Lowered the shoulder/neck support for better breathing and aerodynamics. Reduced the track three inches. Shortened the steering linkage arms and tucked the steering linkage behind the frame crossmember. Cut off derailleur post. To do: fair mainframe into crossmember and seat. Add trailing edges to crossmember, enclosing steering linkage. Break BritC's Putah Creek TT trike record. Figure out how to beat his overall recumbent record too.

New crossmenber

Next step: hide that steering linkage behind the crossmember and remove the derailleur post.

Crossbar modification

I added an alternate crossbar and will cut off the original. The original was fully exposed under the bike and the new one will be attached above the main tube instead of below and tucked into the window of my body. It should be a significant reduction in frontal area.

more trike racing mods

I ditched the stock seat and replaced it with the one I had on my dual-20 lowracer and bonded it to the frame. I did the same with the upper back/neck support. This much improved the handling as the stock seat flexed quite a bit laterally. It also allowed me to be more laidback. In the interest of simplicity and cleaning up the rear end aerodynamically I beefed up the upper stays and cut off the lower ones. I also reinforced the main tube to compensate for the loss of torsional stability. It's a rock now.

Eventually I want to shorten the steering linkage arms so that the linkage is tucked behind the frame cross-member. Once that is done the plan is to add a trailing edge to the cross-member. I've toyed with the idea of reducing the track a couple of inches but I might be making more trouble for myself than it's worth.

I hoping to do my first TT at Putah Creek in March (if they start that early).

lower bottom bracket

My high BB experiment didn't work too well. That position didn't deactivate my quads enough but it sure did drain them of oxygenated blood. It's very easy for them to go anaerobic. I lowered the BB 9". It looks more aero this way, too. I haven't ridden it like this but it should feel very much like my other laidback bikes. Who knows, given there is a slight forward tilt to my position compared to my two-wheelers, I might see a little more power.

A couple of years ago I saw a picture of a British homebuilt lowracer with a laidback seat and a high bottom bracket and thought that if I ever built another race bike I would build it like that. I forgot about that idea and later built a lowracer with a relatively low BB. Lately I've been riding with an extra high BB and seat angle on my trike. While my legs, the knee area specifically, really liked this I found the position to be systemically stressful and tired of it. I laid back the seat to see how it feels with the high BB (14" over seat height) and initially, surprisingly, it feels very good and natural. I'll train with it and see how it goes. Hopefully I'll be able to activate my posterior chain more while not paying much of, if any, an aerodynamic penalty.

My goal, as of now, will be to beat BritCPower's trike record at the Putah Creek TT.

BB lift

I raised the bottom bracket about three inches. There is about a 13" seat/BB differential now. I did this to reduce the activation of the quadriceps during the push portion of the pedal stroke. This shifts the effort from my predominately fast-twitch quads to my slow-twitch glutes and hamstrings. It's also easier on the knees. Given the upright seat I'm guessing it'll be more aero too.

I had to move the idler bolt forward and down a bit to clear the chain under the seat.