My Very First Recumbent is a V20

[LarryOz]

I took 3 different pics but with the 10 second timer I wasn't really able to get as good a pic as I wanted. Here is the best of the 3. My knee is a tad higher than in the pic.

I was hoping to see where the end of you boom was at your handlebar connection. Ideally a short video of you from the side pedaling circles (without your chain on) is the best. To me your knees could be lower. I would try a shorter chainstay to drop your knees, got 145 cranks so you feet don't go as low or as high. You also might then benefit from a curved slider because a shorter chainstay will till your handlebars up a bit. If you have the time and money to experiment with what I have mentioned above I think you could drastically reduce your aerodynamic drag.

 

[Frito Bandito]

I was hoping to see where the end of you boom was at your handlebar connection. Ideally a short video of you from the side pedaling circles (without your chain on) is the best. To me your knees could be lower. I would try a shorter chainstay to drop your knees, got 145 cranks so you feet don't go as low or as high. You also might then benefit from a curved slider because a shorter chainstay will till your handlebars up a bit. If you have the time and money to experiment with what I have mentioned above I think you could drastically reduce your aerodynamic drag.

I'll try and get a video from the side Larry, probably while the bike is on the trainer.

 

[Frito Bandito]

I finally not only passed my road bike FTP of 247 watts with 255 watts on my V20, but also for the first time put out over 250 watts. Strava says 255 is my 2nd best effort, but I don't ever remember putting out over 250 watts on any bike. If Strava guestimated over 250 watts on my road bike then it doesn't really count.

 

[Yelawolf]

I purchased mine without a test ride and i don't regret it.

 

[Yelawolf]

Rides smooth..

 

[Frito Bandito]

I've been running my Mavic CXR 60C wheels as tubeless for quite a while, and the other morning I woke up to find the 25mm front had no air. I took it off and put on an old 23mm tubed Schwalbe One partly because it was easy. So easy in fact that I didn't even need a tire lever. Punctures are very rare here, but I am still a little worried about a front puncture because it will dump you quickly even if the tire stays on. As easy as it was to get the tire on I don't think it would take much for it to come off the rim if it goes flat, guaranteeing getting dumped.

The CXR 60C wheels were not designed or marketed as being tubeless, but I was able to get GP5000 TL tires on it. It took 3 levers and 4 hands, but apparently as someone correctly said "Every tire is tubeless if you put enough sealant." Anyway, Stans seems to last about 6 months for me here, and when I removed the front tubeless tire the liquid that remained just looked like dirty water, which means the rear is about in the same condition so I need to sort that one out also. Not really looking forward to doing both as tubeless again, but I'd be kicking myself in the butt if I got dumped because of a flat. I'll chance it today with a slow ride, but my fingers are crossed.

That gap between the rim bed (13mm wide) and the brake track (25mm wide) is where the UCI illegal CX01 blades go to smoothen out the airflow between the tire and the rim's edge.

 

[Frito Bandito]

I was hoping to see where the end of you boom was at your handlebar connection. Ideally a short video of you from the side pedaling circles (without your chain on) is the best. To me your knees could be lower. I would try a shorter chainstay to drop your knees, got 145 cranks so you feet don't go as low or as high. You also might then benefit from a curved slider because a shorter chainstay will till your handlebars up a bit. If you have the time and money to experiment with what I have mentioned above I think you could drastically reduce your aerodynamic drag.

It isn't a video Larry, but it is a still with my foot at the top of the pedal stroke. Not sure if this helps...

 

[LarryOz]

It isn't a video Larry, but it is a still with my foot at the top of the pedal stroke. Not sure if this helps...

Hard to tell - I really like to see your legs with the pedals at 3 & 9 o'clock to see how extended your leg is and bent the knee is on the back-stroke. From what I see here - you knee is already bent at almost 90 degrees, which should be the maximum bend at the full back-stroke. This indicates you either need to extend the BB out more, or get shorter cranks - or both. If you move your BB out (so your knee is only bent at 90 degrees) and you are over extending your leg when extended - then you need to get shorter cranks. Cruzbike has a set of 150mm cranks that work great. (I have a set I can send you if you need them - easy to replace). the rest of you setup looks pretty good. Larry

 

[Frito Bandito]

Hard to tell - I really like to see your legs with the pedals at 3 & 9 o'clock to see how extended your leg is and bent the knee is on the back-stroke. From what I see here - you knee is already bent at almost 90 degrees, which should be the maximum bend at the full back-stroke. This indicates you either need to extend the BB out more, or get shorter cranks - or both. If you move your BB out (so your knee is only bent at 90 degrees) and you are over extending your leg when extended - then you need to get shorter cranks. Cruzbike has a set of 150mm cranks that work great. (I have a set I can send you if you need them - easy to replace). the rest of you setup looks pretty good. Larry

Thanks for the advice Larry. I have the boom at almost the 7 mark now, and have had it out as far as 10 when I first got it with the same 165mm cranks, so my legs seem to be able to handle some range. I'll check on the the availability of shorter cranks here first but it's gonna take a while because I'll probably have to go with 4iiii PMs again since Favero Assiomas are still too high.

 

[Frito Bandito]

Might have reached 60,000km by the end of this month.

 

[Frito Bandito]

I found a 700x28mm tubed GP5000 for about $30 from a shop here (NOS), new SRAM Force AXS rear derailleur jockey wheels for about $40, and at another shop (Y's Road) two 12-speed Dura Ace (138 links) CN-M9100 chains (138 links) with Sil-Tec for about $60 each. The chains were hanging behind the new stock and the tire was in the bargain basket because the box was damaged. Since I usually run tubeless I plan on keeping this new tire in my Moose pack with a tube just in case 1 of my tires blows out. The tubed tire is easier to put on alone so I won't get stranded.

As for my current chain, it has been on my V20 for more than 13,000km (8000 miles) and I have only used Silca Super Secret wet lube. Granted I rarely ride when it is wet, and my cycling path is very clean, usually dust free. Additionally, with the MBB drive train no dirt can get kicked up by the front tire and land on the chain, making it stay cleaner than chains on RWD bikes. I am sure that I'll add at least another 2000k on it by year's end as well.

 

[Frito Bandito]

I started with my 25mm GP5000 TL tires at 100psi and noticed a speed increase from my usual 80ish psi. The path is quite smooth almost all of the way so that likely makes a difference. Apparently the more comfortable 80psi on this specific surface doesn't seem to be the right tire pressure.

https://www.strava.com/activities/15983356022

 

[vosadrian]

How confident can you be the speed difference was not other factors? I typically run my 25mm GP5K-TL around 80psi... even down to 60psi on my light road bike. The comfort for me is noticably better at lower pressures and I could not really detect any measurable difference in speed. I get a lot more variation in speed from wind in my area. Rarely do I get two days with similar conditions to do a legitimate comparison.

 

[Frito Bandito]

Yeah, that is tough to really nail down what factors were most important, but this is the first time in a long time that I have ran them at 100psi, and my watts were under 200. It was a bit rough in some areas, but in most of them they were just singing along. I got PRs on 50km, 80km, 50 miles and 100km, and the winds were mostly sidewinds, not really hurting our helping much, so that probably had some effect.

 

[Frito Bandito]

My SRAM Wireless Blip batteries appear to be giving up the ghost, especially the left one so today's ride was not in my cadence comfort zone. They whole blips were meant to be thrown away when the battery dies, but there are a few videos out showing how to use a heat gun and a sharp blade to crack it open for a battery swap so I am going to do that soon. Worst case scenario I botch that job and have to go back to drop bars and the wireless brifters.

 

[Jeffers]

Good luck with your project FB

 

[Frito Bandito]

Good luck with your project FB

Thanks Jeffers, it should go pretty easy. It wasn't that fun to not be able to get into the proper gear on the last half of yesterday's ride though lol.

 

[Frito Bandito]

I tried to use a hair dryer on the hottest setting to soften the glue enough on my AXS wireless Blip to open it for a battery change, but it wasn't hot enough. So I got a cutoff wheel on a Dremel tool which did the trick. After putting in a new 1632 battery, I Super Glued the two pieces together, and then used a black 2-part epoxy to fill in the gap between the two pieces. Works like a charm so far, but I don't think this hack will work a second time though lol


Out of the box they are rated as IPX6 I think, but the left shifter is probably an IPX10 now hahaha.

 

[Jeffers]

Wow,
I assumed they were rechargeable batteries that had gone bad after many charge cycles.
But they're coin batteries like a car fob.
And the batteries are not replaceable.
Like they are in any other device that uses coin batteries.
Battery dies, replace the unit.
That's definitely a new one on me.

 

[Frito Bandito]

Wow,
I assumed they were rechargeable batteries that had gone bad after many charge cycles.
But they're coin batteries like a car fob.
And the batteries are not replaceable.
Like they are in any other device that uses coin batteries.
Battery dies, replace the unit.
That's definitely a new one on me.

At $100 for a pair of Blips they aren't very expensive. SRAM claims 5-7 years of battery life, and I think I got about 3 years or so out of 'em but I really can't complain. But yeah, $5 for a pair of batteries and about 15 minutes each if you go straight with the Dremel tool instead of the heat gun like other guys. I figure that by the time these batteries die SRAM will probably have some that can snap open instead.