First ride - questions

[castlerobber]

I gave up trying for no hands after 4 years of riding. I tried a few times, but they all resulted in huge wobbling going towards bushes or ground. I told myself it's overrated and moved on.

I couldn't ride no-hands on the Q until after I swapped out the pogo stick...er, I mean, suspended fork for a rigid QX100 fork, and the stock rear shock for an air shock. Couldn't do it on the S30 until I installed a Thor seat, which raised my head and shoulders a bit.

The sad thing is that when I am pedaling with no hands I keep them hovering above the bars like the weird uncle who is trying to jump scare a nephew.

I resemble that remark

 

[benphyr]

Welcome to the Cruzbike family! It is awesome to hear of your progress as you learn. Please ask any questions or search up the multitude of answers on this forum.

My no hands learning experience https://forum.cruzbike.com/threads/no-hands.14655/

 

[Bent not broken!]

I’m a 30-yr veteran on a Vision recumbent
I did a 3-mile Cruzbike ride 2 days ago, and a 12 mile today. I have a new Q45.

1 - my tailbone is sore. Is that normal and temporary?

2 - starting up from stopped is quite wobbly, kind of as expected. Likewise, any acceleration or pushing up hill requires a lot of push and/or pull with the arms to counter the turning force of pedaling. Is that something that could improve with practice, or are there specific techniques to try? Otherwise, I’m gonna have to get some pipes!

Thanks!

I also recently started riding a Q45. I bought a used Q45 and adjusted for a good fit. It was very comfortable, but too upright. I remembered the 2022 Q45 assembly video said at 25:30 “For a stock position, I like using the second and fourth holes,” so I changed the seat pan position and the recline. The seat back felt like it had similar recline to my other recumbents, but the seat pad felt tipped up in front. I rode a few miles and it felt ok, so I rode farther. The farther I rode, the harder the seat pan felt, the harsher bumps felt and the more my butt hurt. Eventually, my butt went numb. I’ve never had that happen on any of my bikes. It was only a 40 min. ride and I like to ride an hour.
I contacted Cruzbike and they suggested adding padding so I added some open cell foam under the cushion I had on hand to see if that helps. It was a huge improvement, but I still went numb. Not nearly as bad, though. I was able to do a 22 mile ride, my longest ever!
Maria Parker suggested the first thing to try would be a couple of layers of dense cell foam with a hole cut out for your tail bone in a donut shape. I have some foam on the way to try that.

 

[xtalbike]

There are two brackets holding the seat pan to the frame on the Q45. When I got mine (pre-built) it had the taller bracket in front and the shorter bracket behind. On my first longer ride the front of the seat was really digging into my hamstrings. I switched the brackets and ever since it's been fine...no butt pain. I assume this is the correct orientation.

 

[Bent not broken!]

There are two brackets holding the seat pan to the frame on the Q45. When I got mine (pre-built) it had the taller bracket in front and the shorter bracket behind. On my first longer ride the front of the seat was really digging into my hamstrings. I switched the brackets and ever since it's been fine...no butt pain. I assume this is the correct orientation.

That’s interesting! Our Q45 seat mounting looks very different. My seat pan has two identical short brackets. It came with a tall bracket, too, but much shorter than yours! I couldn’t find any mention of it in the manual.