Conference noted::bicycle

    	My 'dream bike' would be a low-handlebar recumbent with a high
    bottom bracket (for best use of leg power), a light partial fairing,
    and a super-flywheel that would absorb power when braking and help
    in climbing hills.  Then I would have safety, comfort, speed, and
    hill-climbing ability.  What more could you ask of a bike? - Chris

>    and a super-flywheel that would absorb power when braking and help
>    in climbing hills.

Is this a 2 wheeler, or a 3 wheeler?  I imagine that it would be hard to lean
on a bike with a flywheel.

Perhaps you need to put a second counter-rotating flywheel right next to it.

-Jeff

    re: .2  As I recall you don't lean a recumbant anyway.
    
    re: .1  What, you're not interested in the computerized recumbant
    described in cyclist this month?
    
    ed

    My dream bike is the Modolo Kronotech, designed by Domenico Modolo.
    This is the high-tech bike you've probably seen in some bike mags,
    like Winning. A poster-sized photo/tech description graces my office
    wall:
    
    	WHEELS:		Integral carbon-honeycomb. 28" rear, 24" front.
    
    	FRAME:		monobloc, carbon-honeycomb hot cast in autoclave.
    
    	FORK:		Carbon-Ergal
    
    	HANDLEBARS:	Carbon-technopolymer, aerodynamic w/built-in
    			computer (which looks like a Cateye!!)
    
    	CENTRAL MOVEMENT: Ergal-titanium
    
    	Total weight:	8.5 Kilograms
    
    	
    	This bike is essentially a wickedly high-tech time-trial bike.
    	Everything is aerodynamic; the styling of the frame (more of
    	a chassis, really) is susceptable to cross winds, however.
    
    	Someday when I win Megabucks I'll get this! 8^)
    

    
    	I would like a real_cheap_bike.  I would like everyone else
    to have real_cheap_bikes too.  I would like us all to ride them
    wherever we are going and park them there (neatly) for others to ride
    somewhere else.  I would like there to be a fleet of communal property
    bikes.  I would like them to be very light, say 15 lbs, to be totally
    maintenance free and to afford total weather protection, yes, *TOTAL*.
    I would like the efficiency to be adjustable from high for
    transportation, to low for rigorous exercise.  I would like the design
    to fit everyone's size and proportions, or to be self adjusting (we got
    compooter chips, ain't we ?).  I would like these bicycles to radiate
    peace and friendliness to all other road users, I would like all
    vehicles and all road users to do this. 

    	Reg
    

    
    While in Goodale's last year, on of the fellas showed my a bike
    (can't remember what it was, help!) that had a either an ultra-light
    aluminum or poly-carbon based frame that was held together by some
    fairly aggressive allen bolts. Thats right! The frame was made of
    components which could be taken out and replaced with new ones to
    get back that ol' new bike frame responsiveness.
    
    Or, a nice enclosed and highly visable (but not pricey like the
    Vector) recumbant. The flywheel sounds great, but it has been
    experimented with. In order for the flywheel to make a difference
    it must be of some substantial weight, and the gyroscopic tendencies
    of rotating flywheels (read: when spinning, they like to stay in
    the same plane and can exert tremendous force to do so!) made the
    experimental bikes go great guns, but only in a straight line. I
    remember two scenes from a film, one of such a recumbant approaching
    the first curve of the track and gliding gracefully into the wall
    (keerasssh!) and another of a complex cermaic based flywheel exploding
    while in mid flight and desecrating the bikes outer shell from within!
    
    Anyway, anybody know what the frame in paragraph 1 was??
    
    							* MAC *

    
    re: .5 
    Reg_B, you've got it! I agree completely.One that will 
    S  T  R  E  T  C  H  out and grow an extra seat when you feel like
    company.....one that'll prevent any shifting when you want to do
    a "Reg climbing Mt. Whatsis" imitation, etc etc etc.
    			right on, ol' chap!!!!
    
    =-=-=-=-=gary=-=-=-=-=

    RE .5
    
    When I visited my brother at the University of Michigan, I spotted
    a battered bike painted lime green with a sign on it.  My brother
    explained that it was one of the famous "green bikes," which are
    free for anyone on the campus to use.  People grab a free bike,
    ride it to their destination, and leave it there for anyone else
    to use.  
    
    The original bikes were found and never claimed, or donated.
    The program is less popular now than in the 'seventies, so the
    bikes are something of a rarity.  My brother felt lucky to be
    able to ride one the day was out there, because he didn't get
    many chances.  Still, it's a continuing, nobel experiment in 
    community ownership of transportation.
    
    MATT

    I stumbled across this note and decided to add my .02 on what I
    would choose as the ultimate bike.  
    
    Frame would be either a Serotta Colorado or A Merckx, no composites
    or aluminum.  It will be racing geometry but allow no hands riding
    and have a forgiving ride while still being as stiff as anything
    (wow, this really is a dream bike!).   
    
    Components? a mix, and because this is a dream bike it will all
    work togther.  Dura Ace 7 speed cassette rear der., Dura Ace front
    Der., Mavic shift levers (the ones that are hollow) C-record Crankset 
    (a thing of beauty) and bottom bracket. C-record Delta brakes,
    C-record hubs and headset (aren't hubs and headsets really where
    Campy stands above the crowd?).  And, of course, the C-record aero
    seatpost.  No dream bike is complete without it! 
                                        
    Wheels?  A pair of the lightest clincher rims, and a pair of the
    lightest tubular rims too.  32 spokes, C-record hubs, double butted
    spokes.  Tires, Specialized Turbo VR's, Vittoria seta CX's (?).
    
    Pedals will be the shimano clipless ones.
    
    Color of bike?  A nice blue,red fade that will match the new Digital
    bike Jersey!
    
    Did I miss anything?

    I met a guy at a criterium Saturday who had a Riva Trecia.  This bike
    is made out of titanium.  It has a one-piece titanium stem/handlebar,
    titanium crankshaft and quick-release hubs, and titanium
    who-knows-what-else.  It weighs 7 kilos (15.4 pounds), complete. They
    guy wouldn't admit how much it cost, though I've heard that the
    titanium is so expensive that you get charged by the frame size -- the
    bigger you are, the more your bike costs.
    
    On the home front, I've decided to be a total hypocrite and blow a
    bunch of cash on a "dream" bike.  It will be a custom-made Sannino with
    Columbus Multishape tubing, Dura Ace 8-speed drivetrain, and Campy
    Record Delta brakes.  (I'm not going with the C-Record crankset
    because I want to be able to swap chainrings with my current bike.)
    It won't be especially light, but it'll be the ideal bulletproof
    racing bike for me.
    
    MATT
    
    RE: .9
    
    Unfortunately, you can't use C-Record hubs with Shimano 8-speed.
    I wanted to!
    

Re .10
    
    > I met a guy at a criterium Saturday who had a Riva Trecia.  This bike
    > is made out of titanium.  It has a one-piece titanium stem/handlebar,
    > titanium crankshaft and quick-release hubs, and titanium
    > who-knows-what-else.  It weighs 7 kilos (15.4 pounds), complete. They
    > guy wouldn't admit how much it cost, though I've heard that the
    > titanium is so expensive that you get charged by the frame size -- the
    > bigger you are, the more your bike costs.
    
    A friend of a friend I know has been consulting to the Merlin company
    - I think they are located somewhere her in Mass - for the production
    of their Titanium bike frames.  Merlin markets these frames under
    the Merlin name and also under the Kellogg name.  I think the Teladyne
    company has also been making some Titanium frames.  Just for trivia,
    a company called Speedwell was making Titanium frames in Britain
    in teh early '70s.
    
    Anyway, you can get a Titanium frame for under $1000 from Merlin.
    They really aren't much more expensive than an Eddy Mercx or a Colnago.
    I don't know if you get charged by the amount of Titanium used or
    not.
    
    I don't know much about these titanium components beyond the fact
    that Campy uses titanium pins in all their C-Record stuff.  And
    I think that Zeus makes a titanium bottom bracket.
    
    And for all you lightweight junkies, since the titanium is a
    non-corrosive metal, it doesn't need to be painted.  So you can
    save a couple of grams by not painting it.
    
    	-Nancy