|
GREENSPEEDER Greenspeed's
bi-monthly newsletter |
|
 Greenspeed's youngest Road Tester, Amielle, 3, tests the new GTU "Ute" with her father, Paul.
|
The Never Ending Story
Each time I come to write this newsletter, I think "It can't be that time again already?!" and then the next thought is "What on earth am I going to write about?" However it always seems to be, that given 5 quiet minutes with a pen and paper, I suddenly have a longer list of topics than I can cover in the time available. Such is the pace here at Greenspeed, with such an enthusiastic and dedicated band of workers. As they say, time flies when you are having fun :-)
|
|
Contents:- Please click any picture for a larger image.
|
|
|
1.
GT3 Progress & Delivery Due to preparations for the Taipei Bike Show, the production and delivery of the 1st 50 frames was delayed a couple of weeks. So in order to have road test trikes at upcoming bike shows, and to supply dealers who have been waiting the longest for their test trikes, we have been building a small batch of 12 GT3 trikes ourselves. We have also decided to air lift the first batch of 50 frames, to attempt to keep deliveries on time. They should arrive in our assembly factory for powder coating the week beginning 19th April. Thus baring any further delays, deliveries should start around the middle of May. 44 of the 1st 50 GT3s have already been pre-sold, and May is the date we have been given by Shimano for delivery of the next batch of parts, so hopefully the delivery of the next batch of 150 GT3s should start sometime in June.
|
|
|
2. GT3 Dealers Here is a list of dealers who have ordered one or more GT3s for demonstration at their shops. These are in order of order placement, so this will be the approximate order in which they will receive their GT3s. So if you are interested in road testing a GT3, and your dealer is not listed, I'd suggest contacting them and expressing your interest. If there is no Greenspeed dealer in your area, and your local recumbent dealer is not interested in dealing with an overseas company, we have set up a new USA Distributor so that shops can now order from within the USA. Shops in Europe can also order from Westcountry Recumbents or Cab-bike, as well as direct. Hostel Shoppe 929 Main Street, Stevens Point, WI 54481, USA The Bike Rack 2930 Campton Hills Rd., St. Charles, IL 60175, USA 2 Main Street, Broomfleet, Brough, Williams St, Watson, Canberra, ACT, AUSTRALIA Mt. Airy Bicycles 4540 Old National Pike, Mt. Airy, MD 21771, USA Valley Bikes 41 2nd Ave. NW, Carmel, IN 46032, USA RBR - Recumbent Bike Riders, Inc. 1306 S. Atherton St., State College, PA 16801,
USA Epic Cycles 81 Baroona Road, Paddington, QLD 4064, AUSTRALIA Kurt-Schumacher-Str. 15 Gold Country Cyclery 3081 Alhambra Dr. Suite 103, Cameron Park, CA 95682, USA The Bike Hub 1025 N. Broadway, DePere(Green Bay), WI 54115, USA PBW Folding Bicycles Commerce 11, #7, Chico, CA 95927, USA Recumbent Central 505 W. Dunlap Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85021, USA Zach Kaplan Cycles 1518 Buena Vista Ave., Alameda, CA 94501, USA Harris Cyclery 1353 Washington Street,
West Newton, MA 02465, USA HaSo's Velo-Lade Oberdorfstrasse 1, CH-8340 Hinwil, SWITZERLAND Triple Shift Ajo Bikes 1301 E. Ajo Way, Suite 117, Tuscon, AZ 85713, USA Full list of Authorised Greenspeed Dealers.
|
|
|
Greenspeed will be exhibiting the GT3, and other trikes, at two international bike shows, this month and next month. 1. Spezi in Germany, on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th of April. On the Friday there will be a Velomobile Seminar, where I will give a short presentation on a new type of puncture proof tyre we are developing especially for velomobiles. Saturday and Sunday will be the Exhibition, and we will have both the GT3 and a Tandem available for test rides. Plus we will have our new SLR Race Trike there. (Super Low Racer) This is a very interesting exhibition, with many, many different types of cycles to examine and ride. For more info., please see :- www.spezialradmesse.de 2. New York City Bike Show, U.S.A., on the 29th, 30th of April, and 1st of May. This is a consumer show, and there will be a number of GT3s for both viewing and riding. Plus Larry Black from Mount Airy Cycles will spend some time in our booth. Mount Airy Cycles have ordered 4 GT3s, so if you are able to come, you could speak to Larry or us about the new GT3. For more info, please see :- http://www.bicycleshows.us/nyc/index.php My Parts Manager and daughter, Rachael, and I, would love to spend some time talking to you about trikes at either of these shows. We really value the opportunity to talk to customers face to face, in different countries.
|
|
|
4. USA Greenspeed Dealer Visits. Rachael and I will take the opportunity of using a 'Round the World ticket to visit four Greenspeed dealers, as we head back across the USA towards LA, and towards Oz. While we would love to visit all GS dealers, sadly this is not possible, given the fact we have to do some work at Greenspeed! Here are the dealers we will visit :- Sunday 2nd May RBR - Recumbent Bike Riders, Inc. 1306 S. Atherton St., State College, PA 16801 Monday 3rd May Valley Bikes 41 2nd Ave. NW, Carmel, IN 46032 Wednesday 5th May Hostel Shoppe 929 Main Street, Stevens Point, WI 54481 Friday 7th of May Best of Bents 7580 Grant Pl, Arvada, CO 80002 We will be bringing a GT3 with us for demonstrations and test rides, just in case any of the dealers have not got their demo trikes by then. We are keen to see, talk, and listen to as many riders and potential riders as possible, as only by listening to you guys, can we best suit your needs. So please contact the shops to find out the details, and be there! We also hope to view the riding conditions ;-)
|
|
|
5. 2004 Trike
Upgrades
For 2004 we have upgraded the specification on the GTR, GTO, & GTC, to "81 speed" by using the Shimano 105 52/42/30 Hollowtech cranks, the SRAM PC 59 9 speed chain, the Shimano Dura Ace 9 speed bar end shifters, and a SRAM 7.0, 9 speed 11/32 cassette. The integral dynamo bracket is now standard equipment on these trikes, so that the German 6 & 12 volt B&M dynamo systems can be easily retro fitted, as well as the Swiss LightSPIN dynamo. These upgrades are at NO EXTRA COST, and the base price remains the same as it was in 2003. The GTT Tandem Trike will retain the 72 speed system using the Sugino RD 7000 cranks with the lifting ramps and pins for faster gear changing, as the 105 cranks are not available for tandems, and the splined BBs are too short for the GTT. The 8 speed system also shifts better than the 9 on the tandem, with the long cable runs. The GTS and the GTX, have had their specs. upgraded to Shimano Ultegra equipment, again at no extra cost.
|
|
|
6. New Greenspeed GTU "Utility" Beside the use of cars, another large source of pollution in our cities is the use of commercial vehicles. In fact commercial vehicles are used for longer periods of time than private cars, and thus generally cause more pollution per vehicle. So I've had the desire to design and built some commercial HPVs for some time. The 1st of these is the GTU "Utility". The car/truck "ute", or "pick-up" as it is known in the USA, is an Australian invention, designed to carry the farmer's wife to church on Sundays, and pigs to market on Mondays. The Greenspeed Ute has been designed to take more stuff than one can fit onto a trike and luggage trailer, and to be more convenient to handle, easier to load and unload, and more efficient. By using only three wheels, instead of four, as used by many load carrying HPVs, we have less weight and less drag. In fact the body of the Ute is no wider than the rider's arms, so that there is no increase in air drag over the standard Greenspeed GTR or GTO. The biggest surprise for me, was finding out that on the road, it was just as fast as my GTS! The frame is all Cro Mo 4130, the same as our GTR and GTO, and the panels are aluminium, as is the floor. The Ute is made in three "box" sizes, 2, 3 and 4 feet long in the main box. The body is continues over the rear wheel to improve appearance, and to provide extra space, which can be partitioned off from the rest of the cargo area. The one shown is the 3 footer. Not shown are the three different lids available. The lid can be either a flat metal top, a domed top, or a tarp.. With the flat lid, extra stuff could be tied down on top. Capacity of the 3 footer is 300 litres or 10.5 cubic feet, with the flat lid, and 100 kg or 220 lbs, in addition to the rider. All the normal GS options are available, like disc brakes, the Rohloff rear hub, the Schlumpf drive, etc.. The expected use is for commercial couriers in city areas, but the 1st order was for touring use, and five have been ordered by an advertising company to carry billboards in central Sydney!
|
|
|
7.
Greenspeed Racing
The 24 hour Pedal Prix races in Australia for schools have been running since 1985, and have grown in size ever year, with over 200 teams competing at the larger events. For the 2nd Maryborough event in 1992, Paul designed and built a race trike, and with only two other riders managed to come 3rd against teams who were using six riders. I was surprised at how much faster this trike was than our touring trikes, so features of this trike, the lightweight frame, and 20'' wheels all round, were soon used in the design of our new GTS Sports Tourer, and then our very successful GTR Touring Trikes. This year Paul took up the challenge again, and built a racer using a new type of front geometry I had designed for our new race trike, the SLR. This tilts the wheels into the turn to counteract tyre distortion, and improve the grip through the corners. A "Corex" body was used, and some experimental composite wheels were used on the front. An American Classic rear hub, 24-14/15g SB spokes in an AeroHead rim, and an alloy 12/25 cassette were used at the rear. Tyres were Schwalbe Stelvio, 28-349. With three other staff members, Scott, Owen, and Mello, plus two friends, Barry and Michael, we had a full team of six riders. The Event was the Wonthaggi Human Powered Grand Prix which has been run by Wonthaggi Secondary College for about 6 years, and this year there were 52 school and community teams. It is run on a 1.4 km street and track circuit with many tight corners. For details see:- http://www.wonthaggisc.vic.edu.au/hpv/index.html The timing system is so good that every lap is timed to one thousands of a second for every vehicle. This can be a fantastic tool for teams to improve their performance. See :- http://www.racetime.com.au/?event=u0401 The race started at noon, and trike performed very well on the corners, with the riders being able to pick and choose their lines through the corners. By lap 85 they had worked their way up to 1st place, and at one stage were 15 laps in front of the field. Then at night there was a protest against their headlight, which was a single LED. Eventually the protest was dismissed as the Luxon had passed scrutineering. In the morning, at about 8am, after being awake all night, Paul decided to go for a shower. At this point Scott tried to squeeze through a small gap, and was pushed into the "Leggo Blocks" by another trike, rolled it, and was hit from the back, by yet another trike. At the same time the tyre blew out. In their haste in the pits, an untested lightweight wheel was fitting by mistake, instead of the spare. This collapsed after one and half laps, and they had to wait for the breakdown trailer to be taken back to the pits. By this stage one of the younger riders had pulled out after doing only 1 hr 20min, so the other riders had to do more, and Owen was still suffering from having the flu for two weeks before the race. So the other riders were getting tired, and their lead was reduced to 5 laps with 1/2 an hour to go! They managed to hang on, and won by about 3 laps. Paul is now planing next year' race trike :-)
|
|
|
8. Fairing Progress
After trying a number of fibreglass full fairings, and finding them too heavy, too noisy, too hot, and too hard to see out of in the rain, I've decided to experiment with a "Corex" head-out fairing for commuting use this winter. The good part about using "Corex" is that it is much faster and easier to work with than composites. All you need is a knife, some tape, and Zip ties! I've used an aluminium frame, but this is not necessary, and some people have used PVC tubing. It is also lighter and quieter than fibreglass. The only downside is that it does not look as good. So once I'm happy with the performance and shape, I'll look into having them made in a better looking plastic. After promising myself a faired trike for the winter for many years, I'm hoping to finally succeed this year! Ian Sims April 2004
|
|
Greenspeed
Recumbents
69 Mountain Gate Drive
Ferntree Gully
VIC 3156
AUSTRALIA
Phone +61 (0) 3 9758 5541
Email ian@greenspeed.com.au
Web Site www.greenspeed.com.au