First Impressions of the Big Yellow Vendetta V1.5

[MrSteve]

This V is docile, nimble, comfortable, easy to start and easy to stop.

With riding gloves, those bare bars are pretty comfortable.
Why bare? It's best to finalise the cockpit first, before taping everything.

What surprised me is how comfortable the neck rest is... it's almost as vibration free as my home built air cushioned neck rest is.

What disappoints me about this thing is that it won't climb hills: I still have to pedal.

So far, my hot-rod Sofrider is a little faster, overall, than I am on the Vendetta.
I have about eight years of practice on my Sofrider and know how to make power on that platform
while, on the Vendetta, I'm just practicing pedal techniques and gently applying the power.

The front tire on the stock Cruzbike wheel wouldn't hold air, so I just swapped the Cruzbike wheel
for one that holds air.
I'll fix it and reinstall the stock wheel.
The Cruzbike wheels are every bit as nice as my Mavic Aksiums and are much more aero.

My first high-ish speed fly-pass!
A family was out riding their dirtbikes on one of my close-by flattish streets, so I stayed on that street.
The last pass was at about 25 MPH, in a section of the street where my record speed on the Sofrider is over 30 MPH.
It was no contest: I could have passed them jogging, but the speed difference between us was gratifying.

So, I have a lot to learn about making decent power on the Vendetta.
As it stands right now, just spinning the pedals makes it go pretty nicely.

 

[LarryOz]

What disappoints me about this thing is that it won't climb hills: I still have to pedal.

What - no electric drive.
I don't know if you experience will be the same as mine, but when I moved from the Silvo to the Vendetta, I found that I could not make nearly the raw power due to the reduced hip angle.
The is more than made up by the aerodynamics however.
And I think in due time 5-10 years perhaps, one can adapt to making more power at a lesser hip angle.
Then - then is always the electric assist!
Have fun MrSteve with your new toy!

 

[MrSteve]

Nope, no hidden electric genies hiding in the frame. Yet.

My Sofrider has similar layout to the V.

If you compare where the crankshafts are, you'll see that both bikes are pretty similar.
Of course, that's what I was going for.
If you compare the recline of the seats, you'll see that the Sofrider is more reclined -more aero.
If you compare the handlebars, I think that that is where the biggest difference lies.

Now, the V has the stiff drivetrain and that's immediately apparent.
Also, my Sofrider has a rear disc and that adds some considerable speed.

Miles and more miles will build the necessary muscle to push the performance of the V beyond the Sofrider's performance envelope.

----

The stock Cruzbike wheel is back where it belongs and it's wearing a new tire and a new inner tube.
The tire that was on the wheel had some sidewall damage.

Besides the front rubber change, all the bike needed this week were both the head bearings and the brakes adjusted.

Nice bike, the Vendetta.
It's a keeper.

-Steve

 

[MrSteve]

This morning was calm, with just enough of a breeze to lift the wind sock on the model airplane airfield adjacent to the
flat road that I use to test my top speed.
So the V and I did some pedaling drills on the the flat road.

That's pretty much all I did, before the temperature punched through 80F.

Except, I was making just enough power for a decent workout... sort of a fast cruising speed for me.
And that turns out to be 20mph, both ways, into the wind and with a following wind.
My Sofrider's fast cruising speed is about 18mph.

A roadie I know by sight was working out on the same road.
He was on a flat-bar streetbike... probably taking a break from his normal race bike.
My 20mph was much faster than he was, this morning.

Coming home, the bike climbed the short, sharp hills in the big ring.
Nice, solid transmission.

Yup, LarryOz, the new toy is fun!

-Steve

 

[MrSteve]

Wait a minute.


I forgot that the Vendetta rear derailleur hanger is a mirror-image of what it ought to have been.
It took me all morning to realize that the notch on the hanger is facing the wrong way and does not,
in fact, support the B-tension adjuster assembly!
Yeah, I may be slow... but I'm persistent.
The B-tension adjuster assembly sits on the ramp behind/before the notch on the hanger.

Anyway, the transmission is cleaned, de-gritted, adjusted and fine-tuned.
Sram makes good stuff.

 

[MrSteve]

Tinkering with ergonomics, the big boom has been shortened a few times.
Now, my feet feel at home and the knees are happy but now the bars are too close.
Both too close to my body and too close to my thighs.
I like to have straight arms and the bend in my arms only goes away when my hands ride the brifter hoods.

Now that my shorter Sram Rival cranks have opened up some room for my legs under the bars,
I'm thinking of installing a threadless steerer extender to help me move the bars to where I like them.

All of the tinkering just puts a smile on my face.
So does riding this thoroughbred on familiar local roads!
It really does power up the hills that I fear the most, much better than my Sofrider does.
Right now, it's just as fast as my hotrodded Sofrider, on average.
It won't take much longer, before it's faster overall.

Yesterday, while turning right onto a short, flat road that I habitually love to sprint on,
I was cut off by a redneck cadillac (pickup truck) that turned left in front of me.
Excellent.
I let off the brakes, snicked down a few or three gears and spun up into pursuit.
The draft behind the pickup helped to slingshot me through the gears.
I was able to hold 27mph, until the overpass bled my energy off.
This is a record speed for me, on this road.
This is how I make lemonade from lemons!

 

[ratz]

Tinkering with ergonomics, the big boom has been shortened a few times.

One trick you can play with is rotating the Pivot clamp 180 degree which give you more boom Settings to play. Point it forward raise the boom and push the handle bars back. Point it backwards towards the rider bring the boom and lowers it.

I've been playing a lot with aero testing. I've found I can get away with a position that gives me straight arms on the hoods; and bent ones in the drops. If I ride with bent elbows and keep them pulled in by my body the air flow over the arms seems to reattach to my torso as it flow past or at least that what the CdA looks like; elbow out drag goes up; elbows in and it's pretty close to what I get with arms straight on the hoods.

Still committed to finishing the season on drop bars but then I have some ideas for this winter that I'm looking forward to playing with.

 

[MrSteve]

One trick you can play with is rotating the Pivot clamp 180 degree which give you more boom Settings to play. Point it forward raise the boom and push the handle bars back. Point it backwards towards the rider bring the boom and lowers it.

I've been playing a lot with aero testing. I've found I can get away with a position that gives me straight arms on the hoods; and bent ones in the drops. If I ride with bent elbows and keep them pulled in by my body the air flow over the arms seems to reattach to my torso as it flow past or at least that what the CdA looks like; elbow out drag goes up; elbows in and it's pretty close to what I get with arms straight on the hoods.

Cool!
My pivot clamp is pointed forward, canting the boom up and giving me the most 'reach' to the bars.

My experience with the drop bars on my Sofrider mirrors your own observations, regarding aerodynamics.

My Sofrider drop bars are far enough away from my body so that I can comfortably hold my arms straight,
straight meaning no elbow bend and my shoulders are in the wind shadow of my hands... which grip the bars
in the drops, with the brakes at my fingertips.
When I tried this particular setup, it hit a sweet spot for me.
More power uphill and the best aerodynamics, short of a set of aerobars.

My shoulders and upper body do the heavy lifting during bursts of high-power and, overall, the motor -me- is more efficient with my arms straight.
This position mimics what people have done with bullhorn bars.

Yeah, so, I'm still looking into pushing the bars out a few inches and, to accomplish that, the bars can come up a few inches.

 

[MrSteve]

Just returned from my Sunday morning ride and I'm really
starting to learn how to make power on this bike... it's like, wow, man.

Never got out of the big ring: 52 - 11 is top gear; 52 - 26 was the smallest today.

Rocking the bike uphill, mashing, brought back memories of romping up hills on my D.F.
The hills are getting flatter, apparently.

While warming up on the flat frontage road, I saw a bicyclist in my rearview mirror;
he/she just got smaller.

The top speed has been pushed up a bit: 29.9mph: One more tenth of a mile per hour bump up
and the V will tie my Sofrider's all-time best top speed.

My average speed is creeping up too.
Today the V went 18 miles in a little under an hour and most of the advantage is in
it's climbing performance.
I'm pretty sure that I'd have to work very, very hard on my Sofrider to match what
I can do, so far, on my Vendetta.

 

[ratz]

Just returned from my Sunday morning ride and I'm really
starting to learn how to make power on this bike... it's like, wow, man.

Never gets old watching an existing CB rider go through the oh wow the V is just that much more experience. In the beginning I thought I might be over stating it even though the numbers supported it. Since then it just keeps getting repeated. So much fun.

 

[hamishbarker]

steve, which hole is the bolt joining the top of the steerer to the cage under the silver boom going through? I managed to get mine though the second rearmost one, with the steerer clamp facing forward.

I did have to file a mm or so of metal off the top edge of the steerer clamp, because the edge of the cage was interfering. (see photo).

That gave me just enough room to get arms perfectly comfortable when i installed my new aero drop bars, because the new bars have a little less reach than the original gary bars and I wasn't happy with bent elbows on the new bars.

I tried hard to get it to fit without filing, but it wouldn't go, so I filed carefully and blended to make a nice smooth curved edge to avoid possible stress concentrations in the edge of the steerer clamp (which is under tension when it's clamped to the steerer, so need to be careful). The filed area is just visible in the photo (same on the other side of course.

Getting it into that hole, rather than the third-rearmost, will give you an extra 10mm or so of reach and straighten your elbows a bit more.

 

[MrSteve]

steve, which hole is the bolt joining the top of the steerer to the cage under the silver boom going through? I managed to get mine though the second rearmost one, with the steerer clamp facing forward.

Yes, thank you.

One of the many reasons I bought the bike I did buy, was that the boom cage was modified for exactly the same reason that you modified your steerer clamp.
Right now, my thighs are making soft contact with the handlebar and the bars ought to go a wee bit, .5cm to 1.5cm, further away, to get to that sweet-spot that's right for my arms.
The shorter crank arms are in and I'm not buying more expensive kit like that, so that's out.
The handlebars could be swapped out for bullhorns or deeper drops or whatever, true, but that doesn't appeal to me.
The bars on it are the width of my shoulders -perfect- and are both comfy and strong.

What will work, is the stem riser I have on order.
That'll lift the boom up enough to allow me to push the handlebar away enough to get the arm reach I need... and, maybe,
keep the bars up and away from my thighs.
Hey, maybe it'll give me enough room to replace the shorter crankset with the longer one. We'll see.

 

[MrSteve]

The Sun came out, the streets are mostly dry now so, of course, went for a ride.
Riding on toasted legs: The rain kept me on the trainer this week and I really went for it yesterday....

So anyway, it's kind of nice, spinning the cranks without hitting the bars!
In the Sunshine!
Outside!

But, what with all the adjusting going on, one of the wires in the the rear derailleur shifter cable snapped
and it hung up the transmission.
This left me with two choices.
1) Stop, try to free up the cable and then go on or,
2) pretend that the bike is a single speed and just keep going.
I kept going.

The Vendetta's stiff frame really does effortlessly transmit every mashy watt to the pavement.

Nice day, great workout and stunning bike.

 

[Greenspeed]

Enjoy following your thread. My 1.5 is set up with bull bar and really loving the bike. Fast and comfortable.

 

[MrSteve]

Took the bike out in the Sun today.
Just to recover from the heavy work my old legs were subjected to these past few days.
The new shift cable needed some bedding in as well.

Hah, who's kidding who?
It's Saturday and sunny: I went out trolling.

Since I was on a recovery ride, I chose to hunt -er- recover on the nearby flat frontage road.

The only target
-I mean,
recreational bike rider on the road with me this afternoon, was a roadie riding his carbon framed bike rolling on carbon deep-aero wheels
and he was on his aero bars.
I caught him easily, slowed down to pass him, made eye contact and said a friendly, "hi".
Then spun back up to speed and that was that.

Nice recovery ride!
That's what it was.
And the bike shifts nice.

 

[ratz]

Nice recovery ride!
That's what it was.

1 demerit point for planning a ride schedule that puts a recovery ride on a Sunny Saturday. In the future, as punishment, you will be restricted to riding your soft-rider on recovery rides for the metal health of other locals.

I'm still perversely enjoying your geek out journey with the new bike. Vendetta upgrade experiences are like the Harlequin romances of Bike Porn; the story is always the same but I just can't stop reading them.

 

[MrSteve]

Sorry, Mr. Ratz, but the old Sofrider is not much slower than my V. so it would just be more of a workout.
If -IF- I'm ever serious about a recovery ride, it'll have to be indoors, out of sight and on the trainer.

Like today, for example, I was going East to do some hillclimbing, when a recumbent passed me going West, just a hundred yards into my ride.
So I caught up at the stop sign: an old dude, like me, was taking his racer out for a nice sunny ride.
His bike was a Bacchetta ca 2.0, pretty blue, a real thoroughbred.
I tailed him... because I have a bright blinky tail light and he didn't.
Plus, I was planning to blow by him uphill.
While he was pedaling steadily, I was coasting half the time and,
when we reached the little hill, I blew past him... and I had my workout doing 20+
while he pedaled his Bacchetta at whatever cruising speed he was doing.

The trio of upright bikes are hardly worth mentioning, so I won't.

Thanks to the change of (Bacchetta Ca 2 ) plans, my addiction to speed and the V's pedigree,
my moving average speed was 18.4 and I never went any faster than 28mph.

 

[ratz]

Honest you honor; I can't pedal that slow up hill; I'd tip over. I passed him for everyone's safety.

 

[MrSteve]

The rain ended before noon and the Sun dried the streets in time to get a short ride in,
before school busses and SUV driving helicopter parents took over the roads.


Is my bike bright enough?
Can you see it?

The wheel covers I made for the V give me some free speed.
Not as much as they did for the Sofrider, but free is free.
I pedaled up to 30.2mph on my benchmark stretch of road today...
no wind, but new record.

Here's where the boom meets the steerer, via the new extender.
It really frees up the cockpit for both stop-and-go and climbing the endless local hills.
I'm not sure I'd do this if this were flat land.

 

[MrSteve]

The Origin8 Gary bar that came with the bike just doesn't quite meet my hands where they want to be.
Almost, but not quite.
Flipping them and remounting sort of works, but then the goofy bends are in the way and the flared ends hang my arms out
into the breeze.

Now, according to measurements combined with experience, the Origin8 Bullhorn-2 31.8 420mm bar that's coming
ought to give me at least another two centimeters, which ought to put my hands closer, I hope, to where they want to be.
I really didn't want to abandon these nice, stiff bars... but hopefully, these flatter Origin8 bars with that little bit more reach
will be just as stiff.

-----

Yesterday's ride was cut short by rain.
Not only did the Vendetta -with me on it- fail to outrun the rain,
but I had to go slowly enough to see through my rain-spotted glasses.
This added up to the slowest moving average speed ever:
16.4mph.
The surprisingly good news?
Nothing melted!
The V is water resistant!
Yay!