David J-E
Member
Since I benefitted so much from the posts on this forum, I wanted to add to the collective wisdom, and I’m excited to announce from Chicago that I have joined the Tribe. Here’s a shot of my week-old V20 built for speed:
I started this process in March (yes, March!) in the hopes of catching as much of our too-short season as possible, but my builder convinced me to go with Enve wheels. That was good – they are great wheels. But . . . they had to be custom ordered because the front and rear wheels are slightly different for aero purposes and, of course, those needed to be reversed for the V20. Enve was changing its manufacturing process this spring and had months of delay. But I finally took delivery on Monday. Here’s the specs on the build:
-- V20 frameset
-- Enve SES 7.8 carbon fiber road disc wheelset
-- Conti Four Seasons 25 mm
-- SRAM Etap electronic shifting and 11 speed cassette
-- Quarq DZero power meter with ceramic SRAM bottom bracket
-- SRAM HRD brakes w/140, 160 rotors
-- CB Carbon Fiber Race Case
-- Eggbeater pedals (for the time being at least)
-- Various tweaks TBD
I’ve been on a similarly-built Bachetta CA 2.0 (Zipp 808s, SRAM Red components) for six seasons, and before that, a Rans V-Rex (anyone remember them?) since about 2000. (Per wife, I had to give that away to get permission to get the V20. So sad. Circle of life and all that. She went to a good home where a millennial is learning the joys of the recumbent life. I still have a working BikeE tandem, though.) I like to ride fast and long; well, for this crowd, *not* RAAM long, but RAIN long, ODRAM long, weekly solo century long. So I am an old recumbent hand and have been waiting with much interest and some trepidation to see what the learning curve would be like on the V, and whether the much touted performance gains would materialize.
And here are (very) initial ride impressions. Tuesday evening, I dutifully took the V to a parking lot as suggested by the training videos. (The not-so-much younger me, BTW, would have just tried riding home in city traffic from the shop. So maybe it’s never too late to grow a little?) Being comfortable on a recumbent already and with the counterintuitive more reclined=more stable, I didn’t really need to do the first few suggested exercises and essentially went right to figure 8s. I did them for a half an hour. After some initial toe-curling anxiety (wait – the front end steers when I pedal? That’s scary and unexpected. But I don’t have to worry about any heel strike? That’s cool!) I was pretty comfortable, or at least not nail-bitingly anxious, doing turns, starting and stopping (although the lower BB than the Bachetta requires me to shift up quite a bit on the seat when stopping to avoid knee stress). And then I had to go to dinner. But I also noticed even in the parking lot that the V’s natural state is to keep going at speed; she does not want to slow down unless you tell her to.
Tuesday a.m. I took the V out for the first real ride on Chicago’s lakefront path. In traffic on the way to the path, I starkly saw that I am still mastering the initial start without weave; I realized that clipping in as soon as possible helps because you don’t weave if you are pulling and pushing, but clipping in at very slow speed takes faith. And then – I had a great 20 mile ride on the path. Whoosh! My biggest frustration was that there were few places to open her up given turns, choppy path sections and other users. But I can already see a substantial speed difference on the flats over my Bachetta (10%+ at similar efforts, and I don’t know how to ride and spin yet). And I won’t resolve the debate (I know, QED, etc.) on whether it is the MBB or just different geometry that allows more upper body help, but on what passes for ascents in Chicago, there is no comparison between the V and the CA. I was accelerating the V up the “hills” with gas left in the tank. So I am firmly in V-is-a-great-climber camp after one lesson.
Left to work on? Lots. It is quite unnerving when the front wheel turns in response to a hard pedal, particularly at speed. But reframing, that promotes good spin hygiene, reminding me I should always be pulling as well as pushing. And I need to work on adjusting my head position. It is partly comfort, but partly the fact that I can’t see anything at the current angle. I wear glasses (no contacts) and there is no correcting at the very bottom of my field of vision. So I might need new, bigger-field glasses as well as a headrest adjustment. (I have the new suspension adjustable headrest but did not read the fine print that it doesn’t work with the CF race box; I am making my way through the interesting and helpful ideas in the “Headache from riding V” thread so I see lots of things to try.)
All that after one great ride. And now? The good news: I am off on a 10-day western driving / camping trip with my family. The bad news: (again per wife) no bikes being hauled. So I have had to pause my new education right when it was starting to get interesting. But at least I have something to look forward to.
That’s all for now. I wanted to add to the conversation/knowledge base on new adopters and other recumbent comparisons. Happy to hear any suggestions on my education or anything else. Hope to meet some of you IRL (my kids have banned me from saying that, but we’re all adults here, right?) at a ride/race/event soon, and if you’re in Chicago after July 31 look me up for a ride.
In the meantime . . . have a great ride!
d
I started this process in March (yes, March!) in the hopes of catching as much of our too-short season as possible, but my builder convinced me to go with Enve wheels. That was good – they are great wheels. But . . . they had to be custom ordered because the front and rear wheels are slightly different for aero purposes and, of course, those needed to be reversed for the V20. Enve was changing its manufacturing process this spring and had months of delay. But I finally took delivery on Monday. Here’s the specs on the build:
-- V20 frameset
-- Enve SES 7.8 carbon fiber road disc wheelset
-- Conti Four Seasons 25 mm
-- SRAM Etap electronic shifting and 11 speed cassette
-- Quarq DZero power meter with ceramic SRAM bottom bracket
-- SRAM HRD brakes w/140, 160 rotors
-- CB Carbon Fiber Race Case
-- Eggbeater pedals (for the time being at least)
-- Various tweaks TBD
I’ve been on a similarly-built Bachetta CA 2.0 (Zipp 808s, SRAM Red components) for six seasons, and before that, a Rans V-Rex (anyone remember them?) since about 2000. (Per wife, I had to give that away to get permission to get the V20. So sad. Circle of life and all that. She went to a good home where a millennial is learning the joys of the recumbent life. I still have a working BikeE tandem, though.) I like to ride fast and long; well, for this crowd, *not* RAAM long, but RAIN long, ODRAM long, weekly solo century long. So I am an old recumbent hand and have been waiting with much interest and some trepidation to see what the learning curve would be like on the V, and whether the much touted performance gains would materialize.
And here are (very) initial ride impressions. Tuesday evening, I dutifully took the V to a parking lot as suggested by the training videos. (The not-so-much younger me, BTW, would have just tried riding home in city traffic from the shop. So maybe it’s never too late to grow a little?) Being comfortable on a recumbent already and with the counterintuitive more reclined=more stable, I didn’t really need to do the first few suggested exercises and essentially went right to figure 8s. I did them for a half an hour. After some initial toe-curling anxiety (wait – the front end steers when I pedal? That’s scary and unexpected. But I don’t have to worry about any heel strike? That’s cool!) I was pretty comfortable, or at least not nail-bitingly anxious, doing turns, starting and stopping (although the lower BB than the Bachetta requires me to shift up quite a bit on the seat when stopping to avoid knee stress). And then I had to go to dinner. But I also noticed even in the parking lot that the V’s natural state is to keep going at speed; she does not want to slow down unless you tell her to.
Tuesday a.m. I took the V out for the first real ride on Chicago’s lakefront path. In traffic on the way to the path, I starkly saw that I am still mastering the initial start without weave; I realized that clipping in as soon as possible helps because you don’t weave if you are pulling and pushing, but clipping in at very slow speed takes faith. And then – I had a great 20 mile ride on the path. Whoosh! My biggest frustration was that there were few places to open her up given turns, choppy path sections and other users. But I can already see a substantial speed difference on the flats over my Bachetta (10%+ at similar efforts, and I don’t know how to ride and spin yet). And I won’t resolve the debate (I know, QED, etc.) on whether it is the MBB or just different geometry that allows more upper body help, but on what passes for ascents in Chicago, there is no comparison between the V and the CA. I was accelerating the V up the “hills” with gas left in the tank. So I am firmly in V-is-a-great-climber camp after one lesson.
Left to work on? Lots. It is quite unnerving when the front wheel turns in response to a hard pedal, particularly at speed. But reframing, that promotes good spin hygiene, reminding me I should always be pulling as well as pushing. And I need to work on adjusting my head position. It is partly comfort, but partly the fact that I can’t see anything at the current angle. I wear glasses (no contacts) and there is no correcting at the very bottom of my field of vision. So I might need new, bigger-field glasses as well as a headrest adjustment. (I have the new suspension adjustable headrest but did not read the fine print that it doesn’t work with the CF race box; I am making my way through the interesting and helpful ideas in the “Headache from riding V” thread so I see lots of things to try.)
All that after one great ride. And now? The good news: I am off on a 10-day western driving / camping trip with my family. The bad news: (again per wife) no bikes being hauled. So I have had to pause my new education right when it was starting to get interesting. But at least I have something to look forward to.
That’s all for now. I wanted to add to the conversation/knowledge base on new adopters and other recumbent comparisons. Happy to hear any suggestions on my education or anything else. Hope to meet some of you IRL (my kids have banned me from saying that, but we’re all adults here, right?) at a ride/race/event soon, and if you’re in Chicago after July 31 look me up for a ride.
In the meantime . . . have a great ride!
d
