THE OSTRAD
		Deutsch

This is a Ostrad (frame number 2001).
Did you ever dreamed of going with a recumbent? Did you saw something like this on the road? Other people curse the folks who go so comfortable through the daily traffic jam. But I don't want to speak about people in stinking tins.

Ostrad is a bike shop in the centre of Berlin, in the "Prenzlauer Berg". The people are specialized on recumbents and touring bikes. It's a member of the VSF, Verbund selbstverwalteter Fahrradläden (Association of selfmanaged bikeshops) like the shop, where i bought my recumbent, the Fahrradies (paradies for bicycles) in Halle. You can find shops of this union in whole Germany and they can order most of the recumbents which you can buy in Germany and sometimes outside. Good service and advises are inclusive.

But now to the bike itself.

Specifications (my model)

• Short Wheel Base Recumbent, wheel base 1090 mm
• length over all 1650 mm
• full suspension (suspension depths): fork AMP 20" - 45 mm / rear wing - 120 mm
• wheels 20 x 1,75" Vredestein Monte Carlo (size of BMX wheels (!), there are 3 different 20"-wheel sizes)
• derailleurs Sachs New Success, 35 gears:
  • chainring 32
  • middle derailleur (a back) 12-14-18-24-34 to 28, on the same axle with the suspension wing - no strikes from the chain trough the suspension
  • hub with sprockets (also back derailleur) 13-14-15-17-19-21-24
  With this combination you can really go everywhere! Even with baggage you have no problems. Who wants to go faster (>60 km/h) should have some ideas. On my model I change the gears with Sachs Powergrip (like Gripshift, but simpler in construction and so more robust).
• WIG-welded CrMoly frame, very good pouder lacquer

Technical details

• Suspension
  The AMP fork should be known only by older mountain bikers. It's designed according to the parallelogram principle and it's so from the point of view of design the best what you can buy. Like all hydraulics the seals of the damper are a problem - my are relative tight since I bought the bike. The fork was shorted to fit 20"-wheels.
  The back suspension wing is a development of Ostrad. The suspension comes from a big elastomer. This is based on a wing of the frame and is guided by a axle. The axle can rotate around one axis parallel to the axis of suspension wing - nonfixed triangle. The axle of the suspension wing is beared by a wheel suspension from Trabant, the famous old east german car. You shouldn't have problems with this parts.

• Middle derailleur
  On the same axle rotates a sprocket cassette body from WECO. It has a app. 2 cm wide needle bearing. A rear derailleur changes the five sprockets on this cassette. From a sixth sprocket goes the second chain to the rear hub. Only rear derailleurs are in use and the front derailleur, or should I say chain snatcher, can be still in the shop.

• Lights
  All wires are inside of the frame and have two veins. With this construction you can connect the white front and the red rear light directly with current and ground.