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Grin Customer Profile, Simon and Rita and their Tandem Solar Bike Expedition

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There seems to be a common theme of solar bike adventurers stopping by Grin for one reason or another. Our latest set of visitors is Simon and Rita from Switzerland, who have been on a tandem bike journey across the continent after riding over from Europe to Mexico on a sailing cargo ship.
They've been riding a unique drive setup that features two Rohloff hubs, one in the the trailer being driven by a Shengyi SX hub motor as a mid-drive, and a second one on the bike for the mechanical pedal transmission. This gives them a redundant identical wheel set if necessary, and a clever dual chain system also allowed them to get regenerative braking (until stresses damaged the motor axle).
Find more details about this lovely couple on their on their unassuming web-blog!
WEB BLOG: greuters.githu...
By the end of summer they should be in Easter Canada looking for hitch a ride back across the Atlantic, and if you have any hookups for that they'd love to know.
Interestingly, just 3 days after they left Grin we had ANOTHER solar bike adventurer from Switzerland show up at our shop. He had just come by container ship from New Zealand and will probably cross paths somewhere in the prairies.

Опубликовано:

5 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 30

@aaronpike1853 5 дней назад

Very nice interview! I met Simon and Rita just a few days ago (8/25/24) along the Erie Canal Trail in New York, U.S. So glad that they are able to take the time for this epic journey.

@onimenogarou Месяц назад

I don't know how they can afford to get all that stuff and then tour for months/years. I can only take a few weeks off from work. I am slowly building out my solar touring setup but this stuff is expensive! This rig is absolutely amazing! Simon and Rita, your ingenuity is inspiring!

@simongreuter5924 Месяц назад

Well, bike touring is actually not that expensive given you come from a rich western country (~2000$ / month for the two of us), the big investment is quitting your job and getting rid of all your stuff..

@julianh7853 28 дней назад

I agree with Simon. In addition, if you're a fairly thrifty 25 year old, you should own a car and/or some assets totalling some ten thousand or so, and by the time you're 30+ you ought to have some tens of thousands to put down as a deposit on a house. In this context, even if your all singing, all dancing bicycle comes to ten thousand, it is not such a large amount of money in the grand scheme of things. Especially if you couple up with somebody and pool resources.

@juste96669 25 дней назад

we need to offer a couple of mics to grin tech soon! ;-) Thank you for the amazing content tough, as always. Congrats to Rita and Simon ! It's an outstanding journey ;-) Vive la Suisse !

@kilianweigand Месяц назад

Great to see another team riding their Solartandem hihi :) With our Solartandem Azub Twin we can relate 100% to the struggles with rear wheel strength. But the advantages of tandem bikes are just to good! You're not just two riders doing the same trip- you're really ONE team! Have good ride☀🚲🚲

@normawingo5116 Месяц назад

What a fun and interesting couple. Enjoyed the interview very much.

@zoobiewa Месяц назад

That was incredibly delightful and informative too!

@smith717 Месяц назад

Just a great interview! Thanks so much!

@DatEbikeGuy Месяц назад

Nazca brand is an excellent choice, as it is one of the few companies that made bikes from CroMo steel. Unfortunately, they no longer produce bikes due to COVID. I discovered their company by accident in the past when I was searching for my recumbent bike, 15k km later and it was the best decision of my life. Thanks for sharing

@simongreuter5924 Месяц назад

Yes, our Quetzal never let us down, they figured it out!

@danielduesentriebjunior Месяц назад

Great stuff! I am from Switzerland as well. Recently I acquired a HP Velotechnik Speedmachine recumbent bicycle and consider converting it to electric first and then to solar.

@barrybogart5436 Месяц назад

That is fascinating. I can't wait for the solar e-bike tech to get mature and hopefully lighter and simpler. With regen! I want to follow the sun all day long.

@JBean_COCR Месяц назад

wow, mind blown, thanks

@VeloSolarTech_Alex Месяц назад

These guys got it figured out. Loved it.

@julianh7853 28 дней назад

It's a very innovative and clever build. However, I think that they could have got the benefits of efficient low-speed crawling with a Bafang mid-drive (probably mounted to the captain's crankset, and the benefits of regen with a Direct Drive hub motor on the front wheel. This would be much simpler to implement, offer redundancy, and get some of the heavy items towards the front of the bike thereby slightly reducing the load on the rear wheel.

@bradarmstrong1656 Месяц назад

Wonderful and heartwarming!

@rident Месяц назад

If you cut back into the US, do be sure to go through the lakes country of Minnesota, stop in Minneapolis, and route through the Great Lakes - the inland oceans of North America. Try to visit Mackinac Island - A bicycle-only island in Lake Huron. For getting back across the Atlantic - have you considered a repositioning cruise? They usually happen spring/fall and are reduced rate as they have less/no sightseeing stops. Another unique option, look for ships taking the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway and see if you can be part of another crew.

@rident Месяц назад

There's also a lot of Norwegian descendant culture in Minnesota - last names, town names, food - even a replica Viking ship that crossed the Atlantic 40 years ago, the Hjemkomst in Moorhead, MN.

@simongreuter5924 Месяц назад

Thank you for the ideas, Mackinac sounds cool! Regarding cruise ships: we are aware of the possibility, but they are about the one mean of transport consuming even more energy than airplanes. So we still try to find other options, and would probably rather fly to Iceland instead.

@stevecumming6427 Месяц назад

That's an awesome rig with everything for a road trip on a bike. Saw a You Tube of pro bicycle racer that has a trailer set up for eBiking with solar on the trailer or could have.

@3ATGL Месяц назад

Go Minneapolis Sculpture Garden !

@fredtatch1572 Месяц назад

Beautiful interview! I wondered if there were any issues with wind and stability during their trip so far. Safe travels!

@simongreuter5924 Месяц назад

We had one day where riding got sketchy coming from Red Canyon State Park in California. Sidewind gusts of around 90km/h according to the local weather station, so we seeked shelter and were good again in the morning. We don't tilt the panels while riding though.

@fallenshallrise Месяц назад

Really cool setup but I have that same motor and have the same problems. The way it is geared it has no torque and hates low speeds and just chokes and dies off the line or on steep hills in a cargo configuration unless you pedal hard to keep minimum speed above 10 KPH. Seems like there is a gap in the market to re-gear these motors to get a heavy bike off the line and give slow speed assistance even if it spins out at a relatively low speed.

@simongreuter5924 Месяц назад

Yep, for heavy setups you need some gearing - luckily we have it, climbing is no problem then.

@GrinTechnologies Месяц назад

Unfortunately regearing the motor internally is not so easy, as the sun gear is basically as small as it can be and fit over the axle. You would need a totally different internal gear topology, and that basically means a new motor design from scratch. I certainly agree that there is a gap in the market for a 2-3kg motor that can do like 80-100 Nm of torque by virtue of a high gear ratio (like 20:1) but with a low top speed of ~100-150 rpm. It's possible in principle. In the meantime, the solution of Simon is quite elegant!