during the last few weeks, my TWIKE was making some strange rattling noise from time to time. one of the last weekends i started to search more in-depth and found the culprit very quickly: a canopy tube had broken just around the locking mechanism. a few years ago, TWIKE 560 took part at the WAVE 2011 India. during this trip we at one point hit a pothole nearly as big as the TWIKE and were unable to slow down in time. the result was a broken locking pin and tube. this year’s canopy tube failure may well be a result […]
TDB2015…lots of news! (t-53d)
planning all aspects of TDB2015 is a very interesting task. we’re happy to announce that one of the most important parts of these preparations has been completed: how to get TW560 to tallin, the starting point of our adventure this year. you might remember us lamenting the complexities of this task in one of our last blog entries. even after having had the chance to negotiate with a car importer from estonia, we were still at an amount of money we were unwilling to invest in just getting TW560 to its starting point. so, after thinking somewhat out of the […]
plexi-vodoo!
as you might know, older swiss twikes are fitted with a plexi windscreen to save weight. (elsewhere in the EU, the glass manufacturer-lobby was successful in having legislation for cars include glass as the only material approved for windscreens…which adds an uncool 30kgs to european twikes and forces even the hyper-efficient VW XL1 to have a glass windscreen even though all side windows are poly carbonate!) after my vandalism incident last year, and my subsequent purchase and custom fitting of the worlds’ last original twike plexi windscreen, i am obviously even more interested in keeping it in pristine condition! however, […]
fondue in malans – a two-day TWIKE trip
as you might know, the swiss TWIKE driver’s association organizes various events every year. since we’re in switzerland, fondues and related events are “de rigeur” during the cold season. this year, we’ve been treated to a total of 4(!) such events for the club alone – one of the better ones is away from the usual swiss gravitational centres: far off in the grison alps. i’ve already blogged about one of theses events here. this year, the grison event is going to be held in the wine-producing foothills of malans at a winery. both myself and my trusted co-pilot and […]
TDB2015: planning and preparations are progressing
time is a wonderfully fluid thing – just a moment ago, we were looking at a counter for TDB2015 at 130 days…and today we’re already at 80 to go! we’re currently applying for our russian visas – nothing has changed here from 20 years ago: you answer a TON of questions, need a “sponsor” from within, every step within the territory has to be accounted for and you need to prove your medical insurance covers russia by providing a written confirmation by your insurer. they were asking for all countries i visited during the last 10 years: an interesting challenge […]
Repairs: replacing the charging cable signaling pigtail
during the last few weeks, TW560’s been behaving strangely. whilst driving – and more annoyingly – at red lights, my TWIKE started to claim that it was ready for charging, although i was either driving or clearly not wanting to charge, since i was standing at a red light. it’s a really annoying and potentially dangerous problem. unlike newer ev’s, TWIKEs come with a non-removable charging cable which directly connects to the inverter. detection of drive-readiness is achieved through a dummy socket in the vehicle’s interior. my current problem was a bad contact or broken cable, since the problem was […]
on my recent visit to the us of a: hmm…
a recent business trip took me to california’s silicon valley. this entry consists of the bits and bobs i saw, heard and thought about during the 5 days i spent in america. since everyone in the us has to be hyped, pumped and ready for the fun, i thought it would be a good idea to blend in and get a fitting picture taken for my visitor badge! for me (and probably most europeans for that matter), america remains a puzzling place. nsa revelations and all the cyber defense babble (which was, after all, why i was visiting) aside, the […]
TDB2015: update on our preparations
quick update on our preparations for this year’s TWIKE adventure. as a few readers of this blog have correctly guessed, TDB2015 stands for “Tour du Baltique” 2015. we’ve decided to take TW560 to the baltic states and cross russian territory when visiting kalinigrad. as usual, i started out by drawing our direct line and then started by defining the start and end point of our trip on a map. later on, whilst driving, this map will be synched to our phone which then shows us the way. one evening i invite jc over to go over the rough plan. as […]
a new TWIKE adventure: TDB2015
ha! better start planning early! as nearly every year for the last 8 years, jc and myself will be taking a TWIKE further afield for around 8-9 days. we’ve decided on a general direction and now we’re dealing with visa regulations, vehicle insurance issues and other practical questions. TDB2015 will take us further afield than any other trip except the one across india. detailed planning of our route will start in february. i’ll be posting updates on our planning when appropriate – at least we’ve got our good old countdown going again and, and looking at it now, it’s only […]