I am curious about something, namely the origin and reasoning behind the current Cruzbike model names. We have QX100, Silvio S30, and Vendetta V20 (also used to have Softrider).
Don't forget the Freerider and the V2/K!
I'd be interested in the reasoning behind the names, too.
I would imagine that each name would have some relationship to the type of bicycle and its use, and fit into some type of overall theme for the naming scheme. Don't see any relationship between them.
The original bikes were the Freerider and the Sofrider. (
Not "Sof
trider." There was a beam bike called the Softride from a company that predated Cruzbike. I think that's why CB had to drop the "t".) Utility bikes that let you ride free, and had a soft ride because they were suspended. I guess.
The V2/K was a frame CB sold for a little while to go along with the original conversion kit, when suitable Y-frame donor mountain bikes became hard to find. No idea what V2/K meant--maybe Version 2/Kit? There's a RWD recumbent called the Velokraft VK2, to add to the confusion.
I've never seen Silvio explained, though Vendetta seems very suitable for a race bike with a chip on its shoulder, as it were.
Quest sounds like a good name for an adventuring bike, especially a folding-for-travel bike; but it was also used by other recumbent, velomobile, and even DF manufacturers. Didn't take long for CB to start calling it Q plus the wheel size--Q451 and Q559--and minimizing the use of the name "Quest." (When I changed to 24" wheels on my Q several months ago, I started calling it Q507 to fit the pattern. That was never an official model.) The Q came in version 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0.
The QX100 apparently is intended as the next version of the Quest line, but going back to a front derailleur as on the Quest 1.0, instead of the Dual Drive hub from 2.0 and 3.0, and leaving behind the idea of a small-wheeled folding bike. I've not heard what X100 is supposed to mean, if anything. It sounds like an experimental aircraft to me.
Wouldn't surprise me if the "Q" is dropped entirely with the next iteration of that model, and it just becomes the X100. (X101? X100.1? X100 v2?
)
Cruzbike model names are still better than Microsoft Windows versioning, though: 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, 3.11 for Workgroups, NT 3.51, NT 4.0, Windows 95, 98, 98 SE, Me, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10....