Learning to ride my new Sofrider

[brahmanlevy]

Just acquired a new Sofrider here in Philadelphia. Have been out three or four times out in the flat hinterlands of rural and suburban southern new jersey. After looking at the YouTube video clip of a first-time rider on a Freerider who apparently encountered little difficulty, I kind of expected to jump on and ride off into the sunset... I quickly discovered that there would be a learning curve for this 63 y.o. body with no prior recumbent experience. Getting started from a stop at first seemed like a major task. I spent most of my first time out in a large parking lot practicing before going out into some quiet suburban streets. Directional control was also an issue and there was a lot of side-to-side serpentine movement. I am not sure how this happened but twice during my first day out the front wheel came loose from the axle post as the free wheel attachment must have given way. After I tightened this down a second time, it hasn't occured since. After this, the derailleurs needed some adjustment. Since that day, I have gone out a couple more times and am starting to feel more comfortable - have climbed some pretty good hills without a problem. I stopped mid-hill purposely a couple of times to see if I could restart the bike on a significant incline. So far - have not mastered this but am keeping at it. Eventually, I'd like to ride it in the city (Philly) but at this point don't trust myself in traffic. It may be good to include in the manual a few pointers for beginning riders to help with getting started. I did take it in to the dealer after my first ride and the wheel coming loose for adjustments etc. His take was that as I am a rookie on this bike and recumbents in general, that I am probably over-using my upper body to control it and putting things out-of-whack because of this. Any thoughts?

 

[JonB]

brahmanlevy wrote: Just acquired a new Sofrider here in Philadelphia. Have been out three or four times out in the flat hinterlands of rural and suburban southern new jersey. After looking at the YouTube video clip of a first-time rider on a Freerider who apparently encountered little difficulty, I kind of expected to jump on and ride off into the sunset... I quickly discovered that there would be a learning curve for this 63 y.o. body with no prior recumbent experience. Getting started from a stop at first seemed like a major task. I spent most of my first time out in a large parking lot practicing before going out into some quiet suburban streets. Directional control was also an issue and there was a lot of side-to-side serpentine movement. I am not sure how this happened but twice during my first day out the front wheel came loose from the axle post as the free wheel attachment must have given way. After I tightened this down a second time, it hasn't occured since. After this, the derailleurs needed some adjustment. Since that day, I have gone out a couple more times and am starting to feel more comfortable - have climbed some pretty good hills without a problem. I stopped mid-hill purposely a couple of times to see if I could restart the bike on a significant incline. So far - have not mastered this but am keeping at it. Eventually, I'd like to ride it in the city (Philly) but at this point don't trust myself in traffic. It may be good to include in the manual a few pointers for beginning riders to help with getting started. I did take it in to the dealer after my first ride and the wheel coming loose for adjustments etc. His take was that as I am a rookie on this bike and recumbents in general, that I am probably over-using my upper body to control it and putting things out-of-whack because of this. Any thoughts?

Keep trying and you will soon master it, i was skeptic as well, but now i LOVE it, and i can even ride on only 1 wheel, the front wheel when i apply my diskbrake too hard.

Someone came up with these suggestions:
relax, relax, relax, dont tight up
sit upright on it, like on a chair. Then just sit while rolling down a little hill. Repeat a few times.
then roll down a few times with your feet on the pedals, but do not pedal. Repeat a few times.
then pedal while you go down, repeat a few times.

The wheel is not supposed to come off. Are the quick release tight enough?

 

[Doug Burton]

The quick release should be tight enough that it bites into the metal of the dropout when fully-tightened.

The quick release arm should be "somewhat difficult" to close - this is about 20lbs of force to close the quick release lever.

If the wheel is not secure when the quick release is tightened like this, please contact us.

Best,

Doug

 

[brahmanlevy]

Thanks. Very helpful....