Hello from Doug and Jennifer Smart (and Daisy)

[Doug Smart]

Hello all, 

We are excited new Pino owners, having a blast, only 5 rides in. We're both just 50+, married 30 years, with 3 adult children, and I'm a keen MTB rider. My wife, Jennifer, has a connective tissue disorder, which seriously restricts her mobility (she walks with crutches, and we use a wheelchair in big spaces, like airports). She has taken to the Pino like a duck to water, and in her first week of riding, is managing 2 hours rides with ease and asking to go further.

We have a rather curious domicile - we're born and raised in South Africa, migrated to Australia in our early 20's, and we've lived in Melbourne, Fiji, Sydney, Toronto, and Johannesburg over the past 24 years. We stopped work at the end of June 2018 (I don't like that R word) and moved from South Africa to Malta, which we intend to use as a European base over the next few years, before returning to Australia (where our children and their families live). Jen brought our Hase Pino back from the UK last week, we set it up, and so far we've found riding on the roads in Malta to be much more pleasant than we expected. On the downside, I have been rudely awakened to find that we really struggle with hills. It seems that gravity sucks exponentially on the Pino, compared to riding solo. We're using granny gear on gradients of 4%, and I'm finding myself planning routes that minimise elevation. We're going to have to work out what to do with this aspect. 

I've had a brief browse of several topics in the group, and I've read many of Chris's Pino blogs. I really appreciate the insights I've gained from both, so thank you to you, Chris, for sharing your deep experience and for creating a forum like this.

We're off to Perth, Australia at the end of the week to see the kids for 6 weeks. We're taking Daisy with us. I've ridden in Perth often (solo) on previous visits, it's very flat and the bike paths are very well developed, so I'm confident that we're going to have a wonderful time. We're even taking a good night light to allow night riding, in case it's too hot during the day.

I've attached some pics from the last week to reassure you all that winter isn't too shabby in Malta.

Regards,

Doug

[Bob Bending]

Welcome fellow Pinonaughts. My wife Karon has mixed connective tissue too. As a result she has diabetes type 1 and 60% lung capacity, so the Pino is great for her. We have a Cannondale T2 which is nice and light and ok for more brisk rides up to about 25-30 miles but the Pino is a lot more comfy for her and we can ride all day – but we do find after about 40 miles on the Pino, the fun factor diminishes somewhat. And, as you say, it's not the best machine for climbing but we've done some touring and it's a great load carrier, even if some of the hills have to be push-pedalled (I engage bottom gear, she stays seated and pedals and I push, steer alongside. She actually finds walking uphill harder than cycling, hence our slightly different approach.

Have fun on your nice looking Pino! 

[Chris Rust]

Hi Doug, Great to hear your story. It's always an adjustment when you find yourself pulling two bikes worth of load up a hill without twice your usual power. Obviously I don't know how much effort Jennifer is able to provide but I had a thought.

It's always worth experimenting with the front chainwheel size. We have a slightly bigger one on the front as I'm a bit of a spinner and we've had times when Isobel has not been able to keep up the cadence, let alone add any effort. Early on I had to learn to choose a higher gear than I would normally expect to use and it was strange on an uphill to change up and see the speed increasing. Giving Isobel slightly higher gears has the same effect. She appreciates having something to push against. Of course once you are on a steep hill in your lowest gear it's a slog whatever the setup. 

Of course the day came when we decided to go electric, you have 20 years on us so I guess you can bide your time. I'm not sure the ideal electric setup has arrived yet.

.........................

Chris Rust

ch...@chrisrust.net

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[larry black]

Welcome aboard Linda and I are on the run from winter ourselves volunteering on a tandem rally Down Under wishing we could bring some of this blistering NZ sun back to DC In 3 days.

Larry Black

--

Larry Black
Mt Airy Bicycle
College Park Bicycle
Maryland, USA
www.bike123.com
la...@bike123.com

[Doug Smart]

Thanks Bob,

The push-pedal is a great idea, Jennifer also can not walk up hills. I wouldn’t have thought of it (I thought that captain’s drive needs to be turning to allow the stoker to pedal, but as I write this I realize that as long as the captains drive is allowed to rotate, it will work.) Nice one. 

Regards,

Doug

On 17 Dec 2018, at 11:07 pm, 'Bob Bending' via PinoTalk <pino...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Welcome fellow Pinonaughts. My wife Karon has mixed connective tissue too. As a result she has diabetes type 1 and 60% lung capacity, so the Pino is great for her. We have a Cannondale T2 which is nice and light and ok for more brisk rides up to about 25-30 miles but the Pino is a lot more comfy for her and we can ride all day – but we do find after about 40 miles on the Pino, the fun factor diminishes somewhat. And, as you say, it's not the best machine for climbing but we've done some touring and it's a great load carrier, even if some of the hills have to be push-pedalled (I engage bottom gear, she stays seated and pedals and I push, steer alongside. She actually finds walking uphill harder than cycling, hence our slightly different approach.

Have fun on your nice looking Pino! 

--

[Doug Smart]

Chris,

Good thought, thank you. I am also somewhat of a spinner after years riding solo, and I have found that at higher cadence Jennifer can lose the “spin” and start stomping a bit, giving an on/off effect to her power transfer. 

We’re still brand new, so I’m also expecting that she will gain strength and her technique will improve, but I’ll experiment with cadence a bit more, with your insight in mind. 

Regards,

Doug

[Doug Smart]

Thanks Larry,

Lovely pictures 

On 18 Dec 2018, at 12:31 am, larry black <bike...@gmail.com> wrote:

Welcome aboard Linda and I are on the run from winter ourselves volunteering on a tandem rally Down Under wishing we could bring some of this blistering NZ sun back to DC In 3 days.

Larry Black

<IMG_4266.jpg>

<IMG_4187.jpeg>

[David Hunter]

Great photos - and well done for travelling, presumably by air with the Pino!  That is something we're not sure how to do. 

I totally agree that as a road cyclist I like a cadence of about 85/90, but as an ex-recumbent cyclist myself, the pino "stoker" needs a slower one.  We put a smaller ring on the freewheel rather than a bigger chainring on and that works well.

Happy pinoing!

David

[Doug Smart]

Thanks David,

That’s me, exactly, 85/90. I’m particularly interested in what quantum of change you made to the freewheel ring. Chris, I’d also love to hear how much change you made to the stoker drive ring.

Regards,

Doug

[Doug Smart]

David,

I have a lot of experience travelling by air with a solo MTB, our big question was about how to divide up the Pino, and how much disassembly to undertake. We’re going with two cardboard bike boxes and minimal disassembly (wheels still on, for example) after consulting with a guy in South Africa who has a lot of experience with cycle touring, and a lot of experience taking the Pino by air from South Africa to Europe.  His advice was very helpful. We did a practice pack a couple of days ago, and Jennifer has since made one of the boxes smaller to create a more perfect match with the rear half. We fly on Thursday, I’m looking forward to it.

regards,

Doug

On 18 Dec 2018, at 10:11, David Hunter <goo...@huntercooper.com> wrote:

[Chris Rust]

I'm racking my brains Doug and beginning to think that we never actually made the change as it felt like low speed steep hills were the priority (we have a lot of those round here). Memory playing tricks as it was quite a long time ago. I'll have a look today. 

But we did fit smaller cranks to reduce Isobel's knee extension and increase the load (if not change the cadence). Actually they weren't smaller cranks, John at JD Tandems just found some cranks with enough meat and drilled two shorter holes. It made a difference.

.........................

Chris Rust

ch...@chrisrust.net

Designer and Moderator of the Folk Music Map and the Sheffield Trees at Risk Map

Break a Leg! Songs for voice and clarinet by Karen Hisom & Chris Rust

Documentary in Song. Let us Remember Them Tonight.

First prize in Edinburgh Folk Club Songwriting Competition June 2015 (Yay!!)

[Doug Smart]

Thanks, Chris

[David Hunter]

Hi Doug,

We now have a Stronglight 34T on the freewheel for the stoker.  Sorry, I can't remember what we started out at, but it was the OEM ring - I'm guessing about a 36T.

Bw,

David

[Doug Smart]

Perfect,

Thanks David. I have a 34T in the garage, I’ll have a look if it’s compatible.

[David Hunter]

Having said that - I also did think about shorter cranks, for Alison's little legs, as I'm pretty sure that's a good idea too, but haven't got around to it.

[Doug Smart]

Hi David,

I just checked, and your guess was on the money, OEM ring is 36T. I dug through my box of tricks and found a brand new red RaceFace 34T Narrow Wide, intended for my 1x MTB, but never used. I’ll give that a crack, it looks like it will fit ...

On 18 Dec 2018, at 11:05, David Hunter <goo...@huntercooper.com> wrote:

[Bob Bending]

Hi Doug, Yes, if you try the pedal-push, just watch your leg and ankle on the rotating pedal. We also had a larger chainring put on the stoker cranks for Karon - 44T, and John at JD drilled out the cranks at 155 for shorter alternative, which she uses - she's about 5' 4". We have a Rohloff on the back and a 38T to 15 which gives us a reasonably low gear for climbing at the expense of a little top end but it suits our style on the Pino.