Tripleshift - Recumbent Trikes, Bikes and other cool things!

Here's a radical looking low racer to drool over!

Coming to us via our friends at http://www.velovision.co.uk! Link across to http://www.troytec.de to see more pics. Methinks I'll stick to the Pino for now... ;-)

Some news from John Stegmann on progress toward a cycleway along the old Knysna Tjoe-Tjoe track:

All GRCA members

 

My vote for favourite bike of the year passing through our sticky fingers must go to the awesome Hase Pino! We also sold a Hase Kettweisel Ride which on the three wheel side was pretty cool and about the only practically choice available for three wheels on dirt!

Anyway, the Pino is a beautifully made tandem that combines a recumbent stoker position with an upright captain sitting behind the stoker. This seemingly outlandish arrangement provides a short, stiff frame with an aerodynamic layout and great captain/stoker communication. The comfort of the reclined seating position for the stoker is a hands free option that allows keeping on top of navigation, making sandwiches on the fly and taking pics! 

Just arrived is our new stock of trikes from Terratrike in the US! These are all high quality  very well priced machines. The Path 8 is a great entry to the world of triking and is an ideal match for someone looking to do light recreational riding or transitioning from a conventional bicycle due to age or other physical challenges. It is based on an 8-speed internal gear hub so has the advantages of gear shifting while stationary. Like all the Terratrike models it is based on 3 x 406 [20"] wheels. The seat is adjustable for length and recline. The lowest gear is a relatively high 35" so this setup is not ideal for hilly terrain. Expect to pay about R12900 for the Path 8.

The Sport has a hot red anodised aluminium chassis and adjustable boom. As with other Terratrike models the seat is adjustable for recline. It would suit someone looking for a more 'sporty' ride than the Path - perhaps considering some fun rides or longer distances. The drive train is a standard derailleur arrangement with 3 rings in the front and an 8 speed cluster at the rear for a range of 18-90 gear inches. The Sport will set you back around R16950.

 


The Zoomer is for riders who prefer a tighter, more rapidly responding feel. Unlike the Path and Sport steering is via direct linkage to the kingpin mounts. It also features an adjustable boom and seat with the same gear train as the Sport. All models are supplied standard with flag, seat bag and rear view mirror. Optional accessories include a luggage rack for heavier loads or touring. Give us a call to take advantage of pricing while stocks are in! The Zoomer starts at R16500.

The Knysna Choo-Tjoe used to run along the coast from George through Wilderness to Knysa taking in the spectacular scenery of the Garden Route. During August 2006 heavy rains washed away sections of the line along the Kaiman's River section. http://www.onlinesources.co.za/chootjoe/images2/trackdamage.jpg Repairs to the line are likely to be too costly to complete. John Stegmann has formed the Garden Route Cycleway Association to implement a cycleway along the rail route. This would be a fantastic ride and a great tourist attraction for the area. Here is the latest newsletter from the association. If you are interested in keeping informed and adding support to this initiative please contact Phillip Parsons on philpars@telkomsa.net. To all GRCA members PGWC Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, MEC Alan Winde, and his entourage leave on 4th November to attend the World Travel Market in London. The Minister will then visit Ffestinogg in Wales to hear from them how they manage to sustain a heritage steam train operation. We had suggested to the Minister’s office that while in UK the Minister might consider visiting the Sustrans offices in Bristol where, we felt sure, Sustrans would welcome the opportunity to discuss the benefits and opportunities created by cycleways and pedestrian routes. (For those who don’t know, Sustrans is responsible for establishing and managing an extensive NMT network in UK.) The good news is that it now appears that Sustrans will be on the itinerary. Further good news is that we were afforded a lengthy meeting on Tuesday with the Eden District Mayor, Councillor Leon Dorfling who recently spoke out against the delay in reaching a decision on the Choo-Tjoe. We learned that at official meetings to discuss the Choo-Tjoe there is a strong desire to get steam back on the Knysna line, in preference to the Mossel Bay line, and that there may be another four to six months to go before a decision can be made. On-going negotiations with Transnet regarding their exit strategy, as well as meetings with various stakeholders and potential investors to secure the finance necessary to get the train “back on track” and to keep it running leave no doubt that this is a mammoth task. Mr Dorfling had seen and read the GRCA Proposal, and indicated that he supported it as the best alternative. However, since there has been no discussion yet on an alternative to the Choo-Tjoe, our meeting with Mr. Dorfling enabled us to convey a lot more detail about the Cycleway and to answer questions. He concluded the meeting by offering to keep us informed as soon as it became clear whether or not the Choo-Tjoe would be returning to the Knysna line. Furthermore, if the Choo-Tjoe would not be returning to the Knysna line, GRCA would certainly be given the opportunity to motivate the case for the Cycleway. (For your information I have included the GRCA letter thanking Mr Dorfling.) We left the meeting with mixed feelings. One concern was the impression created that the steam operation to Mossel Bay alone may not be attractive enough to be financially viable. This means that if the Choo-Tjoe cannot return to the Knysna line (repair costs are estimated at between R110 and R200 million), there is a strong likelihood that the Choo-Tjoe will cease running altogether and the region will have permanently lost its unique tourism icon. While the region will be in the very fortunate position of being able to create another unique tourism attraction, the prize we were hoping for was to have the Choo-Tjoe run between George-Mossel Bay and the Cycleway between George and Knysna. These facilities would complement each other, in particular if the Cultural museum at Mossel Bay and Railway museum at George could be joined by a Bicycle museum at Knysna. So it looks as if we are going to have to wait until the end of February 2010 before we know the outcome of the Choo-Tjoe endeavours. In the meantime I would appeal to you to please recruit more members urgently. In this way we can increase the credibility of the Association and strengthen our position should the time come for us to present our case. Membership is free, but members wishing to be kept informed should provide us with an email address. Please contact our secretary, Phillip Parsons, on philpars@telkomsa.net or send us your name and address by post to P.O. Box 258, Wilderness, 6560. Happy cycling. John Stegmann (Chairperson) 27 October 2009 Dear Mr Dörfling Thank you for providing us with the opportunity of meeting with you and discussing the Cycleway proposal in person. We appreciated the substantial amount of time that you accorded us, despite your obviously busy schedule. We were greatly encouraged by your willingness to consider the Cycleway as a viable alternative use for the railway reserve between George and Knysna, should the Choo-Tjoe not return to this section of line. Your undertaking to ensure that this alternative was presented to any decision-making forum should there be a suitable opportunity, was a magnanimous one. As we indicated, we are not opposed to the return of the Choo-Tjoe, should that be possible. We understand that negotiations in this regard are at a delicate stage in terms of finding private investors, and we wish you well in this undertaking. Your time-frame of four months, given the long delays that have already ensued, was heartening. In the event that your initiatives are unsuccessful, your commitment to ensuring that we are involved in the process of considering alternatives was further encouragement that the Cycleway proposal has merit in terms of regional tourism, job creation and the implementation of NMT policy. May we again thank you for the opportunity afforded to us, and anticipate that there may be further engagement on this issue in the months ahead. On behalf of the GRC J Stegmann (Chairperson)

Nope! We haven't dissapeared yet!

 Although it has been a wee bit - quite a long wee bit since I last posted we are still hanging in there. Sales have been down as a result of the tight times but we have still been selling a few trikes. 

The Burley trailers are currently sold out and we've been debating whether to bring a new lot in. This has been tricky as the exchange rate was playing it's usual tricks. While it seems to have settled down again at more than 8 to 1 it makes the delightful trailers quite pricy so for now we are playing a bit of wait and see.

OK! Quite bit of search and replace and hopefully they are all visible again! Let me know if you find any pages that appear to be missing the pics.

Darn! Just when you think things went well you get snagged from behind. Like an undiscovered puncture that has leaked all the air out overnight I've noticed that images in the older blog entries migrated from the old site did not survive the transition from the test server to the production server. Got too love computers! Make things easier, faster, better... mutter, grumble...

I'll work my way slowly through the old entries and fix the links.

Well! Here we are! Nearly ready with the new website. I've moved it over to the Joomla 1.5 platform and have added in the 'My Blog' component. This gives it a more robust blogging engine that willl do things like trackbacks, tags and feeds and hopefully also make it more useable.

I've been adding in some of old content. Apart from the stuff that was in the online store it is about all there. The links section is progress still. Most of it has translated through OK without too much format damage. A few of the links will still point to local disk and I will hopefully get to spotting those and fixing them over the next while. However, next priority will be to get the online store stuff back up and to start adding in new content. The KMX track and some marketplace [pre-owned] notices are on top of the priority list.

It is my intention to broaden the focus of the blog a bit to include stuff not only related to human power and recumbent cycling. The tags list should help to keep things ordered and I may explore categorising things as well!

 The Princess Vlei Eco Adventure Centre alonside Priness Vlei in Diep River is an eciting new venue for young people to get into action. Try your hand at BMX racing, on the climbing wall or a fast paced volleyball game! If you are between about 6 and 11 years old then have a go on one of the KMX Karts!

Click on the map to see where the centre is: 

The Princess Vlei Eco Adventure Centre - Large Map