Kudos to
@Robert Holler and the Cruzbike team on the launch of the all new bike!
Very insightful post above on the design choices.
Will the Q45 stay in the line up?
For the Q45. It is a GREAT bike. I have one personally (with 406 wheels and 2" Big Apples it is my neighborhood cruiser) and I rode the Q45 on RAGBRAI last year. It was very comfy.
That said, it is a legacy OG bike as far as the main frame and the design is pushing the limits of time. The frame goes back to the Quest in 2009. That is 17 years for basically the same main frame. It has seen some updates over the years for sure, but still. It is a 17 year old design.
Back before it was the Q45, it was the Quest, then the QX100. One day I decided to slap a V20 front end on the QX100 frame "just to see" and it was elevated to another level - hence the Q45 was born. But the bones are all still a 17 year old Quest main frame - in essence.
For me, having this opportunity to bring something fresh, a bit more aggressive looking, 100% new, and with more forethought into its intended purpose (suspension performance, etc) is exciting. I am hoping it reaches all of our OG audience and new audiences too. It is a NICE ride.
To me, the Q45 is like a good trusty 2009 Toyota Camry with all the upgrades you can throw at it over the years. That's all great, but it's 2026 - and the A4x is like sliding out of that 'ol Camry and into a new Polestar 3 EV. Once you do it.... well it's kinda over.
The Q45 is a nice ride and is a tough customer to beat - but it's the subtle things that really make the A4x shine in the right environment back-to-back.
The A4x is not a "replacement" to the Q45 per-se, and it also isn't an "evolution" of the Q45 - it is a 100% new frame with different performance and intent put into the design. They are similar for sure, but the A4x refines all those things the Q45 gets used for (gravel/touring/hauling) with more intent.
One example - the rear suspension. On the Quest/QX100/Q45 it is great. It works for comfort, but is not really tunable for actual real suspension. The Q rear design was more intended for packing. The rear swingarm is - l o n g - 24.5" from the rear axle to the pivot. That is a huge leverage on the shock. The position of the pivot is near right under the riders rear end. This is great to "fold" the frame into two nice halves with one QR (which was the original reason to even have the suspension: for "folding") but that long arm and pivot location is less ideal for real world suspension performance on actual terrain.
The A4x design we reversed that thinking and led with the performance of the rear end first and worried about the packability later. The swingarm is shorter - 16" from the axle to the pivot and better located in space to actually act like a suspension. Straight tubes are also easier to manufacture and get nice and straight and looks more modern. The good news - it is still pretty much just as packable as the Q.
As far as more Q45's - that will depend on how many bikes sell, and what we can get made by our manufacturing partners based on that - and what we have room for.
One last thing - the A4x IS the easiest Cruzbike to ride IMHO that we have ever made. It nearly rides itself. Even first timers can take to this machine. Like here we have my friend Tina (one of the reps at Croder) riding the first fully built almost-completed A4x while I was in Taiwan as we did the last tweaks before building. On her first try - she had never sat on any recumbent before and was a nervous wreck when she sat on it - (she didn't want to crash it) and she took right off like a pro. That is a win. The old narrative of "Cruzbikes are hard to ride" has been long dead in my opinion as we have evolved the designs but the A4x puts the final nail in the coffin of that myth.
cruzbike.com
, one fatbike would be for challenging terrain and occasionally lots of snow (fully suspended if I can manage). I am rather thinking about combining fat and cargo. And with mostly two sets of wheels per bike I wanted to use them each in a more and a less extreme setup. Now you come with this and it looks like a good middleground, capable of urban areas and challenging terrain (and urban terrain is also often challenging!) and quite a bit of cargo capacity. Would certainly be a great only bike and is probably a nice gap filler.
