While travelling I was not able to prepare videos or process pictures that use 3 or 5 images to generate HDR shots. So here are some extra pictures and the videos.
There was a lot of this (Click Here) – and there will be lots more on our Victorian Rail Trail tour.
The first leg ridden was between Ross and Oatlands. This was mostly ridden on the Midland Highway (sometimes called the Heritage Highway). There were a few pinch-points but mostly we enjoyed a wide hard shoulder to cycle on. This we had checked prior to the ride as, only a few weeks ago, there were still roadworks which would have been difficult for us.
The Videos.
FYI: When I play them back they are generally a bit fuzzy. A YouTube info page advises this may be because my laptop / NBN is too slow. But then again they may not be! If the blockiness gets to you the vids can be viewed in mini-viewer mode accessed from the YouTube display screen. That helps but it is a mini screen!
First Leg – Ross to Oatlands.
A sample of the day‘s Ride.
Second Leg – Oatlands to Richmond.
When descending between Oatlands and Richmond, the hill that turned into a gravel road shook things up a bit. As well as losing a mirror and almost losing the other, a some point the hand control unit for the electrics took a hit. The + button bent out from it’s normal place. It still worked but looked vulnerable to further damage.
Third Leg (!). Richmond to Hobart
During the final day the battery on the OSMO ran out before hitting Hobart proper. Due to the wind and rain at Richmond I was put off my game and didn’t swap batteries over.
Here is a video showing what I managed to capture.
As well as the main videos there are two more – both of descents encountered during the Oatlands to Richmond leg.
Descent 1 – heading down to Colebrook
The scenery during the two downhills is quite different.
The day after the tour I went to visit Phil of Carlton – ebike wizard. Phil is of the idea that the Bafang cranks are not up to much. This is a concept actively discussed on e-bike forums by those that agree with the statement and those that don’t. Phil’s idea is to fit “proper” cranks, by collecting good left cranks from wrecks or units that people discard. When he has 2 matching left cranks they are converted into a set by taking one and converting it into a right hand crank. This is done by drilling out the existing pedal thread and installing a ‘helicoil’ to provide the right hand thread. To test the idea out Phil fitted a pair of SunRace cranks to Bluey. We are now an official guinea pig.
The cranks are those on the left.
As you can see from the crank on the right, the new cranks, have a degree of offset whereas the originals were straight. I may not need the pedal extenders now.
Phil also replaced the damaged thumb controller.
The double chainring fitting is not yet ready but we fitted a 36 tooth front ring and tested the gearing up a nearby hill. I had a go, Phil had a go and then I had another go. 36 teeth give a nice low gear which may be enough. Then, for now, the existing 44 tooth was refitted. The trike was put in the car and stayed there until I unloaded it back home. Oddly, the new thumb fitting was damaged in the same way as it’s predecessor. In neither case do I know how it happened!
I called Phil about the switch in case it was a known problem (it isn’t!). I will try a finger stall over it to keep it from bending any more or snapping off. It works OK – just have to get it centred properly. My guess is that I snagged the switches and it’s a coincidence or carelessness to get two in one week. I phoned Ken of Huonville to warn him it can happen.
So a few lessons were learnt and information gathered to feed into the preparations for the Victoria trip. Refinements will continue before we set sail in 5 weeks time. Oh for more space to carry “stuff”!!
That’s all for now.
Tony's Tasmanian Cycling Blog 
When you left the bitumen and took to the gravel, on the ‘Descent To Colebrook’, uncomfortable memories of our several no-so-gracious ‘taking to the gravel’ moments half a century ago in suburban Melbourne sprang to mind. Thanks for that, Tony! But, hey, we’re nonetheless continuing to thoroughly enjoy your reports and the accompanying OSMO imagery.
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Looks like you had a really good mini-tour and ironed out some more issues. That is a lot of bike fiddling and tech fiddling – I think it would drive me crazy 🙂 I hope you are prepared for some heat in March in VIC. My birthday is mid-March and it has been 35C or higher on 8 of my last 10 birthdays. It feels like March stays a lot hotter for longer than in times past. Last year they were still fighting active bushfires in March when they would normally be doing controlled burns. Hopefully this year will not be a repeat!
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Hi Emily. Some of the fiddling is unnecessary but interesting. I suspect you spent enough time choosing a bike that it fitting the bill “off the showroom floor”. My Vivente needed no fettling. Setting up trikes for touring seems to be a “try this” and “then fix” – unless you can afford say an ICE Adventure trike. I am expecting some hot weather – on my previous two mainland trips some days in March were up there I recall. By mid April though it was getting cool, dewey overnight with noticeably short days. It’s not much of a window for a temperate weather loving Tasmanian from the UK!
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