Thanks folks for posting the build diaries. The "Ratz" spread sheet was huge.
A brief history...
I used to ride a lot, to include a 6 day, 700 mile trip. Due to wrist pain and numbness in the hands, stopped riding except for commuting. Fast forward - friends wanted me to ride with them, but I found it very difficult to keep up on my commuter (a hybrid - not a road bike, not a mountain bike, sort of in between, loaded down with all that necessary commuter stuff). So I "needed" a fast bike to keep up, and picked up a Specialized Tarmac Pro. Wow! What a huge difference, that thing was designed for one thing, and one thing only, going fast. I put aero bars on it to avoid the wrist/hand issues. You can see where this is going, can't you? At about the 6 year mark with the Tarmac, I started having serious shoulder and neck pain. The day I got off the Tarmac and had tingling and numbness from the neck, through the right shoulder, down the arm to my fingers was the day I decided to switch to a recumbent.
After test riding several high end recumbents (after all, this will be my "go fast" bike), I decided spending a pile of $$ on a recumbent was a seriously dumb thing to do. I really did not know how to ride one, did not know what to look for in a recumbent, did not know if I would like riding one, and did not know if it would solve the pain issues. So I bought an old Action Bent off of Craigs List. I chose the Action Bent because the body position was similar to the high end recumbents that I hoped I would eventually buy. And at $270.00, if I hated it, so what? After I got reasonably adept at riding it, I did Tour de Blast. It took me about 4 hours longer than on the Tarmac. Not sure if it was the weight (35 lbs vs 19 lbs), the fat tires, the low end drive train, lack of experience, not having "bent" legs or all of the above.
Decision Time
I like the elegance of the Silvio rear suspension, but do not want to spend the weight on the front suspension. Where I live, I have no place to go but up, so I am a little sensitive to weight. I am leaning heavily towards a Vendetta. I suppose we will never see a Vendetta with a "Silvio like" rear suspension.
Decisions, decisions. Buy factory built, used, or build my own? What to do with the Tarmac? Strip the gear off and put it on a Vendetta frame (probably my least expensive option), or sell it complete and put the $$ into a Vendetta build?
My general outlook, the bike needs to be fast enough to keep up with my friends, as light as practical (cost factors heavily on "practical", I want to drop 10 lbs from the Action Bent weight), easy to live with (low/easy maintenance, parts and support availability), robust (perhaps I should say "not fragile") and quiet (the noise from the idler wheels drives me nuts).
Potential Drivetrains
NuVinci wth belt drive
The good:
1) Simple, 2) Low maintenance, 3) Quiet, 4) Will always be able to stay at the cadence I want, 5) No need to futz around changing chain rings and cassettes to get a comfortable gear range, 6) No losing momentum when downshifting the FD while going uphill , 7) It is fun do things a little differently, 8) It would look cool.
The bad:
1) More difficult to change the front tire, 2) No data on drive train efficiency 3) Weight - 2.4 Kg!!! 4) "Cool" becomes silly and pretentious when the chunky chick on the Huffy out climbs me because of the weight, 5) If this was such a great idea, one of you would have done it already.
The Verdict:
The dark horse in this race, primarily due to the weight.
Rohloff with chain drive
The good:
All above except 4 and 8.
The bad:
1) More difficult to change the front tire, 2) About 2% drive train efficiency loss, 3) About 20% heavier than a conventional drive train, 4) No control over the gear ratios. With the NuVinci, it is infinitely variable, with a standard drive train, I can swap out chain rings and cassettes to get gearing I am comfortable with. It took three iterations of chain rings, and two cassettes for me to be happy with the Tarmac. If I can not get comfortable with the gear ratios of the Rohloff, I am pretty much toast.
The Verdict:
A strong contender.
Shimano Di2
The good:
A known quantity. Similar to the Dura Ace on the Tarmac, except electronic shifting.
The bad:
Also a known quantity. All the stuff we complain about.
The verdict:
In the lead by a nose, but this race ain't over.
My wallet is cowering in a corner quivering. Somebody please talk me out of this.
A brief history...
I used to ride a lot, to include a 6 day, 700 mile trip. Due to wrist pain and numbness in the hands, stopped riding except for commuting. Fast forward - friends wanted me to ride with them, but I found it very difficult to keep up on my commuter (a hybrid - not a road bike, not a mountain bike, sort of in between, loaded down with all that necessary commuter stuff). So I "needed" a fast bike to keep up, and picked up a Specialized Tarmac Pro. Wow! What a huge difference, that thing was designed for one thing, and one thing only, going fast. I put aero bars on it to avoid the wrist/hand issues. You can see where this is going, can't you? At about the 6 year mark with the Tarmac, I started having serious shoulder and neck pain. The day I got off the Tarmac and had tingling and numbness from the neck, through the right shoulder, down the arm to my fingers was the day I decided to switch to a recumbent.
After test riding several high end recumbents (after all, this will be my "go fast" bike), I decided spending a pile of $$ on a recumbent was a seriously dumb thing to do. I really did not know how to ride one, did not know what to look for in a recumbent, did not know if I would like riding one, and did not know if it would solve the pain issues. So I bought an old Action Bent off of Craigs List. I chose the Action Bent because the body position was similar to the high end recumbents that I hoped I would eventually buy. And at $270.00, if I hated it, so what? After I got reasonably adept at riding it, I did Tour de Blast. It took me about 4 hours longer than on the Tarmac. Not sure if it was the weight (35 lbs vs 19 lbs), the fat tires, the low end drive train, lack of experience, not having "bent" legs or all of the above.
Decision Time
I like the elegance of the Silvio rear suspension, but do not want to spend the weight on the front suspension. Where I live, I have no place to go but up, so I am a little sensitive to weight. I am leaning heavily towards a Vendetta. I suppose we will never see a Vendetta with a "Silvio like" rear suspension.
Decisions, decisions. Buy factory built, used, or build my own? What to do with the Tarmac? Strip the gear off and put it on a Vendetta frame (probably my least expensive option), or sell it complete and put the $$ into a Vendetta build?
My general outlook, the bike needs to be fast enough to keep up with my friends, as light as practical (cost factors heavily on "practical", I want to drop 10 lbs from the Action Bent weight), easy to live with (low/easy maintenance, parts and support availability), robust (perhaps I should say "not fragile") and quiet (the noise from the idler wheels drives me nuts).
Potential Drivetrains
NuVinci wth belt drive
The good:
1) Simple, 2) Low maintenance, 3) Quiet, 4) Will always be able to stay at the cadence I want, 5) No need to futz around changing chain rings and cassettes to get a comfortable gear range, 6) No losing momentum when downshifting the FD while going uphill , 7) It is fun do things a little differently, 8) It would look cool.
The bad:
1) More difficult to change the front tire, 2) No data on drive train efficiency 3) Weight - 2.4 Kg!!! 4) "Cool" becomes silly and pretentious when the chunky chick on the Huffy out climbs me because of the weight, 5) If this was such a great idea, one of you would have done it already.
The Verdict:
The dark horse in this race, primarily due to the weight.
Rohloff with chain drive
The good:
All above except 4 and 8.
The bad:
1) More difficult to change the front tire, 2) About 2% drive train efficiency loss, 3) About 20% heavier than a conventional drive train, 4) No control over the gear ratios. With the NuVinci, it is infinitely variable, with a standard drive train, I can swap out chain rings and cassettes to get gearing I am comfortable with. It took three iterations of chain rings, and two cassettes for me to be happy with the Tarmac. If I can not get comfortable with the gear ratios of the Rohloff, I am pretty much toast.
The Verdict:
A strong contender.
Shimano Di2
The good:
A known quantity. Similar to the Dura Ace on the Tarmac, except electronic shifting.
The bad:
Also a known quantity. All the stuff we complain about.
The verdict:
In the lead by a nose, but this race ain't over.
My wallet is cowering in a corner quivering. Somebody please talk me out of this.
