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Mont Ventoux, downhill 107 km / h (66.5 mph) with the M5 Carbon High Racer	October 6th, 2015
... a true story from France by Patrick Proesmans
Every year we plan a week cycling holiday with some friends in May. Last year we booked a five-days vacation in Bedoin at the foot of Mont Ventoux. This is the only time that my road bike friends have a chance to beat me ... Four racing bikes from 6 to 8 kg at the start against my red M5 Carbon High Racer which just hits 9 kg. However, the weight difference between the riders is much greater. I am unfortunately the one whith the lowest exercise and I still put 87 kg on the scales while only 1.76 m (5 feet, 10 inch.) ... The other four are all well trained and weigh all under 80 kg. Bedoin, at the typical starting place, the fountain, to the summit via Chalet Renard is about 21 km. The summit is above 1,900 meters in the lonely desolate moonscape. The verdict, two men before me, guys who continuously train all year round, and two men of normal caliber behind me. So I was third up in two hours 17 minutes and was given my bad condition quite happy with that. A few years ago, and 10 kg less, I have just driven within two hours of the same route with my recumbent. Then downhill to Malaucene ... haha, that was my specialty of course. After allready half a minute I saw the four musketeers disappearing from my mirror. They drove around 65 to 70 km per hour on the straights where I had to brake constantly in order not to exceed 90 km/h Suddenly I saw a road bike that apparently knew every bend and corner up there. This had to be someone from the neighborhood, the man threw himself at every turn and made himself as small as possible. Since I did not know the terrain very well, we were on the steepest slopes fairly close together. I reached him easily and biked away smoothly when it went straight but every corner I braked much harder than him so he came back a little bit closer. After about 5 km the slope began to sink below 10 percent and the straightaways were longer. I could therefore safely let my bike do the rest and leave him behind... 107 km per hour (66.5 mph) I looked up on my Garmin GPS watch, the local boy was gone. As I waited in the village of Malaucene this guy arrived about 10 minutes later and stopped beside me. I was looking in the window of a bicycle shop and he spoke to me in French. It was indeed a local and he told me that in the past 20 years while climbing and descending dozens of times each summer this Mont Ventoux no one did ever overtook him. His nickname was apparently Roi de la Montagne which means as much as king of the mountain. Oh poor him ... I almost felt guilty. Quite funny that this avid racer, who had never seen a recumbent in his whole life, had to capitulate allready the first time...

Last six super neat M5 fairings available!	October 5th, 2015
A high-tech fairing for the price of a bicycle wheel
The history of these fairings goes back to the early nineties during a collaboration between M5 and the Technical University of Delft, department aerodynamics. The performance of this fairing at 250 Watt is 72.6 km/h or 45.12 mph (level road, no wind). These values are measured officially in 1995 in the windtunnel Marknesse (NL) Besides using it as a bike fairing they are particularly suitable for schoolprojects etc. who are working on a project like thrift races. The fairings can be adapted with a little effort to a three-wheeled vehicle, whether or not supported electrically. This highly robust and neat constructed fairings are constructed of fiberglass/polyester and finished with a beautiful shiny gelcoat in light or darker sea green. The dimensions of the fairings are: 260 x 91 x 54.5 cm. (L x h x b). Weight is around 7 kg. Price per piece for this special fairing is only 650 Euro!!


Mr. Bouman (73) and many other M5 customers almost ready for 18th edition Paris-Brest-Paris 2015	August 15th, 2015
J. Bouman with his previous bike: M5 Shock ProofIt's the third time J. Bouman participates and this time he has a blue M5 Carbon High Racer with a more than sufficient 60 litre Carbon Tail Bag. However, not only ample luggage capacity is provided, also air resistance is considerably less. Definitely an advantage at these distances and mentioned age. Since his transfer from an M5 Shock Proof with 26 inch wheels to the Carbon High Racer his cruising speed has increased by 6 to 8 km/h and weight of the equipment has almost halved. This is including all the extras: disk brake, Son hub dynamo and Tail Bag plus several other gadgets has nevertheless limited the weight to 11.5 kg. Interested in the progress of the race? Mr. Bouman and several other participants can be followed via their race number on the internet site of the organisation: suivi.paris-brest-paris.org/F035.html How come people do these rather extreme challenges? I found a nice quote by Jaap: "The most important is the fun of riding, but also the resulting good physical condition, so you don't feel reluctance to tackle everyday's challenges.

Anja's newest	August 14th, 2015
Recumbent holiday coming up, but since the September 2014 stolen Carbon Shock Proof wasn't recovered yet, I decided to make a last minute sequel. Madness, producing a lightweight carbon bike with 26/28 inch wheels just two weeks before departure, while all other work had to continue as well. One lucky break was the existing carbon rear fork from the M5 TiCa Low Racer era. Nicely lightweight at 320 gram and a real work saver. The seat support came from the M5 Carbon High Racer. The frame diameter could be kept at relatively small diameter, since the weight of the rider is also low. End result: a light weight bike (8.3 kg) with all cables inside the frame.

Randonneur competitions	July 31st, 2015
Cyclosport tours do have a growing interest. Especially in this kind of long trips high performance recumbents like M5 Carbon High Racers offer a whole lot more than the upright against the wind cycling colleagues. Fortunately there are a lot of these organizations who warmly welcome recumbents like the Paris-Brest-Paris tour, but there are also organisations which exclude recumbents from participation. A few examples from the past and present: The most famous example that I experienced myself in 1997 in what was the last opportunity to ride Den Store Styrkeproven Trondheim-Oslo (543 km non-stop). The Norwegian organization even dared to change the rules during the trip and the first prize (6000 +/- old fashioned guilders or +/- 2700 nowadays Euro's)) without even blinking their eyes, was donated to the first finishing roadie.... This ex-professional, Atle Pedersen, finished more than two hours after the fastest time I set with my M5 Low Racer recumbent .... After this version it was even forbidden for recumbent riders to ever take part. Motive of the organization: security !! In the following years of the TO event there has been many accidents, some even fatal. A more recent example, also Scandinavian, is the cyclo randonneur Vatternrundan in Sweden. Very suitable recumbent terrain: rolling hills where much difference can be made with the rest. That tour is only to join with a recumbent by a doctor's statement .... Because, well educated as the Swedes are: excluding disabled is not really fair. The doctor's statement must contain that your physical health (eg hernia) hinders you from driving a upright bike. These statements can be obtained at M5 by the way! The last renewed acquaintance with our tolerant society I got through the participation of M5 customer M5 Carbon High Racer rider / driver Robert Carlier from Rotterdam. A renowned and fast rider who's intention was joining the Transcontinental 2015. That tour consists of not less then 4200 km across Europe, this year starting from Geraardsbergen in Belgium (wellknown Tour spot) and finishing in Istanbul (Turkey). Participants may choose the route by themself but may not receive any outside assistance. Robert decided to participate with his super randonneur namely the M5 Carbon High Racer because beside the ultimate seat comfort this bike also runs 10-12 km ( 6-8 miles) faster at the same heart rate than his titanium road bike .... With an estimated 16-20 hours per day on the road this really makes the difference around 150-180 km ( 95- 110 miles ) per day! Anyway to go short: because there was nothing specific about bicycle exclusions, Robert asked again if an unfaired recumbent was allowed and yes, they became a kind of alert since a recumbent like this could set apart the complete field of roadies days behind ... Disappointed Robert however choose to go for the sporting challenge. However his speed during training felt down from 40 km / h on his M5 CHR to 28-30 km / h on his road bike and when you notice that he is currently (July 30) around the 4th place within a field of 174 participants there is nothing more to explain. With the same energy input on Robert's M5 CHR he would be as far out as 500 to 750 km on the number 2 ! Despite his current position is a big achievement! He can be followed on the following link with start number 131. trackleaders.com/transconrace15 Ergo: History is repeating itself since the ban on recumbents to participate in professional competitions in 1934. It shows again how conservative especially cycling people can be even if the bare facts proove the opposite. If this conservatism was leading in the aviation, automotive, or sailing, we would now still fly double-deck planes, driving T-Fords or sail with straw made Viking boats.... Nostalgic but quite unrealistic .

World Championships Recumbent 2015 in Belgium	July 14th, 2015
21 - 23 August in Maasmechelen
Great event to visit, even better to participate in the races! Follow link below for details. www.hpv.be/wk/?q=en >>

Summer break	July 13th, 2015
Telephone and e-mail traffic will continue on regular base in this period but the M5 showroom will be closed during our own bike vacation from july 21 st incl. august 22 nd. Receiving and shipping of parcels during this period is not possible

Let's see what's available for this "super randonneur"	June 30th, 2015


Prepreg Tail Bag production	June 27th, 2015
It sure was a learning process... Trying no less than 15 types of carbon prepreg fabrics from seven different manufacturers. Also: which kind of agent releases the product best from the mould? Lots of difference there: varying from severe sticking to the mould to effortless loosening. Next came all kinds of foils and films, vacuum blankets, vacuum pumps, vacuum bags, oven arrangements, completely illogical oven control programs and two weeks ago to cap it all an imploding mould. 138 degrees centigrade sure bakes the product fast but proved to be a bit to much for the mould. Result: about one hundred hours of work lost and another delivery delay. We have now new moulds with heat resistant epoxy and from now on the baking temperature is lowered to around 110 degrees centigrade. Takes a bit longer, but the moulds and foils last much longer. Anyway, the production process has started and the new prepreg cases are less than half a kilogram. So that's lighter than a 17 litre top bag. The possibilities to make nice and light weight products have increased significantly!


Almost tailwind.....	May 9th, 2015
Still inspiring to have this displayed while commuting with jeans on (although click pedals!) Bike: M5 Carbon High Racer, 13 degrees Celsius, Beaufort 5 as an almost tailwind