I started with a pair of Rover 1 speeds in 2013, and put a 26" wheel with a rear derailleur on them. (11-32 8 speed). That helped my wife and I a lot, but after riding that way for about three years I've decided to go ahead and put the much needed triple up front ( 22-32-44). I'm investing a lot of time into these bikes so we can hopefully get more range out of them, and because I really can't afford to plunk down $2000 each on a pair of Ramblers or $2500 each on a pair of sportsters (which couldn't support my 275 pound weight anyway). However, I've noticed that my Rover really does get squirrely when I get over about 18mph. So my first question is this:
Can I continue to upgrade the Rover or should I just bite the bullet and save up for something originally designed for more speed? I mean to say, how much difference is there really between a Rover and say a Rambler other than the gears?
Second question.
I'm running a Continental Top Contact II Fold Reflex 26 X 1.9 Bike Tire in the back. The wheel is a quick release that I stole from my mountain bike (a Mavic wheel). If I allow the wheel to move all the way forward it rubs the frame. If I really get on the pedals, the wheel pulls forward and rubs the frame. Has anyone run into this problem and fixed it?
Comments
The Minivan thing is what I'm wondering about. I don't think I can make it into a Corvette, but perhaps a Dodge Charger or a Chevy Nova? I'm wondering if anyone has successfully set up 24 speeds on a Rover, and then used it for long curvy rides without wishing they had bought a quicker trike.
With 8 gears I've never taken the Rover more than 25 miles a day. On my mountain bike I used to ride about 75 miles a day with glee. I'd like to get back to doing trips of that length. I just don't know if I'm setting myself up for failure because I'm trying to soup up a minivan when I should really go buy a Corvette.
As far as the 26" rear - I spoke to Terratrike about that before I put it on there. Terratrike told me they designed the Rover to handle the 26" wheels, but didn't sell them that way to reduce the cost. I don't think they intended for it to be used with a derailleur and quick release. I know there is very little space left over. I set up my Quick Release Axle so that it's about halfway back in the slot, and that gives me about 4mm between the center of the tire tread and the frame. I called Laidback cycle last summer and they told me that they had no trouble putting a 26" with a derailleur on a Rover but they weren't using a quick release, so they could make it pretty tight. The dropout would make life easier as the wheel can travel up and down but not back and forth, but that's not available for the Rover. A skinnier tire might work too but I hate to spend money on a nice tire only to find out it still doesn't really fit.
I converted my 2016 Rover to 24 gears but in truth, when I get my weight down, I'm thinking of trading up to a Sportster.
Back in the real world, I followed the combined suggestions about the Toe In and watched the Terratrike video on alignment before hitting the sack last night. This morning I did a rough measurement and determined that I have a Toe-In between 1/4 and 1/2 inch. That sounds pretty bad. I'll have to spend some time with both trikes this weekend getting them aligned properly. That will probably solve my quirky handling problem.
- JamesR - You answered my upgrade question. What I really want in the long run is a TerraTrike Tour II, which they don't make anymore, but it sounds like plowing through with my upgrade and tuning the trike correctly will provide enough reward for me to stay on the Rover for a while. I actually have the Niagara chain tensioner on the cassette side, but it just occurred to me to get another pair and put it on both sides. The problem is I'm running out of thread to tighten the quick release, since I also have a "washer thingy hitch" for my bike trailer on that axle.
I already have all the parts I need, I was just debating over sending them back. Someone in my neighborhood is selling an older Catrike Road for $850, which made me wonder if I was wasting my time on this project. But I already have a front post. I purchased one from Utah Trikes when they stopped making them, then decided it wasn't a good design and had a metal shop fabricate about a dozen of my (ahem) superior design. That gave me two for the wife and I, and about 10 that I intended to sell but never did. They are just collecting dust in the closet.
The derailleur, triple crank set, and shifter cost me $180 for two sets (About $90 each set). The Patterson would have run me about $600 (for two) plus a pair of shifters. That was too expensive for me.
Elrique, I have also been thinking about electrifying my wife's mountain bike just so she can make the hill climbs. I'm hoping that adding the triple crank will be enough to give her the bottom end she needs, but if she still can't make it then I want to try electrifying her Rover or getting a RideKick. Right now she can pedal 20 miles on flat, but only about 5 with hills.
Paul, I used Sheldon Browns Gear calculator a week ago and got totally different numbers, but I was using "26 nominal". I don't actually know what that means. How did you get your numbers? I've thought about fixing my problem by building some 24" rear wheels, but I have trouble comparing the gear ranges because I'm not certain what numbers to select in the calculator.
I don't see a way to manually add a wheel circumference on the calculator. So to switch to a 24" wheel I'm taking a guess that 24 x 1/25-520 is the normal tire size. I don't see any other options. I'm not sure if a 24" wheel axle would span the same distance as the 20 or 26 but I'm assuming it's universal. If I go with the 24 the range becomes 15.1 ~ 87.9. That would definitely work for my wife. I don't know if that's fast enough for me and don't know of a way to figure that out short of putting a wheel on there.
I actually have the original one speed 20" wheels, and I have a pair of 11-32 8 speed freewheels (still in the box) that I could have a bike shop put on them. (I don't have the freewheel tool). It might be worth trying. If I put that wheel on, the range becomes 12.8 ~ 74.7. That top end is almost identical to what we have right now without the triple crank. I think my wife could use a little more speed than that, but she seems happy with the top end right now so that might be the way to go on her bike as I already own all the parts needed - assuming the freewheel I have will fit on the original single speed wheel.
Quite possibly, what I should do is give my wife the last setup I mentioned, but then I should send the other crank back and exchange it for a 28/38/48 and then put a 24" wheel on mine. That would give me a range of 19.2 ~ 95.9. I'm too lazy to send the stuff back though, and I don't own a 24" wheel.
Oh, almost forgot to comment on the derailleur posts. I think the the Utah Trikes one would work - there shouldn't be a ton of pressure on the post. But the metal they used seemed pretty thin, They have a hole right up front to put your wrench through and the finish on their cuts and holes was a little jagged. I can't complain too much because they had already stopped producing them and only made it after I begged. But I designed it so you don't need the hole for the wrench. I used a slightly thicker aluminum instead of steel, had the base laser cut so the edges are smooth, and had the whole thing powder coated the same silver that Rovers used to be instead of painted black. If you're curious, I can try to post a side by side photo.
After I had them made my insurance agent told me that selling bike parts was risky. Good chance someone would bump their knee on the thing and sue me for $50,000. I chickened out, and that's why they are in my closet collecting dust. I still don't know what to do with them.
Read above, re derailleur posts
So, if you want to get rid of a couple of your designs . . . He and I (mostly he) could make use of them.
A lil steep for me at the moment. But before we go into that what's the degree angle of the post. I don't need another post here that I can't use. Mark Powers made one but it's designed for roady gear, I want to use Shimano Biopace from a '91 Rockhopper MTB so need one that is at 60° if that's what James R. recommended; he's got the newer Powers post.
chainstay angle of 61-66 degrees whilst it's mountain bike mechs require
a 66-69 degree angle." That post was in 2015
Jrobiso2 was the guru behind the post angles. No idea what he ended up setting the 2nd post angle at.
I had a biopace clone on a Peregrine MTB I bought in the late 80's. I wore out the large ring in the late 90's. Sheldon was the only person in the world who had a ring from that same copycat company. All the other shops I contacted had never heard of it. Sheldon sold it to me for about $15. I'm kind of surprised that the real biopace needs such a low angle as I'm pretty sure my Peregrine MTB had the normal 66-69 MTB setup. I would think that Jrobiso's 66 is going to give you more flexibility than the 69 on the bike post I had manufactured, but again, I was just copying the angle from Utah and I always intended to use MTB components as my vain imagination led me to think the gargantuan weight and configuration of the Rover lends itself to the typically beefier MTB components. All of this proves that I'm no engineer.
Also, let me box up a pair of "MoonTimber" trike posts and get the shipping price figured out at the post office. I'm guessing you'd want the lowest cost shipping? Is USPS OK or do you prefer UPS? I'm pretty flexible.
I'm hoping to mount everything on my Rover this weekend and plan to do some step by step photos of my process. That way everyone can look at the photos and tell me how I did it wrong!
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/home.html
@Jrobiso2 Is @Moontimber's version the same as the new Mark Powers post? If not, what is the difference past the height, cause the extra height might be a good thing. Wonder which post version has the thicker materials as well, cause if am not mistaken Jrobiso2 had an issue with the thin wall on his post.
Edit: Measuring the angle of the Rockhopper's down-tube, from the top bar, with a protractor is near 65° but less than 70° doing it manually. Top bar should be hypothetically horizontal.
'91 Rockhopper is the MTB I was going to scavenge parts from and add to the '16 Rover.
The past I have is for rode gear, not MTB. At the time none of us knew this. Jonathan said he grabbed the post to pull the Rover when loading and the tube bent.
Later he got with Mark Powers and a different part was created. Guess he likes the newer version. As usual, with the way things go, I'm sitting here waiting and wondering if/when an adequate post will make it my way.
Will try and read up on this thread when I get home to see what is what.