Cruzbike-in-Germany
Member
Hi,
my white V2/K based Sofrider V1 mod-can't-stop-the-mod has been stolen from the bike storage in my 11-party apartment building here in Krefeld, Germany - very unpleasant. Do not have much hope it will come back.
Anyway, here's it's rough story - if anybody wants to write a song...maybe I will ;-)
(At least it is an occasion to give back something to the forum - if not pictures...an early picture is in this fairing thread, post #2 and 3:
http://cruzbike.com/de/fairing-cruzbike)
Sooo...
I measure 6ft 220lbs, live in a flat area in Germany, use to ride in my leisure time, like to spin more than to mash and am a bit of a tinkerer, therefore I tried a few things on this bike:
>28" front wheel combined with 26" back wheel to get the feet higher - it did not help too much. I just was tinkering with tubes to make the chainstays 150mm longer - anyone apart from Doug or John tried&survived this?? (I repeatedly had groin pains when pedaling hard, it felt like caused by too low feet. Anyone else encountered this?) (OK, Silvio with extensions costs ...err... a bit more. Maybe next year...take your time developing and testing, John
>Avid BB5 disk front brake, even with leverage correction much less perceived effect than the original simple V-brakes of the V1: Maybe I put grease on the disk by touching them accidentially?
>460mm wide standard drop bar to get lower and more stretched arms - help a lot for the experienced driver who can cope with little legroom - but strictly vertical drops are unpleasant: left brifter likely pokes your leg when shifting, hands are too vertical for comfort. Bar is almost too narrow for thighs. Wanted to change to one of the much-discussed wide randonneur drop bars (Origin8 Gary or the like) just now, thank you for taking time to photograph and post the stuff...
>(48-33)11-34 (9)) drive with Sora 2x9 brifters - quite a reasonable gearing for my (100kilograms220lbs, spinner) touring, wanted to try 11-36 (10) now
>165mm Sugino cranks: wanted to try a higher leverage with those, with hindsight I liked the original V1 160mm length more. But as it was a single 46 chainring - that was too high gears for city rides, especially for a beginner. (It's hard to get short cranks in Europe, too. I got 155mm from HP as a spare part but they're too short for me)
>DT Swiss air suspension in the back, weighed a lot less than the Kind Shock, but did not help too much to smoothen the ride, although the roads can be really rough here (The difference was much more on the HP Spirit, maybe as it is a 20" bike, the bumps transfer harder)
>Marathon Supreme 28-622 front, Marathon Racer 40-559 back - light, quite puncture proof, smooth rollers. And the more expensive Schwalbe inner tubes hold the air much longer. I like the tire pressure theory here as it confirms my experience, result page 2 on top: http://www.adventurecycling.org/default/assets/resources/200903_PSIRX_Heine.pdf
>I put the seat pan's front higher by mounting longer screws in the front and putting nuts between the pan and the mounting bracket - it helped me stop gliding forward at slightly reclined angles (40 ?) (OK, don't try this at home, but it did not collapse under me)
>I constantly changed the seat back's angle, so I switched the screw to a quick release there - set aside the fact that the Sofrider part there can be assembled in FOUR ways to receive a HUGE adjustment range, which of course depends where your seat pan is...(ask me if you need pictures to prove this )
Luckily lights and bag were not on the bike at the incident. My mods there were ...
>I put a Shimano hub dynamo back wheel, added dual wiring to a 60lux B&M Lumotec Cyo front next to the cranks - nice night rides in the country on Euro bike lanes!
>LED back light on a red Radical Solo Aero bag narrow (fits nicely, interferes of course with seat back angle adjustment, offers enough space for day touring, I always carry a XLC mini pump with gauge in it, and medical rubber gloves to keep my fingers clean)
>I liked the Topeak beam rack with MTX Trunk Dry Bag I had before (I pulled all the soft stuff out and doubled the volume and halved the weight, I think - Euro style), it worked well - the rack moved a bit sideways, not always pleasantly - but I switched to the Radical bag as I did not need this much luggage space and wanted to reduce bike weight and bulkiness
>I tried a simple self-made fairing once, cheap but pretty inefficient, although it had the best head lights position I ever saw, here is also a pic, still with 26" wheel in the front: http://cruzbike.com/de/fairing-cruzbike
>I even bought a Marathon Winter wheel set once, but never tried it. (Somebody - preferably in Germany - wants them?)
...Well, at least the theft put an end to a potentially never ending story ...
- Farewell white V2/K, we will meet again, latest when time ends for me, too -
Ernest
P.S.: now it's only me, my Sofrider V3 demo bike on a TACX Sirius, my Brompton H6RD, and my HP Spirit with Streamer - hey, that's not too bad...
P.P.S.: more possible mods I thought about - mostly already demonstrated - are all kinds of IGH's, all kinds of genius racks like Jon's, all kinds of pedals like the power grips, the obvious electrical motors in the back wheel, Cruztandems, Cruztrikes, double kick stand, and blessed Valdo's 20" back wheel to put the feet higher...but to get a well, interesting look: http://cruzbike.com/sites/default/files/blogs/gallery/dires-slibre-movi-pedalero190.jpg
P.P.P.S.: The current Sofrider V3 - which I purchased last year as a demo - showed me the evolutionary thinking Cruzbike surely brought to a different level with Quest, Silvio and Vendetta. But already this Sofrider is a beauty, its front is rock solid as the front suspension was dropped, it shifts and brakes near perfection, the gearing is reasonable: you can't drive much slower than the low gear lets you, the high gear is also OK, the gears are pleasantly even-spaced, the chain never fell off with more than 50 unexperienced people trying to ride it, wheels and tires are solid and run smoothly, and are a very good compromise of weight, comfort and speed for the typical Sofrider usage - which is mainly medium touring - the bike is surprisingly light, the seat cushions were dramatically improved compared to V1, the 160mm cranks fit me perfectly. Simple, fast, fun, it boosts me. Thank you Cruzbike Team for your diligent care even on the "off-the-shelf-bike".
If we finally get a dry day here, I will give it a go to check if my groin problem is also solved by it...
my white V2/K based Sofrider V1 mod-can't-stop-the-mod has been stolen from the bike storage in my 11-party apartment building here in Krefeld, Germany - very unpleasant. Do not have much hope it will come back.
Anyway, here's it's rough story - if anybody wants to write a song...maybe I will ;-)
(At least it is an occasion to give back something to the forum - if not pictures...an early picture is in this fairing thread, post #2 and 3:
http://cruzbike.com/de/fairing-cruzbike)
Sooo...
I measure 6ft 220lbs, live in a flat area in Germany, use to ride in my leisure time, like to spin more than to mash and am a bit of a tinkerer, therefore I tried a few things on this bike:
>28" front wheel combined with 26" back wheel to get the feet higher - it did not help too much. I just was tinkering with tubes to make the chainstays 150mm longer - anyone apart from Doug or John tried&survived this?? (I repeatedly had groin pains when pedaling hard, it felt like caused by too low feet. Anyone else encountered this?) (OK, Silvio with extensions costs ...err... a bit more. Maybe next year...take your time developing and testing, John
>Avid BB5 disk front brake, even with leverage correction much less perceived effect than the original simple V-brakes of the V1: Maybe I put grease on the disk by touching them accidentially?
>460mm wide standard drop bar to get lower and more stretched arms - help a lot for the experienced driver who can cope with little legroom - but strictly vertical drops are unpleasant: left brifter likely pokes your leg when shifting, hands are too vertical for comfort. Bar is almost too narrow for thighs. Wanted to change to one of the much-discussed wide randonneur drop bars (Origin8 Gary or the like) just now, thank you for taking time to photograph and post the stuff...
>(48-33)
11-34 (9)) drive with Sora 2x9 brifters - quite a reasonable gearing for my (100kilograms220lbs, spinner) touring, wanted to try 11-36 (10) now >165mm Sugino cranks: wanted to try a higher leverage with those, with hindsight I liked the original V1 160mm length more. But as it was a single 46 chainring - that was too high gears for city rides, especially for a beginner. (It's hard to get short cranks in Europe, too. I got 155mm from HP as a spare part but they're too short for me)
>DT Swiss air suspension in the back, weighed a lot less than the Kind Shock, but did not help too much to smoothen the ride, although the roads can be really rough here (The difference was much more on the HP Spirit, maybe as it is a 20" bike, the bumps transfer harder)
>Marathon Supreme 28-622 front, Marathon Racer 40-559 back - light, quite puncture proof, smooth rollers. And the more expensive Schwalbe inner tubes hold the air much longer. I like the tire pressure theory here as it confirms my experience, result page 2 on top: http://www.adventurecycling.org/default/assets/resources/200903_PSIRX_Heine.pdf
>I put the seat pan's front higher by mounting longer screws in the front and putting nuts between the pan and the mounting bracket - it helped me stop gliding forward at slightly reclined angles (40 ?) (OK, don't try this at home, but it did not collapse under me)
>I constantly changed the seat back's angle, so I switched the screw to a quick release there - set aside the fact that the Sofrider part there can be assembled in FOUR ways to receive a HUGE adjustment range, which of course depends where your seat pan is...(ask me if you need pictures to prove this )
Luckily lights and bag were not on the bike at the incident. My mods there were ...
>I put a Shimano hub dynamo back wheel, added dual wiring to a 60lux B&M Lumotec Cyo front next to the cranks - nice night rides in the country on Euro bike lanes!
>LED back light on a red Radical Solo Aero bag narrow (fits nicely, interferes of course with seat back angle adjustment, offers enough space for day touring, I always carry a XLC mini pump with gauge in it, and medical rubber gloves to keep my fingers clean)
>I liked the Topeak beam rack with MTX Trunk Dry Bag I had before (I pulled all the soft stuff out and doubled the volume and halved the weight, I think - Euro style), it worked well - the rack moved a bit sideways, not always pleasantly - but I switched to the Radical bag as I did not need this much luggage space and wanted to reduce bike weight and bulkiness
>I tried a simple self-made fairing once, cheap but pretty inefficient, although it had the best head lights position I ever saw, here is also a pic, still with 26" wheel in the front: http://cruzbike.com/de/fairing-cruzbike
>I even bought a Marathon Winter wheel set once, but never tried it. (Somebody - preferably in Germany - wants them?)
...Well, at least the theft put an end to a potentially never ending story ...
- Farewell white V2/K, we will meet again, latest when time ends for me, too -
Ernest
P.S.: now it's only me, my Sofrider V3 demo bike on a TACX Sirius, my Brompton H6RD, and my HP Spirit with Streamer - hey, that's not too bad...
P.P.S.: more possible mods I thought about - mostly already demonstrated - are all kinds of IGH's, all kinds of genius racks like Jon's, all kinds of pedals like the power grips, the obvious electrical motors in the back wheel, Cruztandems, Cruztrikes, double kick stand, and blessed Valdo's 20" back wheel to put the feet higher...but to get a well, interesting look: http://cruzbike.com/sites/default/files/blogs/gallery/dires-slibre-movi-pedalero190.jpg
P.P.P.S.: The current Sofrider V3 - which I purchased last year as a demo - showed me the evolutionary thinking Cruzbike surely brought to a different level with Quest, Silvio and Vendetta. But already this Sofrider is a beauty, its front is rock solid as the front suspension was dropped, it shifts and brakes near perfection, the gearing is reasonable: you can't drive much slower than the low gear lets you, the high gear is also OK, the gears are pleasantly even-spaced, the chain never fell off with more than 50 unexperienced people trying to ride it, wheels and tires are solid and run smoothly, and are a very good compromise of weight, comfort and speed for the typical Sofrider usage - which is mainly medium touring - the bike is surprisingly light, the seat cushions were dramatically improved compared to V1, the 160mm cranks fit me perfectly. Simple, fast, fun, it boosts me. Thank you Cruzbike Team for your diligent care even on the "off-the-shelf-bike".
If we finally get a dry day here, I will give it a go to check if my groin problem is also solved by it...
