Replace Q45 Shock with Metal Bar

[Black Hawk Down]

How is the comfort level? I have a Thor seat with just the basic mesh pad. Thinking about a swappable soloution using the bar for road riding and a heavy coil shock for touring.

For me, the shock did softened large bumps but with the bar, it still seems like a pretty soft ride.

I would check to make sure your "heavy duty shock" will not bottom out when you have a full touring load and going over a bumpy road. I haven't found any shocks that would work for my load.

 

[Black Hawk Down]

Any concerns about the aluminum hole warbling over time, is there enough room to overfill and add a stainless sleeve?

I considered this but didn't take the time to implement anything. I'm taking my bike on a year long tour. That should fully test the solution.

 

[Scott Grissinger]

Thanks for the response. I’m a newbie to recumbents, I got my q45 and had fewer than 50 miles on it - mostly neighborhood riding to learn how to ride it. Then just finished a 260 coast to coast tour of Florida.

Before I abandon the idea of the air shock, a friend recommended that I move away from the knock-off variety shocks and find either a Fox or Rockshox with a true lockout. They aren’t cheap. I found this one on Amazon:

https://a.co/d/73zLw4x

But need to confirm there is clearance for the width. Has anyone tried this level of shock replacement?

 

[Black Hawk Down]

I looked at them but decided that they wouldn't work for me due to my weight.

As far as fit, my shock was 165 mm in length with 24 mm bushing length with an ID of 8 mm. Looking at the one you chose on Amazon,
(165 x 38/6.5 x 1.5)
I'm not sure what all that means, but it doesn't look like the right bushing length. The good news is that if you are an Amazon Prime member, you get free returns so if it doesn't fit, just return it.

 

[vmi1056]

Thanks for the response. I’m a newbie to recumbents, I got my q45 and had fewer than 50 miles on it - mostly neighborhood riding to learn how to ride it. Then just finished a 260 coast to coast tour of Florida.

Before I abandon the idea of the air shock, a friend recommended that I move away from the knock-off variety shocks and find either a Fox or Rockshox with a true lockout. They aren’t cheap. I found this one on Amazon:

https://a.co/d/73zLw4x

But need to confirm there is clearance for the width. Has anyone tried this level of shock replacement?

Did you ride the Florida C2C linked trails? That tour is on my list. I hear there are three options for the gap in the trail, one being mostly off road for 50ish miles.

 

[Scott Grissinger]

Did you ride the Florida C2C linked trails? That tour is on my list. I hear there are three options for the gap in the trail, one being mostly off road for 50ish miles.

I did finish the C2C ride. I’m a Floridian so I love Florida. It’s a great winter ride to get some miles in. However, There are several long sections that are just battling traffic and crosswalks across 6 to 10 lane intersections. The bike did ok but I’m very disappointed that there is no shock absorber that won’t bottom out. I’m not that heavy (I weigh 190 plus 25 pounds of gear on the back). As far as the hwy50 gap - it’s no problem. Check out Ed Cycles on YouTube. He figured out a route on backroads - which turned out to be one of the more enjoyable sections.

 

[Scott Grissinger]

Thanks for the response. I’m a newbie to recumbents, I got my q45 and had fewer than 50 miles on it - mostly neighborhood riding to learn how to ride it. Then just finished a 260 coast to coast tour of Florida.

Before I abandon the idea of the air shock, a friend recommended that I move away from the knock-off variety shocks and find either a Fox or Rockshox with a true lockout. They aren’t cheap. I found this one on Amazon:

https://a.co/d/73zLw4x

But need to confirm there is clearance for the width. Has anyone tried this level of shock replacement?

Updating my own post. I splurged and bought - what I was told was - the best shock available - a Rockshox Monarch RL which was nearly $300 with the mount fittings. It has a “lockout” which I thought would be my solution to bottoming out in the hills. It turns out, at full pressure of 275psi the shock is mushy when the lockout is off, and when it is on (locked out) the bike almost bottoms out with my gear - in my neighborhood. So it wouldn’t be usable for hilly touring or bumpy trails. Soooooo disappointed. Is this a design flaw in the geometry of the bike? Why sell a touring rack if it won’t tour. I’m going to look at the Azub and ask for an upgrade for my birthday

 

[Yelawolf]

My original shock from CruzBike did have lots of noise..

 

[billyk]

Hi @Black Hawk Down I'm surprised to hear about your problems with the Kind air shock. I have more than 10000 miles on mine (Q45, and had about the same on a 125mm version of the same thing on my old Q2). I weigh about 190lbs and commonly carry an extra 10-15lb of groceries and "stuff". Virtually all my riding is city pavement, but I don't hesitate to jump curbs, and Seattle is full of wicked potholes.

Not only is it much lighter, but it's more rigid than the original that came with the bike. (Or, I suspect, than your aluminum bar with slightly too-large mounting holes). I am faster (no wasting energy twisting the frame pedaling hard uphill as the original allowed) and feel more "one with the bike": Body English feels like I'm controlling it more exactly.

And it holds air. I fill it up every spring, check it regularly (by how far the o-ring around the piston has moved down) and the damn thing just doesn't leak air, month after month. That was also the case with the previous one on my Q2. Never bottomed it out or even come close.

But ok, it works for me but not for you. Fine. But I would worry/wonder about the rigid bar (wood or metal) stressing the frame at its lower mounting point on the swingarm. It's one thing to have a shock - that absorbs the stress at that single point - but to have a rigid connection might be too much. I don't see any CB experts on this thread. @Robert Holler do you think this might be a problem?

 

[GolfCycle]

I'm interested in how you went about tightening the shock. I tried doing it a while back - it was fine on a trainer but as soon as I took it outside on the road it made significant noise, so I had to return it to its original setting.

I tightened my shock as well. I like it a lot better now. I weigh about 200.