Raf van Hulle is a two-time winner of The Sun Trip solar bike race. Both of his victories were completed on a HASE Pino semi-recumbent tandem, which he has managed to improve over the years continually. Today it looks like he will be competing in another Sun Trip event next year, but his bike is more than a little strange at first glance.
For Rafa, it has been evident during his first three Sun Trip participations how the development in this interesting discipline of solar racing has progressed. In 2013, I also participated in Sun Trip and finished with my teammate Karl in fourth place in 46 days. We were the first team, while the riders ahead of us were all single riders. Raf, the first edition winner, beat us by 9 days and was at the finish line in 37 days (7,500 km total). Five years later, he also won the edition that went all the way to the South China Sea coast in Guangzhou, China. That time it was 12,000 km / 7,456 miles, which he covered in mere 44 days. He thus increased his daily average from around 202 km / 126 miles to 272 km / 169 miles. Now that’s a change! And on a route that was about half longer! And the evolution continues for Raf. Now, however, in a direction I would not have expected.
Yes, he’s converted his Pino from rear to front steering and made it a pure-bred recumbent bike, but one that’s been extended just right for solar charging. In my opinion, this has several advantages. In addition to a way more comfortable riding position, Raf can use a much larger area for the solar panels, or it’s easier to support them against the frame and create a more durable structure for them, which is essential in ultra-marathon races like this. It also makes getting on the bike easier, as the panel doesn’t extend too far in front of the rider. However, the rider is still protected from the sun and partially from the rain.
But that’s not all. Raf has also made other modifications. He equipped the bike with two Grin Tech motors and a Gene-Pi pedal generator, developed by another legendary Sun Trip rider, Bernard Cauquil, together with Edgar Tournon. This eliminates the need to run a very long chain from the front boom to the rear wheel. Yes, even compared to other recumbent bikes, this chain is really long.
The photos show that Raf has modified his Pino through several stages, and more modifications are likely to follow. Among other things, he’s going to add an aerodynamic 100-litre tailbox behind the seat.
Overall, though, he’s now using the bike in a much more practical way. He can convert it very quickly from front to rear steering, from a single to a tandem, from pure solar to personal, etc. It’s a multifunctional machine for him.
It’s an exciting development. The solution of mounting the rear structure for the solar panel to the frame through a tube inserted into Pino’s seat tube is just great. That way, the panel could possibly be tilted in a fore-aft direction, which made more sense when the races were running from west to east than tilting it from side to side. Nowadays, when racing from France to Morocco and back, sideways tilt makes the most sense, but fore-aft would also help a bit.
I’d be very interested in the steering geometry, or rather how well the bike handles. After all, the rider sits extremely close to the front wheel and direct steering always feels a bit worse than indirect. Maybe I’ll get to meet Raf again soon and try the bike out!
One thing is for sure, we will continue to follow Rafa van Hulle!
