Category: bikes

$100 Drawing LIVE

In November, this recumbent nerd was featured on the Laidback Bike Report:

I subsequently joined the show’s regular “panel” of recumbent nerds. Since this involves mostly listening to other recumbent nerds for an hour or more, I used that time to make this $100 Drawing:

We’re gonna make that a regular thing, where I make a $100 Drawing live on the show, with occasional thrilling shots like this:

The next Laidback Bike Report is Sunday January 3 at 2pm EST. If you commission a $100 Drawing between now and then, I could draw it live. I actually need some method to choose which commission to do live; right now I’ll just pick one. We don’t know if there’s really demand for this thrilling media opportunity. If there is, maybe we could create a way to “reserve” the Live spot, via a premium. Suggestions welcome, please comment if you have any ideas.

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Velomobile shifting diagrams

I made these to illustrate the difference between shifting a Rohloff vs. conventional derailleur/cassette system in a velomobile going at speed. According to Doug Davis at Bicycle Evolution, some novice velonauts desire Rohloffs because they offer a very wide gear range, but the larger gaps between gears make them less efficient at speed. He has data about watts and gear inches and rotations per minute, but I merely tried to convey the drama of having to upshift too fast in a 60+ pound tub:

Rohloff hub: Shifting over 14% at speed puts sudden stress on the velonaut.

For contrast, the illustration below represents a more narrowly spaced conventional rear cassette setup, like what I have on my Mango:

Conventional derailleur/cassette: Shifting in smaller increments reduces stress and maintains efficiency at speed. The velonaut’s cadence slows only slightly after shifting, and quickly returns to normal.

Maybe we’ll talk about this, and other recumbent nerd stuff, on the next Laidback Bike Report.

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