One pleasant surprise out in the parking lot was the arrival of a few of our original (or close to it) members that we hadn't seen in a long time, Pat Burns and Mark Sabann. Mark was on a carbon wedgie and Pat on a production Lightning P-38 (with optional front suspension), which he likes a lot. They knew we had Wednesday evening meetings, so they arranged a ride to pass by the community center and when they saw us out in the lot they stopped to schmooze and see what we had to check out.

Kryptonite lock update from Mark and others:
• Initially they were going to require an original sales receipt, but they backed off of that stand pretty quickly.
• Then they over-corrected and decided to send a lock to anyone with a Kryptonite key, but soon an eBay business in selling orphaned keys sprang up and they changed their mind again.
• Now they just want a serial number to show your lock is one of the models and vintages that need replacement. Then they send you a prepaid mailing label so you can send them the old locks. Mark got 4 new ones within about 11 days of sending in his serial numbers.
• Mark says they are well built, though not as well finished as some earlier models, and the new flat key lock looks hard to duplicate or pick, so he's happy for now.

Dave Krafft's presentation of an EZ tadpole trike led into a general discussion of pedal steer. Mark says that some people (such as the RCN publisher Bob Bryant) make a plausible assumption that it is due to front end flex under heavy pedaling loads, but Mark says this is generally not the case. Instead it is due to the amount of trail (or caster on a trike) that a design has and the length of the effective lever arm from pedals to steering axis. SWBs with a lot of boom ahead of the steering axis usually have shallower head angles, and therefore more trail, as factories are reluctant to have forks with much rake. As usual there was some disagreement about how much pedal steer some particular designs have, but some of that probably related to who had a longer boom setting, who was likely to be pedaling harder, and who was paying more attention to that specific feature of the bike or trike's handling at the time.

Carl Gulbronson showed a few miscellaneous items people might be interested in (for sale after the meeting our out of the back of his van to avoid the club prohibition on blatant commercialism at meetings or on our listserv!).

• He had separate water bladders that can be put in a seat bag, pannier, rack trunk, or some kind of custom made bag so it can be attached to almost any style of bent somehow. With insulation around the bag and the hose they keep a lot of water cool for quite a while, and a bladder can be mounted in a handier position than some designs offer for conventional bottle cages. We have all seen bents where the water bottle cages are an awkward reach, are prone to the bottle falling out, or interfere with little things like pedaling or steering!
• He showed a nice EZ accessory seat back courier bag that would probably be useable on many other bents with mesh seat backs.

Mark asked if anyone besides him is planning to go to the EIEIO Rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on June 11-12. He thinks it will be interesting (even apart from his own workshop presentation on brazing!) and likely will have more velomobiles and homebuilt recumbents than you will see almost anywhere else. He enjoys the Stevens Point, Wisconsin recumbent rally but it only had a handful of homebuilts last year. Dave Krafft says he is going too, and we know Mary Arneson plans to go to give a workshop and show off her Cab Bike velomobiles. Mark encouraged more people to think about going. See our website for links to more information.

Eric Ware alerted us to a write-up on the WISIL website about the Varna clone streamliner being built by one of our farther-flung members, Brad Teubner of Roseau, MN. Brad actually built it as the ultimate faired touring recumbent (!?), but it turned out to be too noisy, inconvenient, and extremely cramped inside. He has offered it for sale (best offer over $9,000!), but another possibility is that he will keep it for a while and have Eric ride it for him at the Battle Mountain speed trials this year. Eric is going up to Roseau soon to try it out and see if he is interested. Brad had the shell made by Garrie Hill of Ohio from one of his collection of molds (Garrie is a fairly wealthy bike freak whose day job is in composite fabrication, so this isn't surprising for him). Ray Brick helped build the front wheel drive mechanism and supporting hoop.

Brad came up with the design to make a Varna two wheeler into a trike using transverse leaf springs with 7 inch rear wheels on the ends (and well outside the shell, which isn't aerodynamically ideal but helps with getting in and out of it by himself and not falling over at stop signs when he rides it on the street). The little rear wheels are rated at high enough speeds, but Brad feels they are still slowing him down because of their combination of rolling and air resistance. This streamliner actually seems slower to him than his Speed Ross bent with a homebuilt coroplast fairing of dubious aerodynamics, so something isn't right. After all, several riders (male and female) have gotten essentially the same shell up to speeds of 60 to 82 mph!

It was announced that the original Kenwood Cyclery store near Lake of the Isles is closing July 1st, after their second store closed some time ago. Another loss of a long-time fixture on the local biking scene, and so soon after the closing of Island Cycle Supply. Sigh.

Mark recommended a new type of synthetic lumber that he thinks is well suited for things like seat mount clamps. It drills and saws well and is not too slippery to use for clamps.

Mark and Dave solicited more rides for this summer, especially weekend rides since they already have a fairly active group of retirees and self-employed members for weekday rides.

Jeff Caswell announced that he won his court case against the guy who ran over him and his Micro Bike at the Lake Harriet boat launching ramp, injuring him and trashing the bike. The guy insisted that Jeff just ran into his side, a minor accident that was arguably Jeff's fault, but Jeff had digital pictures taken at the scene that shot down that claim and made all the difference in winning the case. Jeff got a nice settlement check, so he is feeling a little happier and more financially secure these days (not a bad thing for a self-employed home restorer and sometime small volume low racer builder).

The Lake Pepin 3-speed Tour is coming up in two weekends from now. If anyone is interested, Mark warns them to get right on arranging their accommodations in Wabasha, because almost every place there seems to be booked up already (almost certainly NOT because of the huge number of riders coming for the 3-speed tour!).

The Blind Lizard Picnic should hopefully be happening again on Father's Day on Nicollet Island behind De Lasalle High School. For those who haven't been to one before, it is primarily a rally and social event for people who own antique or unusual motorcycles, but it also draws a fair number of antique bikes, chopper style bikes, lovingly restored Schwinn paperboy bikes of the 30's-60's, and as many of our recumbents as show up. Worth a look if you are interested in any of these things.