...and now for some gardening pics

Thought I'd share some photos of the garden before tsuru (rainy season) arrives. So far, it's been an amazing spring. Temps hovering in the low to upper 80's with low humidity. Reminds me of my life in California.

The clematis is welcoming guests. 

This area could use some serious trimming next fall.

The peony mysteriously appeared in our yard a few years back. We really like it!

The maples are staritng to provide some shade to the lawn area. 

This area is dedicated to Erika's mom. She loved flowers.

We have four areas in the garden that have strawberries. This year the crop is crazy. Not sure what we'll do will all the fruit.

Peaches

The five marionberry bushes will provide some really tasty jam this year.

Apricots

Juneberries are another plant producing a crazy amount of fruit. We have 12 plants in the garden.

Gooseberries taste just like grapes

Cassis (forgot the English name)

We have been invaded with blueberries. I mean literally hundreds and hundreds...help!

Another blueberry bush. It's overflowing with fruit.

Not much in the vegetable department. Here's some snap peas and lettuce.

Carrots

...and more lettuce. The main vegetable garden was just planted so not much to show...yet. Stay tuned.

 

ICE Recumbent Trike...the Not-So-Ugly

 Finishing up, here's the not-so-ugly portion of what I learned about ICE trikes and their response to what their findings were. ICE trike frames are not made in the U.K.. Their website never claims that they are. Rather, the trikes are designed, inspected, and assembled in the U.K.. The frames are made in the Republic of China (Taiwan) according to the June 7, 2019 issue of Recumbent News  https://www.recumbent.news/2019/06/07/how-are-recumbents-manufactured/  Well heck, I was under the silly assumption they were proudly made by the employee owned ICE trike company. Nope. The reason I bring this up is because this explains the rather disappointing email(s) I received from Patrick Selwood (who doesn't work there anymore) of ICE. I'll just copy and paste a couple of those emails. The first email is a response (to the dealer) to the video and images I took of the damage and how the company would proceed: 

I have never seen this type of damage before. We have been building the Sprint X Tour and its predecessors which had similar frame designs for around 20 years and this type of bending has never happened before. I have seen a very small number of bent frames but all of those have bent where the cross part attaches to the main frame, not out at the curve.

I will commit to replacing the frame part under warranty. Would you like to add any other parts to this or are you happy to get this on the way?
Could you please ask George whether there is anything else he can think of which may have caused this issue. I will provide the frame free of charge even if it was some kind of crash, abuse or incident which may have caused this, I just want to understand.

Sounds reasonable except something about those previous bent frames. Of course they would cover it under warranty. The frame was purchased only 4 months earlier. The video clearly shows the frame collapsed over a tiny bump in the road. Crash? Abuse? Incident? Did Mr. Selwood not see the time stamps on the video and images? For those of you who don't know me, I was in the aviation industry for over 22 years. I'm 64.5 years old and comfortably retired. I have experience with metal fatigue and knowledge of NDT for detecting metal fatigue. Please keep this in mind when you read the email discussing their findings:

We have done some further investigation into this frame and everything appears to be up to the specification and standard it should be. We cannot find any material or manufacturing reason for the frame to have failed. We have cut the frame to inspect the tube and run other tests.

The frame is bent not only at the area of the large bend in the middle of the tube but also on both sides of the main frame cross joint and there are the beginnings of bends showing around the same area where the bending is on the left side but on the right. This implies to us that there is not one weak area of the frame but instead that the trike was subject to a very large force coming up through the front wheels.

Thanks
Patrick Selwood
Customer Support and Marketing

Not sure how to interpret this, but it does sound like they don't think there is anything wrong with their frames. It also sounds like my video was somehow not an accurate depiction of what had happened. I guess that means I lied about the whole thing because...? Just curious how they inspected/ tested the defective frame? To do a proper analysis, the equipment would be quite expensive...  https://www.robsonforensic.com/articles/bicycle-frame-component-failures-expert-article

I never received a response to this question as it would not be to there best interests to delve deeper into the matter. What's the point? Sure they find the frame was defective...imagine that, a frame made in Taiwan being defective. What are the chances? And coming out and admitting it. HAH! Instead, chop the frame up and hide the evidence. Say we did some tests, blame the customer and get on with our lives.

Okay, I get it. This is how the corporate world works. What happens when this happens again? How do I prevent this from happening again? They replaced the frame with another frame. So? I suggested that maybe front suspension might have prevented the problem. Here's their response: 

As we have never seen this issue before and we don’t know the cause for sure I can’t say whether front suspension would have prevented it I am afraid.

From the gist of it, I should just go on my merry way and have complete trust in what they are saying. Would you? Imagine going down a 13 percent grade and the frame decides to take a vacation. You swerve into traffic and you're seriously hurt or killed. There, problem solved. Get another frame and repeat. I went ahead and had a very expensive front suspension installed. 

I had to do something. I can't sell this "thing" with a clear conscience. So, I'm throwing good money at a bad thing. My dealer gave me this advice:

I don't think the frame will bend again, but just to be safe, slow down or avoid bumps.

Really? I invested close to $14K for a trike that has to be handled with care? Like it's some kind of delicate instrument? This thing is supposed to be used for touring with heavy loads. I weigh a whopping 83kg. I bet ICE could sell all kinds of trikes using this advice...

Well, that's all I have to say about this for now. I guess it's up to you to decide if you would purchase from ICE. My next trike will be an AZUB. I just hope I live long enough to see it.

ICE Recumbent Trike...the Bad

 So, what happened? Long story short, the frame collapsed near the cross frame after going over a small bump. The bump is so small that the video camera barely shook. Fortunately, I take video of all my rides. Here's the last 5 minutes of the doomed trike before its demise. You won't see much. Just a small bump near the end of the video. 

https://youtu.be/Pm2UCpTNjpI         

Still awake? Doesn't look like much does it? I had to be rescued by Erika since I didn't feel like walking 15km to get home. I sent Yoshi at HC Works in Osaka an email along with this video as soon as I got home. After the shock abaded, I took some photos of the damage...this is the "bad" part.

Now come on...really? This happened because of that tiny bump in the road? I believe that bump was the straw that broke the camels back. This frame was defective out of the factory. It was just a matter of time. I was extremely lucky this didn't happen when I was on the road with cars flying by. I think ICE is lucky, too. In the last post, I will let you know what the ICE "inspection" revealed. Hint: We would never admit to having a frame defect. Why just think that would do for business?!

ICE Recumbent Trike...the Good

 As promised, a few posts about the trike. If you're interested in purchasing an ICE recumbent trike, then pull up a seat. You might learn something. To be fair, I'll first talk about the good news. The trike is in good running order. The frame and associated parts were replaced at no charge. I sent the trike to Osaka for repairs due to the severity of the damage. ICE covered everything under warranty. Luckily, I wasn't hurt. I couldn't ride for 34 days because of the repairs and replacement/ shipping time.

By now you are probably asking, "What happened?" I'll save that for the "next" post. Why did it happen? I'll save that for the "last" post. For now, here's some photos of the repaired/ replaced trike. Since the disasterous mishap, I have ridden about 700km. The trike rides well, but in the back of my mind, I've lost confidence in ICE. Over the course of the month the trike was in the shop, I learned some things about the company. I'll share those findings in my last post. 

Hint: Buy an AZUB instead. At least you know where the frame is made. 

Nishikigoi Lamp is complete

Koi lamp is complete. I'm dedicating this lamp to myself and the koi I once enjoyed having. Way back in 2001 or so, Erika and I set out to transform our backyard into a Japanese garden. The project took over two years to complete. The koi pond consisted of (2) 1hp water pumps and an air pump. Eductors were used to create a current for the fish to swim against. Diffusers were used to create a torrent of bubbles to sweep the detritus into the mechanical filters. The upper pond was filled with water lillies (vegetable filter). Two water falls fed the lower pond which contained 6000 gallons and 14 prized nishikigoi. I say prized because they were imported from Sakaisan in Japan. The pond had a vegetable filter, huge bead filter, and a huge bio filter that required daily cleaning. The water was pristine. Here's a link to just a few of the images of the nishikigoi pond at our previous home in Green Valley, CA. https://japanhomesweethome.blogspot.com/.../japanese... Sadly, we were only able to enjoy the pond for only about a year. My job required us to move to Seattle.

Up next: A long winded story about the trike. If you're interested in purchasing one, you might want to check this post out first...The Good, Bad, and Not So Ugly

 

Time to do some catching up

Erika has been busy in the kitchen. She often bakes bread. Here's some of her delicious creations. She even bakes sourdough sandwich bread. Heck yeah, it's good!

Pictured here are chocolate/ cranberry and apple/ cranberry. They just melt in your mouth!

The glass panels for the shade are ready for assembly...finally.

The panels for the base are ready to go too.

The lamp base is ready for glass and final assembly.

I'll have lots of time to do glass because the trike is being shipped off to Osaka for "modifications". I have a long story about what happened...the good, bad, and not so ugly