My Carbonrecumbent Road Runner bike has run over 20.000 kilometers. In that time, during its development, nearly everything has been changed. It is like the ship of Odysseus: neither the hull and the mast, neither the sail and the ropes are the original ones any more, but the ship is still “the same”. Through a lot of modifications the design became suitable for production. The Hellenic hero roamed through seven years, I needed only one and half year to cover the half distance of the Equator.

I live my life like a high-speed shooting. In four years I has been ridden 40.000 kilometers on different recumbent bikes, and that is why just I was asked to help the development of the Carbonrecumbent bikes, as a testing rider. At the end of April 2010 the Road Runner prototype (20/26 inch wheels) was shoved on the Spezi fair in Germany and after I has equipped the bike with mirrors, saddle bag and GPS-holder and I put it immediately into use – the honeymoon has begun and lasts until today!

Maiden trip do Dobogókő, which is a 700 meters high mountain next to Budapest. The bike figured out to be very stable and predictable, does not flex by pushing hard but is elastic on rough road.  But also a few minor faults were obvious: on bumps the chain often jumped off the idler, the idler itself was very noisy because of the hard plastic material, the rear fork-leg was made of carbon composite which is not wear-resisting enough and the front derailleur was not really compatible with the biggest chain ring. Things which are not detectable on the monitor of the computer aided design but come out in the hard praxis. The most important thing is that the bike climbs well and is very safe at high speed downhill. It was a promising prototype!
That promise got later fulfilled completely. We cut the cables to an optimal length, the idler got a chain-guard, we changed the front derailleur and the brake arms, the seat-shell has been cut to the form of the Ventisit seat pad, the rear fork-leg got a padding of metal. A new idler, with steel sprockets instead of plastic was much less noisy.
In the meantime we climbed one high mountain pass and alpine road after the other in Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Slovakia. The summit was the Grosser Speikkogel, a 2120 meters high mountain with a road-gradient of 10-17 percent through 11 kilometers. It is an acclaimed performance to reach it on bicycle and we – the designer-builder of the Carbonrecumbent vehicles Adam Novak and me − was probably the first who did it on recumbent bikes. My Road Runner run thousands of kilometers in the busy traffic of Budapest and on quiet countryside, on the bumpy roads of Ukraine and in the huge forests of Poland, in sunny weather and in heavy rain and I was more and more satisfied with it. Many riders admired the fine finish, the smooth surfaces and the nice details of my bike, they would to buy one at first sight but they had to wait a few months. The bike was not ready yet.
A little confuse: in the heat of the summer the frame cracked at the steering tube. The reason was the thermal expansion of the aluminum insert. Two shorter aluminum bushing were applied instead one long piece of tube and the problem was over. We made also a few other observations: the seat should be more supportive at the lower end, the frame was too long – no problem whilst riding but difficult to put the bike in a car − and the seat clamp had a quite complicated design. Until the end of December, in eight months, the prototype has run 6500 kilometers and at this time it has retired, because of a new one, which had a shorter frame, rear fork-legs of aluminum, and seat clamp of alloy, which was better but not proper yet. In a few steps of try and error the seat shell reached an optimal level of comfort, under it rotated a new, completely silent idler, the aluminum steering stem and bar was replaced with feather light and nice carbon ones.
As the months and miles has been gone the Road Runner used already the fourth set of Schwalbe tires, the second chain, the second rear sprocket and the second rear derailleur, and it will be soon the right time to change also the wheels because the braking causes some wear of the rims. For riding in the night and in bad weather the bike has been equipped with a Busch & Müller LED headlight and three rear LED lamps. Brake shoes – who could say how many times they were changed? But the seat clamp got its final design as a very smart composite piece. Also new is a second idler at the front fork, to keep the chain always quiet.
As a week ago I rode my bike on a beautiful 320 kilometers long autumn-tour, in frosty fog of the night and in a fine sunshine at noon, I meditated on my bike which is not simple a sport gear for me but a part of my soul and body. Which remained original on it? The crank set, the pedals, the brakes, the wheels, the gripshifts, the seat stems, the mirrors and the bell – not too much.  But whilst it renewed itself like a human organism it became faultless, even perfect. It can be compared with the well-known products of the American Bacchetta and Volae, the Italian Slyway or the Australian Cruzbike. But it is much cheaper than those – its price-value ratio is unbeatable.
What could be, what should be developed on it? I have no idea. Perhaps a carbon front fork instead of the aluminum one – not because of the minimal difference in the weight but for a more high-tech appearance. And a set of special wheels, for the same reason. But the design of the Road Runner is tried and tested, it can be produced and sold. Indeed more and more Hungarian and other bikers use a Carbonrecumbent bike in which there is a lot of experience gained by the ship of Odysseus.

Karlovitz „Pupu” Kristóf