A Blackburn rear rack held a set of panniers and a heaping pile of bags that would be refined as the trip went on. Winnebiko had a “wide-range” 18-speed drivetrain with a triple crankset up front and was sporting rim brakes. There was a smaller 16″ front wheel up front, and an under-seat steering mechanism connected to the fork via a stainless tie-rod. “I’m trying to make good time, but the emphasis is on the good, not the time.” -Steve RobertsĪt the rear sat a 48-spoke 27″ wheel laced to a Phil Wood hub. You can find a look at all three rigs below, accompanied by a selection of TV clips that charmingly capture the spirit of each epoch. The world of technology was evolving at a breakneck pace in the seven years he was touring, and his successive bikes reflect some of those technological leaps and bounds. Throughout the years that followed, Steve pedaled some 17,000 miles around the United States aboard three iterations of his extraordinary technomadic touring rigs: Winnebiko, Winnebiko II, and BEHEMOTH. In addition, he gave regular interviews for print and TV outlets as he rode along. The media took a keen interest in what he was up to, and he’d go on to write a book and publish various columns and features for magazines. In September 1983, he made the first pedal strokes of something that started as a boldly experimental high-tech bike tour and eventually became his career. Steve was so committed to the idea that he sold his car and suburban home before setting off on his first “Computing Across America” trip. He’d haul camping gear to be able to sleep anywhere and could hit deadlines by connecting to the internet via phone and uploading his pieces in a manner nearly all of us take for granted these days. He spent six months making meticulous arrangements and outfitting a custom recumbent touring bike with a solar-powered Radio Shack Model 100 portable computer that would allow him to keep in touch with his clients and publishers while living on the road full-time. Discontent with being tied to his desk, he began searching for another way of living and working that could satisfy his craving for adventure, freedom, and fun.ĭespite not having any footsteps to follow or a guidebook to consult for such an endeavor, Steve dreamed up a plan that would be unthinkable to most people, even today. Steve had recently marked the milestone of turning 30 and felt acutely aware of a deep sense of wanderlust that many of this site’s readers will understand well. It was a time well before cell phones existed, the internet was barely in its infancy, and working remotely was still a far-fetched idea. We couldn’t recommend something so cheaply constructed.Back in the early 1980s, Steve Roberts was working as a freelance author and computer consultant in Dublin, Ohio. The adhesive ring remained firmly stuck to the dashboard, but otherwise that floppy rubber mat was barely holding on. What was even more annoying, however, was that the anti-slip rubber mat on the bottom kept getting detached from the rubber base. ![]() ![]() However, it also limits access to the buttons on the side of your phone. The Boysnoy Dashboard Car Phone Holder was the only horizontal model we tested where the phone didn’t buckle under the pressure from our fingers. ![]() The iPow Anti-Slip Silicone Dashboard Pad suffered from a similar problem-although it came with a few custom rubber bracket options that you can adjust to fit different phones, they all turned out to be too wobbly. If you just want to look at horizontal maps, it could be great, but any other interaction with the phone was basically impossible. The Loncaster Car Phone Holder was probably the best of the batch we looked at unfortunately, the lightweight silicone base didn’t support phones very well against the pressure of a tapping finger. While they were all impressively stable across different dashboards, they each proved difficult to use in their own unique ways. We’d noticed that readers seemed to be interested in horizontally-oriented dashboard mounts, so we tested out several models that were either top sellers, or otherwise intriguing.
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