Today I was able to get the Silvio's cables dressed. Only ran into one blip...the rear derailleur even with the High adjustment screw backed off would not line up with the 11T cog. I wasn't phases and when through the rest of the gears, which all worked well with the DA bar end shifters without any in-line adjusters. One of the demo customer asked to straddle the Silvio before I had even got the chance, but no worries, I was able to analyze all the ergos and bar and boom adjustments for a rider near my size.
After the demo customers had departed, I did one final pre-flight and checked the snugness on all the critical fastners after pulling in the boom to match my leg reach. I waddled out doing a Flintstone impression and paddling my feet to get up a little speed to feel the Silvio out before planting my feet. As soon as I found the pedals, the FWD concept started to sink in, along with the learning curve that I had anticipated. Even as a relatively experienced bent rider, this was a whole new game, but not too foriegn to many short wheelbases I've owned. Applying lite pedal pressure was the key to relaxing enough to let the brain compute what was going on. After several laps my confidence was building and I started to muscle the pedals and let the bb wander around, then finally realized the counter arm-pulling techinque equates to some serious forward acceleration. This was quite addictive, and I realized I should probably grab a helmet as the speeds were increasing. At the storage facility where I run http://www.spincyclz.com/ the straight aways are long, and I pedalled strong there but coasted in the turns as the legs and arms compete a little to get the Silvio into a turn.
I used electrical tape to hold all the cables in place as I knew there would be some adjustment required, before getting the handlebar sorted. With the Nitto Noodle bars, the same 2" cut off the ends that others have done would also work well, and drop the bar-end shifter to within 1/2 a palm away from the regular hand position. Maybe the Nitto Mustache bar will be a good option as they are almost like a flatened out roadie bar.
Final assembled weight with some average platform pedals and heavier Schwalbe Stelvio 700x28mm tires was 28.4lbs, not too bad for a plush riding bent. Oh yes, the suspension was a welcome addition, and further enhanced with the large volume tire.
Can't wait to get some more seat time on this black beauty. I just kept thinking...John is a genius :idea: and that the Silvio has some massive potential both for noobie bent riders and seasoned riders looking for a new challenge.
After the demo customers had departed, I did one final pre-flight and checked the snugness on all the critical fastners after pulling in the boom to match my leg reach. I waddled out doing a Flintstone impression and paddling my feet to get up a little speed to feel the Silvio out before planting my feet. As soon as I found the pedals, the FWD concept started to sink in, along with the learning curve that I had anticipated. Even as a relatively experienced bent rider, this was a whole new game, but not too foriegn to many short wheelbases I've owned. Applying lite pedal pressure was the key to relaxing enough to let the brain compute what was going on. After several laps my confidence was building and I started to muscle the pedals and let the bb wander around, then finally realized the counter arm-pulling techinque equates to some serious forward acceleration. This was quite addictive, and I realized I should probably grab a helmet as the speeds were increasing. At the storage facility where I run http://www.spincyclz.com/ the straight aways are long, and I pedalled strong there but coasted in the turns as the legs and arms compete a little to get the Silvio into a turn.
I used electrical tape to hold all the cables in place as I knew there would be some adjustment required, before getting the handlebar sorted. With the Nitto Noodle bars, the same 2" cut off the ends that others have done would also work well, and drop the bar-end shifter to within 1/2 a palm away from the regular hand position. Maybe the Nitto Mustache bar will be a good option as they are almost like a flatened out roadie bar.
Final assembled weight with some average platform pedals and heavier Schwalbe Stelvio 700x28mm tires was 28.4lbs, not too bad for a plush riding bent. Oh yes, the suspension was a welcome addition, and further enhanced with the large volume tire.
Can't wait to get some more seat time on this black beauty. I just kept thinking...John is a genius :idea: and that the Silvio has some massive potential both for noobie bent riders and seasoned riders looking for a new challenge.
I just want to get rid of them, if it were possible.
![4d95.jpg](http://us.a2.yahoofs.com/groups/g_15949286/c46f/__sr_/4d95.jpg?grwIt9HBtrcXWRDa")
