Stolen recumbent recovered

Kit Wolf wrote in message news:pan.2004.03.04.07.38.39.729331@perseverance. ncl.ac.uk...

A little while back my recumbent was stolen near Morpeth (UK) and I posted
a 'stolen' ad here. After several months of adventures it found its way
back to me - suffering a little from surface rust and vandalism, but it
will live again.

To add insult to injury, after being stolen from private farmland in the
middle of nowhere it was abandoned unlocked on a rough houseing estate in
full public view - and it stayed put for several months judging by its
condition.

So, Hurrah! - and thanks to those who gave suggestions as to how to recover
it. And if you do see a red M5 recumbent with custom modified etc. etc.
stop me to say 'hi' but please _don't_ call the police!

Kit

Hi Kit.

You were really lucky to recover your recumbent. Most bikes once they
are stolen are gone forever.

There is a guy here in my home town who has built himself a recumbent.
He has got it loaded with everything including a car battery (for the
lights), a real heavy tractor seat and an elaborate ash tray so he can
smoke while he is riding it down the street. The damn thing must weigh
200 pounds and it is unrideable to anyone but him. He parks it where
ever he wants and never has a worry about anyone stealing the
confounded thing. Oh, did I mention that the thing (I hesitate to call
it a bicycle) looks like a beast from hell! You haven't seen ugly
until you have seen his masterpiece!

He is very proud of it however despite my reservations about it. But
what do I know. Like he says, real men ride heavy bikes - and they
should look sharp too like his does. He wouldn't even look at your M5
as he would consider it a sissy bike. The really amazing thing is that
he is fairly fast on it. Did I mention also that he is as strong as an
ox. It must have something to do with pushing that 200 pound monster
around the countryside and having a good smoke while he is at it.

Regards,

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

Ed,

I hope you can get a picture posted so we can all see his creation.

JD


"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
m...
Kit Wolf wrote in message
news:pan.2004.03.04.07.38.39.729331@perseverance. ncl.ac.uk...
There is a guy here in my home town who has built himself a recumbent.
He has got it loaded with everything including a car battery (for the
lights), a real heavy tractor seat and an elaborate ash tray so he can
smoke while he is riding it down the street. The damn thing must weigh
200 pounds and it is unrideable to anyone but him. He parks it where
ever he wants and never has a worry about anyone stealing the
confounded thing. Oh, did I mention that the thing (I hesitate to call
it a bicycle) looks like a beast from hell! You haven't seen ugly
until you have seen his masterpiece!

He is very proud of it however despite my reservations about it. But
what do I know. Like he says, real men ride heavy bikes - and they
should look sharp too like his does. He wouldn't even look at your M5
as he would consider it a sissy bike. The really amazing thing is that
he is fairly fast on it. Did I mention also that he is as strong as an
ox. It must have something to do with pushing that 200 pound monster
around the countryside and having a good smoke while he is at it.

Regards,

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

Hi Kit.

You were really lucky to recover your recumbent. Most bikes once they
are stolen are gone forever.

25% luck, 25% work and 50% the helpful people of Pegswood & environs.
It restored one's faith in humanity somewhat. But I'd have never got it
back had it not been so distinctive.

There is a guy here in my home town who has built himself a recumbent.
He has got it loaded with everything including a car battery (for the
lights), a real heavy tractor seat and an elaborate ash tray so he can
smoke while he is riding it down the street. The damn thing must weigh
200 pounds and it is unrideable to anyone but him. He parks it where
ever he wants and never has a worry about anyone stealing the confounded
thing. Oh, did I mention that the thing (I hesitate to call it a
bicycle) looks like a beast from hell! You haven't seen ugly until you
have seen his masterpiece!

He is very proud of it however despite my reservations about it. But
what do I know. Like he says, real men ride heavy bikes - and they
should look sharp too like his does. He wouldn't even look at your M5 as
he would consider it a sissy bike.

Each to their own. But I second the picture request.

Kit

Did I mention also that he is as strong as an
ox. It must have something to do with pushing that 200 pound monster
around the countryside and having a good smoke while he is at it.


Sounds like us paperboys back in the 60's. We used to pump those big, fat-
tired bikes with a full load of papers all whilst we yanked out a Camel or
a Kool and lit up with a Zippo or a Peacock Hand Warmer with the cig-
lighter hole in the middle. Yeah, those were the days! I still think we
were healthier then.


Neil

Edward Dolan wrote:

...
There is a guy here in my home town who has built himself a recumbent.
He has got it loaded with everything including a car battery (for the
lights), a real heavy tractor seat and an elaborate ash tray so he can
smoke while he is riding it down the street. The damn thing must weigh
200 pounds and it is unrideable to anyone but him. He parks it where
ever he wants and never has a worry about anyone stealing the
confounded thing. Oh, did I mention that the thing (I hesitate to call
it a bicycle) looks like a beast from hell! You haven't seen ugly
until you have seen his masterpiece!...

Mr. Dolan,

Would this person happen to be related to Joe "Road Warrior" Kochanowski?
http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hpv/joe/.

Tom Sherman - Quad Cities (Illinois Side)

Cornelius Roberts wrote in message ...

Edward Dolan wrote:

Did I mention also that he is as strong as an
ox. It must have something to do with pushing that 200 pound monster
around the countryside and having a good smoke while he is at it.


Sounds like us paperboys back in the 60's. We used to pump those big, fat-
tired bikes with a full load of papers all whilst we yanked out a Camel or
a Kool and lit up with a Zippo or a Peacock Hand Warmer with the cig-
lighter hole in the middle. Yeah, those were the days! I still think we
were healthier then.


Neil

Neil, let me tell you about the kind of bike rides we have here in SW
Minnesota.

There was a factory group who decided they would do a day bike tour of
about 35 miles. About 30 guys showed up and we were off to the races.
Unfortunately, about one third of them had to stop for a smoke after a
few miles. And so it went. They were just about the most pathetic
group of cyclists you ever saw in your life. Their butts were all
killing them after a few miles, their hands were going numb and the
smoking wasn't doing anything for their stamina either. I just about
died laughing and thought to myself - this could only happen here in
SW Minnesota, the land of the perpetually unfit and the chronic
gripers and complainers who essentially hate the idea of getting on a
bicycle to go anywhere. Everyone had just one thought in their pea
size brains and that was let's get this over with so we can have our
pizza and cokes. Needless to say, I decided never to ride with these
guys again. It was just too much torture for me to see what they were
going through. In fact, it was enough to make you give up on the idea
of cycling altogether.

Regards,

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

Tom Sherman wrote in message ...

Edward Dolan wrote:

...
There is a guy here in my home town who has built himself a recumbent.
He has got it loaded with everything including a car battery (for the
lights), a real heavy tractor seat and an elaborate ash tray so he can
smoke while he is riding it down the street. The damn thing must weigh
200 pounds and it is unrideable to anyone but him. He parks it where
ever he wants and never has a worry about anyone stealing the
confounded thing. Oh, did I mention that the thing (I hesitate to call
it a bicycle) looks like a beast from hell! You haven't seen ugly
until you have seen his masterpiece!...

Mr. Dolan,

Would this person happen to be related to Joe "Road Warrior" Kochanowski?
http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hpv/joe/.

Thanks for the web page Tom. I will peruse it at my leisure as there
is a lot there to peruse. I am familiar with Joe from the pages of RCN
of course.

However, this guy here in my home town definitely has a screw loose or
as they say, he has only one oar in the water, unlike Joe. But the
amazing thing about Joe is that he seems not to be overly concerned
about the weight of his bikes. Apparently, it is all aerodynamics with
him. He is into building complete body fairings and he supports them
with with whatever is necessary regardless of weight considerations.
And he claims to be reasonably fast too. But like my local guy here,
he is probably as strong as an ox too. We wimps, like myself, have to
consider the weight of the bike irrespective of aerodynamics.

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

On 5 Mar 2004, Edward Dolan wrote:

Tom Sherman wrote in message ...

Edward Dolan wrote:

...
There is a guy here in my home town who has built himself a recumbent.
He has got it loaded with everything including a car battery (for the
lights), a real heavy tractor seat and an elaborate ash tray so he can
smoke while he is riding it down the street. The damn thing must weigh
200 pounds and it is unrideable to anyone but him. He parks it where
ever he wants and never has a worry about anyone stealing the
confounded thing. Oh, did I mention that the thing (I hesitate to call
it a bicycle) looks like a beast from hell! You haven't seen ugly
until you have seen his masterpiece!...

Mr. Dolan,

Would this person happen to be related to Joe "Road Warrior" Kochanowski?
http://www.outsideconnection.com/gallant/hpv/joe/.

Thanks for the web page Tom. I will peruse it at my leisure as there
is a lot there to peruse. I am familiar with Joe from the pages of RCN
of course.

However, this guy here in my home town definitely has a screw loose or
as they say, he has only one oar in the water, unlike Joe. But the
amazing thing about Joe is that he seems not to be overly concerned
about the weight of his bikes. Apparently, it is all aerodynamics with
him. He is into building complete body fairings and he supports them
with with whatever is necessary regardless of weight considerations.
And he claims to be reasonably fast too. But like my local guy here,
he is probably as strong as an ox too. We wimps, like myself, have to
consider the weight of the bike irrespective of aerodynamics.

I've never been to Minnesota - I could see his arguments makes sense if
it's particularly flat?

I'll challenge him to a race up some of the 20% gradients round here...

Kit

Kit Wolf wrote in message ...
[...]
Edward Dolan wrote:
However, this guy here in my home town definitely has a screw loose or
as they say, he has only one oar in the water, unlike Joe. But the
amazing thing about Joe is that he seems not to be overly concerned
about the weight of his bikes. Apparently, it is all aerodynamics with
him. He is into building complete body fairings and he supports them
with with whatever is necessary regardless of weight considerations.
And he claims to be reasonably fast too. But like my local guy here,
he is probably as strong as an ox too. We wimps, like myself, have to
consider the weight of the bike irrespective of aerodynamics.

I've never been to Minnesota - I could see his arguments makes sense if
it's particularly flat?

I'll challenge him to a race up some of the 20% gradients round here...

Kit

I have never liked to climb hills on a bike, but most especially not
on a recumbent bike. It is fairly flat here in southern Minnesota and
that is the way I like it. But the flattest area I have ever seen in
my life is the Red River Valley of the North which runs from near
Fargo to Winnipeg.

I do think SWB like your M5 will climb hills better than LWB like my
Tour Easy clone, but the fact is that I am never going to climb hills
at all well on any kind of bike. As you may surmise from this, I am
not into cycling for the challenge of it, but rather strictly for the
enjoyment of it. For me cycling on the flats is enjoyable and cycling
in the hills is not.

Regards,

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

On 5 Mar 2004, Edward Dolan wrote:

Kit Wolf wrote in message ...
[...]
Edward Dolan wrote:
However, this guy here in my home town definitely has a screw loose or
as they say, he has only one oar in the water, unlike Joe. But the
amazing thing about Joe is that he seems not to be overly concerned
about the weight of his bikes. Apparently, it is all aerodynamics with
him. He is into building complete body fairings and he supports them
with with whatever is necessary regardless of weight considerations.
And he claims to be reasonably fast too. But like my local guy here,
he is probably as strong as an ox too. We wimps, like myself, have to
consider the weight of the bike irrespective of aerodynamics.

I've never been to Minnesota - I could see his arguments makes sense if
it's particularly flat?

I'll challenge him to a race up some of the 20% gradients round here...

Kit

I have never liked to climb hills on a bike, but most especially not
on a recumbent bike. It is fairly flat here in southern Minnesota and
that is the way I like it. But the flattest area I have ever seen in
my life is the Red River Valley of the North which runs from near
Fargo to Winnipeg.

I do think SWB like your M5 will climb hills better than LWB like my
Tour Easy clone, but the fact is that I am never going to climb hills
at all well on any kind of bike. As you may surmise from this, I am
not into cycling for the challenge of it, but rather strictly for the
enjoyment of it. For me cycling on the flats is enjoyable and cycling
in the hills is not.

I'm no masochist, Ed - though I'd miss cycling _down_ the hills. Round
here they're not optional unfortunately.

Kit