It’s still nice and cool when I’m packing my TWIKE for its newest adventure. I’m really looking forward to my week in Italy. I haven’t been to Italy for 3 years now since TDI2021. Unlike last time, this trip will involve some long-distance-non-hypermiling travel and recharging en-route. As long-time readers of this blog know, I’ve been driving EV’s since way before public charging stations were a thing and have seen how sloppy IT implementation and ambiguous standardisation documents can make electric travel a real pain. Let’s see how things pan out today. Packing took me around 30 seconds – this […]
Pre-TDI2024 TWIKE TLC
It’s been a while since TW560 was at Ksenotek for servicing. Since I’m planning to travel to Italy in two weeks, I’d like to ensure that all is in order and I’m not going to remain stranded along some bumpy and remote Italian d-class road. Also, I’ve received an upgraded set of brake pins – made of stainless steel instead of the usual aluminium. This should fix the intermittent brake pad sticking all TWIKEs experience from time to time. Here we go! I’m also getting new tyres front and back – even if they aren’t down to to the usual […]
ODT: Escaping the rain – Engadin, here I come
A quick one-day trip (ODT) entry on my trip to Switzerland’s mountainous region to the east: Graubünden, with its famous valley and region, Engadin. Many a trip me and my TWIKE have undertaken during the last 18 years has at a point either crossed this valley or driven along it. It’s a region well worth visiting! Everyone in my family was busy an I didn’t feel like staying inside all day – every weather app I had was forecasting a full day of gray and rain around where I live. The forecast for Graubünden, however, was great. Lucky me a […]
France: welcoming TW560 again…
France has – like Germany – decided to adopt a scheme where certain types of vehicles are prohibited from entering cities or city centres depending on the emissions they produce. Unlike ULEZ or Barcelona’s LEZ (to which TW560 has already (2021) been multiple (2022) times and has an official account) Unlike Germany, these zones can be combined with time-based limitations and – crucially for older cars that aren’t driven a lot, such as old-timers, there are exemptions that can be easily obtained digitally for a number of days per year. The agenda for the reductions is very aggressive: after 2025 […]
Not much going on here!
Very true. Everything is OK: The TWIKE is doing great – I’ve been busy again – traveling to Singapore and other countries job-wise whilst in my private life other priorities have been in the way of me exploring Switzerland. Good news is that I’m still planning a longer-distance trip this year: I’ve got some TWIKE-related projects that are on hold for the moment such as the center console restoration or a better Type2 charging solution, among others. Check back soon.
Hello 2024
Time goes by really quickly – especially if you’re absent. Welcome to a quick re-cap of 2023, the usual stats and an outlook into 2024. The good news first: TW560 had no major technical problems during 2023. Only following parts had to be serviced: 2023 started with me heading back to Singapore for another 4 months – extending my total stay there that started late 2022 to a total of 8 months. After some relaxing days back home over Christmas and New Year I headed back to Asia. My wife visited me for 2 weeks of vacation in Malaysia before […]
Projects: Passenger Side Wind Deflector
This has been something my wife has been complaining about for years… When the TWIKE’s canopy has been removed, the resulting draft on the passenger’s side is a pain for anyone with longer hair or sensitive muscles around the shoulders. I’ve thought about how a solution could look like – other than her looking like Grace Kelly with a scarf and all… A wind deflector, attached to the existing snaps for the canopy, easily removable, should do the trick. This entry will show you how to create such a deflector. First of all, it’s time to go shopping at the […]
TDF2023 – Day 12 – Bye, Italy!
After a great night with fresh air, we have a hearty breakfast before packing the TWIKE for the last time. It’s always interesting to see the difference of how we pack the TWIKE when we leave to how we slot in our stuff towards the end – optimisation is key! We head back down to the junction that brings us back onto the Splugen pass. From here it’s a 450m climb to the pass itself. It will be a challenge to shape our consumption in such a way that we can get most of the energy back into the batteries […]
TDF2023 – Day 11 – Lago di Como and the Alps
With some help of the air-conditioning unit, we wake up refreshed and ready for another day of TWIKE adventuring across northern Italy. We’re looking forward to a few things today – first of all, getting out of the endless flat-lands of the Padovan Pianura, driving along Lake Como’s stunningly beautiful coast, taking the ferry from Menaggio to Varena (a ferry TW560 has been on quite a few times already…first in 2010) and climbing all the way to Madesimo on the Splugen Pass at 1400 above sea level – a nice last full day in Italy! Before we leave, however, we […]
TDF2023 – Day 10 – Heading to the Pianura
As always, time goes by really quickly and we’re on our way back home. In theory, we could have done the distance in two days, but we decided to take it slow and enjoy the drive including a detour around lake Como. For today, we could have just driven along the coast all the way up to Genova and then taken the motorway northwards … not us today. We decided it would be a good idea to take the smallest roads available and cross the hills in true TWIKE adventure fashion: Hairpin bend by hairpin bend. For the first dozen […]