IOW Randonnee - which bent?

[Heltor Chasca]

I did the ride on Sunday - great weather, great scenery. I didn't see any bents and I have to confess I wasn't on one either. I took my Raleigh after fitting it with a pair of Vittoria Voyager Hyper tyres, which have been raved about on this forum. They didn't work, I was only 30 mins quicker over the 6 hours riding than on a trike. Next year I'll be taking the Catrike 700 after lowering the gears

I was on my DT touring the island for 4 days with a friend from Thailand. I chatted to a guy near Freshwater on a 3 wheeler (Ice I think it was) he had a bust shoulder. Lovely chap and lovely bike. He did hint the hills could get hard

[Cyril Haearn]

I did the ride on Sunday - great weather, great scenery. I didn't see any bents and I have to confess I wasn't on one either. I took my Raleigh after fitting it with a pair of Vittoria Voyager Hyper tyres, which have been raved about on this forum. They didn't work, I was only 30 mins quicker over the 6 hours riding than on a trike. Next year I'll be taking the Catrike 700 after lowering the gears

What will you use this year?

[Cunobelin]

As you are aware, I have done this on several bikes including the Catrike Expedition.

As above the trikes make the hills easier, and three wheels make the one down hills faster as if one wheel hits a rut or pot hole

MY Kettwiesel still needs to do this trip, but I am afraid that my hip problems mean that I am still not up to the Distances personally

Still, I should be getting a new hip this year, and we will see

[UpWrong]

Hope you get your new hip and get back to riding again.

I am registered for this year's ride and will be aiming to use either my Catrke 700 or my RANS Stratus XP. Probably the Stratus. I have fitted some Pasela PT tyres and a rack bag and it's made a noticeable difference to the kind of speeds I can maintain, improvements in rolling resistance and aerodynamics. I'm also curious to see how I get on with the hills on the LWB. It can be a challenge holding a straight line but I have reduced the tiller and am more practiced now.

[UpWrong]

Two weeks to go. I've readied my Stratus for the ride. Decided to change the front wheel from 26"to 20". It makes it a bit easier to hold a steady line when climbing slowly - and there'll be plenty of that

[UpWrong]

I completed the ride on the RANS yesterday. Boy was it hot. Very still air so cooked on the climbs. I saw an ICE Sprint 26 early on, but no other bents.

The RANS was great. Very manageable on the hills, the narrow roads and some awkward T-junctions. Descents were a blast. On the final descent into Freshwater I overtook a small lady on her Specialized road bike in an extreme tuck position. So the aerodynamics of my Stratus can't be too bad. The combination of the Big Apple tyre on a Halo Sub-4 rim with Tektro Aquila disc brake was awesome.