My latest Interception

[MrSteve]

The day after building my new, radically reclined seat for my Sofrider V1, I rode it two miles to Frontage Road to test it.
Frontage Road is... a frontage road which runs parallel with a four-lane controlled-access highway, a freeway.
On the other side of Frontage Road is a railway:
Frontage Road is both flat and straight; it is a perfect road to test my bike.

Having found a few spots on the seat pan that were rubbing me wrong and the neck rest needing adjustment, but pleased with the new seat pan overall, I had turned off of Frontage Road towards home....
-And coming towards me, on the other side of the street, was a recumbent.

He was, of course, headed to the flattest road around, the one I'd just left.

I instantly decided to extend my test-ride and attempt to intercept that recumbent.

Deciding to give the other bicyclist a sporting chance, I planned on going 'round the back way.
If I went fast enough, I would intercept that bike on the other end of Frontage Road....
We gave each other a friendly wave as we passed each other and off I went!

I was a little late:
the other recumbent had just left the other end of Frontage Road as I crested the last hill.

I caught him at the first traffic light and we had a nice chat.

He'd never seen nor heard of Cruzbikes -I directed him to the website-
but I know about the bike he was on.
He was on a beautiful maroon Lightning P-38.
I let him lead us on our shared ride, as it was obvious that I was the faster rider... and he
was wobbly on his his bike.
I think that his new-looking recumbent really was new to him!

Soon enough, we came to a short, steep hill and his P-38 slowed right down to a crawl.
Too slow for me...
so we parted.
I passed him, accellerated uphill and watched him disappear quickly in my rearview mirror.

 

[Andrew 1973]

The P-38 is Known to Be a Great Climber

This speaks volumes of the Cruzbike Sofrider as the P-38 is known to be a GREAT climing recumbent. My personal experience was riding the "Dirty Dozen" in Pittsburgh, PA with a guy who could outclimb many of the upright cyclists.

 

[Andrew 1973]

EDIT

The guy was on a P-38...

 

[Charles.Plager]

(ough cough cough) PICTURES!

(ough cough cough) PICTURES! (cough cough cough)

Nice write-up. Now I just need, what was it again, oh yeah, Pictures!

Cheers,
Charles

 

[MrSteve]

'Photographs', You Ask?

This is my, "old" seat.
It's very comfortable and it has seen years of service.
Now that my new(er) seat is almost ready for constant use, I'll actually
have time to paint it.

 

[MrSteve]

Photo of the Seat Featured in my Story:

This is the seat pan I was test-riding, when the P-38 rolled into my sights.
No pad, it's exraordinarily comfortable as-is, after I did some trimming/adjusting
when I'd returned from the test-ride above.

The frame is 1/8" void-free plywood which is doubled-up and even triple-thick ( 3/8")
in critical spots.
The seat pan itself is foam-cored epoxy/fibreglass.

Both of my seats are 22" high, at the lowest spot;
my 'old' fibreglass seat is reclined at 33 degrees
and my new seat is reclined at 18 degrees.

Oh, and this is my new (used) handlebar.
It really opened up my cockpit, makes sitting up in both seats a breeze
and is much more aerodynamic.
My arms are straight now, relative to the slipstream.
Very comfortable!


I timed myself, swapping out my two seats:
Seven
Seconds.

 

[fthills]

That is so, so ..........  

That is so, so ..........

awesome !! well done Yakmurph !

 

[ak-tux]

Radical!

Wow, that's amazing! 18 deg Seat angle! Please get someone to take a picture of you on the bike, that would be interesting.

Where have you mounted the shifters and what kind of shifters are they?

It would be nice to see the seats paited as well


You should document you seat construction procedure complete with pictures, I may wanna give it a try too! Maybe a 30-33 deg one for me though

 

[MrSteve]

Thank You

-for the compliments!

I never document my builds.
It never occurs to me... and the reason I build these things?
Besides being a cheapskate, I build things to fit me and fit me well.

My kayaks fit me like a pair of old suede goatskin gloves, for example.

I built the seats for my Sofrider for both comfort and utility.
-They fit me.
-They are strong, dependable, light and rustproof (my sweat attacks metals).

I constructed them the same way I would build a stitch and glue boat.

First, I laid up the three pieces that fit the seat to the bike frame:
-1) the tube that slip-fits over the frame tube where seat-post normally would fit;
-2) the channel molded over the horizontal frame tube under the seat pan and,
-3) the channel molded over the down tube.

Then I build the seat pan, build the seat frame and, using the bike frame like a strongback (a jig), I join all the components!

By the way, you see those tubular pieces that look sort of like wet cardboard?
Yup, those are cardboard tubes, from paper towel rolls.
Covered in GRP, they stiffen and support the seat.

Mr. Ak-Tux, I'll post more pictures elsewhere for you!
My arm position is similar to yours, in your avatar.

 

[ak-tux]

@yakmurph Thanks! 
You,

@yakmurph Thanks!

You, however, forgot to answer my question about the shifters. It's not clear from the photo. Where have you mounted them and what kind of shifters are they?