Bike Friday Tikit Love…

Tikit mobility powered shopping…

My Bike Friday Tikit isn’t getting as much press these days on this blog as it used to. That’s really unfair as it continues to be one of my favourite and most useful bikes. The problem is I feel like I’ve covered all the angles about this amazing bike and don’t want to get repetitive. That’s a failure on my part to be creative.

My Tikit enjoying the view…

The freedom to ride anywhere in town without a bike lock or having to think about bike theft is amazingly liberating. I can carry nearly as much on my Tikit as I can on my Surly LHT touring bike and I can fold the Tikit then jump on the bus or toss it into a car’s trunk.

Fixed gear Tikit…

I had the opportunity to swap my 2007 Tikit for a newer 2010 model, but I kept the older bike and invested some $$ in new drivetrain and paint. She works as well today as she did new out of the box and we’ve had a lot of great adventures together. It’s great to know a folding bike with such an amazing fold also is durable enough to keep riding for the long run. I expect I’ll be on the same Tikit in 2017 – although the colour may change again….=-)

If you don’t know what a Bike Friday Tikit is watch the video above. The convenience of the fold is what sold me on the Tikit in the first place and the great ride + the reliability has kept me smiling.

Stuff I Love About the Tikit:

• fits me [available in multiple sizes]
• easy uber fast fold [so I can fold it 10 times in 1 trip without noticing]
• rolls easily when folded so I can keep it with me
• great customer service from Bike Friday
• folding mechanism has held up to thousands of folds and thousands of KMs with minimal maintenance
• lots of options available [fixed/SS, IGH, belt drive, 2 kinds of folds, different racks, ect...]
• rides efficiently [25km ride? ...no problem]
• fun handling
• very maneuverable in town
• takes normal bike parts

Tough love…

The only real downside to this bike is you end up talking to a lot of people that you wouldn’t otherwise speak to and you’ll do lots of extra folding/unfolding of the bike to satisfy peoples’ curiosity. I can live with that…=-)

100K Un-Populaire!

Sharon's first 100K ride ever!

Sharon completed her first ever 100km ride on Sunday. We set out from home on a rough approximation of the BC Randonneurs 100K Populaire route. Skipping the start at the University of Victoria we headed for the Mohka House coffee shop to get fuelled up. We then followed the 100K Vic Pop route along the south end of the peninsula to Mattick’s Farm where we stopped for a bathroom break. Cruising up to Sidney we stopped for a bite of lunch before looping around the top of the Saanich Peninsula and dropping down towards home. We got a bit “creative” with the route so we could reach 100kms without heading to the official ride end point at the university.

Ride data - click for bigger...

Although the GPS data above is a bit less than 100kms we did ride the full distance. We just started and stopped recording data on the bike path near our house so as not to give away the exact location of the Lazy Rando HQ!…=-) Overall the ride was fun and a big accomplishment for Sharon. Riding 100kms opens a lot of doors for seeing cool things in our area and makes a reasonable daily ride on a bike tour.

Sharon wondering when I'll put a Brooks saddle on the tandem for her?

We need to tweak the back end of the tandem for Sharon’s long distance comfort. She wants to move the Brooks saddle from her commuter bike to the tandem and then she’ll break in another Brooks on the commuter 10kms at a time. The straight bars and bar ends worked, but we’ll do some scheming to see what other bar options we can come up with that may work better for her. In general our Bike Friday tandem worked awesome for us and was a fun bike to pedal while enjoying the scenery of our island home.

Garmin Forerunner 310XT...

I threw a Garmin fitness GPS on Sharon’s bars so she could keep track of our ride stats. It’s a handy unit because I can install it on any bike in about 10 seconds and I don’t have to bother with a bike computer the other 95% of the time when I don’t care how far or fast I went.

Garmin Etrex Vista Cx...

I had the 100K Vic Pop route loaded into my Garmin mapping GPS up front on my bars to navigate us.

Rando Beer!

The weather was great. It started off cloudy and cool, but ened up sunny and warm as the day progressed. Nice day to be out on a bike…=-)

Birth of our Bike Friday Tandem…

Cutting tubing...

These are some photos the kind folks at Bike Friday took for me when our Tandem Traveller XL was being built. I meant to post them last year and misplaced them for a bit. I won’t say too much about them as I don’t understand all the details of the construction process very well, but I thought it would be fun to share and to get a sneak peak at how these bikes are made.

Selecting some more tubing...

Prepping each tube...

Time to drill...

More prepping...

Welding jig...

A big bike needs a big frame fixture...

Welding the rear triangle...

Rear triangle...

Rear triangle...

Captain's seat mast opening in front TT...

More drilling...

Rear triangle fittings...

Rear V-brake posts...

Rear dropouts...

Stoker's BB...

Stoker's seat mast tube...

Rear triangle fittings...

Kickstand plate...

Cable guides...

Fork...

Frame parts after powdercoat...

Assembly begins...

Installing the headset...

A box of tandem parts at my house...

The finished product...

Happy 20th Anniversary Bike Friday!

20th Anniversary email from Bike Friday...

April 2012 marks Bike Friday’s 20th anniversary of making cool folding bikes. I’m only in my 5th year of being a Bike Friday customer, but it’s been a great ride so far.

Bike Friday HQ...

I stop in whenever my travels take me along the west coast past Eugene, OR during business hours.

Belt drive Tikit...

I managed a quick 30min visit on my way home from Sedona to check out the new showroom bling.

20th Anniversary Bike Friday - click image for more details...

The 20th Anniversary Bike Friday looks pretty sweet [it's missing a wooden front fender].

That's a lovely disco paint job...=-)

I particularly like the sparkly metallic paint job.

A colourful flock of Tikits...

I always leave Bike Friday HQ scheming about a new bike!

Want to tour and need some gear?

The showroom is sporting a great selection of accessories for the bike commuter and cyclotourist.

Red bikes are faster right?...=-)

I had a hard time passing by the red New World Tourist with matching red Selle Anatomica saddle! If it had red rims and some red fenders I’d probably have a new Bike Friday…=-)

A herd of Bike Friday tandems...

I love all the Bike Friday tandems they had to check out. Although I must say we chose well. Our Raspberry Rocket is a primo tandem and still the nicest Bike Friday tandem I’ve seen.

Purple belt drive Tikit...

This belt drive Tikit has a lower cost belt drivetrain that makes it a lot more affordable than the upscale carbon belt.

Back end view...

Sorry I don’t have all the details. If you are interested give Bike Friday a call/email. I’m sure they’d be happy to give you the 411.

Crank end view...

A lower entry cost is certainly pretty key if belt drives are going to penetrate the mainstream of cycling.

The fancy bling carbon Gates belt drive...

All in all it was fun to see the folks I know at Bike Friday and to check out some of the new upgrades to their product line.

20th Anniversary Customer Appreciation Offer...

Bike Friday Tandem Brakes….

Note a front disc and v-brake posts...

I was asked about the brakes on our Bike Friday Tandem Traveller XL over at my Flickr site and thought I would share the answer here for wider dissemination:

My Bike Friday tandem was ordered with disc brakes and v-brake mounts. I haven’t felt the need for extra braking at this point so we only have the discs mounted.

Like for any bikes there is no magic in v-brakes vs. discs. They both work. So you can pretty much pick whichever you prefer and use them.

Neither v-brakes or discs can take prolonged application before they’ll fail. V-brakes will heat up the rims and your tube will blow. Disc brakes will boil their hydraulic fluid, melt the plastic parts of the caliper and warp the rotor if overheated. Neither outcome will be pleasant with your GF on the back bombing down a mountain!

On a tandem the extra weigh without as much aero drag = extra speed on the downhills which can be a problem.

Are you saying we are so fat we need 4 brakes????

My suggestions are:

1. if the roads are good sit up, take the lane and let the bike run without braking or minimal braking [I do this with my loaded touring bike frequently]
2. if you need to brake a lot use pulse braking….slowing hard with front brake, releasing and then slowing hard with rear brake…then repeat. You’ll speed up to a top speed each pulse and then slow down to your bottom speed. Note the fast top speed allows a lot of air to flow over your brakes to cool them very effectively.
3. add if a 3rd or 4th brake..in my case a v-brake front and rear possibly. Use pulse braking, but now you have 3 or 4 brakes to cycle through so you can brake more frequently without overheating.
4. take a break or 3 on a steep descent to snap a picture or nimble something while your brakes cool.
5. if you need more braking than you can get with pulse braking or you can’t be okay with the faster speeds of a pulse braking solution you can get a rear drag brake that will keep your speed lower since it’s on all the time. Keep in mind only a specially designed drum drag brake will do this safely. A disc or v-brake applied even very lightly, but constantly will quickly overheat and fail.

Our tandem team weighs ~300lbs + gear + bike…so probably close to 400lbs total on a ride with a lock and a light load of gear. My main strategy is #1 above….I just let the bike run as fast as she wants and brake only when I absolutely have to – which is infrequently. For a tour with full camping gear I’ll do some test runs locally and determine if I need an extra brake. If  so I’ll put a stoker controlled rear brake on.

The Kent Peterson Effect…

My Bike Friday Tikit at MEC...

I was  on my way to a business dinner/seminar thing downtown when I had a flat front tire on my Tikit. Bummer! I pulled out a CO2 canister from my seatpack and got the tire firm again so I could keep rolling and made it to MEC [Mountain Equipment Co-op] which is Canada’s REI. They let me use a repair stand, a floor pump, sold me a patch kit and lent me some pliers to pull out a super tough thorn. They also offered help at least 3 times and when all was said and done let me use their washroom to clean up so I could go to my meeting looking decent. Thanks MEC – you guys rock!

I got to my meeting with time to spare thanks to Kent Peterson. I read Kent’s blog regularly. He got me interested in randonneuring and bikepacking with his tales of LD riding and ultralight touring. However, Kent’s main contribution to my bike lifestyle is simply the no nonsense way he gets on with riding his bike for transportation.

One Kent Meme I have learned from his blog is to factor a flat into every commuter bike ride. That way you always have time to fix the flat and still get to your destination on time. I do this a lot and often plan a quick non-essential stop along my route or near my destination so that I can get some extra things done on the same ride and if a flat happens I just skip the non-essential stop.

In this case I planned to stop at MEC and grab a few items I’ve been needing for a while. So when I got the flat I just re-inflated the tire for the ride to MEC where I could repair it in comfort. I ran into a couple snags with a pathetic tube of glue and a lame patch that didn’t want to stick as well as a thorn that was really really really eager to stay in my tire. By the time I was done I was dirty so I washed up and figured I had to rush to my meeting, but I was pleasantly surprised that I still had time to roll over there at a normal pace which made for a pleasant evening.

That’s the Kent Peterson Effect…=-)

Victoria Populaire – 70K!

Team 20" at the end of the ride...

Sharon and I rode the 50K route at the BC Randonneurs Victoria Populaire Sunday. Add in ~20kms riding to/from the event and we rode farther than ever before on the tandem. Sharon also rode her longest ever distance on a bicycle. Obviously 70kms is not going to impress folks that ride 1200km events, but considering Sharon didn’t ride a bike when I met her this is a great achievement. Even better Sharon’s talking about riding the 100km route on our own this spring. Our distance riding progress may be slow, but it’s steady…=-)

50K Route Map - click for bigger version...

We met up with Aaron and Laura at the start. They were riding Dahon folding bikes so we were all rolling on 20″ wheels. We were joined by Brian and Mike on their big wheel bikes. The day was sunny and there were something like ~140 riders joining us on the course. The organizers did a great job staffing the controls and the route was well chosen for pleasant cycling.

Rider organizer Dave M giving the troops last minute instructions...

We let the majority of riders start in front of us so we could enjoy a relaxed pace around the course. I had my gps running as well as the course cue sheets. Between the two we managed a first ever zero bonus KM event by staying on course the whole time!

The intrepid members of our 50K posse at control #2...

The tandem proved comfortable for this distance and we had no issues cranking up even the steeper climbs on the course. I’m more and more impressed with our Raspberry Rocket on every new adventure. Thanks Bike Friday!

Sharon taking a breather along the route and enjoying the views...

Thanks to the BC Randonneurs for putting on a great ride for those riders not quite ready for a 200K brevet. Thanks also to Aaron, Laura, Sharon, Brian and Mike for riding with us…=-)

Mr.Lazy happy they have cookies at the control!

Victoria Populaire 2012 photos:

• Holland and Steve’s photos
• Mikael’s photos

Why I ride…?

Slowing down to enjoy a sunset is so easy...

Riding a bike to get around has a lot of benefits. I was on my way to a pub this week when I took a few moments to appreciate the beautiful sunset on a bridge over the Gorge Waterway in Victoria, BC.

My trusty Bike Friday Tikit...always a good choice for urban rides...

Shakedown Ride…

A loose headset isn't fun on a tandem!

We took our Bike Friday Tandem Traveller XL out for a shakedown spin Saturday to make sure she was in good shape for next weekend’s BC Randonneur Club Victoria Populaire. Good thing we did as the headset was quite loose and you need a crazy big wrench to tighten it. Happily we stopped in at The Fairfield BIcycle Shop and Aaron helped us out with some tools – Thanks! We also decided to make some small tweaks to our saddles and Sharon’s bars.

Beyond that the shifting and braking is working well. I do need some lube on both the tandem’s chains and she should be ready to rumble!

Testing a route sheet holder...

Our Bike Friday tandem does not see regular rando use so there is no provision for a route sheet holder, bike computer or GPS. So I tested out a Cycloactive Bar Map OTG [Of The Gods] case to see how it stayed in place on our tandem’s unique bar/stem combo. It worked pretty well and can be adjusted back into position easily when it does slide down. For a one day ride I’ll use it as is, but for extended use I’d modify it to stay in place more securely. Note that on a normal bar/stem combo the OTG case would be fully secure without any changes. Our tandem is special in many many ways! I either have to wire in a bike computer or program my Garmin GPS to use with the cue sheet. I’m leaning towards the GPS as I’ll use it on my solo brevets as well so it makes sense to do a run through to ensure it is still working well. I’ve volunteered to shepherd any new riders around the 50K route so it’s fairly important we don’t get lost!

I’m excited to embark on our first rando event together. It’s a modest 50K ride, but that will be a good taste of what a brevet can be like and we can then move up to the 100K and 200K distances if all goes well. I can’t see Sharon being keen on riding more than a 200K event once a year, but that would still be great as a change of pace for our normal riding.

Scott checking the camera position...

We rolled down to the Mohka House for some coffee. I’m still in search of an amazing espresso shot in Victoria. I have found lots of decent coffee, but nothing top notch – yet! Scott joined us for a spin down to the beach where we shot some video for Porcelain Rocket and I got to play around with my new Canon T2i. Between my iPhone, Canon S95 and T2i I really do have a perfect set of photographic tools for just about any occasion. I ended up using all of them Saturday and it was nice to have so many options.

Sharon digs into some tasty Pho...

After our beach session we headed home with a stop at the Green Leaf Bistro for some yummy Vietnamese food. All in all it was a great day to roam around town on our bike and enjoy some warm sunshine.

Crazy Canadian Tandem Team…

Green, but cold!...

It’s getting down below freezing at night in Victoria which combined with the humidity means it feels insanely cold and black ice/frozen bridges are a problem. Naturally when Sharon and I needed to get across town to have dinner at Aaron & Laura’s place last night we took our Bike Friday tandem. Wearing our parkas and lobster gloves we were plenty warm. We slowed down for all bridges as our slick tires don’t deal well with ice. Happily there were no issues.

Sharon getting excited about the gas fireplace...

Aaron & Laura made a lovely dinner which was consumed with a few glasses of wine. Their apartment has both light and heat – something our cottage is lacking in! I was a bit worried Sharon might get too attached to such luxuries…=-)

Laura wondering if there is any pie left...

After several hours of great company in a warm cozy apartment we had to face the daunting task of bundling back up and heading back out into the cold night. I had debated bringing along sleeping bags, but I wasn’t sure how A&L would react…=-) The ride home was chilly, but fun. No black ice to contend with although there was frost on the wooden bridge we have to cross. We were very happy to see our little cottage and throw ourselves into bed!

Thanks to Aaron & Laura for being such wonderful hosts…

Private Parking…

Sure - whatever!...=-)

Urban Mobility…

Aaron - Stylish and mobile!

Getting around Victoria by bike is very convenient. The weather is usually conducive to pedal power and between the dedicated cycling infrastructure and flat-ish terrain you don’t face too many challenges rolling to your destination. Aaron is demonstrating that you can ride and look stylish while on your urban adventures. Unless I’m on some rando-esque type mission I eschew the bicycle uniform as well.

White was the theme today...=-)

Heck I also ditch the bike lock frequently and that is perhaps the biggest victory one can strike in terms of getting beyond the cycling paradigm. My Bike Friday Tikit is the essence of urban mobility for me…well that and my Blundstones!

Tikit porn...

Bike Friday Tikit Redux

Back and better than ever...

One of my favourite bikes got some love this year – my 4yr old Bike Friday Tikit had its worn out bits replaced and a new powdercoat. I was lucky enough to get a custom PR front rack from Lane at CETMA as well.

• new powdercoat
• new Greenspeed Scorchers
• new chain
• new cassette
• new cables & housing
• new one piece stem/riser
• custom PR front rack

The rack doesn't mess with the awesome fold...=-)

Bike Friday did all the work for me less the front rack. The drivetrain and tires were in need of replacing, but the paint was fine. I was just in the mood for something other than stealth black. It was fair chunk of change to upgrade my old bike. I considered just getting a new 2011 Tikit. Having ridden a 2010 Tikit extensively there have been some definite improvements over the years, but at the same time my old bike is one of the original Tikits made and it rides just fine so I decided to keep it and show it how much I loved it…=-) If you have an older Friday and want to hit the refresh button give the nice folks in Eugene a call and see what they can do for you. Best to get the work done in the winter when things are less crazy at HQ and you could probably work out a better deal than in July.

Custom CETMA PR rack...

The front rack was a one off from CETMA. I don’t know if Lane would be willing to make another as the whole folding bike thing was a hassle for him to deal with and he has a ton of standard production racks and cargo bikes to build. Bike Friday is considering adding a front platform rack to their product line, but they aren’t sure about demand so if you want one drop Walter at BF an email. If he gets enough you’ll get your rack. The other option is going full custom which is no problem, but expensive.

Side view of the fold...

Naturally the front rack doesn’t mess up the sweet Bike Friday Tikit hyperfold. I haven’t tried it, but I assume the showercap won’t go over the bigger rack, but it might work partially as a protective shield from rain/dirt rather than totally camouflaging the bike underneath. I haven’t used the new rack much yet so I’ll save a discussion of how it’s working for another post. It will certainly make carrying bulky items easier an I’ll probably keep a light sturdy cardboard box handy so I can use it for smaller loose items as well.

The Ortlieb O-bag...

My hope was that this Ortlieb bag would mount to the new front rack via a bolt on QR block. That didn’t happen, but I think if I am happy with the rack I will find a welder locally to help me mount it as a PR rack plus a QR waterproof office bag is in my mind the knock out punch for Tikit’s usefulness and versatility. I’m stoked to be partway there.

Packing a Bike Friday Tandem…

I found this Bike Friday tandem packing video on Youtube and wanted to bookmark it for easy review when I face the task someday.

 

Bike Friday Tandem Stoker Bar Update

On a test ride...

We decided to test out the new flat bar + bar ends stoker bar setup on our Bike Friday Tandem Traveller XL by riding into town for some yummy Thai food.

Parking out front of Siam Thai...

The ride into town was fun and Sharon enjoyed the new bar setup so that was good news…=-)

Sharon and her happy hands...

Sharon’s only request was that I add some padding to the bar ends so I’ll hunt down some grips that fit and install them. I’m glad to have our only issue with the tandem resolved…=-)

BF Tandem Traveller XL Update…

Parking the Bike Friday tandem takes some ingenuity...

It’s been a few months since the Raspberry Rocket showed up at our house so I thought I would take a moment to provide an update on our experiences with her. First off I should note that she is the only bicycle allowed to live in the house! Not just in the house, but in the dining room so it’s like we eat dinner with her every night…=-) She’s a bit too long to easily fit into our garage through the side door we use and we don’t want to leave her outside so she has the honours of being our only house bike.

Mechanically she has been perfect. I found the idea of assembling a box of tandem parts a bit daunting the first time, but following the Bike Friday instructions was easy and within 2 beers I had her rolling. Since that day I haven’t had to make any adjustments or work on her beyond tweaking the position of the bars. When I was doing my tandem research a few folks warned me that a folding tandem would be a headache to maintain and it would not be reliable for us. Having had great service from my other Bike Fridays I ignored those people [especially since they didn't own a folding tandem!!] and decided that I would just trust the fine folks in Eugene to build me another awesome bike. I’m glad I did.

I should note that ~30% of our riding is on dirt and gravel as well a long rough decked wooden bridge we tackle nearly every ride so this bike sees some bumps and abuse beyond buttery smooth pavement. We ride her like a bat out of hell or at least as close a replica to a bat out of hell as two middle age recreational cyclists can muster! Sharon loves passing people instead of being passed and I don’t mind the strange bewildered looks from other cyclists when they see a strangely shaped small wheeled pink and purple-ish beast go by..=-)

We ride the tandem for 80%+ of our rides together not counting dirt excusions to Hartland Mountain Bike Park. It just makes so much more sense for us to be on one machine where we can chat and stay together without any effort. We arrive at our destination in much better spirits and there has been no downside so far compared to riding two singles. Since we both do a fair bit of solo riding we each get to ride single bikes enough each week that it’s not like we have to choose to dedicate ourselves to the tandem 100% of the time in any case. The steel multi-part travel friendly frame is stiff enough that I can ride without thinking I’m on a tandem that fits into a suitcase and it has enough vertical compliance that combined with 40mm Greenspeed Scorcher tires we don’t slow down for lumps, bumps or other rough surfaces and we don’t get beat up. It’s a very impressive bike design given the challenges a tandem faces compared to two single bikes. Nice work Bike Friday!…=-)

The only problem we are having with the tandem is that Sharon is not adapting to drop bars well at all. We had to pull them from her Surly Cross Check commuter bike and we had to pull them from the tandem. I’ve swapped in some flat bars with bar ends I had lying around. If she likes them in general I’ll work on a flat bar setup we’ll keep for the long haul that gives her enough hand positions for all day comfort. It’s too bad that the drop bars can’t stay as they suit the bike and provide lots of hand positions, but we tried all sorts of variations in position, tape, padding and hood position with no success. Once I get a permanent solution I’ll post some photos of it.

 

Bike Friday Tikit Wiki

Sharon on a roll...

Sean Luke has kindly put in the time and effort to develop a Bike Friday Tikit folding bike Wiki. A Wiki is a user updated body of knowledge about a topic. This means you’ll have a great spot to learn lots about the Bike Friday Tikit and you can add stuff to the Wiki based on your own experiences with the bike.

To edit the Wiki you’ll need a password which you can get by emailing Sean Luke from the Wiki site.

 

I’m a New World Tourist!

My Bike Friday NWT chilling by the gorge waterway...

In Calgary I was a Tikiteer for sure and my Bike Friday NWT was a fun bike to ride, but if I had to choose I would have picked my Tikit. Lately I’ve realized that I am grabbing my New World Tourist for most rides into town and if you made me choose I’d stick with my NWT.

Why the change?:

• in Calgary I lived right downtown and ride were short and frequent with high theft potential at each of the many stops.
• in Victoria every ride into town is a minimum 8km round trip and theft potential is lower.
• so now I ride into town less often, but I tend to save up errands and hit a bunch at once.
• I can load up my NWT with a ton of stuff with its burly racks.
• My NWT has drop bars which I am into at the moment and prefer for longer rides.
• My NWT has a dynohub and light so I’m always ready for rides that extend into the PM.
• I don’t have any lighting for my Tikit now that I am not using my Dinotte lights if I can help it.

Loaded and ready for more!

The only thing I want to do to my NWT to perfect it is install some full coverage fenders. I have them in my garage – in fact I’ve had them for 2 years! But I am finally getting motivated with the wet winters here to install them. The Bike Friday fenders do a decent job and are much easier to travel with if you pack your bike into a suitcase. I’m more a fold and trow in the truck kind of guy so I don’t need that sort of packability and I do need optimized fenders.

Well actually there is another thing I need to do to my NWT – it’s time to replace the grubby white bar tape. Using the NWT a ton means that the gleaming whiteness of her beauty is somewhat less gleaming!

Tandem Perspectives…

Down low...

This is the same moment in time captured from two different perspectives. I like how the choice of camera positions totally changes the relative importance of the Bike Friday tandem vs. the person in the photo and sends a very different message to the viewer.

Up high...

Since digital photos are essentially free take a few of every scene you want to document. Vary the camera postion and viewing angle. I’d rather select from 4 options and throw 3 out than have to use the only image I took and not be stoked about it.

I really like the reactions of the folks in the background of the image above…=-)

Bike Friday Tandem Bar Tweaks…

The Raspberry Rocket!

Both sets of drop bars needed adjusting on our Bike Friday Traveller XL tandem. I wasn’t stoked about unwrapping the bar tape to move the brake levers around a bit, but small changes to the rotation of drops and the position of the levers make a big difference in how comfortable your hands are on a ride.

Difference between old position and new position...

I cracked a cold beer and started unwrapping the bar tape. I like the top of my drops flat then curving a bit down to the hoods of the brake levers. You see from the photo above the difference between the old position and new position is quite dramatic. The bars were rotated up significantly and so the levers had to be moved down a lot to put them into the proper position.

Do you feel the power?

Sharon chose the bar tape. She figured it would enhance the lusciousness of the Power Raspberry finish on the tandem. I don’t argue about stuff like this. Well right up until she hands me my one piece pink lycra tandem speed suit!….=-)

Ready to rumble!

I adjusted the stoker’s bars as well and double wrapped both bars for more hand comfort.

One last glamour shot...=-)

Now we have to test ride her and see how we like the changes. You gotta love a 4 day weekend for time to ride and mess with your bikes and ride some more!…=-)