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Bilenky Travel Page
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Dr. Alva Couch wrote us in August - "In July of this year, I was about to cancel our 20th annual bicycle tour due to my wife's back and foot injuries. I knew that she could comfortably ride a recumbent, but our normal upright tandem was too painful to ride. By luck, I acquired a used Bilenky ViewPoint. It was very comfortable to ride for both of us from the beginning, but I was skeptical of how it would handle when loaded, and whether it would stand up to the rigors of a 600-mile loaded tour. After 200 miles of unloaded training, I attached a BOB trailer and loaded up with 80 lb of clothes and camping gear. I had little faith that we would be able to complete the tour, but decided to take a chance and see how far we would get. On the first day, we pedaled 98 miles from Boston MA to Kennebunk ME. In Portland ME, we hopped onboard the Scotia Prince and ferried to Yarmouth, NS, circling the lower part of the province from west to east with an average distance of 55 miles/day. Returning via the ferry, we then pedaled from Portland back to Boston: 630 miles in 11 days. This is an average tour for us. The remarkable part is that we completed it even though my wife was injured beforehand and could not ride a normal tandem. As the tour progressed, we began to understand the bike's remarkable engineering, including many things not listed in the sales literature. First, the bike is ideal for captains much larger and heavier than stokers. For a heavier captain on a traditional tandem, the timing chain between the riders takes a lot of stress from the captain's greater pedaling power. By putting the heavier rider in the rear, timing chain stretch and stress is minimized. With a stoker in front and a trailer in back, the captain is in the middle of the action rather than on one end, and has a better feel for balance than on a traditional tandem. E.g., it is much easier to control the bike on a long, slow climb. Second, the bike's handling on dirt and poor surfaces is remarkably good. Because the captain is upright, one can use weight shifts and body english much as one would on an ATB. Because the heavier rider is in the rear, there are no rear-wheel-slip problems on steep dirt roads like we've encountered on a traditional tandem. Ground clearance is phenomenally high; equal to that of "extreme terrain" bikes. The front seat absorbs road shock incredibly well (though we did have to put a sprung seat on the rear). In summary, we were the envy of everyone we met. The
ViewPoint's strange design disguises some remarkably sound engineering that makes it
handle *better* than a traditional tandem for loaded
touring." Dr. Alva Couch (August 28, 2003) |
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Special Viewpoint Travels
Stephen, how are you? Wow, its been probably a year... or so it seems. Doug, the kids and I did make it to Williamsburg last year. We rode most of the time around the encampments. I have very fond memories of Doug changing Brian's diaper in the middle of a field where the Revolutionary War was fought. I can't say I am any kind of fan of war, but the historical side and the preservation of areas to remember such pinnacle times is inspiring. We had a lot of rain that week and had to ride accordingly, but nevertheless, it was great. Not too many cars, just open grasslands and other enthusiasts, well, and whining kids. Doug and I learned one thing about riding with a 6 and 3 year old, make sure they have full (of sorts) bellies; the complaining they did before we stopped to have pj sandwiches and fruit chasers was one for the record books. Remember those "when are we going to be there" comments classic on cross country trips, well we got that in spades. It was like someone transformed our evil spawns into humans following a little grub. They were angels after. We will return this year, maybe ride along the shore a bit more if we
can convince the Kelsey. She (at 7) is riding a bike with gears!! What kids get today.
Doug's excuse for getting such a bike was because she would have a better chance of
keeping up on long trips and hills. Of course he was right, but I really get nervous
with her riding separate. I was the kind of kid that knocked off my face around her age
(ate through a straw for 2 months because my face was so swollen) and I have knocked out
numerous teeth! Hopefully she has Doug's genes! |
| The Carlsons  on their Bilenky "of unknown origin" (purchased used) in New Zealand - looks mighty fun! |
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This year, I've been to Italy, biking around in the mountains of the regions of Lazio, Abruzzo and Umbrien - mid-Italy. This time without luggage. This Bilenky just handles wonderfully. It is stable with panniers, and yet agile without - something I actually thought impossible. Bravo to Stephen...!!!! Best regards,
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to Stephen & the gang at Cycle Works! It's been a almost a year since Gwen received her Viewpoint. The bike is everything we'd hoped for and then some. Gwen (who is handicapped and could never ride a bike by herself) can participate in our family bike outings now and she is always excited to go. I've been able to pedal Gwen over all but the steepest of the hills we've encountered and sometimes Gwen adds some (small bit of) power! We spent a week last summer cycling around Idaho and Montana; now we're trying to decide where the Viewpoint is going to take us this year! It's fun to have so many people ask us about the bike. It turns a lot of heads. We plug your name whenever we get the chance. Thanks for such a well made bike. Attached is a picture of happy cyclist Gwen & her dad, Keith. Best regards, Keith (& Gwen) 5/26/02
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Dani Reed takes her Bilenky to China
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Green Bean traveled the southern tier in 2001! (by Lynn Brucker, 2001) Roger and Lynn Brucker on 19 Sept. 2001 in San Diego, CA at the start of their southern tier ride across the United States. In the background is the Pacific Ocean. They rode a custom built Bilenky S&S coupled tandem ordered for this trip. "We needed a shorter top tube in the front and a much longer top tube in the back, provision for mounting the shifters on the front or rear positions, and the shipping convenience of airline luggage stowage," said Lynn. Steve Bilenky met all the Brucker's requirements in his innovative design. "We specified green because you don't see green tandems every day," said Roger. (The tandem was quickly dubbed "Green Bean.") In St. Augustine, FL on 19 Nov. 2001 the Bruckers completed their 3,200 mile ride two months later. About four weeks of rain followed them from Texas eastward. "Our Bilenky tandem is a heavy-duty touring machine built to carry everything we needed, rugged enough to stand up to all the rigors of highway travel, and easy to assemble and disassemble. We were most pleased with the interaction and expert contributions of Steve. Our tandem performed flawlessly on the Santana Durango Tandem Rally in Colorado last July, and on a 300-mile camping tour around the South Carolina lowlands last November," said Lynn.
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5 years after my dream bike was built by
Stephen Bilenky and company, it took me back to the
Philadelphia shop where it was conceived - Bilenky Cycle
Works. Here's the journey, going back in
time............... I never, in my wildest dreams, thought
I'd ever own a custom
expedition touring bicycle. But, in 1995
when I heard about Bilenky Cycle Works and their focus on touring bicycles and women, I
called them and started the process of designing one. One warm early summer day 5 months later,
when it finally arrived in a mega bike box, I couldn't
believe my eyes. Ready to ride in all its beautiful bright purple splendor, it
was so perfect I was actually intimidated. After
the first test ride that day, I didn't really ride it much
for weeks…….sort of waiting for my bike to adopt
me, I guess. Once I did start riding it, however, it quickly became my steady touring buddy and inspiration. Since the round-the-world bike tour I'd once envisioned doing in the
first year of the new century didn't happen, other bike trips beckoned - and, this year,
when a business conference was scheduled in Philadelphia for mid-August
………..why not bicycle there from Maine, I asked myself? Since I had always figured that, some day in the
distant future my bicycle would take me back to the place
where it was built, it seemed the time was right. Portland, Maine to Philly is about 500 miles, plus or minus. Choosing the route was one of the most difficult parts of the preparation; even more than the training required to bicycle that distance in just 6 days. I selected an inland, hillier route and was glad I did, as I discovered some great bicycling roads and had very few run-ins with heavy traffic. So, I headed out on one of the hottest days of the year on my
still-gleaming Purple Bilenky, heading into what turned out
to be the biggest heat wave of the past two years. We
quickly weathered, in the course of 6 always too-short days………..hills,
heat, more hills, and more heat…….zapping any excess energy I might have been
craving to burn. "Am I wetter inside or
out?" I asked myself when it started to
rain on day 3. Some of the most notable
scenes which managed to survive my almost continually close to dehydrated, somewhat
delirious, state were - Route 1A in New Hampshire with its non-stop summer traffic and beach
scenes, including surfers amid a rainbow of beach umbrella colors, and mobs and mobs of
scantily clad sun worshippers; D'Alios sub shop in Oxford, MA where the staff secretly
served us up large portions for the mediums we ordered; the unsuccessful quest for level
ground in NE Connecticut; a late afternoon detour on a potholed CT dirt road straight up a
wicked grade in decreasing late afternoon daylight (recommended to us by a bicyclist of
all people!); the 3 mile long hill on 17A east of Greenwood Lake, NY, which was worse than
any mountain I have ever climbed; Brewster, NY with its high population of migrant farm
workers waiting to be picked up even on Sunday morning; and, always, every day - water,
food, sleep, and then more food, more sleep, lots more water, not enough sleep, early
risings to beat the heat and make the miles, no level ground anywhere, how many more
granola bars can I eat?, wet clothes, always…….hey! whose idea was this anyway? And, through it all, the bike faithfully
set the pace to the finish line. No glitches,
no hitches, we're right on time! Whew! Next day, the bicycle and I rode to the
shop - Bilenky Cycle Works - through countless traffic
lights and busy early morning commuter traffic. Stephen
and crew were waiting to show me the sights, many right inside the shop: The shop a museum of progressing and finished work, Bat bikes from the ceiling, When a bike is in progress Seeing the raw materials next to my bike made
the whole scenario even more amazing! This brief adventure to Philadelphia still feels to me a bit like a
fantastical story from the annals of romance. It
was, however, truly a way for me to share with the bike the
experience of coming 'round full circle to its origins.
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