Lincoln is owner of one of the nicest machines we have ever built. He spent a vacation in Holand and sent us a short report about the travel. If you want to knowmore about ravelling with recumbents and trikes read an article here.
Lincoln:
We all want to bring our bikes when we travel but recumbents are more difficult to transport and some airlines insist on bikes being packed. Until Azub make a bag here is my solution used to travel to and from Holland for a tour in the last 2 weeks. I started with a ‘Skinz 29er’ bag which is the longest commercial bag you can buy. The airline charged 35 Euros for the bike.
The mechanicals take 30 mins:
– Seat off. Packed separately in my hard shell Samsonite bag.
– Wheels off, air out, skewers out, pedals off, handlebars off.
– Detach derailleur and tape between chain stays where it will be well protected.
– Boom out but no need to disconnect front derailleur cable as there is lots of chain once the rear derailleur is disconnected. Pad the chain wheel well.
– Forks into bag that is provided.
– The chain is long and there is potential for twists which happened on the way to Holland. On the way back I did something simple to prevent this. Nylon ties to hold the chain together at the start and end of the chain tubes and one to keep the chain around the chain ring (total x3). On unpacking just cut the ties and no twists !
– Pack clothes, bubble wrap, cardboard or anything around that will help protect the bike.
The Trip
I used Radical bags with plastic liners but think that the Ortlieb recumbent bags which don’t need liners may be better. The Garmin 800 edge was great especially in towns and the 1 in 50,000 maps were wonderful with all the bike tracks. The Kojaks I used were fast but I had 3 punctures (maybe bad luck ). What about the bike ? The Azub was a dream to tour on. With all the gear packed (heavy stuff packed forward) the bike was stable, fast and fun to ride. It was easy to take photos, eat and drink. The only problem is that this bike is hard to manoeuvre in tight spots (wrong turns in towns!) but that is not what touring is about. I stumbled and fell twice, on both occasions, I was stationary !
This is the platform I want to use to tour. I have 4 other recumbents but this is the “Range Rover sport “ for travelling the countryside. The Azub is very tough and if something breaks (nothing did) any shop with mountain bike parts will sort it out. I am already planning my next holiday.
One more little note from AZUB. We are already working on a set of transport bags for our bikes and trikes. We hope you will like them.
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