Cruzbike School is open Again

[ratz]

It's that time of the year again. Time to teach a new Batch of riders.

George came out and braved the March weather. Got his Quest last year and never got to ride it due to a motorcycle accident. Needless to say he was itching to go this spring. Good example of how well someone 6'5" wiht long legs fits on the Quest 26"



And of course the video version:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hy6cd61as24zn6i/TheRideOfTheVroom.mp4?dl=0


This weekend it was Devin's turn. He finally grew enough this winter to fit on the Quest so I had to make sure I had his bike ready for spring.


and his video version:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8i8lwvfuzh9dfj9/TheFlightofTheBumbleBoyWebSafe.mp4?dl=0

 

[Wannabe]

Good Stuff! Thank you for the video Bob. I very much enjoyed watching and it helps to better understand what is involved etc etc....

 

[jond]

great to see some new cruzbikers in action. looks like a safe sunny place to learn. well done on the great teaching ratz.

 

[ratz]

Added the link for the boys video

 

[Wannabe]

Bob Thanks..very interesting video.
1. The young mans hands are really high with lots of space between legs and bars..WHY?

2. compare riding the 20" to the 26"....tia!

 

[ratz]

1. The young mans hands are really high with lots of space between legs and bars..WHY?

Multiple riders for that bike on regular occasions (that's the main trainer) so I can't really down size it any more; he fits it, but just. However he grew 8 inches since October; so by July the fit will be pretty go; he's headed to well over six feet. I'll probably fab up a seat pad insert for the time being, just haven't had time. In the meantime he's still learning to grasp gearing; interesting though he understands it better on the CB than he did on a DF probably because you can't just muscle through in tpo big of a gear on the CB. Long term he's already eye'ing up my Silvio.

 

[Wannabe]

I asked about the 20" vs the 26" because I want to buy a quest. This weekend, at the rally in Mississippi, there is supposed to be a Quest with 20" wheels. I am very much looking forward to riding that!
The quest will be ridden by my wife ( I HOPE!!!). She is 5'2". So I am thinking the 20" wheel size would allow her feet to touch the ground.
If I buy the latest version of the quest with 20" wheels, could I put my 27" vigors on it after addressing the brake issues?

 

[battleaxe0]

Just let my wife try it, too

 

[Charles.Plager]

I asked about the 20" vs the 26" because I want to buy a quest. This weekend, at the rally in Mississippi, there is supposed to be a Quest with 20" wheels. I am very much looking forward to riding that!
The quest will be ridden by my wife ( I HOPE!!!). She is 5'2". So I am thinking the 20" wheel size would allow her feet to touch the ground.
If I buy the latest version of the quest with 20" wheels, could I put my 27" vigors on it after addressing the brake issues?

You would need a longer chainstay (which you used to be able to buy, maybe still can) to put 26" wheels on the 20" quest.

I personally think the 20" Quest has more reasonable gearing for hills than the 26", but YMMV...

 

[castlerobber]

This weekend, at the rally in Mississippi, there is supposed to be a Quest with 20" wheels. I am very much looking forward to riding that!
The quest will be ridden by my wife ( I HOPE!!!). She is 5'2". So I am thinking the 20" wheel size would allow her feet to touch the ground.

We need to figure out when/where to meet up so y'all can try the Q451.

I'm 5'5", with a 30.5" inseam and 40.5" x-seam, and my feet touch the ground easily. My teenaged daughter is 5'2". I'll have her try the Q out this afternoon.

 

[Wannabe]

Thanks Charles!

Castle... sending you a PM with my phone number. It will be just me since my wife has to work. I am fortunate to be able to go. The storm just pasted thru this am. I thought the world was coming to an end. I have worked offshore thru hurricane. This am, the wx was worse!@

 

[castlerobber]

However he grew 8 inches since October

Eight inches? In six months?! How old is he? My 14-year-old grew 4" last year, and he was constantly hungry.

 

[Wannabe]

Charles, what would be the advantage of 26" on the Quest... if any?

 

[Charles.Plager]

Charles, what would be the advantage of 26" on the Quest... if any?

You get a better selection of 559 tires than 451 tires.

You get ...

That's all I got.

Good 451 tires will roll almost as well as 559 tires, the 451 bike is geared better (in my opinion) and fits in a single 31" suitcase. I'm a big fan of the 451 Quest 2.

(So, of course, Cruzbike got rid of it. I was a big fan of the conversion kit, too. I guess I should stop telling them when I like something... ).

 

[ratz]

If I buy the latest version of the quest with 20" wheels, could I put my 27" vigors on it after addressing the brake issues?

Nope not quite. .... If you want bigger than 26" wheels you need an original 26" frame which has the no suspension front fork.

Our Daughter is 5' 2" and she fits the Quest 20 perfectly; shorter than then would look like the boy in the video; that's when 406 wheels would make more sense. Robert has built a couple of those and they look really fun.

If you want to be able to go between 451 and larger wheels. The best bet is to get a Quest 26" and then order the short chain stay which is in the accessories area. Then you can down convert the Quest 26" to a smaller person and get ride of the some what annoying front shock. The shorter chain stay just plays better for the shorter folks and fitting.

Then with the 26" frame you can put the long stay back on if you like and convert all the way up to 700x25c tires.

As for Charles theory I'm with him. The wife and I really enjoy jumping on the Quest 20" they are geared perfect. We are 5'7" and 5'9" and ride those on the windy MUP. Our older taller daughter ride a Quest 26" so that she can keep up with our Silvios. If I rebuilt the 451 tires with A23's I'm sure that daughter 2 could also keep up. The Quickr has A23/451's on it; and it's very fast on the road; but the gearing is not something the kids can handle yet as they struggle with front derailluers.

 

[Charles.Plager]

Nope not quite. .... If you want bigger than 26" wheels you need an original 26" frame which has the no suspension front fork.

I thought (but haven't owned or ever actually seen) that the 451 had just the same fork and just the chainstays were shorter. You used to be able to get the longer chainstays for the 451 so that you could do exactly what people are thinking of doing (putting 559 wheels on the 451).

So, Bob, can you verify that it's just the chainstays that need to be updated and the 451 fork can handle the 559 wheel?

 

[Wannabe]

Bob, what does this mean, ""If I rebuilt the 451 tires with A23's"". I know the 451 are the taller of the 20" wheels, but the A23 i do not know what A23 means....

 

[ratz]

So, Bob, can you verify that it's just the chainstays that need to be updated and the 451 fork can handle the 559 wheel?

Correct you can get the 559 wheel into the suspension fork just fine; so all you need is the chain stay. That's what we are doing on Bumble Boy's bike in-fact; and have already done to our older daughters Quest V2. 2 days ago, I ordered the 26" stay so I have it incase it gets "charles'ed" into retirement before I need to mod the boys bike.

If you want to go bigger than 559 to 700 then you need a 26" frame that has the non suspension fork. The non suspended fork was introduced last year. The 26" frame in the video above is in-fact the new design, IMO it rides better.

I asked and the forks are not available separately only the chain stay.

 

[ratz]

Bob, what does this mean, ""If I rebuilt the 451 tires with A23's"". I know the 451 are the taller of the 20" wheels, but the A23 i do not know what A23 means....

Sorry my bad. 451 are 22" wheels; the stock ones are a tad heavy and middling stiffness and basic hubs. Velocity Wheels make 451 rims in the A23 line which is a really nice rim and it makes for a faster bike no matter how you look at it. I had a set build for our Quickr bike using DT Swiss 350 hubs. In a roll down test next to a stock Quest 451 the Quickr rolls away by quiet a bit and it weighs less. Hubs and wheels matter a lot until you optimize them everything else doesn't matter until you go faster than 19mph.

See the Project Quickr thread for photos of the wheels (which I also put on our trailer to got fast on when on the Silvio).

 

[Charles.Plager]

If you want to go bigger than 559 to 700 then you need a 26" frame that has the non suspension fork. The non suspended fork was introduced last year.

Ahhh... O.k. that makes sense.