9-11th August 2024
The three bikes that we sourced online have been sitting in Louis’ garage for over 2 years now. With our start date five weeks away, it was time for that to change. I drove up to Derby from Newquay, a mere 7 hours and 20 minute journey. It was meant to be 5 hours or so, but apparently it was the busiest driving day of the year? Anyway, my destination was the workshop, aka Louis’ garden & shed. I arrived in the afternoon and tried to remember which house was his. I drove past a man laying on his driveway in only rugby shorts and a t-shirt, angle-grinding sections out of the passenger door of a black Audi, and knew I’d found Louis. It was good to see him getting warmed up on the tools for the big project.
After laughing at this scene on arrival, we decided to get the bikes out to take them for a test ride. We wanted to see how they were as standalone bikes, before they were chopped up and combined into a trike. Since being picked up online for £20 (2 for £20 and 1 for free) they hadn’t been touched or ridden at all.
We were unsure the tyres would even hold air, as they all seemed fairly flat. We chose two of the three and pumped up the tyres. I was on a red and black Raleigh, that seemed a rather old but solid classic. Louis was on a red and blue number named the “Emelle Cougar” that neither of us had heard of before. To allay our tyre concerns, we took the large bike floor pump with us on the ride, bungee corded to the pannier rack.
We set off in the early evening and we were pleasantly surprised with their performance. Or I was anyway. The main pro was that all 4 tyres held air. The gears on my ancient Raleigh all actually worked. Louis had some delightful springs on his seat for added comfort. We did forget to adjust seat height before the ride, mine was pretty bang on. But Louis’ seat was surprisingly too low and his knees were sticking out into different postcodes on either side while peddling.
We headed down to a canal and it was a lovely cycle in the sunshine through nature. Louis’ suspensioned seat came in handy along the towpath. We happened upon some pubs along the canal and stopped briefly at a few. A bit of catching up with it being a year or two since we had last seen each other. It was getting colder and darker but we ploughed on the cycle regardless. Louis had the foresight to bring lights, but only one set. He took the front light and I attached the rear one, and we rode in formation. Him in front and myself behind. A trick we had learnt on a motorbike trip in Vietnam, when most of our group’s motorbike’s lights didn’t work. The pubs we visited all seemed to be closing within 30 mins of our arrival so there wasn’t too much joy from the publicans.
We rode back to his house in surprisingly pitch darkness at some points, along main roads, but the bikes never once gave a problem. They handled some hills with ease and I was pleased with what you could pick up online for next to nothing.
We managed about 23 km over the evening at around 14 km/h average speed. I would love to be more precise about the distance and speed, but I started my watch late after we had already left, and it ran out of battery before we finished. An important learning moment to be prepared on the actual trip.
10th August 2024
Time for the Trike Workshop to commence!
Before it did, we rode the bikes to the supermarket to get supplies. The pannier rack on the Raleigh was proving more useful by the day. We then practised carb loading for the trip by having three breakfasts before eventually opening the workshop.
We set to adjusting the bikes. First task was taking them apart to clean the 20+ years of dirt accumulated in and on them. Louis set apart taking the drivetrain apart to inspect the bearings. As when the crank and pedals were off, rotating by hand was met with a worryingly high level of resistance. I was on grease removal of derailleurs, cassettes, and other parts I can’t name. We then nipped to “The Bike Shop” near Louis’ with the drivetrain from the old Raleigh bike to see what they had in the way of replacements.
The Bike shop owner’s knowledge was incredibly impressive as he looked at the part and said “That looks like it’s from a 1980’s Raleigh”. I was less impressed when he then said “it belongs in the bin”.
We told him it was to cycle across Europe and he wondered why on earth we would do it on that. But as we explained the plan to self build a 2-person tricycle he was a little more onside. He did have some replacement bearings for £4 (larger than standard size). He then told us seriously don’t lose the cups & other parts as there’s no way to replace them, they’re not made anymore.
Back in the workshop everything was cleaned, a whole load more grease was applied and the drivetrains were back together. Louis was revelling in their now perfect rotation, free of resistance. We then swapped the rear wheel of the Raleigh with the third bike that we had sourced for the trip. The third bike seemed to be a lot newer, but inferior quality to the other two. I wasn’t thrilled with the swap plan, but trust the head engineer for the project.
That evening was spent looking at potential routes we can loosely follow. Our main thoughts are that essentially we have to make it to Dover in time for the ferry and then anything after that is a bonus. There is a network of long distance cycle trails through Europe called EuroVelo. Route 5, “Via Romea” (pink) looks like it might be worth attempting to follow. It heads from Calais through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany / France in a semi-SE direction which is what we want.
Further along, nearer the alps, we’ll have to make the decision to keep following it or forging our own path. But, Louis said we’ll be lucky to make it that far…
11th August 2024
We were back in the workshop a lot earlier today, no shop delays or extra breakfasts this time. I set about removing all the gear cables and holders to clean them for “premium efficient shifting” as Louis said. One cable was never going to go back on, I could see before we removed it. Then another 1 or 2 managed to lose their structural integrity as I tried to reinstall them. We were able to use 2 from the spare bike but will still need another new one.
Meanwhile, Louis was busy making a tool to remove the rear cassettes. That’s right, making. He free-handed, angle-grinded some metal on his patio floor, and then welded it to a longer piece for leverage. It fit perfectly around the cassette teeth. I was gobsmacked and very seriously impressed. But don’t tell him that, we don’t want it going to his head, however impressed I was. He took the rear wheels apart to give the bearings and pieces a clean, to get that free smooth spin that we so desire. To quote Louis, we’re going to be cycling such long distances, that we’ll need every single 0.6% efficiency improvement we can get.
We headed to Halfords for the gear cables and a chain tool, so that we could remove the chains to bring those bad boys back to life too. £6 spent there.
Back at base we realised that we had to swap back the rear wheel of the Raleigh to the original. The wheel we had installed from the spare bike had a split rim causing punctures on any inner tube that was fitted. Good use of our time. So then this original wheel also had to have the cassette removed and bearings cleaned and the system brought back to life. I was dubious of all this work but, the unimpeded, free spinning action afterwards was a welcome sight to behold.
With the swap back to the original, this does mean one bike’s drivetrain will be running a 3 x 5 gear set up, while the other is 3 x 6. I don’t think this is a problem at all, as we might want to cycle at different cadence anyway. Louis is adamant it’ll be a problem as we can’t get into a rhythm. Only time will tell.
One pedal off each bike was deemed not up to standard. So for today’s test ride we had a real mix and match pedal set up. 1 toe clip / cage, per bike. Everything was put back together and derailleurs tuned up. Somehow, but pleasantly, only very minimal derailleur adjustments were needed.
We had some newer, and much superior bike parts given to us by Louis’ brother. However, their newness meant they were pretty much all incompatible with the bikes we have. So as of yet, none have been used.
And then after two days of graft we were basically back to where we were Friday night.
We set off on a ride to enjoy the sun and see if the improvements translated to the actual riding. We went pretty easy but racked up 28.65km, in 1hr33. Average speed of 18.4 km/h. Louis was over the moon with how different his bike felt. This may be partially because he actually adjusted the seat height this time. I couldn’t really tell the difference but, having seen the work and trusting the chief engineer, I was happy too. The ride was extremely leisurely over that distance. So if we manage to average that speed on the trip then we’ll be laughing.
Our completely abstract aim, with no scientific backing, is to do 62 miles / 100 km per day on the trip. But, we’ve agreed we’ll do at least one, 100 mile day. But honestly, at this easy effort, this speed was a great result. However, we will be a lot more packed up and weighed down on the tricycle…
During the ride we tried cycling elbow to elbow to see how close we could, and should weld the bikes together. Although, this will likely be decided for us. As the tricycle will have to fit in a small van to be delivered to the start line, it will only be able to be so wide.
That evening, post ride, we checked out what we still needed apart from the tricycle. Number one was a lightweight tent. We looked through a few different options and ended up having a big discussion between the two frontrunners. Both weighing in at 2.2kg, one was shorter and wider, versus a longer but narrower tent. The discussion included Louis getting out some drawings on a big TV to illustrate his point. The longer, Regatta Montegra 2-man backpacking tent won the day. Because your head and shoulders actually get the whole width to enjoy while top & tailing, as we won’t be as long as the full length.
I scoured FB marketplace for a new sleeping mat. I already had a self-inflating number but issues arose during the test night on Louis’ living room floor. It self-inflated wonderfully however, when laid on, it self-deflated wonderfully too. A missing valve cap was the culprit. I managed to find a self-inflating lightweight one for £10 on marketplace, that also folds in half, so it actually packs up nice and small.
We also discussed other potential needs such as camp chairs. I thought this was extravagant but, the alternative of sitting on wet muddy floors to cook isn’t too appealing. The chair idea was reduced to lightweight stools for pack size & weight reasons. They come in at 40 cm off the floor, with your knees up around your ears. Still better than the ground. At 500g each, they’ll be good additions. Also, the mystery Lidl middle-aisle is currently selling an air lounge sofa thing that we might add for the comfort and hilarious aspect. Yet to be seen.
That’s a wrap for the first few days of construction! We have actual moving bikes and it seems the trike might actually be made on time, which is great news. Next up is some longer rides by Louis to work, to really give them some final rigorous testing before they’re joined together.
We’ll update you on how that goes.
