Fraser Ro-Bike Part 1

 

Ro-bike at home , mid bungy cord repair

The stickers on the bike....

prove its definitely a ro-bike and not a rowbike or any other ridiculous misspelling

My first test ride was ..

on the street out the front. The repaired bungy cord snapped soon after this was taken (Noooooooo!)

from 1982 Canberra Times article, see link below

Fraser recumbent from a Canberra bike museum Catalogue- as well as the Ro-bike, there were tandem ro-bikes, a recumbent and some giraffe unicycles.

My friend Aki

This worked to fix the bungy cord - Auto shop bungy cord grafted onto $2.00 shop ocky strap ends, and prevented from coming off with screwed and glued 3d printed parts.

Old bungy Cord

Clutch

My photo of the Fraser recumbent from an Canberra

Hi

Although I have ridden recumbent bikes as a means of transport for many years, I don't buy many. Some are given to me and I pass them on, but the last one I bought for myself was a Perfomer which I bought in 2011 (see here and here ) . Mostly I ride ones I've built and am very happy with my current one.

But a Fraser Ro-Bike came up for sale on ebay, and I noticed it, and then a friend asked questions about Fraser Ro-bikes on facebook, and then my friend Aki (who has one) pointed the ebay ad out to me on his phone. As well I did some internet digging and found a long informative Canberra Times article about the ro-bikes here (click on Life Style People) The signals were mounting up and I eventually succumbed and bought the bike advertised on ebay. If it needed any extra justification, I had been "good" and had sold or given away 3 recumbents in the last few months. 

The Ro-bike sale was via ebay auction which finished on a Sunday afternoon. Nobody had bid on it in the weeks it had been for sale, and I didn't think there were any lurkers or bidnappers but you can never be sure. So I put a bid in just before the auction rolled over again and a few hours later I had picked it up from Narrewarren. It turns out that a bike friend Ivan was selling the ro-bike, and I had filmed him on it years ago (link to video in this blogpost)

When I got the bike home, I found it needed a bit of work. Firstly, the elastic cord which retracts the chain after the pull stroke was stuffed, and secondly the clutch didn't work. Just pouring mineral turps into the clutch made it work, and then after a couple of tries with the bungy cord the machine was ready to go. 

Changing gears is done by raising (lower gear) or lowering (higher gear) a metal link on a serrated rack on the oscillating part of the bike. This takes some practice! You can't pull the link forward to disengage because that would mean you would be driving the bike along with your hand. Instead you can move the oscillator back to disengage. 

The bike is ok on the flat, shockingly slow up hills, and with only one rear brake precarious downhill. With only intermittent power (pushing legs forward, pulling arms back) the bike slows down on the reverse stroke, and you then have to accelerate it again!

Another characteristic is that you can choose to apportion different amounts of leg and arm power in each stroke. At first I was putting in too much arm power and had sore shoulders at the end of riding, similar to what I experienced with my Cruzbike Quests. With later session I was more used to the rowing action and didn't strain my arms.

My first test ride was out on the street when the bungy cord failed, and since then I have been over to my son's place (about 2k each way, I wiped out my poorly designed light mount on the way) and then on a laden 4k each way ride yesterday

Overall its a lot of fun! 

 

Test ride! Yes I am all disheveled and you can comment on that if you want. I liked a recent doco where Rachael Ward was laughing at all her detractors. 

Cushion model

The cushions (small squares) are the 

feature items. The black ones are 3d printed while the 

 

orange ones came from this plastic seed tray.

The Minq recumbent, another bike with a comfy chair.

Watsonia bike with

cushion that can turn

the crate into a comfortable stool.

This bike now needs fixing and I plan to add milk crates and cushions at each end.

Hi

I have just uploaded a model of a cushion that goes with my set of 3d printable bike toys and boardgame tokens and bike games which is available here . I previously added a milk crate and a few model bikes to the game as detailed in this post . A recent bike mod that uses the cushion is here . When I add milk crates to bikes these days I use a 3d printed lug to help secure the crate. Regards Steve Nurse

Red Schwinn Repair

 

A bit stuffed!

Soup at Wecycle last Saturday: thanks Marco!

Myy attempting seatpost extraction

At 4 Beans

Bare frame with headstem in place

Headstem extraction was hard, had been aided by WD40  and revealed a fine silt that may also have gummed up the seatpost

 

Hi

I'm not sure I'd usually blog about fixing this sort of bike, but I have gathered a few photos of its progress which I want to show off. The saga started with the donation of a red Schwinn bike to Wecycle which became a project. Its stepthrough with a 3-speed hub gear. Simon sanded and resprayed the rack, but at a certain stage it was discovered the seat post was stuck. Despite Simon and Myy's best efforts it remained stuck and it hung around for a few weeks, a bit moribund.

Then last week, on the Saturday, I decided to bring it home and fix it there as I had a bare frame I thought the parts could go onto.  But I was having dinner guests that night and wanted to shop on the way home, so wheeling an extra bike wasn't that smart, and I put the retrieval off till the next day. On Sunday, I was up early, picked up the shed key, rode to Wecycle, picked up the bike (wheeling it next to me while riding my own bike) , dropped off the key, had my usual Sunday breakfast, then came home. I'm a regular at 4 Beans, and Mia and Lowell are used to me rocking up on different bikes but not with 2 at the same time. They were happy to pose with me for some photos.

Once home, the bottom bracket, cranks and front mudguard transferred easily enough, but the back mudguard and rack took a bit more work that was creative and fun. The rack angle isn't perfect but the refit has gone well sofar. Next I need to put on a new chain and reconnect the 3 speed Nexus Hub gear. Wish me luck!

Bikes on V-Line Bus- Coaches

 

Cycling in and around country towns would be more accessible if.....

bikes were allowed on Victorian country bus-coaches just like this one. 

Bikes (yes even ones like mine) are allowed on V-Line Train-Coaches, and the sky does not fall down. This was on my way to Ararat on my recent Coleraine trip. 

Hi

Recently I returned from a train and bike trip to Coleraine which is documented here . There is a bus - coach service to Coleraine, but most bikes aren't allowed to be taken on it. I believe this is only for bureaucratic reasons, not because the Bus - Coaches can't, or can't safely carry a wider variety of bikes. Recently, the whole bikes  - on - public - transport - debate has been dominated by discussions on the safety of ebikes on public transport. Just to keep it simple, I'm leaving ebikes out of this blog post.

 The government should change the rules permanently and  allow bikes on all Vline bus-coaches.  (a few lines already allow this, see here for details.) Bus-coaches are different from city buses in that they have a long wide luggage bay below the passenger seats where bicycles can easily be - and are stored. During my trip along the Great Southern Rail Trail from Yarram, I thought how great that trip would be if it started with public transport to Yarram, rather than being forced to ride the busy roads from Traralgon station to Yarram and the start of the rail trail.The regular Vline rules for bikes on bus-coaches mimic those for city buses. They allow folding bikes with 20" and smaller wheels all the time. Full size bikes are only allowed on V-line bus-coaches when the service is replacing a train service. This happens very regularly, and for day-and-week-long events such as scheduled track maintenance. The statement about bikes on replacement buses for the current weeks long Warrnambool line disruptions (here) is: "There is limited space for bikes on V/Line trains and coach replacement services"

I have carried my recumbent on train replacement bus-coaches on at least two trips, once on my way back from an Otways Audax ride, and also on a return trip to Federation University in Ballarat. The sky did not fall in when the bus-coach carried a bike, nor would it if it carried bikes on regular services. 

For the recent trip to Coleraine, I arrived by bike and public transport but for many local, interstate and international tourists this may not be possible due to time and distance - I rode more than 100k in a day on trafficked roads to and from the nearest train stations. There is some great riding and touring to be done on quiet roads and a rail trail from Coleraine to Hamilton but getting there without a car is quite hard. 

The Victorian state government is doing all it can in the current time of war and fuel crises to appease motorists, country people and commuters and keep them travelling, and getting to work affordably. It is not just about affording to get to work, people from the cities are needed in country pubs, motels, caravan parks, restaurants, cafes and shops to support tourism and towns. Subsidising diesel fuel is important too, as diesel engines run agricultural machinery and runs trucks which transport our goods.

Current Victorian measures to keep things moving include:

Free public transport for April and May, and half price public transport for the rest of the year, 

A 25 c per litre reduction in petrol tax

Rebates on car registration fees. 

Allowing bicycles on all country bus-coaches would cost nothing but provide a great service to city and country dwellers and tourists alike. At the same time it would benefit country towns economically. The change would simply be a smart way of Doing It With Already Made Stuff.

To date, I have promoted this initiative via an instagram post and by emailing my local state member of Parliament, Ms. Gabrielle De Vietri, and the state Transport Minister Gabrielle Williams.

 Just to finish off, this is all just my opinion on this, I'd love to hear from you if you agree or disagree, if you are from the city or the country, what you would like or hate about bikes on regular Vline bus-coach services , what you would do if bikes were allowed on regular V-Line bus-coach services. Please leave a comment, or my email address is cesnur@iimetro.com.au . Regards Steve Nurse

 

2025 Great Southern Rail Trail

This post is retrospective! Last year I took a trip on the Great Southern Rail trail, but have only ever documented it on Instagram. So quite a bit later, I have decided to retrieve it and put it on my blog.

Why? Well I think this was one of the only trips on my Cruzbike Quest fitted with a tailbox, and the photos should give a feel for what its like. As well, I am suddenly keen to advocate for bicycles to be allowed on V-Line coaches, and this is good source material. I have included bonus photos at the end, but otherwise this is mostly as it appeared on the Insta. 
 

A week or so ago I took the train to Traralgon and rode to Yarram to ride the great Southern Rail Trail. This post is day 1, on the train to Traralgon, Traralgon to Yarram, and in Yarram.

 

Day2 of Great Southern Rail Trail trip was Yarram to Leongatha, about 107k. Its a great rail trail, no traffic except for the occasional dog walker and a few bikes. Was delighted to get into Meeniyan and see the other (ie not Ceres) bike rim dome. Knew it was there but had forgotten about it!

Fish Creek had the best facilities, toilets, tools shelter all right there on the rail trail. Author and illustrator Allison Lester has an entire shop about 100m from the track.

There was great, consistent signage from Port Albert to Leongatha, but this fell away from Leongatha to Nyora.

 

Day 3 started at the Leongatha pub where I stayed, continued on the rail trail to Nyora, where I stopped for coffee, a ham and cheese sandwich, dim sims, a visit to the op shop. Nice setup for the start of a rail trail, with the old train station in the centre of a big park with toilets, and a shop nearby.

After Nyora, I went North. Navigation from Nyora to Tynong was old school, using a map from RACV Vicroads Country Street Map of Victoria. Some rough roads - the best of the dirt roads was about the same as the worst of the rail trail. Unfortunately there was no train or bus from Tynong to Melbourne for a few hours, but I was able to phone-navigate via less trafficked roads to the start of the Melbourne local train network. Glad I had the big rest at Nyora.

There are plans for bike / rail trails to link Nyora to the rail trail at Anderson, and also to continue to Pakenham. Bring on these bike paths! Costs would be a pittance compared to https://bigbuild.vic.gov.au/ projects like the Suburban Rail Loop and Northeast Link.