is the Silvio built for ultra distance ?

normandie-bents

New Member
Hello everybody !! I am doubtful about the Silvio being the right bike for ultra distance !
I have already tested a lot of bikes : the Barons (all of them) , Cobrabikes, Agenda , Bacchetta, Metabikes, Rans, vk2.....
but so far I haven't found the "almost" ideal bentbike
who has already done very long distances on the Sivio ( over 600 km non stop) ?
 

JonB

Zen MBB Master
normandie-bents wrote: Hello everybody !! I am doubtful about the Silvio being the right bike for ultra distance !
I have already tested a lot of bikes : the Barons (all of them) , Cobrabikes, Agenda , Bacchetta, Metabikes, Rans, vk2.....
but so far I haven't found the "almost" ideal bentbike
who has already done very long distances on the Sivio ( over 600 km non stop) ?
Shouldnt you get a 3 wheeler so you can sleep in your bike without falling over?
 
normandie-bents wrote: Hello everybody !! I am doubtful about the Silvio being the right bike for ultra distance !
I have already tested a lot of bikes : the Barons (all of them) , Cobrabikes, Agenda , Bacchetta, Metabikes, Rans, vk2.....
but so far I haven't found the "almost" ideal bentbike
who has already done very long distances on the Sivio ( over 600 km non stop) ?

I don’t have a Silvio but I do have a Sofrider. I’m not capable of going on such a long race myself. But I should think a Silvio with a well trained person should be capable of doing it.
Here in Norway were I live there is a race which is almost that long 550 km and they ride on racers non stop. A Silvio is much more comfortable then a racer. What was wrong with some of the models you mentioned?

Peder
 

Mark B

Zen MBB Master
You haven't really stated your criteria for what makes the ideal bike, in your mind, so it's really hard to comment. I'll take a stab at it, though.

The MBB FWD bike is not one that you'll jump on and do an ultra distance ride. There is a learning curve, so I suspect you would dicount the Silvio right away. Once you master the bike, though, you find the things that take mastering work to your advantage.

The Silvio is still pretty new and exotic, if you will. There are very few around, so bag manufacturers have not jumped on the fast track to make bags that are compatible. A few Silvio riders have added Old Man Mountain front racks to the back of the Silvio and used panniers. This seems to be an adequate workaround. What I think holds a lot of promise is a post not too long ago on the BROL board. The folks at Terracycle are doing some mods to their Double Century bag to make it work better on Cruzbikes. Defjack has modified and permanently attached a similar bag from Radical that looks pretty good. I wouldn't mind seeing if the bag could be modified and remain an easy on and easy off solution, because it sure looks good on the bike.

As far as distance goes, I've only done a few centuries on my Silvio and plan to do some double centuries next spring. The centuries I've done have been comfortable and fast; some of the fastest centuries I've done, in fact. I believe the bike is definitely all day comfortabe and worth every penny.

My feeling is, though, you're looking for an off the shelf bike with all the off the shelf accessories you need to do brevets. While this bike would certainly be capable, it's difinitely not an off the shelf, cookie-cutter bike. You will have to re-learn body english and become creative in making/customizing your own accessories. If you had the time, patience and inclination to do so, I believe you would be well pleased with the Silvio.

Mark
 

Gromit

Guru
Mark

Any chance of a link to the BROL post on the Terracycle Double Century bag modifications for Cruzbikes? :)
 

Gromit

Guru
Mark

Thank you for the link.

Earlier in the thread you mentioned that some folks have used the Old Man Mountain front racks on the back of their Silvios. Which model? The Sherpa, I guess? I'm not altogether convinced about using panniers on the rack. IMHO a rack bag on the top of the carrier is in the "wind shadow" created by the seated rider whereas panniers are not. I use a Topeak MTX TrunkBag DX mounted onto the top of a Super Tourist DX rack on my Sofrider. One day I'll get a Silvio and I wonder if I could find a way of mounting the MTX bags onto the top of an Old Man Mountain Rack. I had a look at the Topeak MTX BeamRack EX in a shop. I think that it might be possible to remove the plastic top part of the rack that accepts the MTX bag's QuickTrack system and then screw that onto the top plate of the Old Man Mountain rack. What do you think?
 

Mark B

Zen MBB Master
Here's Brian Lewis' post about the OMM rack Linky. I'm leaning more toward a bag, like Jack did. Jack's Linky Jack more or less bolted his bags on permanently. I think I would probably try to modify them such that I could take them off and on the Silvio to my commuter. They look realy good on Jack's bike and seem to hold more stuff than you would really want to carry, ordinarily, even for an ultra-distance ride.

Mark
 

Gromit

Guru
With the 'banana' style seat bags would you still be able to use the bottle cage mounting positions on the back of the seat? Perhaps this new mounting system mentioned in the BROL thread would lift the Terracycle Double Century bags high enough to clear the bottle cages? If not then maybe the rack would be a better option as without the bottle cages you'd have to use a hydration bag system in the 'banana' bags wouldn't you?
 

Mark B

Zen MBB Master
Gromit wrote: With the 'banana' style seat bags would you still be able to use the bottle cage mounting positions on the back of the seat? Perhaps this new mounting system mentioned in the BROL thread would lift the Terracycle Double Century bags high enough to clear the bottle cages? If not then maybe the rack would be a better option as without the bottle cages you'd have to use a hydration bag system in the 'banana' bags wouldn't you?

Jack carries water bottles on his bike, though I'm not sure he can get at them when rolling. I would not be opposed to using a bladder, at all, though I have gotten used to using bottles again.

One of my pet peeves in life is racks that are not level with the ground. Yes, I realize they are functional and all that, but I don't think you could install that rack and get it to appease my eye.

Also, using my weight weenie logic, I can't help but think that a bag set wil be lighter than a rack and pannier(s) combo.

Thirdly, like I said earlier, a bag set could easily be switched from bike to bike (assuming it fit properly, or could be made to fit), saving the cost of buying two specialty racks.

Last, but not least, the bag sets I have looked at are about the same cost as the OMM rack, around $100 US.

Mark
 

Gromit

Guru
Mark B wrote:
Jack carries water bottles on his bike, though I'm not sure he can get at them when rolling. I would not be opposed to using a bladder, at all, though I have gotten used to using bottles again.

One of my pet peeves in life is racks that are not level with the ground. Yes, I realize they are functional and all that, but I don't think you could install that rack and get it to appease my eye.

Also, using my weight weenie logic, I can't help but think that a bag set wil be lighter than a rack and pannier(s) combo.

Thirdly, like I said earlier, a bag set could easily be switched from bike to bike (assuming it fit properly, or could be made to fit), saving the cost of buying two specialty racks.

Last, but not least, the bag sets I have looked at are about the same cost as the OMM rack, around $100 US.

Mark
All valid points, I wouldn't disagree with any of them. :)
Maybe once you have a pair of the new Terracycle Double Century bags you could post about them here Mark.
You'll probably have them well before I can afford/justify buying a Silvio to try a rack on. :cry:
 

JonB

Zen MBB Master
normandie-bents wrote: Hello, I am going to test the Cruzbike Silvio in the Alps in May
I am also going to take pictures and do videos .
we look forward to see them
 
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