Very nice interview! I met Simon and Rita just a few days ago (8/25/24) along the Erie Canal Trail in New York, U.S. So glad that they are able to take the time for this epic journey.
we need to offer a couple of mics to grin tech soon! ;-) Thank you for the amazing content tough, as always. Congrats to Rita and Simon ! It's an outstanding journey ;-) Vive la Suisse !
I don't know how they can afford to get all that stuff and then tour for months/years. I can only take a few weeks off from work. I am slowly building out my solar touring setup but this stuff is expensive! This rig is absolutely amazing! Simon and Rita, your ingenuity is inspiring!
Well, bike touring is actually not that expensive given you come from a rich western country (~2000$ / month for the two of us), the big investment is quitting your job and getting rid of all your stuff..
I agree with Simon. In addition, if you're a fairly thrifty 25 year old, you should own a car and/or some assets totalling some ten thousand or so, and by the time you're 30+ you ought to have some tens of thousands to put down as a deposit on a house. In this context, even if your all singing, all dancing bicycle comes to ten thousand, it is not such a large amount of money in the grand scheme of things. Especially if you couple up with somebody and pool resources.
Great to see another team riding their Solartandem hihi :) With our Solartandem Azub Twin we can relate 100% to the struggles with rear wheel strength. But the advantages of tandem bikes are just to good! You're not just two riders doing the same trip- you're really ONE team! Have good ride☀🚲🚲
Nazca brand is an excellent choice, as it is one of the few companies that made bikes from CroMo steel. Unfortunately, they no longer produce bikes due to COVID. I discovered their company by accident in the past when I was searching for my recumbent bike, 15k km later and it was the best decision of my life. Thanks for sharing
That is fascinating. I can't wait for the solar e-bike tech to get mature and hopefully lighter and simpler. With regen! I want to follow the sun all day long.
Great stuff! I am from Switzerland as well. Recently I acquired a HP Velotechnik Speedmachine recumbent bicycle and consider converting it to electric first and then to solar.
That's an awesome rig with everything for a road trip on a bike. Saw a You Tube of pro bicycle racer that has a trailer set up for eBiking with solar on the trailer or could have.
It's a very innovative and clever build. However, I think that they could have got the benefits of efficient low-speed crawling with a Bafang mid-drive (probably mounted to the captain's crankset, and the benefits of regen with a Direct Drive hub motor on the front wheel. This would be much simpler to implement, offer redundancy, and get some of the heavy items towards the front of the bike thereby slightly reducing the load on the rear wheel.
We had one day where riding got sketchy coming from Red Canyon State Park in California. Sidewind gusts of around 90km/h according to the local weather station, so we seeked shelter and were good again in the morning. We don't tilt the panels while riding though.
If you cut back into the US, do be sure to go through the lakes country of Minnesota, stop in Minneapolis, and route through the Great Lakes - the inland oceans of North America. Try to visit Mackinac Island - A bicycle-only island in Lake Huron. For getting back across the Atlantic - have you considered a repositioning cruise? They usually happen spring/fall and are reduced rate as they have less/no sightseeing stops. Another unique option, look for ships taking the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway and see if you can be part of another crew.
There's also a lot of Norwegian descendant culture in Minnesota - last names, town names, food - even a replica Viking ship that crossed the Atlantic 40 years ago, the Hjemkomst in Moorhead, MN.
Thank you for the ideas, Mackinac sounds cool! Regarding cruise ships: we are aware of the possibility, but they are about the one mean of transport consuming even more energy than airplanes. So we still try to find other options, and would probably rather fly to Iceland instead.
Really cool setup but I have that same motor and have the same problems. The way it is geared it has no torque and hates low speeds and just chokes and dies off the line or on steep hills in a cargo configuration unless you pedal hard to keep minimum speed above 10 KPH. Seems like there is a gap in the market to re-gear these motors to get a heavy bike off the line and give slow speed assistance even if it spins out at a relatively low speed.
Unfortunately regearing the motor internally is not so easy, as the sun gear is basically as small as it can be and fit over the axle. You would need a totally different internal gear topology, and that basically means a new motor design from scratch. I certainly agree that there is a gap in the market for a 2-3kg motor that can do like 80-100 Nm of torque by virtue of a high gear ratio (like 20:1) but with a low top speed of ~100-150 rpm. It's possible in principle. In the meantime, the solution of Simon is quite elegant!
Very nice interview! I met Simon and Rita just a few days ago (8/25/24) along the Erie Canal Trail in New York, U.S. So glad that they are able to take the time for this epic journey.
we need to offer a couple of mics to grin tech soon! ;-)
Thank you for the amazing content tough, as always.
Congrats to Rita and Simon ! It's an outstanding journey ;-)
Vive la Suisse !
What a fun and interesting couple. Enjoyed the interview very much.
Just a great interview!
Thanks so much!
That was incredibly delightful and informative too!
I don't know how they can afford to get all that stuff and then tour for months/years. I can only take a few weeks off from work. I am slowly building out my solar touring setup but this stuff is expensive! This rig is absolutely amazing! Simon and Rita, your ingenuity is inspiring!
Well, bike touring is actually not that expensive given you come from a rich western country (~2000$ / month for the two of us), the big investment is quitting your job and getting rid of all your stuff..
I agree with Simon. In addition, if you're a fairly thrifty 25 year old, you should own a car and/or some assets totalling some ten thousand or so, and by the time you're 30+ you ought to have some tens of thousands to put down as a deposit on a house. In this context, even if your all singing, all dancing bicycle comes to ten thousand, it is not such a large amount of money in the grand scheme of things. Especially if you couple up with somebody and pool resources.
Great to see another team riding their Solartandem hihi :) With our Solartandem Azub Twin we can relate 100% to the struggles with rear wheel strength. But the advantages of tandem bikes are just to good! You're not just two riders doing the same trip- you're really ONE team! Have good ride☀🚲🚲
Nazca brand is an excellent choice, as it is one of the few companies that made bikes from CroMo steel. Unfortunately, they no longer produce bikes due to COVID. I discovered their company by accident in the past when I was searching for my recumbent bike, 15k km later and it was the best decision of my life. Thanks for sharing
Yes, our Quetzal never let us down, they figured it out!
That is fascinating. I can't wait for the solar e-bike tech to get mature and hopefully lighter and simpler. With regen! I want to follow the sun all day long.
Great stuff! I am from Switzerland as well. Recently I acquired a HP Velotechnik Speedmachine recumbent bicycle and consider converting it to electric first and then to solar.
These guys got it figured out. Loved it.
Wonderful and heartwarming!
That's an awesome rig with everything for a road trip on a bike. Saw a You Tube of pro bicycle racer that has a trailer set up for eBiking with solar on the trailer or could have.
It's a very innovative and clever build.
However, I think that they could have got the benefits of efficient low-speed crawling with a Bafang mid-drive (probably mounted to the captain's crankset, and the benefits of regen with a Direct Drive hub motor on the front wheel. This would be much simpler to implement, offer redundancy, and get some of the heavy items towards the front of the bike thereby slightly reducing the load on the rear wheel.
wow, mind blown, thanks
Beautiful interview! I wondered if there were any issues with wind and stability during their trip so far. Safe travels!
We had one day where riding got sketchy coming from Red Canyon State Park in California. Sidewind gusts of around 90km/h according to the local weather station, so we seeked shelter and were good again in the morning. We don't tilt the panels while riding though.
Go Minneapolis Sculpture Garden !
If you cut back into the US, do be sure to go through the lakes country of Minnesota, stop in Minneapolis, and route through the Great Lakes - the inland oceans of North America. Try to visit Mackinac Island - A bicycle-only island in Lake Huron.
For getting back across the Atlantic - have you considered a repositioning cruise? They usually happen spring/fall and are reduced rate as they have less/no sightseeing stops. Another unique option, look for ships taking the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway and see if you can be part of another crew.
There's also a lot of Norwegian descendant culture in Minnesota - last names, town names, food - even a replica Viking ship that crossed the Atlantic 40 years ago, the Hjemkomst in Moorhead, MN.
Thank you for the ideas, Mackinac sounds cool!
Regarding cruise ships: we are aware of the possibility, but they are about the one mean of transport consuming even more energy than airplanes. So we still try to find other options, and would probably rather fly to Iceland instead.
Really cool setup but I have that same motor and have the same problems. The way it is geared it has no torque and hates low speeds and just chokes and dies off the line or on steep hills in a cargo configuration unless you pedal hard to keep minimum speed above 10 KPH. Seems like there is a gap in the market to re-gear these motors to get a heavy bike off the line and give slow speed assistance even if it spins out at a relatively low speed.
Yep, for heavy setups you need some gearing - luckily we have it, climbing is no problem then.
Unfortunately regearing the motor internally is not so easy, as the sun gear is basically as small as it can be and fit over the axle. You would need a totally different internal gear topology, and that basically means a new motor design from scratch. I certainly agree that there is a gap in the market for a 2-3kg motor that can do like 80-100 Nm of torque by virtue of a high gear ratio (like 20:1) but with a low top speed of ~100-150 rpm. It's possible in principle.
In the meantime, the solution of Simon is quite elegant!
Classic. Swiss traveling a drug smuggling route. With all the DEA shadowing your lucky to get so much gain. 😊
IF moneys not an issue best bet is to drop the batteries and fly. get new batteries over seas