It’s been over a year since I received an enthusiastic description from one of you about a bike you like to tune at home and, even more, like to ride. This time it comes from Thom Ollinger, who is an avid recumbent racer. So it’s no surprise that his Raptor is being upgraded with one goal in mind. To be even faster.

If you’d like to share some photos and a few details about your amazing recumbent vehicle too, check out this short how-to guide. Likewise, you can let us know about your recumbent expedition or trails you rode and can’t forget.

Owner’s name: Thom Ollinger

Bike model: Morciglio Raptor 

Tuning: Starting with the base Raptor I borrowed from Detroit recumbent racing legend Mike Mowett, I fabricated custom “gunner” handlebars, mounted 165 cranks and a 56t oval chainring, installed a T/C 23t super idler, HED disk rear wheel, Schwalbe One 520 front tire, and I fabricated a tailfairing and various wind deflectors.

Other special things: reflective lettering

Why have you chosen this bike? Because it’s one of the 2 fastest recumbents available.

What do you like most on it? It’s built and refined for fast riding, races from sprints to ultras, and smashing KOMs. I believe this bike produce more mph per watt than any nonfaired bike on the planet. It’s faster than my highly modified Velokraft NoCom(now raced by Jonathan Walters of Cincinnati).

What´s your favourite route you ride on this bike? I train almost exclusively on the hundreds of miles of bike paths in the Ohio Miami Valley. I compete in time trials and hpv races with the IRTG Racing Team, which I also coach.

This is another article from the Your Amazing Bike (YAB) series. You can read the previous pieces here.