The Nitty-Gritty of Bike & Gear

My ride for this trip is a Phoenix Bike Wrx (PBW) Phoenix LWB recumbent and was designed specifically for long-distance touring. This is the same bike that I had planned to ride cross-country with a friend in 2020 (Two Far 2020 - NTF (Not Two Far) - CycleBlaze). Readers of that journal know that, due to Covid, the cross-country trip didn't happen. I only rode the Phoenix from Natchez, MS to Ullin, IL before joining Jeanna on the Seavo for the rest of that trip.

It's now getting a 2nd chance to ride across the Rockies :-)

Specifications for the bike include:

Frame: Steel with S&S couplers, extra bottle cage mounts and kickstand plate. I had extra bottle cage mounts added so I could hang some tool bottles and a tire pump.

Rims: Mavic A719's - 36 hole. I chose these because they have double eyelets, which spreads the load to both walls of the rim.

Tires: Schwalbe Marathon Mondial 700x37

Fenders: Velo-Orange 700c Zeppelin Fenders, 52mm

Brakes: TRP Spyke with 203mm rotors

Drivetrain: Rohloff Speedhub 14-speed internal geared hub. I also have a compact crankset up front with 50x39 chainrings. It’s an unusual setup but it works, and the lowest gear ratio equals about 18.9 gear inches.

Front Hub SON28 dynamo hub

Lights: Schmidt Edeluxe II headlight (dynamo)

LEZYNE Zecto Drive headlight (used as a flashing "see me" light)

B&M Toplight Line Brake Plus taillight (dynamo)

Garmin Varia RTL515 radar taillight

Cygolite Hypershot 350 taillight (x2)

Racks: Tubus Cosmo stainless steel rear rack.

Terracycle under seat rack.

Panniers: Arkel TailRider

Arkel Recumbent Seat Bag

PBW small frame bag (New for this trip. I haven’t figured out what I’ll put in it yet.)

Not needed on this trip, but the bike is set up to use Arkel T- 42's on the rear and RT-40's under the seat.

Electronics: Garmin Edge 1030 Plus bike computer

GoPro Hero 3+ camera

Other: SteerStopper (great for moving the bike around and not having wheel flop)

Pletscher Twin Leg Kickstand

Hafny Mirror - mounted on a Terracycle accessory mount

Mirrycle Incredibell

FinecutCC custom mounts for my Garmin and GoPro

Tyrewiz tire pressure gauges

Topeak Turbo Morph tire pump

Elite Super Byasi Tool Bottles

While not touring, this bike has become my daily rider because it is so comfortable. It currently has about 9,000 miles on it.

It's probably not the smartest thing to make major changes to your bike less than a week before your departure date, but who says I'm smart?? When I bought the bike, I made arrangements with the Jerrell at PBW for me to come out and assemble it at their shop, as I had done when we bought our Seavo (We got our bike! - Two Far 2018 - Trailing through the Rust Belt - CycleBlaze). While I was assembling the Phoenix and routing all the cables, I had a discussion with Jerrell about how it would be cool to route the cables internally through the Energy Bar Riser. Fast forward to this winter, and I finally made arrangements to make it happen. Unfortunately, work was backed up at PBW, and I didn't receive my new bars until late last week. It was Monday the 10th, before I finished the installation and we leave on the 16th. The installation went about as expected, and there were no major screwups (just one minor one, which is good for me these days!) Below are photos of the new setup.

Pulling the 2nd cable on the right side. There are three cables on the right side because the Rohloff hub uses two shift cables.

Shifter cables are in, getting ready to pull the brake cable. Due to the space constraints, this cable took a lot more patience to fish out the bottom opening.

I love taking new, perfectly good gear and messing with it. I drilled a couple of holes in the riser, inserted RivNuts and then bolted a crossbar to the riser so I could install bottle cages. I also had to drill and install RivNuts for the Garmin and GoPro mounts.

The new cockpit. The Cozies will allow me to carry my camera, phone and other stuff and have it within easy reach. That's the GoPro Remote above the left Cozy. I'll be trying to perfect the art of rolling, one-handed photography on this trip. I figure if Jeanna can take photos from the backseat of a tandem, why can't I do the same thing riding a single? If my last journal entry for this trip is from an ER, you'll know this idea was a colossal failure!

With the exception of a cooler and some extra cold weather gear for me, we are not taking any more gear than usual. However, packing for this year's trip has been driving both Jeanna and me somewhat crazy. Originally, we were going to pack everything in the panniers, as if we didn't have the car. Jeanna did not like the idea of having to carry four panniers into the motel and opted to use one suitcase instead. Things that we always packed in a specific pannier pocket now need to be packed somewhere else. This is confusing us, but then we're old and easily confused :-).

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Kelly IniguezI love all of the bike details. Thank you. Tell me about your offset stem. It is not the same as any of the other Phoenix I've seen.

I hope your first day was great!
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1 year ago

Jeanna & Kerry SmithTo Kelly IniguezKelly,
It's a TerraCycle GlideFlex Stem. I'm so used to it that I forgot to mention it. It allows you to move the handlebar out of the way for easier ingress / egress. It's also great for tight turns, as you can lift the bars out of the way of your knees.

Kerry
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1 year ago

Keith A. SpanglerSleek looking machine, looks fast and comfy!
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1 year ago

Kelly IniguezKara has taken down the ad for Jeanna's bike. Does it have the same fenders as your bike? I'd like to go with a wider tire. Kara said Jeanna's bike has Gatorskins on it, not the Mondials you have listed here? I've been a longtime Marathon Racer fan. I've tried the Gatorskins and Hardskins on each of the Phoenix bikes and have decided they are too rough riding of a tire for me. Each time I get back on my old K frame bike with the Racers, the softer ride is obvous. Blair and I have been riding a couple of times a week in Tucson. He has Top Contact tires on his bike and says it's a plush ride. I'd like a plush ride also!
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8 months ago