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My buddy Max came over so we went for a ride…in some mud!
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Great day for another ride!
 
41 miles on the 'Cycles Morot' today.
It's Armistice Day today, we visited 7 village war memorials and 3 graves today to give thanks and pay our respects.
Pictured at Benson.....
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...and in Warborough.....
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.
"...at the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them....."
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Fenderless and Free Friday for fun at the beach;
64 miles, 1936 Coral Colson Hot Rod.
IDK the specs but 28 spoke wheels, cartridge bearing front hub, and BB.
Fancy Arrowhead half-link chain, Long wheel base, wide bars, and super-comfortable Long-spring saddle.
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Clocked at 15 mph on the boardwalk, is a little-bit fast.😊
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My buddy DAGZ joined me to ride down to the Wedge, Newport Beach;
then back to the Water-tower in Sunset.
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Thanks to ALL Veterans for their service and commitment.
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Perfect day for a ride at the beach, SoCal.
 
It's been too dang long since I got out for a nice long ride. 37 Dayton Huffman. From my new apartment, to a peaceful spot, and back. My apartment complex was built in 1902 as a house for William H Dickens, son of Charles Dickens. It is believed by many that William was shot and killed by his own son in the library of the house. After a trial he was found not guilty. It has served many purposes since then including the hospital where my old neighbor was born.

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Nice to see your beautiful bike out there!
 
Today I rode the 52 monarch Tanker in great weather to tip off the AMPS project. This is the bike that started my interest in old ballooners in 1975. I found this at a farm auction in Minnesota without its wheels but with all the other pieces intact for $5. I do have the correct seat and sprocket but lost the fork crown cover over the years. It sports the lightest wheelset in the shootout with a 28-H 515 Sachs coaster-3 mated with a 28-H Sun Ringle cartridge bearing, bolt on front using 410 gram DT Swiss eyeletted rims, butted spokes and alloy nips. It weighs around 48 pounds total with pedals and inner tubes-🤣), sports a 44.25" wheelbase, 11" BB height, estimated 65 degree seat angle and 69 degree head tube angle. Running about 50lbs tire pressure.
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Rider Fit. This bike fits me the best of all of the 7 bikes by a lot. The exception is the tight bar width (21.5"), that forces my arms and hands down and in, limiting it's turning radius. The bars could be turned up to get them out of the way of my knees, but I like the flat tops that allow multiple, more natural hand positions, especially standing up on the pedals when climbing. Fairly easy to adapt to really so not a huge issue. The long nose Troxel is by far the best 3-spring saddle I own. It's minimalist spring weights and long, curved pan is simply sweetness. Never once did I want to get up off of it during the entire ride and only did so when I was standing up on the short burst climbs. I give the big tanker a 4.75 for rider fit.
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Moving out. At the start in the flats, the Monarch feels quick and accelerated up through the gears quickly, encouraging a higher gear until settling into a sold 19mph pace all the way out to the coast 5 miles away with little effort. Dead calm conditions allowed for an easily held higher speed. The tight bars bothered me at first, but when I moved my butt and hands forward on the saddle and bars, it made for a more natural position over the pedals, putting me "in the pocket" on this slack, low-slung monster. Did not hurt to have platform pedals so I could move my feet around a bit. There are many combos of seat, hand and foot position options on this machine. This big Tanker, being fully sprung so to speak, ups the comfort factor quite a bit on a long ride like today at pace. Every little bump gets eaten up by the front end and seat when flying along. The high volume Electra tires are somewhat weighty, but the wheelset makes up for them. I give a 4.0 on moving out.
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Mechanical Highlights. The obvious wheelset, which is very quick and lightweight: Light wheels transform all bicycles. These low mass wheels simply want to ramp up and go faster. The 52/20 ring sprocket combo provides a perfect nuetral gear that spins out at around 20mph, but the bike consistantly and noticibly wanted to be shifted into the biggest gear (33% higher) whenever the road straighted out. No question the bombproof, internally geared 515 hub and super light wheels stand out, and the 1" pitch drivetrain is cool, but offers no performance advantage. I give a 4.25 on this bike based on the killer wheels alone.
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Performance. Ok, this is what really interests me the most. How much better can you get these ballooners to perform? On my radar all the time. I want them to go faster, smoother and with less effort on long rides. Long live long rides. This is what flips my switch and keeps me riding them. Unfortunately, the braking is lacking on this bike. I wrecked at 20mph on this very bike two years ago, bailing into/onto the curb and sidewalk when a car pulled in front of me and the brakes were simply inadequate. At speed, this is a dangerous bike with the mass it carries, so you hope nothing surprises you that demands a quick stop. Ain't happnin with this beast. Besides the braking. it cruises, climbs, accelerates and holds speed very well as long as the wind is not working against it, and not too much climbing is involved on the ride. In calm conditions, the bike simply feels like it wants to accelerate and it takes little input really to get it back up to speed from a stop or climbing out of a short hole, standing or sitting. This bike will respond when you put the power down. The 3-spd was used all the time on the ride, and without it in the wind would have been discouraging. Any headwind I did run into today forced a shift down, requiring more power in order to keep pace. A smaller rider would certainly be bummed in the wind on this parachute. I give the big tanker a 3.75, dinged because of the affects from wind and weight.
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Stealth Factor. Let's be fair here, the Monarch is at a disadvantage with the linkage fork and underrated springs that bottom out when standing and climbing with every pedal stroke. The big loose front fender moves around with any stand-up effort adding to the noise lessened somewhat by removing the cast fender train light housing. The road surface, if not smooth, produced clank/click/bam sounds that I had to tune out. If the bike was up to speed cruising the smooth pavement at 19mph, it was dead quiet, so I welcomed the long smooth sections today where I could keep a fast, quiet pace going on. A lowly 2.5 on the stealth factor.
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A great ride today at a solid pace in excellent weather! Oh, on a final note, there was a lot of standing water puddles on both the SA riverbed trail and Newport Back Bay today after the significant storm that passed through. I aimed for the middle of all of them. Oh the joy of plowing through the wet spots with the unafraid fendered Monarch Tanker. The Monarch Super Deluxe is big and fast. Keep riding!
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Great read. Much appreciated. With regard to the lack of brakes, I remember the first ride on my rat 39 CWC supreme with a nexus 7 hub. No front brake. The bike was heavy, fast and dangerous especially around town with the steep hills where I ride. I fixed that with a new 4” Sturmey front drum hub.
 
Rode the new “stocker” around the hood today several times - sweet - total time warp 🙂
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just like back in the Day , dark & cold out side early , you see a lot of things once the cattle go home lol
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this little puppy is a tough guy, nice! Cudos
to @mrg
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salom thru the cones , oh & cranking RED by SAMMY the RED ROCKER !!!! Ride em don’t hide em !!!!!😎
 
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