...old man winter

Winter in the great Northwest is a pussy cat when looking at alternatives. Yet the cabin fever is just as real; as if blizzards were blowing and gales were flooding the streets. At least, we'd have something to watch... but no; a drizzle of rain and a peer of sunshine, and wet streets, and a chill in the air; simply not triking weather... YET!

So the people walked to the store and took their beast (dog) with them. The quest was for me, PhattKatt... to be seen. The people came back with a new and shiny present: The Blackburn MARS 2.0 bike tail light



After an hour of anticipation, finally I was fitted with my new glow:



Just kinda fills in the gap between the SMV triangle and the fluttery flag, now doesn't it? Not that this is unique of course... the *other* trike has one on the flagpole too.

For anyone that cares, these MARS 2.0 lights can be had for quite little as far as rear blinkies go. They run on 2-AAA batteries and have 3 modes... solid, all-blinking or random blinking and includes two amber lights facing forward. You see the little on/off button in the pix above. The mount is made with some strapping tape and an aluminum cable clamp. In order to change the battery, you must remove 4 screws but seems pretty well sealed from the weather.

I hear a little contemplation regarding my gearing was also considered. Not that I am sure fiddling with my good bits is required but this is what I overheard:

The stock gearing on this trike is pretty good. An 11-32 cassette and 30/42/52 chain rings on 130/74bcd crank arms. I'm assuming the cassette is a SRAM PG950 for the moment and the crank set is a 165mm Shimano Ultegra Octalink (v1) setup. Really nice setup. And for what it is worth, 165mm crank arms is not that common on stock trikes.

So the story goes that the SRAM 970 is an 11-34 cassette. Two teeth different providing a lower low. Rumor has it there is one in the house, somewhere.

Rumor also has it that there is a 24T chain ring in the house. But in order to make it viable, other chain rings would need to be replaced. The ultimate combination for the Ultegra crank set is 24/38/46. The third chart below shows that with a 24T chain ring and the 11-34 cassette, the climbing gear would be !13.2 Gear Inches (GI). That's better, lower, than the *other* trike! I'd definitely like to try that one on! Without delay... for your data crunching perusal:



The day that my bits will be messed with are a long ways off so for the moment all we can do is hope for sunny dry days... warmish ones. I hear the bottle cages are coming on Wednesday. Maybe another post awaits on that day. Now for another extended katt-nap.

PhattKatt Out!