Osiris
Zen MBB Master
Well, the event I predicted would never come has come and gone. Several weeks ago someone contacted me regarding the possible sale of my V20. To my surprise he was at my door only a couple of days later, cash in hand, so off it went to some place in South Florida.
The V20 was my fourth recumbent, and I still regard it as the best all-around recumbent there is, but moving to a new home has forced me to radically downsize my collection of 8 bicycles and recumbents. My "go-to" recumbent now is the M5 CHR that I bought several years before the V20. In it's original configuration, it was an absolute nightmare to ride. It suffered from numerous design defects, including a low hanging chain that would continually hit the front wheel in tight turns, and occasionally fall off the large sprocket when just rolling it across the parking lot. The stock seat was positioned in such a way that it placed the rider's weight too far forward, leading to a loss of traction from the rear tire even under moderate braking. The stock handlebars were completely the wrong geometry, making the front end very unstable and overly sensitive to steering inputs.
M5 built the CHR for one reason: to break the world indoor hour record, which it did. But as any designer knows, when you build something for only one purpose, it doesn't do anything else particularly well. Fortunately there were ways to address the CHR's shortcomings to make it more "user friendly", all of which I've done. It still doesn't handle quite as well as the V20 did, but the difference isn't great, and it's a faster and more comfortable bent than the Vendetta. Cruzbikes have a reputation for being great climbers, but I have not found that to be the case. In extremely steep climbs, my other recumbents never suffered traction loss as the V20's front wheel did, especially over rough pavement and/or sand strewn patches. And on milder slopes, all of my other recumbents were faster. The V20 stability and very precise steering, combined with no possibility of pedal or chain strikes on the front wheel, still makes it a better all around bent however. If I lived in an urban environment, the V20 would reign supreme, but I live in flat as a board central Florida and ride mostly paved trails, where outright speed counts more, at least for me. That's what my remaining two recumbents were designed for.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Sports/Bicycling/i-hf6F6Fm/1/71cbf47f/X3/DSCN0235-X3.jpg
The V20 was my fourth recumbent, and I still regard it as the best all-around recumbent there is, but moving to a new home has forced me to radically downsize my collection of 8 bicycles and recumbents. My "go-to" recumbent now is the M5 CHR that I bought several years before the V20. In it's original configuration, it was an absolute nightmare to ride. It suffered from numerous design defects, including a low hanging chain that would continually hit the front wheel in tight turns, and occasionally fall off the large sprocket when just rolling it across the parking lot. The stock seat was positioned in such a way that it placed the rider's weight too far forward, leading to a loss of traction from the rear tire even under moderate braking. The stock handlebars were completely the wrong geometry, making the front end very unstable and overly sensitive to steering inputs.
M5 built the CHR for one reason: to break the world indoor hour record, which it did. But as any designer knows, when you build something for only one purpose, it doesn't do anything else particularly well. Fortunately there were ways to address the CHR's shortcomings to make it more "user friendly", all of which I've done. It still doesn't handle quite as well as the V20 did, but the difference isn't great, and it's a faster and more comfortable bent than the Vendetta. Cruzbikes have a reputation for being great climbers, but I have not found that to be the case. In extremely steep climbs, my other recumbents never suffered traction loss as the V20's front wheel did, especially over rough pavement and/or sand strewn patches. And on milder slopes, all of my other recumbents were faster. The V20 stability and very precise steering, combined with no possibility of pedal or chain strikes on the front wheel, still makes it a better all around bent however. If I lived in an urban environment, the V20 would reign supreme, but I live in flat as a board central Florida and ride mostly paved trails, where outright speed counts more, at least for me. That's what my remaining two recumbents were designed for.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Sports/Bicycling/i-hf6F6Fm/1/71cbf47f/X3/DSCN0235-X3.jpg
