First group ride

[pedlpadl]

I took my new Vendetta out for it's first real shakedown cruz yesterday. I rode 30 miles with a slow-ish group. The route had several long hills, a handful of dogs off leash, and quite a bit of chip seal. But the weather was perfect and I had no serious mishaps with the bike. Except the time I forgot to downshift before a stop sign....

A couple of issues with the bike.

1) The stock headrest isn't going to work. My head was rattling so bad I thought my fillings were going to come out. Cruzbike - a $4500 bike should have a better stock headrest.
2) On the rougher roads, there was an awful racket coming from the bike. I think it's the rear brake cable housing rattling inside the frame body. Anybody else have this problem and how did you fix it?
3) Overall the ride on the bad surfaces was pretty rough. I found myself thinking "Maybe I should have gotten the Silvio...". I'm hoping that once I fix the rattle and the headrest, that thought will go away. Maybe I'll have to run my tires at a lower pressure....

 

[Rick Youngblood]

Maybe I'll have to run my tires at a lower pressure....

Chip seal can be pretty rough if running high air pressure on any bike, even a Silvio. When I'm out in the boonies on rough roads I lower my air pressure to about 85-90 psi on my Vendetta. As I stated I'm running S Ones at 28mm.

I've personal never noticed any rattles that you are referring to. Perhaps try turning the bike upside down to see if there maybe a forign object in the frame.

 

[trplay]

1) The stock headrest isn't going to work. My head was rattling so bad I thought my fillings were going to come out. Cruzbike - a $4500 bike should have a better stock headrest.
2) On the rougher roads, there was an awful racket coming from the bike.
3) Overall the ride on the bad surfaces was pretty rough. I found myself thinking "Maybe I should have gotten the Silvio...". I'm hoping that once I fix the rattle and the headrest, that thought will go away. Maybe I'll have to run my tires at a lower pressure....

(1) It's not the quality of the head rest , its getting it adjusted to fit your particular body. This isn't easy for some of us. Just a little off makes a difference. Not only this but you can count on your body position changing after you get more miles. So even if you get it right now it might need tweaking later. Save time by making half inch incremental changes. Or you can do like I did. Modify the stock headrest, Three home brew designs, one ADEM headrest, and then go back to the stock OEM headrest. I'm several hundred dollars into head rests and am right back where I started with the one that came with the bike and its doing just fine. It's your money, spend at your personal comfort level.

(2) Check your scissor jacks. My bet is the scissor jacks holding the headrest have slipped and are not keeping the headrest tight against the frame.

 

[DavidCH]

Fine tuning the V is an education. Can't go far wrong with 700/28c (compass chinook pass are very good on rough roads) at 90psi with a comfort ventisit seat pad. I have found the stock headrest is very good with a shortened inner tube.

If you cycle with others they will always seem slow. That's the oddity. And true to form - the V is a thoroughbred racer.

I don't use the V on a recovery ride, as it always wants to run

 

[pedlpadl]

If you cycle with others they will always seem slow.

I was thinking that yesterday. I also think speed is perceived differently than on a DF. It feels like you're going slower than you really are.

I will have to try the inner tube.

 

[John Dorlon]

Mark, you may find that the headrest elevates your head too much no matter what position you slide it in/out to. It sounds scary, but several of us (including Maria) have cut a section out of the headrest tubes so that there isn't as much vertical rise in the headrest. Another thing you can do is make an air-pillow out of a section of inner tube to go inside the headrest cushion.

Try adjusting it first, but if that doesn't get you where you want to be, read these....

http://www.cruzbike.com/forum/threads/headache-from-riding-v.8994/

http://www.cruzbike.com/forum/threads/my-neck-rest-is-better-than-yours.8751/

 

[pedlpadl]

comfort ventisit seat pad

The one on the Cruzbike accessories page?

 

[pedlpadl]

Mark, you may find that the headrest elevates your head too much no matter what position you slide it in/out to.

I think the height is okay. I have a relatively short torso and the tubes are pushed almost all the way in and it's comfortable that way for me. I'm concerned about the vibration mostly, and I would like to get my head more vertical so that I'm not looking out the bottom of my glasses all the time.

Will try the tubes and go from there. Thanks all.

 

[DavidCH]

The one on the Cruzbike accessories page?

you can either buy from there but as I am in Europe I bought from the ventisit website

 

[ratz]

I think the height is okay. I have a relatively short torso and the tubes are pushed almost all the way in and it's comfortable that way for me. I'm concerned about the vibration mostly, and I would like to get my head more vertical so that I'm not looking out the bottom of my glasses all the time.

Will try the tubes and go from there. Thanks all.

If your head is looking up; then you are probably in that group of people that need to notch the seat to get the headrest close enough. Short Torso would be the indicator as well; you should have a pretty good double chin going when sitting in the head rest; and you shouldn't be looking out the bottom of your glasses. Eric Winn has some good posts that shows the notching in the seat that he performed and what he looks like on the bike.

 

[Bill K]

One other thing you can try on the headrest is to simply fold the foam in half and push it to the top of the sock so you get twice as much padding just behind your neck.
It works pretty well for me.

Bill

 

[pedlpadl]

notch the seat

I assume you mean notch the top of the seat so the headrest can be pushed in further. Can't find Eric's pictures.

 

[ratz]

I assume you mean notch the top of the seat so the headrest can be pushed in further. Can't find Eric's pictures.

Yes basically that. @Eric Winn has a picture of it somewhere on the forums but even google can't seem to find it. Hey Eric can you drop a photo here for reference?

 

[RAR]

Since CB is already a Ventisit dealer maybe we could get them to carry the 15cm x 10cm pad like the one Rick Youngblood uses!
I would buy one immediately! In advance if necessary!

 

[ratz]

Since CB is already a Ventisit dealer maybe we could get them to carry the 15cm x 10cm pad like the one Rick Youngblood uses!
I would buy one immediately! In advance if necessary!

I'm suppose to call Ventisit back them this summer about testing some wraps for the existing headset; but I hear a rumble in the other thread that Maria and crew had something in the works; so I set that aside for the time being until we see what they have in the official oven.

 

[pedlpadl]

fold the foam in half and push it to the top of the sock so you get twice as much padding just behind your neck

I gave this a try. Folded the open cell foam in half and pushed it to the top half of the sock. Added two layers of quarter inch memory foam to the bottom half. Moved the head rest in until it almost touched the seat. That seems to be working quite well.

Found the rattle too. My cassette lock ring had come loose. Cogs were rattling.

 

[pedlpadl]

Much quieter yesterday with the cogs behaving. Headrest much better too. Got my first "Hey, that's a CruzBike. NICE!!" from a DF roadie going the other way.