Alex Apostolou
New Member
First, some disclosures: I know John Tolhurst very well and consider him a friend; he asked me if I would write a report on my ride; it was his Silvio I rode.
Now, I normally ride a SoftRider. I have put faster wheels and tyres on it, and replaced mostly everything except the seat and the frame. I ride sporadically, probably once a month, and at 195 cms, 46 yrs and 115 kgs, I could lose about 25 kg's and still not be my ideal weight. Anyway, this is all context. Before Christmas, I went for a ride in the country and the best average speed I managed on the SoftRider was 31 km/hr over 100 kms.
For some reason, I decided to do the Freeway ride for Asthma last weekend here in Perth, WA. It is 60 km and I was going to do it on the SoftRider, but John suggested I try his Silvio instead. Well, f**k me dead, but that's a fast bike. Of course he told me it would be: lighter, slippery-er, etc., but when you're 115 kg, lighter is beyond relative, and of course I knew the hype around wind resistance, but, until you are in that position to cruze past other riders without slipstreaming, because well, you are in your own slipstream, you just don't know.
So, the 60 kms took me 1:40 minutes, which is an average of 36 km/hr, but most of it was at around 45 km/hr until I hit the wall in the last 10 k's. The bike was great too. As comfortable as the SoftRider, except there was some slight jarring when hitting cat's eyes with the back wheel, thought hitting them with the front wheel was imperceptible. The handling and all other characteristics were tremendous, and the speed, well, it was nice cruising at that level without too much fatigue.
My only issue is getting one. Anyone interested in buying a SoftRider?
Cheers,
Alex
Now, I normally ride a SoftRider. I have put faster wheels and tyres on it, and replaced mostly everything except the seat and the frame. I ride sporadically, probably once a month, and at 195 cms, 46 yrs and 115 kgs, I could lose about 25 kg's and still not be my ideal weight. Anyway, this is all context. Before Christmas, I went for a ride in the country and the best average speed I managed on the SoftRider was 31 km/hr over 100 kms.
For some reason, I decided to do the Freeway ride for Asthma last weekend here in Perth, WA. It is 60 km and I was going to do it on the SoftRider, but John suggested I try his Silvio instead. Well, f**k me dead, but that's a fast bike. Of course he told me it would be: lighter, slippery-er, etc., but when you're 115 kg, lighter is beyond relative, and of course I knew the hype around wind resistance, but, until you are in that position to cruze past other riders without slipstreaming, because well, you are in your own slipstream, you just don't know.
So, the 60 kms took me 1:40 minutes, which is an average of 36 km/hr, but most of it was at around 45 km/hr until I hit the wall in the last 10 k's. The bike was great too. As comfortable as the SoftRider, except there was some slight jarring when hitting cat's eyes with the back wheel, thought hitting them with the front wheel was imperceptible. The handling and all other characteristics were tremendous, and the speed, well, it was nice cruising at that level without too much fatigue.
My only issue is getting one. Anyone interested in buying a SoftRider?
Cheers,
Alex
