How much to buy?

[Kenneth Jessett]

I want to ride faster, I have enough standard bikes, I need a total knee replacement (surgery coming up) and I like the idea of a front wheel drive bent.

The question is - since it is all so very expensive - how much of the bike do I need to buy on-line? Is it just the frame? I presume I can buy the wheels, gearing, pedals, etc. from my local bike store, but is this recommended?

I run a 24 hour endurance race each year (Bessies Creek 24) and have watched with envy the Bachetta recumbents eating up the course, so now I want to join the fun, rather like Toad sitting in the middle of the road after his first sighting of a motor car and with a bemused expression watching as it smokes off into the distance (Winnie the Pooh).

All thoughts and comments welcome please.

 

[Charles.Plager]

Both Vendetta and Silvio are

Both Vendetta and Silvio are made to work with road bike components, so it really is up to you. The Vendetta has a hard time with some triples because of support of the bottom bracket, so if you were headed that way, I'd at least make sure that what you're planning will work.

There are some things an LBS should be told about when putting a Cruzbike together, but by and large it is just a regular bicycle (with the back wheel on the front...).

 

[John Tolhurst]

I think you'll find Toad in

I think you'll find Toad in Wind of the Willows ...

Charles said it well. The frames take road bike components that you can buy from us or elsewhere. If you want a triple, look at the Shimano ultegra.

 

[Kenneth Jessett]

"I think you'll find Toad in

"I think you'll find Toad in Wind of the Willows ..."

True, I must have been smoking something.

Anyway, back to business. Is there a way you can show on a diagram the parts of the bike which come with each purchase option?

 

[John Tolhurst]

Go for the Assembly Manual

Yes, go to the Silvio page
cruzbike.com/silvio
?and scroll down after the options section and click : links to download specs and brochures. Go for the Assembly Manual.

Same for Vendetta.

 

[Kenneth Jessett]

Thanks John,
I've looked at

Thanks John,

I've looked at the assembly instructions and although I think it is probably a great bike, I really don't want to have to go through the ordering on-line and assembly process, so it will be better for me to wait until the bikes show up at the local recumbent bike store for sale - ready to ride. I hope that will be soon.

 

[John Tolhurst]

We can ship to your local

We can ship to your local bike shop. We would probably be happy to pay them to assemble it for you.

 

[Kenneth Jessett]

I'll talk to them John,

I'll talk to them John, thanks.

 

[Rod]

Local bike store

Hi I bought my Silvio through my local bike shop and they were great. Since then my ridding partner bought a Quest through them. By the way I had total knee replacement on both knees. No problem with the Silvio and my knees.

 

[Kenneth Jessett]

Off the main subject, but

Off the main subject, but other than riding, how are your replacement knees for walking, etc.? How long before you were back on the bike? Thanks.

 

[Rod]

replacement knees

Well I think walking was fine, stairs took a bit longer, I have a stationary bike that I rode at home during the rehab period, and I was riding that every day from about eight weeks after surgery.

 

[Andrew 1973]

tiggertoo...

...you managed to hijack your own thread.

 

[Andrew 1973]

how much to buy...

Alright, Tiggertoo. Here are my thoughts.

First, you mention that "it is all so expensive". I agree that the Silvio is not cheap, but if you look at it in terms of return on investment, it is a bargain. Fully-equipped, a Silvio can be nicely outfitted for around $3,500. If you ride just 3500 milesin a year, then it'splain to see that you're paying not much over a dollar per mile. At the end of a 25 mile ride, I can tell you that I would pay much more than that to have that good of a time.

You could keep it simple and buy everything you need from Cruzbike and have it all shipped to your LBS for assembly. The benefit is knowing that you would habe a bike built with the proven components that work perfectly with your new Cruzbike.

On the other hand, you could buy the parts from your LBS; they will appreciate your business. Or you could buy a Bikes Direct bike and cannabalize it then sell the fframeset and handful of components you won't need and recoup some of your costs. Going that route, you may need new cables and housing, buteverything else is there.

Depending on your mechanical aptitude, you may choose to assemble it yourself and just have your LBS dothe final set-up, cabling and check your assembly. If you're lucky, you may live near a fellow Cruzbiker who would happily help you with the assembly.

 

[Kenneth Jessett]

Andrew, I'm still dreaming.

Andrew, I'm still dreaming. ;-)

The other day on the local bike trail, a very low racer went by me with a woosh! (literally, that is what it sounded like) and I was all , Wow, I want one of those.

So I'm still looking and still dreaming of improving my times on the randonneur rides that used to take me 9 hours for a 200K on my carbon standard bike. Whenever a racing bent shows up at those events, they finish well in front of the rest of us. The best I've ever done a 200K was 8 hours ten minutes and I'm shooting for 7 hours with a faster machine.

I still have to get over the knee surgery (there, I've hijacked my own thread again) but once that is out of the way, I'm going spending the few pennies I have.

I was registered for the LEL (London Edinburgh London) event (just under 900 miles in less than 5 days) at the end of July but had to cancel after crashing the bike again and really messing up my already bad knee (another hijacking).

So, next year then.

 

[Andrew 1973]

i want to do the LEL too.

Ever since reading about it in a UK cycling magazine I bought at a local bookseller. For the record, the writers in the UK are top-notch. Best cycling publication I have seen in a long time.

Good luck with your knee and in getting your dream 'bent. I know the Vendetta is supposedly amazing and there are always the low and sleek low racers, but if I was in the market for a new bike, it would definitely be the Silvo 2.0.

 

[mickjordan]

Still Dreaming/LEL

As someone who rides a lot of Brevets and did PBP in 2011, I'm not sure why you are so worried about a 200K in 9 hours! My best time ever is right on 9 hours. I've done a 200/300/400 series this year on a Bacchetta Aero and it got my speed back to where I was a few years back on my Trek carbon 5200, as opposed to my S+S coupled steel Waterford that I took to PBP, which is a few pounds heavier, and not such a good climber. I think the engine (i.e. you) is more important than the bike!

I didn't much enjoy PBP, just not enough off-bike time. Obviously being faster would help, but it's just not that easy. I think LEL would be similar, only with worse weather (I'm British), worse roads and less accommodating drivers. I did Ride Across Britain last year (970 in 9 days) and that was mostly fun, apart from the weather and road surfaces.

As an ex-Cruzbiker, I would do your recumbent research very carefully before purchasing. If possible try a CZ before buying. You may be lucky but you may be like me and find you can't get comfortable with front-wheel drive. Also, I thought RWD bents were much of a muchness, but nothing could be further from the truth, they are all different, much more so that DF bikes. I think I have, at the third attempt, found my dream bike, which is a Lightning P38. I liked the aero position on the Bacchetta but my glutes/hamstrings didn't, so I was always in mild discomfort (due to a pelvic alignment issue). The P38 is like a Silvio 1.5 in many ways, but without the FWD issues.

 

[Andrew 1973]

Couldn't one say that the

Couldn't one say that the Silvio 1.5 is like the P38 in some ways, but without the short-comings? ;-)

Sorry, Mick. This is a Cruzbike board after all and most of us don't consider FWD an "issue". I won't knock the P38, because it is a good bike with a long-proven design, but I wouldn't trade my 1.0 for it.

 

[mickjordan]

Re: Couldn't one say that the

Sorry, Mick. This is a Cruzbike board after all and most of us don't consider FWD an "issue". I won't knock the P38, because it is a good bike with a long-proven design, but I wouldn't trade my 1.0 for it.

Understood, but the thread started with Tigertoo saying "I like the idea of a front wheel drive bent." and "All thoughts and comments welcome please.". I too liked the "idea", which is why I bought one, but there is a big difference between theory and practice. There have been enough people who have found FWD an issue that I thought it was worth bringing up. I bought my Silvio blind which, with hindsight, was a mistake. And a potentially expensive one.