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We've been having a long discussion in the thread "Are you a pusher or a puller?". A whole lotta words got slung around (including mine), without seeming to shed much light. The thread filled up with chatter about various ways the alternating pedal pushes get balanced. It didn't ring true to...

I've avoided getting a regular rack because I wouldn't use it all that much, it requires some kind of rack-bag or paniers, and meanwhile I'd be carrying around an ugly structure around on the back of my bike. So I built a minimal rack that weighs less than 1lb total and nearly disappears when...

Two Cruzbikes are closer than 6 feet, but since one has a mask and the other a face shield, they're probably safe enough. @Tortue rode over for a raingear comparison today. His mask is light, elegantly made with 3-d printed connecting parts, and gives him great visibility in traffic. Mine has...

Masks interfere with breathing, so here's another solution: a soda bottle split in two, plus a strap and a foam pad on the forehead. Make the opening below your chin large enough to allow airflow and it doesn't fog up. Tested on some of our local hard hills. Search "face shield from soda bottle"...

Hello Cruzbike tribe - Many of you heard via PM that we are raising donations to buy an S40 for Ak-Tux. We did it! Cruzbike agreed to sell us the bike for half price if we could raise the rest among ourselves. As of today we have done this, thanks to the tribe coming together for this...

Quest 2/559, upgraded to (approximately) QX100. $900 Lovingly maintained for more than 9000 miles: Excellent condition. I'm selling it because I got a Q45. Very minor cosmetic damage appropriate to these miles. No crashes (couple of low-speed or no-speed drops while I was learning to ride it)...

I have more than 9000 miles on my Q2 (upgraded to QX100, see below). Now I've done about 100 miles on my new Q45. Most of these miles are on my daily commute (5 miles each way, about 2/3 on city streets, 1/3 on a bike trail). Most of the rest are errands and shopping. This post is a comparison...

With the help of @Robert Holler and the good people at Rose City Recumbent Cycles I made two upgrades that bring my 5-year-old Q559 v2 closer to a Q3 or QX100. More important to me, the changes go a long way towards reducing the major disadvantage of the earlier Quests: frame flex among the...

I had the Diatech headset on my Q2/559 apart today to clean and regrease the bearings. (8000 miles and the balls and races in good shape, just dirty). I took the opportunity to look at the shock (see poor phone photo, with the fork out). Each side has 2 sets of large and a small holes. The top...

I had occasion to ride an upright bike the past few days, including on the commute route I’ve done hundreds of times on my Quest2. Same wheelbase, similar lowish-pressure tires (75lbs). The Q is suspended (upgraded air shock plus the dinky front shock), the upright not. It’s a bumpy ride: bad...

After getting really tired of the constant squeaking put out by the original spring shock on my Quest-2 (more than 5000 often-rainy miles on it), and seeing that there was no way to lubricate it, I got an air shock. This did 3 things: 1) Perfectly quiet operation 2) Dramatic improvement in the...

I reset my odometer when I got larger tires on my Quest-2 in 2013. Well, it turned 5000 miles today and there has not been a flat since then. Either wheel. Most of my riding is commuting and errands, something less than half on a bike trail, the rest on urban streets. I don't know if Seattle...

I've restarted this thread, originally "Incredibly stable recumbents" (in Riding Techniques) because that one became very long and began to wander ... to say the least. I'm especially interested in the model Hamish Barker presented, that allows identifying the specific elements that cause a...

"if you want to increase a Quest's performance, stiffening the energy-sucking handlebar-on-a-stick arrangement is where the biggest benefit lies" (Rich in the tea-leaves-II thread on 5/4/14) I've seen several comments in these forums like the one quoted above, suggesting that some fraction...

Something else this shows me ... handlebar flex Something else this shows me is that there is a LOT of flex in the Quest handlebars. When pushing hard (uphill or accelerating), I'm pulling back on the handlebar on the same side I'm pushing the pedal. This is evident in twisting the fairing...

I've been enjoying riding no-hands for much of my commute, and go for miles without needing to touch the handlebars. I know I'm slower that way, but it's fun. With my hands free, I can text, take photos, eat lunch, ... (not really). Lately it occurs to me that this gives a test of the...

To work on my Quest, I've been clamping it on the boom, leaving the rear wheel on the ground, per John T's advice in 2011. That works ok, except for working on the rear wheel, and it leaves the bike low down. So here's my new idea: I cut a wooden bar to fit the distance from the upper...

bicycle geometry is complicated Hi Lavs - I've also thought about this, but bicycle geometry is complicated. First, increasing the rake will _decrease_ the trail (more trail = more stable). See the nice diagram on the Wikipedia page "bicycle geometry". You can search through...

A few weeks or months ago, there was discussion here about an alternate kickstand with 2 legs that would hold the bike without swinging the front end around to the side. I thought I'd try it as friendlier for bike stands. I bought one from ebay and the link is down, but you can find it by...

After a few hard stops that lifted the rear wheel, I began practicing braking more systematically, straightening and tightening my arms as I brake to hold my body as far back as possible. That helps, but there is no doubt that slamming on the Quest's excellent disk brakes would throw me...