7-day Silvio ride

[JimParker]

Yesterday my wife and I completed a 460 mile ride from Black Mountain, NC to Oak Island, NC. This is the annual CNC ride, with about 1500 cyclists participating. I posted some daily reports on BROL, but I thought I should put a summary of the trip here.

Maria rode a 16-speed Silvio and I rode a 30-speed Silvio. We each carried a small "day-pack" velcroed behind the backrest. I have WTB bars and Maria uses the Gary Origin 8 bars. The first few days were in steep mountain country, gradually smoothing out to the flat coastal plain.

We climbed exceedingly well. I won't mince words here and I won't exaggerate either. There were dozens, if not scores of recumbents on this ride. Each morning, people started anytime between 7 and 9 am. We usually started out at 8:15. We passed every recumbent that we encountered, and passed them swiftly when climbing either steep or gradual hills. We passed most road bikes when climbing. On day 7 (a very flat day), no one (including roadies) passed us the entire 78 miles, and there were many riders about. We were simply wading through them the whole trip. The bikes descended very well. We got up to about 40 mph. A trike passed us on one twisty descent going close to 50 mph.

The Silvios ate the rollers up. I have never experienced such maintainable momentum. On many rolling hills, I could stay in the big ring and keep my speed over 30 mph all the way to the top.

In summary, I couldn't have been happier with these bikes. We had a great time. The bikes were also the subject of admiration from road bikers. Many of them told us these were the first recumbents they had ever seen "that made sense."

Jim Parker

 

[Doug Burton]

Hi Jim,

I like the beard

Excellent reports from the road. These are incredible bikes. Anything that gets the BROl'ers going, especially when the word "hype" gets elicited, is great stuff.

Can you describe the differences on this ride from last year's, where you rode a Sofrider V-1 8-speed? You were lookin' good at the end of that one, too.

If you and Maria could do a little comparison of the double vs. triple, it would be cool.

Also, Maria's Silvio used to be equipped with 46cm road bars. How'd she like the Gary's?

Good show, both of you. Love the Avatar!

Best always,

 

[Mark B]

JimParker wrote: The bikes were also the subject of admiration from road bikers. Many of them told us these were the first recumbents they had ever seen "that made sense."

Yep, that's the same comment I hear from upright riders, too.

Great report, loved your updates on BROL.

Mark

 

[JimParker]

Hardtailcruzer wrote: Can you describe the differences on this ride from last year's, where you rode a Sofrider V-1 8-speed? You were lookin' good at the end of that one, too. If you and Maria could do a little comparison of the double vs. triple, it would be cool.
Also, Maria's Silvio used to be equipped with 46cm road bars. How'd she like the Gary's?

Sure, Doug. Last year Maria did the whole ride on a Sofrider V1, but it had been modified with a triple, which was effectively a double because she could not shift into the smallest ring. She looked good at the end of that week because she's my wife
I looked good because I only did the last two (flat) days of the ride because I couldn't get the whole week off. The biggest difference between the two rides was, on the Silvio, we were a lot faster and we had cleaner/crisper shifting and braking that comes with high-end road bike components. On the other hand, there were a few sections of very poor road surfaces that were more comfortable on the Sofrider's very robust suspension system.

Here's the biggest difference between the double and triple: The triple allowed me to get started from a dead stop straight up the steepest hills. Maria, with her double, needed to get some momentum perpendicular to the slope. Other than that, she could do everything I could do. On long hills, she would beat me to the top. On rollers, I would beat her.

Maria loves the Gary bars. She says they are "much better" than standard drop bars. I love my WTB bars. It may be that there is a breakpoint somewhere around 5'10" or so height where the shorter folks are best off with the Gary and taller/longer armed folks with the WTB bars.

Jim