HHH ride report
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Julian Westerhout
Jul 22, 2020, 9:52:52 PM7/22/20
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COVID canceled our plan to tour in the UK on our Bilenky tandem this summer, so in partial compensation today we went for a day ride on the Illinois and Michigan Canal from Lasalle to Marseilles, Il and back on our Rivendell HHH -- about 45 miles. Nice ride, even if the path is very poorly maintained in places -- between Utica and Ottawa the path got rougher and rougher, then there was a missing bridge which required us to take the tandem down a muddy bank and wheel it across an 18" wide bridge some kind sole threw together from some old lumber. We then had to navigate a long section of limestone mud with running water -- fun! We ate lunch at Tangled Roots brew pub in Ottawa, IL (Yum!) and avoided the worst stretches of the path on the return by taking the road for 5 miles. A good day out... even if it isn't quite Cornwall, the British Peak District or Scotland!
Photos here https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPzWJoy sine Google Groups tells me i can't upload them into the message for some reason.
Julian Westerhout
Bloomington, IL
Eric Norris
Jul 22, 2020, 9:54:41 PM7/22/20
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Looks gorgeous! Someone from England would probably love to go here on vacation.
What kind of snake is that!?
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Julian Westerhout
Jul 23, 2020, 7:00:42 AM7/23/20
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That's a Northern Water Snake. Harmless, but looks a bit like a Cottonmouth, which is not.
It is a pretty corridor along the Illinois River in the middle of agricultural lands. It passes through a number of small towns from the 1900s, which have nice old downtowns that are still semi-vibrant.
Julian Westerhout
Bloomington, IL
On Wednesday, July 22, 2020 at 8:54:41 PM UTC-5, Eric Norris wrote:
Looks gorgeous! Someone from England would probably love to go here on vacation.
What kind of snake is that!?
On Jul 22, 2020, at 6:52 PM, Julian Westerhout <weste...@gmail.com> wrote:
COVID canceled our plan to tour in the UK on our Bilenky tandem this summer, so in partial compensation today we went for a day ride on the Illinois and Michigan Canal from Lasalle to Marseilles, Il and back on our Rivendell HHH -- about 45 miles. Nice ride, even if the path is very poorly maintained in places -- between Utica and Ottawa the path got rougher and rougher, then there was a missing bridge which required us to take the tandem down a muddy bank and wheel it across an 18" wide bridge some kind sole threw together from some old lumber. We then had to navigate a long section of limestone mud with running water -- fun! We ate lunch at Tangled Roots brew pub in Ottawa, IL (Yum!) and avoided the worst stretches of the path on the return by taking the road for 5 miles. A good day out... even if it isn't quite Cornwall, the British Peak District or Scotland!Photos here https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPzWJoy sine Google Groups tells me i can't upload them into the message for some reason.Julian WesterhoutBloomington, IL--
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Mark Roland
Jul 23, 2020, 8:31:11 AM7/23/20
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Looks like a lovely day on the bike, not a bad consolation.
You may have posted this already, but as an experienced tandemist, how are you liking the HHH? I assume the Bilenky is a more traditional road setup with drops? I will be taking possession of a medium HHH shortly. I have a nice 26" Santana that I "converted" to be as HHH-like as possible, with 2.1" tires and Boscos. I'm hoping the HHH takes the easy cruise handling to another, Clem-like level--it's an expensive (and time-consuming) upgrade, and who knows how much longer my son will want to ride attached to dad?!
I should probably start another thread, but can you tell me what hubs, wheels, & tires you are running? Did you build it up yourself? Any tricks I should be aware of? (I have the Riv tandem Silver chainset, some Boscos, not much else) If other HHH owners want to chime in....
Julian Westerhout
Jul 23, 2020, 9:28:16 AM7/23/20
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Mark,
We like the HHH a lot. It is indeed a different beast than our Bilenky, which is a 650b S&S coupled drop-bar tourer. The HHH is more upright, and better for rides like this one. we also use it in town (going on a bike club ice cream ride on it tonight). On the road it still performs reasonably well, if not quite as fast as our Bilenky (much of which I put down to the riding position), but it has major fun factor. It rides well -- I also have a Clem H -- it is roughly analogous.
It has a Shutter dynamo front hub, a Velocity tandem rear hub, Alex DM24 rims. Tires are Maxxis Re-Fuse 650 x 2.0 (their mixed labeling) -- they're great for a mix of road and generally hard pack/gravel type riding. The wheels were supplied by Riv. We were in the first batch -- bought most of the parts from Riv, built it up myself. Not too tricky if you're a confifdent mechanic.
Julian Westerhout
Bloomington, IL
Robert Tilley
Jul 23, 2020, 9:56:36 PM7/23/20
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I'm not really an experienced tandem rider but did have a Bike Friday tandem in the past. I just picked up a HHH and built it up myself. I had no issues building it up at all. It went better than any other bike really. I went with Riv's recommended chain lengths and it works fine. I may shorten the drive chain since I'm getting a lot of chain slap. Once built I didn't have to adjust anything. Even the B17 saddle tilt and height was spot on.
The only issue I had was that the rear spacing actually measures 140 instead of 145 as it should be. This makes it a bit of a pain to get the rear wheel in since I did put on a disc drag brake. Riv failed to provide crank bolts with their Silver cranks so check that before you start your build or you could be delayed. I scavenged some from other bikes the garage.
I love the way the bike rides. It's comfortable but still feels very quick. I went with a fairly standard build with the exception of the Jones Loop bars for the Captain. Some pictures of mine are at the link below.
Robert Tilley
San Diego, CA
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Michael Hechmer
Jul 26, 2020, 9:45:10 PM7/26/20
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Thanks for the post. Since you are in the general vicinity, I heartily recommend the Petit Tran de Nord out of Montreal. Of course you will have to wait for the border to reopen. Pat and I did a four day ride on our bilenkey tandem a few years ago and enjoyed every day.
Michael
Deborah Coffin
Jul 27, 2020, 2:31:27 PM7/27/20
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Thanks for mentioning that! I’m up in Montreal frequently during the summers I spend in the Adirondacks, and I didn’t know about it. Looks fun.
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