Luxury liner on two wheels

May 12, 2023 to May 14, 2023

New bike day

Our journey to Southern Illinois was everything we hoped for. On Friday we checked the camper into Giant City State Park just south of Carbondale and drove over to Carterville to meet Hank and have another look at his P38. One spin around the block was all I needed. This horse is ready to travel, and our June tour of the Northwest is back on track.

It's a beauty. Haven't come up with a name for this one, still cogitating.

The comfy seat is the first thing I noticed. It extends longer in front compared to my old P38. On that one my legs hit the bar under the front of the seat. The pad is thicker too. Big improvement.

Shifting with the Rohloff hub is a little different. I'm learning to back off the pedals for a millisecond before downshifting on a hill. It takes some getting used to but worth it to be free of anxiety about breaking chains and derailleurs and the annoyance of dropping the chain. I don't miss the dickering back and forth between the front and rear derailleurs either.

Ease of maintenance is another endearing quality of this bike. Between the hub and the belt drive, there's no dirty chain, cassette, or derailleurs to clean.

Another cool little feature - a parking brake for the front wheel. You just squeeze the brake and spin it underneath. Invented by Tim Brummer, the guy who invented the Lightning P38.

I was so besotted with the bike that I didn't think to get a picture of Hank with it. He seems to have some mixed emotions about parting with it and made me promise to call him first if I ever want to sell. I'll have another shot at a pic with him in a couple days. In the meantime, here's one from a February trail ride with Hank and Brigitte when we were just getting started on the mountain bikes.

Saturday we took it out for a 40 miler around the hills south of Carbondale. No panniers yet, just wanted to get a feel for things.

Another luxury feature is the handlebar. The grips extend down further so my hands are lower and arms are in a more comfortable position. It tilts forward so it's easier to get on and off, and you can stretch out your arms now and then.

The gearing is significantly lower than the old bike. Barry noticed I was spinning a lot faster going up hill than he was. At one point I saw a 20% grade and just kept spinning. There's a cost to the lower gearing on the top end as I can't generate as much power on the flats, but for a loaded tour on a hilly course it'll be awesome.

View of a pretty good hill from the roomy cockpit

Celebrating a successful maiden voyage at Starview winery.

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Sunday morning we went through a lengthy review of the gear checklist for the tour, then loaded up the panniers for a shortish ride around the park. There was a bit of wobbliness at first but it didn't last long.

Uncharacteristically, we didn't plan a route, just turned right from the campground and went down a long steep road. It was in rough shape with a lot of gravel. The 1.5" inch tires handled it fine - all the way down to a dead end at the boat launch. There was a short stretch of walking on a 17% grade going back up. I don't remember ever climbing something that steep on the older bike fully loaded either.

Giant City is an interesting place, named for the massive sandstone structures that have fractured to create passage ways that suggest streets in a big city. You can see the remains of a Native American stone wall dated to AD 600-800. We did the hikes to both features, adding some more hills to the ride.

Cliffs on the way down the hill to the Stone Fort

Tomorrow we'll do the real shakedown ride that we had planned a month ago - 80 miles with an overnight camping stop to really test out all the gear.

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Keith AdamsMy old stomping grounds! I went to grad school in Carbondale 40 (eek!) years ago.
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1 year ago

Mike AylingWelcome to the wonderful world of Rohloff.
You have ticked all the benefits and mentioned the only real downside, the limited gear range compared to a 3 x deraileur system. You can of course try different sized chainwheels and sprockets to adjust your low and high gears but more difficult with a belt than with a chain where you can easily add or remove a few links.
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1 year ago

Janice BranhamTo Keith AdamsThat's not so long Keith. We have enjoyed visiting this area ever since our son went to SIU here.
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1 year ago

Janice BranhamTo Mike AylingAnother suggestion Hank had was to switch from the 26" wheel to a 700 like I had on the old bike. Think that would make much of a difference?
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1 year ago

Mike Ayling26" aka 559, 700C aka 622 is a difference of 10% in diameter and cicumference so would give a 10% increase in your gear ratios.
Looking a the pic of your bike the larger wheel may not fit under your mudguards/fenders and may not fit in the chain stays.
OTOH if you increase your chain ring by one tooth and,decrease your sprocket by one tooth you won't have to do anything about the belt length but a new and ring could be a bit expensive.
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1 year ago

Janice BranhamTo Mike AylingAh, thanks for enlightening me. We're just two weeks out on the trip so I better stick with this setup for now. Great to know the options for down the road.
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1 year ago