Murray 1200 preview

Sunny mastering the wooden bike

Retaining lug on side of new suspension block

New light and the start of a fairing

Tailbox under construction

Tailbox with rounded corners

Shutter Precision Dynamo Hub

and other bits and bobs.  The RHYN device is a USB charger that gets an input voltage from the dynamo.

Hi

For the last month or so my aluminium bike has been off the road and I have been schlepping around on my wooden recumbent.  But its been off the road with a purpose!  I've entered the Murray 1200 Audax ride.  It is a clockwise 1200k loop through Southern NSW and Northern victoria, starting in Robinvale.  Its coming up in a week, and I've been fettling the Aluminium bike for the ride which has included
*  Replace seat and tailbox.  They were getting a bit tatty and I wanted to try putting "go faster" curves in the base of the box.  Some of the inspiration for my methods come from Pete Heal and some from "instructables".  To bend my corflute with the grain, I put a single slit along a set of flutes and used pvc pipe as a bending template.  Then I put gaffer tape over the inside rolled section of the plastic.
*  Installed a dynamo hub from Shutter Precision.  This is not a buy and go thing.  I bought the hub online through ebay, had it fitted into a rim by Abbotsford Cycles, then fitted the resulting wheel into the bike.  Lastly, add lights and hey presto, an Audax (all night riding) lighting system.
*  Reworked the rear fork and suspension as mentioned here.  The latest change was to retain the suspension block between steel block on th rear triangle.  This takes some of the slop out of the suspension.
*  Added seat padding!  I have attempted some quite long rides with only minimal seat padding.  Believe me, its a pain in the bum!  I have 2 layers of camping mat foam under my bottom and one layer for the lowest 6" of my back.  Over the whole lot is a layer of ACS10 / Ventisit open, ventilating seat pad.

So 1 more week to riding time.  I'm not sure if I'll finish the front fairing I've started. but will be lining up in Robinvale in just over a week.

Oh, and Sunny, a design student from Monash University has started some project work on my style of bike.  I've lent him my wooden bike so its off my hands for a while.

Here are some links for those intent on following my progress.  Lots of people going on the ride will have spotter trackers, or the follow-me app enabled on their smart phones.  There is a website to follow all those technologically advanced people but I won't be blipping on it unless something fairly dramatic changes.  I will be trackable via old school updates of the checkpoint spreadsheet. Christine will here from me via mobile quite often, she is on (03) 94818290

Online map.

Overnight stops: (Friday April 4 Robinvale)
                           Sat April 5 start Robinvale 0500, overnight Jerilderee @ 365k
                           Sunday April 6 Rochester @ 703k,
                           Monday April 7 Warracknabeal @ 965k
                          Tuesday April 8 Robinvale@1200 k


Checkpoint Spreadsheet

Online tracking At the time of writing Pete Heal and Tim Taylor are riding the volunteers ride and can be tracked.

Twitter Pete Heal is posting as I write.