About mid week on my Mountains to the Coast ride, I realized I needed a new chain so about a week later, I ordered one. I ordered the SRAM 11′ 10″ recumbent chain from Hostel Shoppe. I could have bought the more expensive chains that added nickel plating to reduce corrosion, but that has never been a problem as I avoid rain whenever I can and I keep them well lubricated. The hollow pin chains were not worth the cost for me for the small weight difference.
As long as I was changing out the chain, I also decided to check into the Terra Cycle over/under idlers that I had seen used on other recumbent bikes on the ride. I realized they might allow me to completely eliminate the chain tubes form my Stiletto, and indeed that turned out to be correct. No matter how good the chain tubes are, they always add some friction which is wasted pedaling effort and about 4 ounces or so in weight, as it turned out.
Old chain line from front.
It took quite a lot of experimenting with the new idler to find the right spot to mount the 60 mm Terra Cycle clamp so that there would be no interferences no matter what gear I was using. Eventually I found what I think is the sweet spot you can see below, about 1/2″ in front of the seat. You also have to consider full right and left turns in each of the gears to avoid any chain contact. I also realized that I really needed a longer shaft bottom bracket to push the chain rings further to the right. I purchased a Shimano 68 x 127.5 part with the square shafts that I needed for my cranks (the previous bottom bracket was 118 mm). During that process I decided I could also remove the large chain ring guard and save a small additional amount of weight.
New chain line from front.
Chain line with full right turn. Notice how the under seat handlebars are cleared by the chain in the worst possible combination because of the location of the “node” where the chains cross.
The first ride was very positive. Very quiet and smooth. Seemed faster too, but I will have to wait a while to see if that was real or my imagination!
Another rewarding project. Thanks for reading.
Tags: chain, guard, Hostel Shoppe, idler, Stiletto, Terra-Cycle
I made it to the end! Another great day of riding. Great weather and surrounded by great people with great attitudes. Almost want to keep going, but I know I need to rest for a while.
Our first rest stop was at the Bodie Lighthouse.
Here I am tired but happy to be at the finish line.
Life is good!
Here is the hotel we are staying at tonight.
Sue enjoyed visiting the Elizabethan Gardens and took many pictures.
Maybe I should try this again next year. We will see! Thanks for reading.
Tags: finish, lighthouse
I made it to the end of the longest ride (80 mile) day. It was quite windy as we came into Manteo, especially crossing the bridges. Below, at the Aligator River Bridge, we had to wait for the drawbridge to allow the sailboat to pass.
Then later (below) crossing the Manns Harbor Bridge going into Roanoke Island and finally Manteo.
Sue also had a great day, mostly spent in Manteo. One of many things she did was tour the Elizabeth II.
Tomorrow is the shortest ride day and the weather looks great: 64-71 degrees and 12-13 mph wind. I am looking forward to finishing but also don’t really want to quit.
In the mean time we have a nice hotel with a great ocean view and good seafood for dinner.
I made it through another one. Feeling more tired; wonder why? Almost 80 miles and mostly into the wind. But it was beautiful and the people are all friendly. We got free peanuts at a couple of the stops.
Someone said that the average age of the ~900 riders is 62. Hard to believe that some of these people do so well and keep coming back year after year. Maybe it is the peanuts?
One guy is paralyzed from the waist down and is riding a special 3 wheel bike that he powers with his arms! And he has made it through everything so far! I hope he makes it.
Sue spent her day enjoying the Plymouth waterfront and the trail along the Roanoke River. It was a gorgeous day for drawing, hiking, taking pictures and visiting with the locals.
Tomorrow is another 79 miler. Temperatures between 52 and 70. Winds look a little better than today, starting at 5 in Plymouth and rising to 12 mph when we get to Manteo.
I made it through another day; 78 miles! 
Somehow I ended up leading a pack of riders over most of the last 20 miles. They said they did not want to pass me because I always pass them on the downhills so they were drafting me and I felt responsible to set a good fast pace. Not really what I should have been doing with 3 days to go, but I seem no worse for the wear right now. Tomorrow will tell. It was fun anyway; we were going fast; at least for me! I’ll see how I feel tomorrow.
There was a nice little plantation house we got to tour at one of the rest stops.
I had the mechanics take a look at my chain to see if that is what is causing the excess noise and sure enough, they said it is 80% worn out. They offered to replace it back at the campground but it would take 3 regular chains and I think I will wait until I can order a single long chain made for a recumbent. It seems to work to ride in the middle chain ring up front, so I will continue with that unless it becomes unbearable.
The finish line (day 4) is always a welcome sight at the end of the day.
About 65 percent of the people on this ride choose to camp. In such nice weather it is easy to see why.
Sue had a good day of looking at small towns and seeing art in Rocky Mount.
This is from the Rocky Mount Art Center.
And this is the entrance to the Bel Air Artisans Center also in Rocky Mount.
Tomorrow’s ride is shown as 77.4 miles and 538 feet of climb, so things are slowly getting flatter. The weather looks great again; around 55 at the start with a high of 76. Nice!
Tags: art, chain, Rocky Mount
Once again, I managed to ride all the way to the finish line. Some sore muscles in places, but that is to be expected.
I do think my chain is worn out now. I am getting a lot of noise when I am in the largest front chain ring and it occasionally ‘snags’ as I shift up to the big ring. Before I left I measured about 0.1 inch of wear over a 12 inch span so I think when I get home I will need a new one. In the mean time, I try to stay in the middle chain ring as much as possible.
I met my friend Roy who bought my Force 5 bike a couple of years ago. He still loves riding it. His daughter was riding with him this year.
Tomorrow’s ride is about 36% less climb but about 10 miles more than today. The weather looks spectacular so it should be fun.
Tags: chain wear
I made it another day. This day was less climbing than day 1, but still a lot, especially on tired legs. The weather was great though. A cool morning start, but not quite cold like day 1 was. We received a warm friendly welcome from the city of Reidsville. The school kids were cheering for us as we rode in. Their energy and enthusiasm made us all smile.
In Mebane my wife located some local artists (Fine Art Carolina Gallery) that did some special pieces in honor of Mountains to the Coast. Post card size copies of a painting by Jude Lobe were made available to each rider (http://fineartcarolina.com/poster.html) It’s wonderful how artists have captured the movement and endurance of a long bike tour.
Later, we ate dinner at a little Italian place. (http://www.pomodoroitaliankitchen.info/locations/mebane-location/) Really tasted great after such a day of exercise.
Tomorrow is stated as 20% less climbing than today and the weather looks great! Sounds good to me!
Day 2 finish line.
Tags: Italian food, Mebane, Reidsville
Well I made it! It was a cold start and the hills were even bigger than I expected, but did I say I made it? Some really fast down hill parts with nice high speed curves. Fun! No speed records though.
Above I am getting the bike together to ride. It was cold! I waited until 10:00 am to start so it would be warmer but everyone else had already left.
Riding out of the campground at Elkin.
We rode right past Pilot Mountain. Here it is from Wendys where I had some lunch.
I arrived at the campground in Mayodan at about 5:00. After putting the bike in the car, we enjoyed the live music, a meal and a nice glass of wine. The campground was at a winery this time (Autumn Creek Winery). Then we drove on a few miles to Eden where we are staying in a hotel for the night. I will start riding tomorrow by about 9:00.
So far so good!
Tags: Autumn Creek Winery, Eden, Elkin, Mayodan, Pilot Mountain
You may remember in my post titled Work to be Done that I mentioned I had to replace the original chain idler located just under the seat. It mounted directly to the lower seat bracket. The new Terra-Cycle idler mount bolt was the same size (8 mm threads) as the seat mount bolt, so the bolt did double duty (seat and idler mounting). this was efficient but there were a few restrictions. The ‘rib’ on the bottom of the seat was so close to the idler that I had to restrict the left to right idler motion, which is called float, with some spacers. This worked well enough, but was noisy. The noise comes from the fact that as you shift gears the chain moves from left to right on the rear freewheel (9 gears) and in the front between the three front chain rings. Depending on the particular gear you are in at any given moment, the chain angle across the idler varies and so does the noise. I later realized it was noisy also because the idler attached directly to the seat mount which was bolted directly to the fiberglass seat. The seat then became a kind of loudspeaker which amplified the chain noise even more. On a conventional bike, there is no need for an idler, so this is not a problem.
When I replaced the original fiberglass seat (Weight Removal post) with the Volae carbon seat, I had to find a new way to hold the idler. After a lot of research, I found a clamp on idler mount, again from Terra-Cycle. That allowed me to attach the idler anywhere along my 60 mm main frame tube. I tired all the different positions I could find, and in the end used a spot below and aft of the lower seat mount. you can see where it is mounted now in the picture below. I was able to give the idler all the float it needed for any combination of front and rear gears. Much quieter. I also realized that by mounting to the frame tube that I no longer had a direct connection between the idler and the hardhsell seat. The rubber mount washers also helped to isolate the vibration source from the hard seat surfaces. Again much quieter.
New idler location and lower (return) chain tube.
Chain line from rear.
Once the idler was working so much better I began to notice the large curve of the upper chain guide tube. This is the one where the chain is under high tension from pedaling. I realized I needed to lower the mount point and that it also need to have float left to right in order to accommodate the 3 front chain rings. I finally designed a small piece of aluminum which slides side to side on a small bolt that is screwed into an aluminum collar that mounts to the steering tube. The collar was always there but the chain tube was originally tie wrapped securely to a small sheet metal bracket. You can see the aluminum (shiny) bracket in the picture below. The chain tubes are tie wrapped to the bracket. Now the whole chain system is free to float as needed to minimize noise and vibration and reduce chain wear. Also, the straighter the chain tube is the less friction there is and the easier it is for me to pedal. All small effects, but they all add up.
New bracket (upper right). Upper and lower chain tubes joined.
Front view. Upper chain tube is almost perfectly straight when in the big chain ring.
Chain line from front. Notice how the lower chain tube guides the chain above the under-seat handlebars.
I think that is enough bike changes for one year. Now I need to put on some miles as I ride across North Carolina!
Maybe front wheel drive for next year? Who knows.
Thanks for reading,
Recumboomer
Tags: bracket, chain tube, float, gears, idler, noise, Terra-Cycle, vibration