Any Kingcycle 'bent owners ?

in message said:

I'm looking at a used Kingcycle recumbent. Unfaired, rim brakes,
rigid fork, 21speed (original bits as far as I can tell).

Anyone on here with experience of ownership care to comment or discuss
?

I've not owned one, but I've ridden one. The owner doesn't hang out
here, but can frequently be found wrecking sheds, so you might try
asking the question there.

Quoted message said:

How much use is the rear fairing as a luggage box ?

He certainly finds it extremely useful.

If it helps your purchasing decision, the entire bike including front
and rear fairings fits into his Morris Minor saloon...

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; better than your average performing pineapple

NC said:

Anyone on here with experience of ownership care to comment or discuss ?

I don't have one, but a pal has recently bought one.

Quoted message said:

So far I am aware of the wierd tyre sizes, and the need to use cable ties to
hold the seat down to avoid buggering the seat rear movement bolt.

The only gotcha he'd found was changing at the front, but that's a
derailleur thing rather than a Kingcycle thing, I think.

Quoted message said:

How much use is the rear fairing as a luggage box ?

"Considerable" seems to be the verdict, and I'd think so from looking at it.

Quoted message said:

From a test ride (6-ish miles), I'm reasonably impressed. Its a light
machine which goes along nicely

From blether with new owner...
"you know that point when you're going down a big hill and as the air
resistance builds up you eventually stop getting faster?"
"yes..."
"Well, I was just going down Princes Street and that /never happened/!
I'm quite glad it's got good brakes!" (this one has has Maggie rim brakes).

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

NC <[email hidden]> wrote:
: I'm looking at a used Kingcycle recumbent. Unfaired, rim brakes, rigid
: fork, 21speed (original bits as far as I can tell).

: Anyone on here with experience of ownership care to comment or discuss ?

I've not owned one myself but a close friend had one for a time and really
liked it.

Apart from the stuff you mentioned about zip ties and wheel sizes,
the main thing to check is that you can adjust the boom so that your
knees fit under the steering. I can speak from experience and say that
it's very painfull to ride otherwise!

You can get a surprisingly large amount in the rear box: certainly as
much as in one large pannier so it's pretty practical.

Arthru

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
"Technolibertarians make a philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook

NC said:

I'm looking at a used Kingcycle recumbent. Unfaired, rim brakes,
rigid fork, 21speed (original bits as far as I can tell).

Anyone on here with experience of ownership care to comment or
discuss ?

I had one for many years and enjoyed it very much.

Quoted message said:

So far I am aware of the wierd tyre sizes, and the need to use cable
ties to hold the seat down to avoid buggering the seat rear movement
bolt.

Tyre sizes /can/ be tricky, but this may depend on the age of the machine
and whether any previous owners have Done Things to it. Originally they
came with the ISO 369 front wheel (17" Moulton) but switched to the rather
horrid ISO 390 (French 450A) after about 20 machines had been built. Some
enterprising owners have managed to shoehorn an ISO 406 front wheel in
there, and IIRC there was a short run of proper 406-size forks made a few
years back, so you didn't have to faff around with the brakes too much.
AFAIK all 390 tyres currently available in the UK are complete pants. Mine
came with a Moulton wheel from new, fortunately.

The rear wheels were nearly all ISO 541 (French 600A) though again, a few
people have converted them to 559. 541 is interchangeable with ISO 540,
which is a common size for wheelchairs, hence tyre supply is less of a
problem. If you /do/ want to change wheel sizes and you have Magura rim
brakes, be advised that the U-brackets to which they mount has not been made
for a Several of years and are very likely impossible to find in the wild.

Never had a problem with the seat bolt on mine, but then again, I had the
seat as far back as it would go. I /did/ find the seat would give me
serious [censored]-ache after a couple of hours at race pace, but riding all day
at more moderate levels of exertion was fine. Mrs Larrington, however,
begged to differ...

Other things to watch for:

The cage which surrounds the idler pulley is known to be a bit flimsy. I've
seen several, mine included, which had an additional bracing piece brazed
on, which did the trick.

They don't take kindly to being called upon to tow BoB trailers, and
replacing the front gear cable can be a royal pain in the [censored].

Cut out a suitably shaped piece of correx or similar plaggy and zip-tie it
to the frame so as to block the space between the frame tubes ahead of the
seat and abaft the head tube. You may then dispense with a front mudguard.

I know you state it has a rigid fork, but if the opportunity arises, do not
be tempted by the Kingcycle suspension fork as the pivots wore horribly,
leading to an alarming amount of sideways play. I managed to obtain a
349-sized SR SunTour telescopic fork which would accept the Moulton wheel,
though it required a certain amount of brake bodgery - V-brake converted to
left-side cable entry - and the use of a rather small "big" chainring.

Arthur's advice that "the main thing to check is that you can adjust the
boom so that your knees fit under the steering" is wise, but misses the
important point that adjustment for rider length on Kingcycles was done
firstly by a Several of different frame sizes and secondly by moving the
seat back and forth. The boom does not adjust.

Quoted message said:

How much use is the rear fairing as a luggage box ?

I used mine until it wore out. /Very/ handy, if not as large as the
offerings from Novosport.

HTH
--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================

Arthur Clune said:

NC <[email hidden]> wrote:
: I'm looking at a used Kingcycle recumbent. Unfaired, rim brakes, rigid
: fork, 21speed (original bits as far as I can tell).

: Anyone on here with experience of ownership care to comment or discuss ?

I've not owned one myself but a close friend had one for a time and really
liked it.

Apart from the stuff you mentioned about zip ties and wheel sizes,
the main thing to check is that you can adjust the boom so that your
knees fit under the steering. I can speak from experience and say that
it's very painfull to ride otherwise

There is no adjustable boom on a KingCycle. You get one with an
appropriate frame size (medium was OK for me & I'm 5'7"😉, and then slide
the seat fore-and-aft.

Quoted message said:

You can get a surprisingly large amount in the rear box: certainly as
much as in one large pannier so it's pretty practical.

It depends what you are trying to pack in. You can carry loads of soft
stuff, but the intrusion that the rear wheel makes into the fairing
limits the size of solid objects.

I used mine for a 25-mile-per-day round-trip commute in London for about
4 years, using front & rear fairings most of the time. Eventually the
frame broke on the right-hand side right next to where the headtube goes
between the frame tubes (I think Dave's went there as well). This is a
point of high stress on the frame, and also coincides with the location
of the chain idler - I suspect that the process of brazing that on
weakened the tubing slightly. So an essential thing to check is that
there is no sign of any cracking in this area.

The seat frame can also give up the ghost if the bike is regularly used
in the wet and stored somewhere cold and damp. The mesh of the seat
holds the moisture in and rust can set in easily. It happened to me - I
was lucky in that Miles was able to supply me with a new seat frame, but
I don't know what the position is nowadays.

Regards,

Tim Costen

Tim Costen said:

Eventually the frame broke on the right-hand side right next to where
the headtube goes between the frame tubes (I think Dave's went
there as well).

My original frame (#008) was replaced FOC when it was discovered that the
head tube had been brazed in some way out of alignment; the replacement is,
AFAIK still alive and well and living in Tiptree. Mrs Larrington's, OTOH,
borke the left tube /ahead/ of the head tube. The first ten frames were
built with lighter-gauge tubing, and hers (frame #006) had seen a
considerable number of racing miles under Mad Dog Kinch before we got hold
of it. Her subsequent one was sold privately and later p/x'd for a Baron
from Darth Ben...

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================

Tim Costen <[email hidden]> wrote:

: There is no adjustable boom on a KingCycle. You get one with an

My mistake. You do indeed move the seat. The general point stands
though - make sure it can be adjusted to fit or it's very painful
to ride!

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
"Technolibertarians make a philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook

Dave Larrington said:

NC said:

I'm looking at a used Kingcycle recumbent. Unfaired, rim brakes,
rigid fork, 21speed (original bits as far as I can tell).

Anyone on here with experience of ownership care to comment or
discuss ?

I had one for many years and enjoyed it very much.

Thanks for the comments Dave, and the other posters to the thread.

I think the comments have moved me to "less in favour" than I was.

Main issue revolves around the odd-ball parts. The example has the ISO 390
front, and the Magura brakes. So, from what you've said, changing to any
modern wheel size will be a right pain, yet the available tyres are not much
use either.
Various other parts on the particular machine were not in the best of
condition (*), such as not nice gear changing, which would involve some
expense in sorting.
The brakes were effective, which is a testament to the Magura units.
I'd not inspected the frame closely around the gear pulley, but would do if
I become more interested.

Others had warned me off the suspended models for the reasons quoted.

I think I'll conclude that the basic concept is "about right", and that my
search needs to be for similar models but with components more suited to the
modern spares situation. The older M5 for example. Or I have to save a bit
more for something newer.

(* perhaps I have over-high standards for used kit, but my circa 1990 Nigel
Dean runs on its original Suntour cranks, derailleurs, shifters and brakes.
Apart from new pads, and chains as service items, and replaced rear block
and front rings, they still work correctly).

- Nigel

--
NC - Webmaster for http://www.2mm.org.uk/
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