Looking for cruzbike owners in Australia, conversions or bike owners, looking for your opinions.

[Kim Tolhurst]

home grown cruzbike

Hi Nataly, the background for the conversion kit came out of the Corker story that you may have read on cruzbike.com or cruzbiking.com.au So it gave a chance to create a recumbent out of the mass produced Y framed mountain bike. In those early days (2005) of its production and sale a group of customers 30-50 became volunteers as persay a research and developement team to report to its designer. It continues to attract attention. From my experience of seeing people ride a cruzbike for the first time, many of their befor hand questions just disappear.
best, Kim.

 

[The Blue Iris]

Kim - Why else would you have

Kim - Why else would you have a forum except to ask questions?

Von, thanks for the answer.

ta
Nataly

 

[The Blue Iris]

P.S. if there are no stupid

P.S. if there are no stupid questions what kind of questions do stupid people ask?

 

[Trevor]

Hi Nataly
After Kim gave me a

Hi Nataly
After Kim gave me a ride on his Silvio (after traveling up to Sydney from Geelong), I was sold. I ordered a Softrider (partially on price, partly on what I perceived as a more cushioned ride) shortly afterwards. Yeah, the twist shifters aren't the greatest, but they work fine. As per Charles' comment, I also prefer trigger shifts, and at $60-70 for the changover, it ain't a big deal. Otherwise, haven't looked back. I LOVE the machine. If you're in Sydney, drop me a line and you can have a go on mine.

I'm sold!

Cheers Trevor

 

[Charles.Plager]

Hi,
For what it's worth, I

Hi,

For what it's worth, I bought SRAM X.4 Trigger shifters for $24 here in the US. Since I installed them myself, the total cost was $24. The exchange rate is pretty much even at this point, but I don't know if bike pieces are more expensive down under or not. If you pay a bike shop to change them, then $60-70 is on the low end of what I'd expect to pay.

Cheers,
Charles

 

[Peder Torgersen]

I live in Norway and I sell

I live in Norway and I sell different recumbents.

I have a Sofrider which I had for several years and recently bought a Vendetta.
I also sell different RWD recumbents and trikes for different companies.

The Vendetta is the best climbing recumbent I have been on and I have written about it on this forum;
http://www.bentrideronline.com/messageboard/showthread.php?t=86917

I hope you get to enjoy riding a conversion or one of the Cruzbike models.
You wanted comments from riders who live Australia but since not so many of those riders made comments I thought I would make a comment.

 

[kling]

sorry for the late reply

Hi Nataly,

Sorry for the delay in reply. There are lots of Australian owners out there but we might be out on our Cruzbikes instead of at our computers as the weather is gorgeous for cycling...

>I am looking to talk to actual customers about their experience. The bikes are expensive and some of the conversions I have seen look very unstable. I just want some first hand feedback about the bikes and the company.

I don't work for Cruzbike but use two, a Silvio 1.0 (which I mainly use for my daily commute) and a Quest 1.0 451, which my wife bought as she saw the comfort, plus advantage of being able to easily place feet on the ground. I use the Quest on rainy days as the disc brakes are superior in the wet.

Yes, the bikes are not cheap but the comfort and safety (forward visibility etc) is not attainable on a diamond frame of any price. I have also had very good local support, with John Tolhurst even building the bikes
May even get another... ? 559 Quest (the Dual drive at the f

I think the Quest is probably the Cruzbike for most people.

Good luck with your search.

Kendrick
Perth, WA

 

[TimOz]

Hi Nataly,
Sorry for the

Hi Nataly,
Sorry for the delayed feedback. My computer has been down and out for some time. It is finally healthy again. I live in Melbourne and have had a Silvio 1.0 for about a year now. I did a full write up here: http://cruzbike.com/new-aussie-silvio-rider-first-post on my pre-purchase research and buying experience. It is a sticky post at the top of the Silvio forum.

I understand your questions as it is hard to invest in something so different without really trying it but to open, I must say that you seem a little aggressive about taking advice from people you see as working for Cruzbike. I take a different view. I am all for Cruzbike staff participating in the forum here. They are honest, very helpful and I feel they also closely follow their customer's experiences. They help and also use the information gained to build better bike designs. I think John would be the first to say they the leg stay extensions and Silvio 1.5 upgrade come mainly from customer feedback driving product improvements.

The only change I have made since then is to buy some Shimano cycling shoes and put Shimano PD-M324 dual side SPD / platform pedals on. I would also add that I think the Cruzbikes surely cost some money but they are great vakue for money. I have SRAM Rival gear but you can spec this up (or down I guess) if you like. Cruzbikes do cost more that a similar specification DF bike but in my opinion they are better designed, far far far more comfortable and I think better built. They do cost more to buy because the manufacturing volume is low. I had a look at mainstream bikes like Giants and I could get to the shops cheaper and maybe even have a bike with the same gearsets and wheels for less money...BUT I also had a look at well built "craftsman" bikes like the Dutch Gazelle and suddenly the Cruzbikes offer very good value.

I don't have much more to offer you than my post linked above but my advice is, no matter what you do or what you end up buying, take up Kim's offer of a ride on the range of Cruzbikes. Even if you convert a DF bike frame, it is great to have the training as it make getting comfortable riding the bike that much faster. You really do have to learn to ride all over again.

Finally, if you put the bike on a car rack, remember to take the seat cushions off - DOH!

 

[Trevski]

I reckon they're expensive

I reckon they're expensive for a bike, but cheap for a recumbent.

I purchased my Sofrider in Feb 2010, picked it up from John's place in Perth. Having only ever owned department store bikes before, I was very impressed with the quality of the parts. Since then, I have purchased 3 more DF bikes of varying degrees of quality - Giant Boulder 1(low end recreational mountain bike), Giant Alias 1 (low-mid sport mountain bike) and a Giant TCR composite (has some Ultegra, so a bit of street cred there!!).

Quite frankly, and perhaps I'm just not too fussy, I believe that once you leave the department store behind, the quality of components has more to do with weight and perhaps longevity than it does with precision and feel. I've covered about 4700km on my Sofrider in all types of weather. I have replaced, due to wear, the chain. I'm getting to the point where I'll need to change the rear derailleur guide pulley. I don't think that's shabby at all, considering the enjoyment I have had.

You may ask why I've purchased 3 DF bikes since. It's all about horses for courses. The Alias is my mountain bike. The Boulder was my work bike (I'm FIFO), now it's set up as a comfortable cruiser - the DF equivalent of the Sofrider, without the carnival atmosphere (wow, look at that bike!!). The TCR is for when I want to go fast. I'm going on a sag supported tour in a couple of weeks in the South West - and I'm taking the Sofrider. Everyone else will be riding along watching the road roll beneath their front wheel. I'll be sitting back, looking out and up, and watching the countryside roll by. Cruising. Brilliant!

Cheers,
Trev