My first Cruzbike

BentNotBroke

BentNotBroke

Member
Hi All,

I'm a new C.B. rider. Just yesterday I recieved my first...a new to me V20. Assembled it today and had 30 minutes to tool around the parking lot. Did a few minutes of Fred Flinstoning while sitting up. I then layed back into the seat and glided around for another 10 or so minutes before putting my feet up on the peddles. The low seat angle makes putting your feet up on the peddles easier on my body than dangling them. The foot steer did feel strange but I had to try gentle peddling. I was able do ride for about 30 feet at a time with VERY wide S turns. Any normal or tight turning was right out. I see a great deal of parking lot riding in my future but felt like it is absolutely doable. This was a relief after all the things I had read on line about the V20 as a tough one to start on. It may have helped that I've been riding bents since the 90's and much of that is on a TiAero with a seat about 25 degrees above horizontal. Or maybe my experience is more of the norm and the interned is just a scary place. Either way, it was great fun and inspiring.

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to learning this new skill and enjoying what looks like a very nice bike.

--Joe
 
Bruce B

Bruce B

Well-Known Member
Welcome to the World of Cruzbike. Seems you are off to a great start. The V20 is a great bicycle. You will find lots of help from a lot of other Cruzbike owners!!
 
Frito Bandito

Frito Bandito

Zen MBB Master
Welcome to Cruzbike Joe. That is a nice looking bike you have there. My V20 was my first recumbent, and you are right that it was tough however it seems like you will be up and running real quick, fast and in a hurry with your experience on bents. There is a lot of advice and experience here that applies to all bents, but CBs in particular with the MBB. So feel free to browse the forum topics and threads, and to ask any questions you have. I am sure many of us would like to hear from you about your experience and advice as well. That rear cassette looks like an 11-speed with plenty of range. What changes do you have in mind for the bike?
 
BentNotBroke

BentNotBroke

Member
Aside from putting on the headrest and tweaking the fit, the only other change I have in mind is making the tires that are on it lighter...by riding and wearing off rubber ;)

More seriously, I have just recieved the bike and will have to put some miles on it before thinking of mods. I'm usually pretty tolerant of how bikes are set up and mod only as parts need replacing.

Spd peddles will definitely go on sooner then later.

Most likely the 25c tires will get swapped out for 28's.

On alot of my other bents I've swapped out index/twist shifters for friction/Paul Thumbies. The brifters it came with are nice so that's tbd.

Many people seem to swap out the seat so that could be a possibility but not right away.

I was thinking about an umbrella for today since it's raining pretty hard here right now. Anybody fully fair one of these?
 
Last edited:
B

bladderhead

Zen MBB Master
Early days. You will start to notice things as time goes on. Somebody made a fairing, but I cannot find the thread on this forum now.
 
5duece

5duece

Member
trplay said:
Drop the umbrella plan and pick up a smart trainer. Then come join the Zwift ZRL Cruzbike racing team. You are just in time for the season kick-off.
Click to expand...
What smart trainer pairs well with a V20? Just picked up a new to me V20 from this forum in May. It took 90 seconds to get going and peddling around the high school parking lot but 90 days have passed and still don't have great starts. I can grab the water bottle on the go after taking the advice from LarryOz on grabbing it every few miles so I am making progress just not on my take off.
 
trplay

trplay

Zen MBB Master
Just take two running steps and take off with no issue. Once you become climatized to the bike in a few months the take-off just becomes natural. Regarding Cruzbikes and trainers, the only issue I have heard is those with disc brakes and direct drive trainers may have to loosen the brake on the bike to make it fit. I recommend buying the trainer from the LBS for easy warranty issues. As such, take your bike in and have them prove it fits before you buy one.
 
LarryOz

LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
5duece said:
What smart trainer pairs well with a V20?
Click to expand...
I like the Wahoo CORE, but if you have front Disc Brakes you will have to remove the caliper. Not a huge deal to unscrew a couple bolts. But the Wahoo KICKR is such that I don't think yo need to remove the caliper. It is just a little more expensive since it is adjustable to different size drive wheels.
 
Mathew Fy

Mathew Fy

GRU
5duece said:
What smart trainer pairs well with a V20?
Click to expand...
I recommend getting any wheel-off smart trainer that meets your needs and fits your budget. You don’t have disc brakes so no worry about the caliper getting in the way.
Interestingly, after my first winter of only riding on the trainer, it was an eye opener getting back on the road. I felt quite unstable for a while.
 
5duece

5duece

Member
I have disk brakes which was an issue when it showed up at the door (disk bolts on rear were striking frame).
I can borrow a Wahoo KICKR so will try that and see if that works.
 
Frito Bandito

Frito Bandito

Zen MBB Master
bladderhead said:
Early days. You will start to notice things as time goes on. Somebody made a fairing, but I cannot find the thread on this forum now.
Click to expand...
I would love to see that. For a while I have been thinking about under-seat waterproof CF fairings that connect either to the frame with velcro, or to the seat with screws (or both?) for 2 reasons. To get the rear spokes out of the wind, and of course waterproof storage. My wife is a great seamstress, and I considered making the fairings out of some material, but so far I have been unable to convince her to even copy my moosepack that is slowly giving up the ghost. I even told her she could choose the pattern and got shot down.
 
BentNotBroke

BentNotBroke

Member
Just returned from a one and a half hour parking lot practice session. It started again with a couple of minutes of Fred Flintstoning before laying back. As before, I found it easier to have my feet on the peddles when laid back. I spent a few minutes gliding before starting to peddle. There was plenty of swerving while peddling. I decided to let the bike lead the dance and just flow with the music. It was fun and relaxing to just glide in the directions that the bike wanted to head. Before too long, though, I was able to guide the bike where I wanted while still lightly peddling. This lead to riding around a building for 20 or 30 minutes without putting my feet down. Every few times around the building I would sit up, make a tightish turn and reverse direction. My left turns are stronger and more stable. Something to work on.

I spent some time making repeated tight figure 8 turns where I took my feet off the peddles, sat up and turned then laid back to peddle some more in the strait stretches. This was repeated for about 20 minutes. I had to stop because it was like doing a combination of situps and crunches. I want to be able to get out of bed tomorrow.

Finally it was time to practice dead starts. Wobbly but doable. I played with the gears to find one that was easy enough not to induce too much peddle steer yet get me up to a stable speed in one pump. I found that practicing in a slightly heavier gear for 4 or 5 starts and then shifting back to my "prefered/easier" starting gear actually helped with the stability of starting in the easier gear (hope what I wrote is clear enough). This also worked going around the building. The peddle steer induced by the heavier gear forced more correction. When returning to the easy gear, it felt more automatic.

One urge that I had to fight (at least in this stage of learning) was to peddle into a dive. By this I mean adding power when feeling the bike start to dive into a turn. This is something I always do on my high racer when making tight slow speed turns. It helps keep it upright for me. With the c.b. and my lack of skill, it exasperated the dive. With more skill, that will probably pass.

Anyhow, it was a great deal of fun and, should I actually master this skill, I'll probably miss the learning experience.
 
Last edited:
C

cpml123

Zen MBB Master
5duece said:
What smart trainer pairs well with a V20? Just picked up a new to me V20 from this forum in May. It took 90 seconds to get going and peddling around the high school parking lot but 90 days have passed and still don't have great starts. I can grab the water bottle on the go after taking the advice from LarryOz on grabbing it every few miles so I am making progress just not on my take off.
Click to expand...
I have Elite Suito with my S40 with disc brake. No need to remove the caliper. That was the reason I picked it (and all Wahoo's were out). REI has 90 day return policy on the trainers.
 
Frito Bandito

Frito Bandito

Zen MBB Master
Interesting heavy-gear technique to get the starts going, but if it works to make the easy-gear starts then great. I didn't do a lot of the low speed stuff in the beginning so that is where I am weakest, but it sure looks nice when bent riders master it and don't use the butt slide like I do. Sounds like you are taking to it quickly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
visit our website visit our website
Top