HP Velotechnik Upgrades

The great Eddy Merckx once said "Don't buy upgrades! - Ride up grades!"

Indeed wise words from one of the best bicycle racers the world has ever seen.  If the goal is to go faster on a bike that is some good advice to follow.  Because I'm not a bike racer at all my aspirations are a bit different.  One of my goals;  the one that brought me to recumbent bikes in the first place, is comfort.  In this post I'd like will write about a couple recent upgrades I've made to my recumbent in pursuit of rider comfort that I have found worthwhile.

My bike came stock with a 52 tooth chainring on the triple crank for a high gear.  I've ridden the bike over 3,500 miles with that big ring and have long since come to the conclusion that the bike is over-geared for me.  I'm not a powerful rider.  My strength lies in long steady endurance.  For the first hour of a ride while I'm fresh I could turn the 52 tooth gear utilizing most of the cogs on the cassette in the back.  As the miles add up and fatigue set in I found on longer rides I was shifting to the bigger cogs if not shifting down to the middle ring in front to make pedaling easier.

  

At the Harris Cyclery website I found just what I was looking for;  This fine 48 tooth chainring made by French component maker Specialites TA. The ring is exquisitely machined in the classic style and bolted up perfectly to my 130mm bolt center crank.  I long ago shifted to a 50 tooth ring on my road bike and found that gear better suited to my riding but for the recumbent I decided to go a couple teeth smaller still to a 48 tooth trekking size ring and now I find I use a much greater range of the cog set.  Multiple hours of riding and I'm still turning the 48 comfortably.

Riding up grades is easier too!

 A second upgrade for the summer that I can't believe I waited so long to do is this HP Velotechnik adjustable headrest.  

I ordered the rest from the Hostel Shoppe were I originally purchased my bike.  This component also easily bolted up to the Body Link seat back to existing threaded sockets.  

  

A slotted carbon fiber strut allows the height of the rest to be set and an alloy top piece can adjusted to various angles to dial in perfect fit.

On the first test rides my 13 year old son came along.  He has developed into a pretty good rider himself and I am proud of him.

Local Loop

Ride Time:  58:24

Distance:  11.79 miles

Average Speed:  12 mph

Kokosing Gap Trail

Ride Time:  2:12:23

Distance:  26.77 miles

Average Speed:  12.1 mph

On these rides I let my son set the pace.  I was impressed with his steady cadence.  Gone are days of his inexperienced speed up-slow down riding style.  On the 13 mile return trip back up the Kokosing trail he actually raised our average speed by 1 mph! 

Over the last week I've put in some more miles fine tuning things for maximum comfort and efficiency on the bent.  One thing that didn't occur to me right away was to recline the adjustable seat back to capitalize on a more aerodynamic position.  When I first got the bike I tried reclining the back all the way but found that with out a head rest the position was just too laid back to be comfortable.  Ever since I simply left the seat adjusted to its most upright position which struck a good balance in comfort. 

Now with the head rest installed I can lower the seat way back and take all the stress off my neck muscles which used to have to hold my head up.  I rotated my handle bars back just a touch to make up for the recline and now I notice I seem to slice even better through headwinds.  Before using the head rest I thought rough road surfaces and bumps would transmit annoying vibrations up through the rest but that's not the case at all. The foam cushion does a great job and I only have to pick my head up for the biggest surface irregularities. 

   

B & O Trail
Ride Time:  2:21
Distance:  37.3 miles
Average Speed:  15.8 mph

Quarry Loop
Ride Time:  3:27:10
Distance:  50.29 miles
Average Speed:  14.5 mph

So while I have increased the comfort level of my bike substantially I'm also surprised that I may have made it touch faster as well.  Checking back through my records this recent ride of the Quarry Loop was the fastest yet on the recumbent.  The only time I've bested this time was in 2007 when I rode the Lemond road bike on the loop at an average speed of 16.32 mph finishing the 50 miles in 3:10.