Mystery Sofrider

[BranchRider]

I'm looking at buying a Sofrider on Ebay. Year unknown. It has a single chain ring. Anybody know the vintage or more importantly the gear range? What does it take to add another chain ring and
derailleur? Thanks.

 

[thwaters]

During the first years, Cruzbike sold a "FreeRider" that only came with a single chain ring up front. I've heard that there was not much to do to add a derailleur and left shifter to bring it up to Softrider standards. Did the bike have the handlebars that were attached to a riser on the boom? Most FreeRiders had that:

 

[MrSteve]

My Sofrider V1 was originally equipped with a single front chainring with grey plastic chain guards installed, which mostly kept the chain from jumping off.
The stock cassette was 8-speed.
Now, thirteen years later, My Sofrider V1 has had its rear-wheel replaced, a new bottom bracket with triple chainrings installed, a clamp-on wide range front derailleur
installed, a new long-cage wide-range rear derailleur, a new wide-range 10-speed cassette, new handlebars, and other modifications.

From the factory, the Sofrider V1 was a fun and capable commuter bike. Now, my V1 is a capable and much faster commuter bike.

On my Sofrider, the grey plastic chainguards mounted to the front chainring failed, so instead of replacing them, I just replaced the entire drivetrain.

Hope this helps you out a little bit... the Sofrider is a great bike.

 

[1happyreader]

What does it take to add another chain ring and
derailleur?

You might want to do a forum search as this WAS a common question.
I think you just need a bottom pull clamp on derailleur. 31.8 ???? you will need to measure your tube.
Later sofriders have a pulley closer to the pedals to reverse the cable pull. I doubt you have that mounting hole.