Keating Road

John Tolhurst

Zen MBB Master
The guys in our local hpv group like touring. They are preparing their bikes for a few weeks up north of western australia, so in preparation a local tough course was chosen as a shake down. I rode with the group for a short section, I chose an unmodified sofrider. While the others had quite a load up, I had merely a spare tube and some sunscreen.

The test course is displayed here (check http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Keating-Road-touring-test-route and choose 'Show-Elevation Graph'. Note that the climb is 3% average grade, with some sections looking like about 4 times that,judging by the map.

The road surface is notorious, with the European Rally Championship tour drives expressing relief when the Western Australia stages were taken off the agenda. For even the worlds best drives, the pea sized round marbles is tricky. We have some of it in the garden, its like this, but with sized ranging up to half inch diameter.
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Absolutely loved the ride!!!!!!! I let the tires down to about 30 psi and the bike handled like a dream. The uphills were tough. To counteract wheelspin I moved forward in the seat as far as I could, meaning I went 1.5" further out on the adjsutment. I made sure I kept a steady cadence and was able to climb in first gear pretty well. I had to stay on the harder surfaces, avoiding the gravel humps. Twice I needed to dismount and walk, but I was going little more than walking pace anyway. The flats and downhills were exhilarating, havn't had so much fun in ages, whoo-hoo. :mrgreen: The tires just floated perfectly across the gravel, allowing me to choose the lines I wanted. Some steep decents were tricky. I remember thinking: "gee, better be careful here, if I come off its probably going to hurt, sliding down across that gully (eyes check gully for an instant)" The steepest had me adjusting the rear brake the whole time to keep it from locking, and looking for more and more from the front. But never a wrong foot. Oh, maybe once, I took both feet off and did a bit of slide here and there to keep balanced, legs swing side to side to get the bike in the line I needed. :D maximum downhill speed over the gravel, don't know, probably high 20s mph, high 30s kph. When you consider the surface, that is fast, even if I do say so myself.

Most caution needed is in the steep and curving decents. Make sure you learn what braking is available to you, don't leave it too late, because you only have so much lean on this stuff and no more.

Handling limits are easy to discern, if you are braking, rear will lock first then you manage it from there. If you are cornering and braking, you will need to load the front up, but with the forward weight transfer from braking downhill, that is possible. It will take a good load before starting to move sideways on the gravel. Sideways movement is gradual - you will need to back off either the lean or the brakes - time to look for a new line through the corner eh? :) There are options, let the bike go across a corrugation or even a bit of a washout if you need to. Better option though is to take it a little slower once you feel the limits.

OK, so maybe next time I will take it a little more easy. Nah, just bring gloves. Wouldn't want to cut my hands up in a spill!!! :twisted:

So how did it compare to the others? On the uphills I rode with a home made LWB with fairing and wide tires. This bike might be mentioned in previous posts. He had a full load on, tent, water, etc. We gained a lot of time on the uphills, didn't see the others till we had stopped for some time. Then on the downhills, the LWB with it 20" front wheel and suboptimal weight distribution was disadvantaged. Quite a lot. Very easily the sofrider just rode away, gave huge confidence and was outragiously surefooted. Now I think I know what Moose has been on about. :shock:

If you want some big fun on your sofrider or freerider, take to the gravel paths and enjoy what 50-50 weight distribution and two big wheels can do for you. Make sure you go with someone else, just so you know. For the loose stuff, remember to deflate the tires, that extra contact area to work with is gold, it transforms the ride. If you don't do that, the bike overly responds to every surface message, so you are reacting also to keep things on track. This is not relaxing. So make sure you adjust your tires to suit the terrain.
 

Doug Burton

Zen MBB Master
Sounds like great fun!

With all the attention the Silvio's been getting lately it's easy to forget the other horses in the stable. The Sofrider and Freerider are as close to "go anywhere - do anything" bikes as you can get in a recumbent configuration, IMHO. The V1 works very well, and the V2's extended rear geometry and longer wheelbase just add the icing on dicey uphills. It's great that you can get suspension on both ends with good travel, and still have a bike that weighs what most SWB's weigh. And if you need to load it, you have choices for load position that preserve the dynamics of the bike.

Speed. Versatility. Comfort.
 

Shawnt

New Member
Gravel, dirt, mud-conquered, now snow and ice?

Magic, is the way I explain my Sofrider V2 gravel experience after lowering the tire air pressure down to 30-45 psi. At 90-100psi with the stock Kenda tires I feared for my life everywhere but on blacktop, but now at lower tire pressures I find myself looking for the places where the grader has piled the loose large gravel and seeing if I can bike on them. Kind of like balance walking along the curb. I now look forward to going into the dirt, mud and gravel roads and have even followed some grassy/weedy woodland trails where the grasses reach much higher than I can see. It was quite exhilarating to find myself biking across a ladder covered by a plank across a gully. I can now bike on hard roads and soft roads better than ever. Feels like my biking world has opened up more than double the local paths now that I have confidence on surfaces other than hard surfaces. Just can't find anyone else to bike with me that has that much flexibility.

But with winter approaching I find myself wondering what can I do to keep biking through most of our Wisconsin winters. Studs? I am presently looking at the Nokian Mount & Ground tires. They seem to be a good balance between general ice/snow performance and price ($45-65). Any other ideas? I read through the http://cruzbike.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1995 discussion on winter tires and think more discussion could evolve with winter challenges as more experience is gained.

Shawn
 

Doug Burton

Zen MBB Master
Hi Shawn,

I'm glad you're enjoying the versatility of the Sofrider.

Perhaps our Scandanavian Sofrider winter-riding experts, Peder and Jon, will weigh-in with some of their techniques and experiences!

Have Fun,

Doug
 

Wannabe

Well-Known Member
abilities

A SOFRIDER as a first CB makes alot of sense. I have some questions please. I am 230 pounds w/o cycle shoes on....lol... Is the sofrider as set up stock

1. What angles is the seat adjustable to?
2. Would 700c wheels help with anything?
3. I ride club rides with a GRR and zipper faring now. We ride at 15 to 18 MPH for 28 to 40 miles. How much more difficult ( if at all) would that be to do on a Sofrider? Would 700C wheels help in that effort?
4. Can one upgrade the rear shock? would it help the performance any?

Thanks for your thoughtful answers. Anyone else who wants to give some good ideas are most welcome!

Cheers,
David
 

1happyreader

zen/child method
Sofrider fun

Is the sofrider as set up stock

. What angles is the seat adjustable to?
The seat is adjustable at its base as well as the post the backrest leans against.
Not sure what the most upright angle would be. 60º to 40º is easy with the stock seatpost. I have read fourum posts about using "laid back" seat posts and one guy has built himself custom seats that were in the 20's.I stopped at 45º.
2. Would 700c wheels help with anything?
You could borrow spare tubes from "roadies" ???
It would be easier to get narrow tires (23-662)
I am running 100 psi max. 26x1" (25-559) Ritchey Tom Slick Comp Tire
It would make it easy to get better quality hubs ( seat of pants opinion )
3. I ride club rides with a GRR and zipper faring now. We ride at 15 to 18 MPH for 28 to 40 miles. How much more difficult ( if at all) would that be to do on a Sofrider? Would 700C wheels help in that effort?
Too many apples , oranges and other variables.
I weigh 215 lbs and find that speed to be comfortable in the lower 34 chainring with a cadence around 85. Any faster and I use the 50 that I replaced my bent (stock) 48 chainring with. ( there are NO hills in Florida )
4. Can one upgrade the rear shock? would it help the performance any?
Sure you can upgrade,, Help performance ?? I got no real opinion.
I got a cheap airshock,, It doesn't squeak and creak as much.
I am trying one of the other mounting holes that changes the distance between the stock holes from 165 to 150. Seems to keep me from sliding forward as I lean the seat back,,, maybe.

Have fun reading all the old posts about modding a sofrider, Lots of ideas in there.
 

MrSteve

Zen MBB Master
Sofriders Are Fun!

They really do do gravel pretty well, don't they?

One surface defeated me, on my Sofrider:
?Going uphill, I straightened up the bike and smoothed my pedaling cadence,
because a wet patch of road was in my line.
What's a little dampness?
When the moisture feeds algae growing on clay-based silt,
it's more slippery than diesel-glazed ice.
Especially slippery with slick tyres.

Back on topic!

The old gravel driveway, where I used to race with my pet dog,
our measured top speed -on my slick tyres- was 37kph.

Nice.

Sofriders are keepers.

-Steve
 

billyk

Guru
What's the real advantage of big wheels?

I was intrigued by John T's comment above:

"Then on the downhills, the LWB with its 20" front wheel and suboptimal weight distribution was disadvantaged."

Having ridden many recumbents with a variety of wheel sizes, I appreciate the Quest's 559 near-standard-size wheels, but I'm not sure why.

Some fairly minor advantages are obvious:
- they don't fall as far into potholes
- it's easier to find parts and tubes, and there is more choice
- there's less friction and wear in the hubs because the wheel rotates fewer times per distance
- for a given weight of bike+rider, and given tire pressure, the ground patch (flattened tire touching the road) is the same area for any wheel. That is a larger fraction of the circumference of a small wheel, so there is more flexing of rubber per distance, and thus more "road friction".

But none of these seem like what John was talking about. One way to look at it would be that the wheel is simply the last element of the gear chain between pedal and ground: Smaller wheel? Just use a larger chainring.

But apparently that's not correct.

What am I missing?

BK
 

1happyreader

zen/child method
seat of pants logic

BillyK,

I would love to test weight distribution with two scales and an EasyRacer.

I assume the front at least feels lightweight, its steering and distance from the rider making any lateral movement seem more twitchy .

Downhill with rough road / gravel I wonder if the front end floats instead of carves ??
 

John Tolhurst

Zen MBB Master
The lighter front end without

The lighter front end without suspension means the wheel can bounce and lose contact more easily, so that makes you a more cautious rider. Also he had a touring load up, so might have been conservative for that reason. He is a very competent rider, so the difference is the platform, not the riding skills.
 
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