Last month Mark Stonich had entertained us with a litany of health woes (carpal tunnel, arthritic hands, etc.) that kept him from doing much website typing and mousing. This month he told us about the painful and worrying gall bladder problem that has kept him from completing the 3-speed tour or going to the velomobile meet in Iowa this coming weekend. Better luck next month, Mark!

Guy Costa showed his homebuilt carbon arc brazing torch, made from old plans in Scientific American for a lot less than he would have had to spend on a decent acetylene torch and tanks but more capable than a cheap and low temperature MAPP gas unit. It uses 3/8 inch rods with a copper sheathing and a carbon core. Power is fed from an arc welding regulator that puts out about 30-45 amps at 60-70 volts. It is an AC source for simplicity, since a DC source would probably require two different types of rods and would eat up one of them very quickly. It starts up from a small arc and then develops into a pretty good sized flame over about 10 seconds that is used like a gas torch. He has used bronze brazing rods, but Mark suggested he would get better results with silicon-bronze rods instead. You definitely need to treat such a tool seriously and to use a safety shield and good gloves. He is using it now to build his wife a Tour Easy clone, but with indirect steering.

Jeff Caswell showed off his numbers (630 inked on the back of both calves) that haven't come off yet from a sprint distance triathlon he recently competed in with his girlfriend. It consisted of a ¼ mile swim, a 12 mile bike race, and a 3 mile run, which he did in about 1:34 (compared to his girlfriend's 1:23). He did it partly at her urging, partly out of his own curiosity, and also because this was one of the few triathlon organizations that allows recumbents (at least until someone starts winning on one!). This is rather like the bicycle time trial organizers, some of whom outlaw recumbents, some put them in a separate class, and others allow them to race with everyone else because you race individually in a time trial anyway.

Jeff also reported that he is making good progress on building his third semi-production Super Micro Bike, which he will ride himself to replace the one that got run over recently with him on it. He has tweaked the fork clearances so he can use the new 16" Greenspeed tires Mark showed us at a recent meeting, which Jeff thinks will work very well in this application.

Mark showed a few new goodies he has recently added to his "three speed" recumbent (actually with five speeds now). He bought some stair tread material at Menard's to use as a mudflap, and it seems to have a good combination of strength and flexibility to hold the right curvature and last well. He also built up a light mount that fits on his chain guard, but says it was a big shock going from a helmet-mounted light to a frame-mounted one when he went around his first turn and the light shined off to the outside of the curve instead of where he was turning toward! Last, but surely not least, he demonstrated his new oversize Incredibell with a correspondingly larger sound.

Mark also showed his new Kryptonite lock and mounting bracket, one of four that he got on their warranty return program after the controversy about picking them with a Bic pen barrel blew up. The mounting bracket is really slick and can be purchased separately with two "lock" brackets of different sizes, so he thinks it might be useful for mounting various other things besides locks (water bottles, lights, Osell style kickstand, etc.). It has a tapered pin on the lock (or anything else the lock side bracket has the right diameter to fit onto) that snaps into the frame side bracket with a snap detent and a push button release.

Carl Gulbronson passed around a bag of gumballs for treats, plus several magazines and catalogs he thought some people would find interesting. He also reported that the legislature is finally going to clarify the legal status of small electric (or gas?) powered scooters. They will not require any special licensing or taxes. The limit is 10” wheels or 15 mph, and no riders under 12, plus helmets required for riders from 12 to 21 years old.

Jon Nygren is on the Greenway Coalition grand re-opening planning committee and reported on their plans. The events will be on Saturday, June 25th from 1 to 4 pm. They will start with a ceremony at the Kix Field (near the 5th Avenue grade crossing and the old Honeywell plants), then there will be a chance to ride all of the Phase II section from 5th Ave to Hiawatha Ave with live music and food concessions along the way. We can get a free 10x10 tent at Kix Field to display some of our bikes and talk to passersby if we are interested.

Jon also showed his B and C versions of the center suspension SWB aluminum frame recumbents he built. The B version has a lower bottom bracket and was inside his shell, but with its nice new black Krylon paint job he might want to ride it bare and put the C version in the shell instead. Dave cautioned him about the fit of the C version with its much higher bottom bracket in their shell. It might work with the whole shell raised, or it might not work well at all. Jon also showed the strips of naugahyde that he sewed onto the outer edges of his Rans mesh seat back in order to prevent the rapid wearing he was getting with bare mesh (apparently from leaning it against trees and fence posts at stops).

Mark won't be doing a brazing workshop at the velomobile meet this weekend, but it seems a shame to waste all the preparation he did for it, so he would be willing to do it at his garage some time soon (but after he has his gall bladder removed!) for interested club members. There was definitely some interest in doing that, so it looks like he will move on this as soon as his health situation has settled down. He has three sets of torches so there could be at least some hands-on practice. He suggested bringing a few tubes that have already been fish-mouthed as necessary, a tube plus some braze-on fittings, or …?

Mark then discussed a few of the brazing tips he has come up with from hard trial and error plus shameless stealing from other framebuilders. He recently found that lighter and more flexible Kevlar braided gas lines are worth their (small) weight in gold compared to the standard rubber hoses, since they put less strain on his hands and wrists and have so much less tendency to steer your hand where you didn't want it to go by swinging or by fighting your intended movement. He also recommends good quality paste flux used in minimum quantities (though out a ways from the joint area) to make cleanup much easier. Do not put any flux on the brazing rod itself. He also finds that 1/16 inch rods work better than 3/32 and give smaller (but structurally quite adequate) fillets. Terry Osell's big fillets look nice, but Mark has become too much of a weight weenie to tolerate the extra ounces they add. Mark also talked about some different joint brazing styles he has tried out, which will hopefully get a full airing on his website when he is able to get around to redoing the brazing section.

Several people had noticed a new rental bike concession at Minnehaha Falls that includes several kinds of recumbent trikes (delta and tadpole) plus multi-rider pedal cars. It is apparently a franchise branch of a California company. The bikes are heavily built – typical of rental fleet units – but they may be worth checking out for a giggle or to introduce hesitant friends and family to the recumbent riding position.