KenM
Member
G'day!
I've just been for my first decent ride on my brand new Sofrider 2.3!
I picked it up this morning from Kim Tolhurst in Geelong who is the East Australian distributor He is about 1? hours drive from my home in Melbourne, Australia. He has been really generous with his time and informative about the bikes. I was pretty sure that the Sofrider was what I was after but he let me ride his Silvo and a Quest extensively as well. Both my daughter (19) and I found the Quest a bit less stable than the Sofrider, but it is sure to appeal to many people who are after intense manoeuvrability and/or the folding capacity.
My first ride was just down a hill on back roads to a sealed bike path which I followed to where just before where the really serious hills began and then back by a similar route. You can see the route out at http://www.sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/120363#id=121485 and back again at http://www.sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/120363#id=121492 (its best to open the links in a new tab/window).
However lets step back a bit first; why did I buy a Cruzbike?
Its about a year since I moved back to Melbourne from Launceston, a regional city where I was walking fairly often, as I could get most places in about half an hour on foot. Back in Melbourne that's simply not feasible so at Easter 2009 I bought a Giant Inova hybrid bike and have been riding to work a couple of times a week (16km) and I often do a long afternoon ride of a weekend, usually at least 50km and up to about 120km. I really enjoyed the riding but have a number of problems which the Cruzbike specifically addressed: sore backside, shoulders and wrists, as well as severe pins and needles in my smaller fingers. Even after the long rides my legs seemed to recover very quickly but my backside and neck/shoulders would take days to recover. That must mean that something is not right! Hence when I saw an article about the Cruzbike on Gizmag I got interested and eventually contacted Kim.
Well; my impressions so far.
I feel as though I'm getting used to the bike at an acceptable rate, but I'm aware that I have a long way to go. I still get the wobbles occasionally and am riding quite a bit slower than my normal bike. I'm not sure if its the gears or my inexperience, but I couldn't handle the steep hills as well and had to get off on 3 occasions where I would normally just keep peddling in low gears. I find that I'm still using my arms too much on the hills. I think that with practice the Cruzbike should be good fun and address all the problems I'm having with my standard bike.
I'm not sure if its my technique, a design issue, or an adjustment problem but I found that I was often rubbing the joint in the steering column with the inside of my legs just above my knees. Its not much of a problem on short rides but could get annoying on long rides and eventually wear clothing out quicker. Any suggestions?
Before Kim showed me how to adjust the front stay to the proper length my knees were hitting the handle bars fairly regularly, but I still touch the cables occasionally and would probably feel more comfortable with a bit more space. It looks as though the steering column can be extended; is sit OK to do this?
My greatest difficulty was the gears! I've never ridden twist grip gears before so I'm not really sure what they're meant to be like. I'm even still getting used to which way to twist to change gears up or down. More seriously I find that sometimes one click will do nothing then the next click will jump it 2, or more cogs at a time! This was a particular problem as I was just starting to work near the bottom of hills but it also occurred on relatively flat sections as well. Also in the serious list; when riding I can't see which gear the shifter is indicating without leaning out to one side of the bike, which I'm not up to as yet. I can't see a way around this as they are clearly not designed to have the rider's face so close to the handlebars and/or the handlebars angled this way. Also, the chain came of both front and back big cogs. Another annoying issue is that if find that just walking the bike around I often unintentionally click the gear controls and then have the gears jump as I start riding. I suspect that some of it may be resolved with professional adjustment but that will be an expensive, time consuming trip back to Geelong or a paid visit to my local bike shop.
If I had the money it would be really fun to investigate using either Rohloff or NiVinci hub gears with a carbon fibre belt instead of a chain. Interestingly the belt seems a real possibility on these bikes as the “rear” triangle can be opened to get the belt through. I've always found chains the most annoying aspect of bikes.
However the bike itself looks as though its just what I'm after.
Sorry for the over-long post but I thought I should get my first impressions out there. I'll keep you updated as I get to know the bike better!
Cheers,
Ken
I've just been for my first decent ride on my brand new Sofrider 2.3!
I picked it up this morning from Kim Tolhurst in Geelong who is the East Australian distributor He is about 1? hours drive from my home in Melbourne, Australia. He has been really generous with his time and informative about the bikes. I was pretty sure that the Sofrider was what I was after but he let me ride his Silvo and a Quest extensively as well. Both my daughter (19) and I found the Quest a bit less stable than the Sofrider, but it is sure to appeal to many people who are after intense manoeuvrability and/or the folding capacity.
My first ride was just down a hill on back roads to a sealed bike path which I followed to where just before where the really serious hills began and then back by a similar route. You can see the route out at http://www.sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/120363#id=121485 and back again at http://www.sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/120363#id=121492 (its best to open the links in a new tab/window).
However lets step back a bit first; why did I buy a Cruzbike?
Its about a year since I moved back to Melbourne from Launceston, a regional city where I was walking fairly often, as I could get most places in about half an hour on foot. Back in Melbourne that's simply not feasible so at Easter 2009 I bought a Giant Inova hybrid bike and have been riding to work a couple of times a week (16km) and I often do a long afternoon ride of a weekend, usually at least 50km and up to about 120km. I really enjoyed the riding but have a number of problems which the Cruzbike specifically addressed: sore backside, shoulders and wrists, as well as severe pins and needles in my smaller fingers. Even after the long rides my legs seemed to recover very quickly but my backside and neck/shoulders would take days to recover. That must mean that something is not right! Hence when I saw an article about the Cruzbike on Gizmag I got interested and eventually contacted Kim.
Well; my impressions so far.
I feel as though I'm getting used to the bike at an acceptable rate, but I'm aware that I have a long way to go. I still get the wobbles occasionally and am riding quite a bit slower than my normal bike. I'm not sure if its the gears or my inexperience, but I couldn't handle the steep hills as well and had to get off on 3 occasions where I would normally just keep peddling in low gears. I find that I'm still using my arms too much on the hills. I think that with practice the Cruzbike should be good fun and address all the problems I'm having with my standard bike.
I'm not sure if its my technique, a design issue, or an adjustment problem but I found that I was often rubbing the joint in the steering column with the inside of my legs just above my knees. Its not much of a problem on short rides but could get annoying on long rides and eventually wear clothing out quicker. Any suggestions?
Before Kim showed me how to adjust the front stay to the proper length my knees were hitting the handle bars fairly regularly, but I still touch the cables occasionally and would probably feel more comfortable with a bit more space. It looks as though the steering column can be extended; is sit OK to do this?
My greatest difficulty was the gears! I've never ridden twist grip gears before so I'm not really sure what they're meant to be like. I'm even still getting used to which way to twist to change gears up or down. More seriously I find that sometimes one click will do nothing then the next click will jump it 2, or more cogs at a time!
This was a particular problem as I was just starting to work near the bottom of hills but it also occurred on relatively flat sections as well. Also in the serious list; when riding I can't see which gear the shifter is indicating without leaning out to one side of the bike, which I'm not up to as yet. I can't see a way around this as they are clearly not designed to have the rider's face so close to the handlebars and/or the handlebars angled this way. Also, the chain came of both front and back big cogs. Another annoying issue is that if find that just walking the bike around I often unintentionally click the gear controls and then have the gears jump as I start riding. I suspect that some of it may be resolved with professional adjustment but that will be an expensive, time consuming trip back to Geelong or a paid visit to my local bike shop.If I had the money it would be really fun to investigate using either Rohloff or NiVinci hub gears with a carbon fibre belt instead of a chain. Interestingly the belt seems a real possibility on these bikes as the “rear” triangle can be opened to get the belt through. I've always found chains the most annoying aspect of bikes.
However the bike itself looks as though its just what I'm after.
Sorry for the over-long post but I thought I should get my first impressions out there. I'll keep you updated as I get to know the bike better!
Cheers,
Ken
