Alfie gets an electric motor

So Alfie has ridden 41,932.27km and it was time for an upgrade… so I bought a Bafang 8Fun bottom bracket electric motor, fitted it myself (with the help of Klaus) and have now ridden with it for 300km. Here is the story of the motor fitting… An electric motor? At my age??!!! The first thing… Continue reading Alfie gets an electric motor

Steintrikes Wild One – Changing The Front Wheels

Klaus, with whom I regularly cycle, has a Steintrikes Wild One trike from Bike Revolution in Austria. To read Klaus’s report on his wheel change, written some months after the event, you can go here (as long as you can read German): http://3-rad.blogspot.de/2015/05/km-11214-austausch-der-vorderrader.html The Steintrikes is available in lots of different formats including a 26… Continue reading Steintrikes Wild One – Changing The Front Wheels

Replacing the track rods on my ICE Sprint

A long, long time ago (well, August 2013, i.e. six months ago) I realised that the ball joints on my track rods on my ICE Sprint trike had got rather worn. This meant that they wobbled around a bit and consequently the trike’s tracking was rather variable. In other words, if you stood between the… Continue reading Replacing the track rods on my ICE Sprint

Alfie gets another Alfine

Long-term readers of my blog will know that Alfie, my ICE Sprint, had his hub gear internals changed in September 2011, after I’d ridden him a 1300 miles, due to skipping of gears/slipping into neutral. The new hub gear worked fine and I got quite adept at the oil changes and even changed the sprocket… Continue reading Alfie gets another Alfine

ICE Trike with Falco e-motor (no, not mine!)

Cycling friend Kim, who rides a recumbent bicycle regularly, has written a report about a modification she did to her partner N’s ICE Sprint trike recently. I thought it was a very good read and would be worth reproducing here, with Kim and N’s permission (which they gave). N’s bike was already previously adjusted for… Continue reading ICE Trike with Falco e-motor (no, not mine!)

40,000 miles and a change of tyres

I’ve cycled a fair distance in the last five years – 42,000 miles – and have done the vast majority of that distance on one type of tyre, the ever-popular Schwalbe Marathon. But six weeks ago I decided it was time for a change, and time to fit the Panaracer Minits Tough tyres that I… Continue reading 40,000 miles and a change of tyres

How to remove a stubborn wheel

Alfie the trike has now covered 15,000 miles in two years. This has included cycling through snow, much rain and, last month, flooded cycle paths in Germany. Before I went on my Konstanz to Koblenz cycle tour I did a bit of trike servicing and discovered that I couldn’t remove my front right hand wheel,… Continue reading How to remove a stubborn wheel

Recumbent tricycling – with dog!

Long-time readers of my blog will notice a fair few photographs where my dog is in shot – she’s always curious as to what’s going on and finds the trike seat very comfortable. In a Facebook discussion on ICE Trikes’ page someone asked me about the dog basket I have on my trike for Poppy… Continue reading Recumbent tricycling – with dog!

New touring luggage – Radical Banana Bags

In just under a month’s time I’m off on another long cycle tour in Germany – Konstanz to Koblenz – and, as most cycle tourers are, I’m always on the look out for things to make touring a bit easier. The other week I was idly perusing the most excellent blog of Dave McCraw (known… Continue reading New touring luggage – Radical Banana Bags

2013 cycling/cake diary – February

February 2013. This is a summary of my February cycling: And here is the detail of the cakes I enjoyed, using up my 27,934 extra calories! Friday 1 February 2013 Cycling: 26.53 miles in 2 hours 16 minutes. Average speed: 11.6mph Maximum speed 33mph Average heart rate 136, maximum heart rate 180. Calories burned: 1,039… Continue reading 2013 cycling/cake diary – February

Alfie gets a new chain tensioner

I have mentioned on previous blog posts the problems that I have with the Sora derailleur on my Alfine-11 trike. You may, of course, ask: “Why does someone with an internal hub gear need a derailleur anyway?” The reason is that I have a triple chainring at the front of the trike and thus need… Continue reading Alfie gets a new chain tensioner

How to boil your brakes!

My trike has Avid BB7 mechanical disk brakes which work very well and which seem relatively low-maintenance. I changed the pads at 10,000 miles and they have worked well. However, yesterday when I realised the left brake needed to be adjusted I discovered that the bolt that turns to move the pad in or out… Continue reading How to boil your brakes!

Alfie gets new teeth – changing the Alfine-11 sprocket

A couple of weeks ago my chain snapped whilst out riding. After being rescued by car by my husband I changed the chain and did some general trike fettling, after which it became clear the chain was skipping over the rear sprocket (the sprocket had done 11,000 miles and was therefore probably rather worn). Clearly… Continue reading Alfie gets new teeth – changing the Alfine-11 sprocket

2013 cycling/cake diary – January

I thought I’d keep a record of my cake consumption and work out whether my cycling for that day offsets the cake calories ingested. (This is of course extremely unscientific as it doesn’t take into account anything else I have eaten that day). Here is a summary from my Ascent software of my cycling for… Continue reading 2013 cycling/cake diary – January

Alfie – a winter service

It’s 25 January 2013 and I’ve cycled 610 miles this year through snow, rain, slush, mud and more. The chain on my Sprint (three KMC X9 chains joined together) was looking a bit sad and, when measured, had clearly stretched a fair bit. However I tried to keep it running as with all the salt… Continue reading Alfie – a winter service

Mudguards – a possible anti-rattle modification?

Those who have read my previous blog post 10,000 miles of slow sprinting will be in no doubt that I get irritated by rattling mudguards. Tony Collins posted a couple of comments on my blog suggesting a possible fix for this. So after procrastinating for ages (mucky mudguards and annoying rattles are just a pain… Continue reading Mudguards – a possible anti-rattle modification?

10,000 miles of slow sprinting!

Today Alfie the ICE Sprint passed a very significant milestone: So I thought it would be worth writing about how he has survived the last 17 months and what sort of maintenance he has needed in that time. Statistics for the first 10,000 miles Firstly, some statistics and information (for those of you who like… Continue reading 10,000 miles of slow sprinting!

Alfie’s hub gear gets its second (and more successful!) service

Today was to be Alfine 11 Hub Gear service day, in preparation for my Berlin to London cycle ride for Help For Heroes next week. I wasn’t sure if it was due a service yet (it had done 2,653 since the last service) as I have variously been told 5,000 miles between services or 5,000km.… Continue reading Alfie’s hub gear gets its second (and more successful!) service

Alfie’s Alfine 11 hub gear gets its first service

So, I’ve finally done it! The Alfine 11 hub gear service. According to Shimano this should be done after the first 1000km and then every 5000km thereafter. Alfie my recumbent trike has done a shade over 2,000 miles already and this is my first hub gear service. This is because the original hub started misbehaving… Continue reading Alfie’s Alfine 11 hub gear gets its first service

Alfie going in for repair… well, his back wheel

I have now had Alfie just over two months and absolutely love riding him! I am really, really impressed by the dynamo in the front right hand side wheel – it makes life so easy to be able to have lights whenever I want without worrying about batteries. Also the Busch & Müller IQ Cyo… Continue reading Alfie going in for repair… well, his back wheel

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