getting the Archos 504 helmet camera system, found I was in a slight dilemma, which was where to store the system when not in use. And I have found the solution after a Google search. The case is from a company called Case Club . They have a very nice selection of cases. This case was very inexpensive at $10.88 and $8.00 to ship. The case is made of ABS plastic and has a pluck foam insert. D uring my research into the helmet cameras, I found out that many users of helmet systems have added a 2.5mm wide angle lens to the camera. These lenses are available at prices starting at ...

B efore i get into the bad luck, let me mention that I received my Archos 504 and the helmet camera yesterday. It is awesome, it isn't hard to operate the camera, all I do is press a button on the remote of the camera to start recording and press again to stop. I played around with it a little last night and got accustomed to the controls. The camera head strap is not very comfortable or easy to use with a helmet, so I ordered a camera mount from Viosport , they have a large selection of helmet cameras and support parts. The mount cost $7.95 and the shipping $8.55 what a laugh. I will report on the mount when it gets here. N ow for the bad luck!!!! After dropping my son off at his home I was riding on a four lane street in the left lane traveling east when out of the corner of my eye I see a car blowing past the stop sign on my left. He came directly into my front passenger side, pushing my front wheel into my passenger door. I am driving an SUV so you can imagine how fast he had t...

A s it stands now I will be ordering the 40t and the 52t Q-Rings tomorrow morning, and hope to have them installed sometime in the next few weeks. I will have the LBS order them unless they give me an outlandish price. They told me the 40t would be $80.00 that is $5.00 higher than if I order direct from Rotor Cranks . I am looking forward to getting these installed and adjusted. L ast night I ordered the Urban Tool basic holster, but they said today they don't have the color I wanted, but I took my second choice which was black. That will take two weeks according to there site. I haven't heard back from Urban Tool yet about the color change, but they should get back to me tonight.

Y esterday my family went to a restaurant in PA to celebrate my 60th birthday. We had to wait 40 minutes for our table which the standing killed my back and my mood. We finally got seated after I lost my cool and said something to a worker there. I normally don't loose my temper, but it was the pain talking. My son David and my daughter in law Kate bought me a heart rate monitor, but I will have to return it and get something else. A shame that I already have one. My Daughter Jennifer and my son in law Evan gave me a check which is going toward the Q-Rings, which I will order this week. I will go to Eastern Mountain Sports today if possible to exchange the heart rate monitor. Maybe they will have a jersey without pockets, I looked on line for shoes, but they don't carry what I need, I have a very wide foot and only one brand fits my feet. I am hopping for some better weather soon, I am going stir crazy sitting home. I want to get out on the trike and ride. We have had some col...

F or a while now I have been using a set of portable stereo speakers for my MP3 player and my Adeo GPS trainer. The mount was a little flimsy to say the least. The speakers would rattle and bounce about hitting the rear rack. I had come up with a mount, but it still wasn't what I wanted. I finally came up with a new mount which I am hopping will take the abuse of ridding the roads around here. As you can see by the photo the speakers are around 4 inches from the back of my head. Having the speakers far behind my head allows me to hear the speakers as well as the traffic around me. One of the most dangerous things about listening to music while riding is that you have to be able to hear the noises around you otherwise you are looking for desaster. I am waiting to hear from MotionLingo regarding a new Beta firmware for my Adeo, which I need very badly. Maybe today I will have an answer. I will update this thread as soon as I hear something. I sent off an email today to Jeff Lovjoy t...