Picking up the recumbent!
Oct. 31st, 2009 10:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzThe long-awaited post, the long-awaited bicycle! Today, on Hallowe'en, or All Hallows, or whatever you want to call it, we picked up my new bike.
In the Netherlands Hallowe'en is not celebrated, or at least, not yet. There's a definite trend developing because of television, and we're going to be following into the USA's footsteps. For now, All Hallow's eve is blissfully quiet.
Too bad we couldn't go to Anastaszia and Shurf's Halloween party though. We had to pick up my new bike.
It's not just any bike, it's a recumbent bicycle. A Challenge Furai, in fact, from the Dutch recumbent bicycle makers.
NoKey's been driving a recumbent tricycle for years. His has an aerodynamic hood, and is even more special than just a regular recumbent. His Quest, as his Velomobile is a rare sight to be seen, with only several thousand of these babies on the streets. The waiting list is (too) long, and I've had some troubles because of my length and width, so a 'regular' recumbent would do fine for me.
(I always get stuck in the manhole of the hood when I try to climb out. My hips are too wide!)
After a testdrive a good while back, I decided on the Challenge Furai. I ordered a heavy duty package, which would increase the gears to 27 (3x9) and added a dual drive which allows me to switch down even when standing still. I could choose my own colour and whether I'd like my handlebars in my lap, or underneath the seat.
The result is this:
NoKey's Quest (background) and my new Challenge Furai, side by side. The Furai is slightly shorter, has larger wheels, and is slightly higher. We have the same number of gears, and my Furai is a couple of years younger. I added a number of accessoiries to my bike, one of which is the bag that is flashing its reflectors due to the flash of my camera.
Back view. The reflectors again, and you can see the shock absorber beneath the seat. It makes every ride a lot smoother!
Front view. Not the best of pictures, but oh well. We added a small light in the front. When compared to my mother's recumbent, I am definitely sitting in a different, lower position, even though the wheels of my Furai are probably larger.
If you were to look at me in the seat from the same height, you'd probably just see my head over my knees. Luckily, not all participants in traffic sit as low as me. I also wear a reflecting yellow vest for optimum visibility.
Gears! Still squeaky and clean!
Also, black wheel rims. Pretty damned gangsta.
After a cup of tea at the adjacent café we set out towards home. Dordrecht isn't very far away, but the route you'd take by car is boring for cyclists and the Van Brienenoord bridge is supposed to be very, very bad. I had suggested going by Papendrecht, Alblasserdam, and Kinderdijk, towards the Krimpenerwaard. NoKey had thought this to be a beautiful route as well.
The complete route, although not completely correctly planned, can be viewed here.
NoKey had planned a route into his navigation, which is meant for cycling. I've already had some arguments with the damned thing, and tonight wasn't much better. It was already past five when we set out and soon enough it was dark. That's fine, we have navigation, so we'll manage. The navigation sent us onto the bridge over the Noord, a river here, and then told us to take the staircase down.
Can't take a staircase with NoKey's tricycle. That doesn't work! So up on this tiny bike path on the bridge, we had to turn. I can lift my bike, but NoKey can't, and had to continue and find a place to turn around.
I took care to shoot a lovely picture. This is my impression of most of the journey: dark, with orangey lightses.
Soon enough NoKey came whizzing down again, turned on his flashy Kit Nightrider led-lights, and we continued back down, finding another way towards Alblasserdam. Lucky for us there were signs, and the navigation re-calculates his route regularly.
We found Kinderdijk, but I didn't see any windmills, which the place is known for, It was just too darn dark. We took the ferry over the Lek river to Krimpen a/d Lek. This is a small village near where I lived for most of my life, and we were back on the home turf (though still on the wrong side of a river). I had been scared the ferry wouldn't go, but it wasn't a problem and it only cost us €1,30 to cross.
I suggested we go to a nearby restaurant, the Breeka, to have dinner. It was nearing seven pm and though we weren't hungry, a small break with a bathroom and a liter of water was preferred.
I did good. I had spareribs.
After dinner, we went home, having a little trouble with mounting the bikes again and finding a route without detours or baustelle's. I had hoped they were done re-doing the N207, but alas.
Once home, we placed the bikes into the shed and had a shower. It was past nine pm when we arrived, so there is very little use for us to go to that halloween party still. I'm far too tired, even though I didn't feel very tired while I was cycling.
So: no pictures of me on the bike, but some pretty good bike pictures anyway, and there's this goofy pic of me having dinner. I hardly get real meatsch at home, so I get to compensate on days like today.
In the Netherlands Hallowe'en is not celebrated, or at least, not yet. There's a definite trend developing because of television, and we're going to be following into the USA's footsteps. For now, All Hallow's eve is blissfully quiet.
Too bad we couldn't go to Anastaszia and Shurf's Halloween party though. We had to pick up my new bike.
It's not just any bike, it's a recumbent bicycle. A Challenge Furai, in fact, from the Dutch recumbent bicycle makers.
NoKey's been driving a recumbent tricycle for years. His has an aerodynamic hood, and is even more special than just a regular recumbent. His Quest, as his Velomobile is a rare sight to be seen, with only several thousand of these babies on the streets. The waiting list is (too) long, and I've had some troubles because of my length and width, so a 'regular' recumbent would do fine for me.
(I always get stuck in the manhole of the hood when I try to climb out. My hips are too wide!)
After a testdrive a good while back, I decided on the Challenge Furai. I ordered a heavy duty package, which would increase the gears to 27 (3x9) and added a dual drive which allows me to switch down even when standing still. I could choose my own colour and whether I'd like my handlebars in my lap, or underneath the seat.
The result is this:
NoKey's Quest (background) and my new Challenge Furai, side by side. The Furai is slightly shorter, has larger wheels, and is slightly higher. We have the same number of gears, and my Furai is a couple of years younger. I added a number of accessoiries to my bike, one of which is the bag that is flashing its reflectors due to the flash of my camera.
Back view. The reflectors again, and you can see the shock absorber beneath the seat. It makes every ride a lot smoother!
Front view. Not the best of pictures, but oh well. We added a small light in the front. When compared to my mother's recumbent, I am definitely sitting in a different, lower position, even though the wheels of my Furai are probably larger.
If you were to look at me in the seat from the same height, you'd probably just see my head over my knees. Luckily, not all participants in traffic sit as low as me. I also wear a reflecting yellow vest for optimum visibility.
Gears! Still squeaky and clean!
Also, black wheel rims. Pretty damned gangsta.
After a cup of tea at the adjacent café we set out towards home. Dordrecht isn't very far away, but the route you'd take by car is boring for cyclists and the Van Brienenoord bridge is supposed to be very, very bad. I had suggested going by Papendrecht, Alblasserdam, and Kinderdijk, towards the Krimpenerwaard. NoKey had thought this to be a beautiful route as well.
The complete route, although not completely correctly planned, can be viewed here.
NoKey had planned a route into his navigation, which is meant for cycling. I've already had some arguments with the damned thing, and tonight wasn't much better. It was already past five when we set out and soon enough it was dark. That's fine, we have navigation, so we'll manage. The navigation sent us onto the bridge over the Noord, a river here, and then told us to take the staircase down.
Can't take a staircase with NoKey's tricycle. That doesn't work! So up on this tiny bike path on the bridge, we had to turn. I can lift my bike, but NoKey can't, and had to continue and find a place to turn around.
I took care to shoot a lovely picture. This is my impression of most of the journey: dark, with orangey lightses.
Soon enough NoKey came whizzing down again, turned on his flashy Kit Nightrider led-lights, and we continued back down, finding another way towards Alblasserdam. Lucky for us there were signs, and the navigation re-calculates his route regularly.
We found Kinderdijk, but I didn't see any windmills, which the place is known for, It was just too darn dark. We took the ferry over the Lek river to Krimpen a/d Lek. This is a small village near where I lived for most of my life, and we were back on the home turf (though still on the wrong side of a river). I had been scared the ferry wouldn't go, but it wasn't a problem and it only cost us €1,30 to cross.
I suggested we go to a nearby restaurant, the Breeka, to have dinner. It was nearing seven pm and though we weren't hungry, a small break with a bathroom and a liter of water was preferred.
I did good. I had spareribs.
After dinner, we went home, having a little trouble with mounting the bikes again and finding a route without detours or baustelle's. I had hoped they were done re-doing the N207, but alas.
Once home, we placed the bikes into the shed and had a shower. It was past nine pm when we arrived, so there is very little use for us to go to that halloween party still. I'm far too tired, even though I didn't feel very tired while I was cycling.
So: no pictures of me on the bike, but some pretty good bike pictures anyway, and there's this goofy pic of me having dinner. I hardly get real meatsch at home, so I get to compensate on days like today.
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-31 11:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 08:26 am (UTC)I think NoKey's bike is at least twice as expensive as mine, if not three times.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 04:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 08:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 07:01 pm (UTC)Options are: Quest, Mango and Strada.
Or, alternately, you could see if the Versatile (http://www.ligfietsshop.nl/en/assortment/flevobike/versatile.html) is your kind of velomobile @ Ligfietsshop Tempelman (http://www.ligfietsshop.nl/).
no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 07:30 pm (UTC)Maybe you can add a vane (vlaggetje?) like childrens have on their bike. Maybe it looks silly, but you are a lot more visible for cars (especially the big SUV's).
no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-01 10:53 pm (UTC)Is it hard adjusting to riding so low on two wheels? Ive always wondered that.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-02 07:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-02 08:24 am (UTC)