New Silvio build

mikethebike

New Member
Yesterday I completed the assembley of my Silvio. Very straight forward apart from two minor issues:
1/ The hole in one of the rear dropouts for the bolt securing the dropout to the chainstay was mis-aligned. Seems to be drilled in two sequences, the top hole from the top and the bottom hole from the bottom. These two drillings were not aligned so the bolt wouldn't go through. A little brisk work with a round file fixed that
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2/ My front derailleur, SRAM Force, wouldn't go far out enough to move the chain to the outer ring. Using a suitable bit of pipe to give purchase, I carefully bent the derailleur stalk to the right a few millimeters. Fixed.
Apart from that, as said, no problem.
I will however, admit that I'm a bit disappointed that the gap between tyre and fork crown is so narrow that it won't permit passing a standard fender through. I live in a wet climate and riding without fenders means both rider and bike get very dirty. It'll have to be a McGyver solution with two-part fenders.
John Tolhurst, you seem to read most of what is written on the forum so I hope you will be reading this. Any objections to glueing a 90-degree "angle-iron" of plastic to the chainstay to give a fastening point for the end of the fender?
Also, at some future time, how about including drilled and tapped holes on the front dropouts or fork ends, as fastening points for a fender, same as there are on the rear dropouts. Ok, I realize that the holes actually are intended for attaching some sort of rack or low-rider frame.
Enough about the build, after that it was time for a trial ride. Wow, like riding a snake, this will take some time getting used to. My previous ride, a Velokraft VK2, is sleek, black and fast so I affectionately called it the Black Mamba. (Before that I had a green M5 Shock Proof which, of course, was the Green Mamba). The Silvio, with it's snakelike feel, will have to become Black Mamba II
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John Tolhurst

Zen MBB Master
Silvio (and Vendetta) are

Silvio (and Vendetta) are specified to follow what you get on road bikes. This means fork clearance and many other things so that components work out of the box, as far as possible. Look to road bike accessories.

Gluing to the head of the chainstay might be an option, or putting longer bolts through to carry the angle.

The rear dropout bolt holes for connecting the ends of the chainstay are not misaligned, as this part is CNC machined. There might have been varying paint thickness, perhaps, or the chainstay end not quite position - but either way you have resolved it with a bit of thought.

 

Andrew 1973

Zen MBB Master
Fenders: SKS Raceblades?

While the lower derailleur cable interferes with the standard attackment point for SKS Raceblade fenders, I think that they come with an aero fork attachment (a shaped, plastic sleeve) which might serve as a pass-through for the cable. Just a thought before you have to MacGyver a solution.
 

Andrew 1973

Zen MBB Master
That might not work

My idea about the SKS Aero Adapter might not work, but maybe you could fit a section of cable housing over the cable run to the lower (rear) derailleur and rest the SKS attachment on that. The fenders are held on with zip ties or rubber straps, and I can not imagine either would apply enough force to the cable housing to cause internal drag and compromise shifting.

Does this make sense? I feel I should illustrate this instead.
 

georgec

Member
mikethebike said:
> I will


mikethebike said:

> I will however, admit that I'm a bit disappointed that the gap between tyre and fork crown
> is so narrow that it won't permit passing a standard fender through. I live in a wet climate
> and riding without fenders means both rider and bike get very dirty.

I agree with you!

I tried the SKS Raceblades, but, because of the problem that Andrew mentions, I could only get
the rear mounting bracket to work on the front of the bike. Even with the rear fender mounted
on the front in this way, I found the protection to be inadequate. So...been there, done that, and
don't recommend it.

I studied and tried other road bike solutions, but could not find anything I thought would really
work for me.

I ended up mounting two 35mm wide full length Rear fenders (from two SKS P35 sets) on my
Silvio (Because, you see, the Silvio really has two rear wheels).

Note: This required mutilation that some might find offensive :)
 

John Tolhurst

Zen MBB Master
>> I will however, admit that

>> I will however, admit that I'm a bit disappointed that the gap between tyre and fork crown
>> is so narrow that it won't permit passing a standard fender through. I live in a wet climate
>> and riding without fenders means both rider and bike get very dirty.
>
>I agree with you!

hmm ... but if I raise the fork crown standard road callipers are no longer sitting where they should. Does this not matter?
 

Andrew 1973

Zen MBB Master
I personally wouldn't want to

I personally wouldn't want to see increased clearance. The Silvio is a performance road bike and giving fender clearance while requiring long reach caliper brakes would affect the aesthetic. Neilj's fenders pictured above seem like a good solution.
 

Charles.Plager

Recumbent Quant
Fat Bottom Tires Make the Loving World Go Round....

Hi,

When I was looking into DF bikes (before I saw the light), I was planning on buying a cyclocross bike instead of a straight-up road bike. Partially because the geometry is more relaxed and partially because they are basically road bikes that allow much wider tires (or wider tires and fenders).

I completely understand that Cruzbike needs to market its bikes so that they get sold and that I'm probably a minority here. But I'd love to see the high end bikes with more room for bigger tire clearance. Riding on crappy streets and MUPS, etc...

And as long as I'm asking for things I'm not going to get, I want a red Silvio (or Vendetta) too. :D

Cheers,
Charles
 

mikethebike

New Member
Alas

I have chosen 28 mm tyres which means that the gap is too narrow even for raceblades.
But I have put the thinking cap on and have come up with a solution. Requires slaughtering two sets of standard fenders but I think it will be worth it. Done half of it but now I need to take a trip to the LBS. Will post pix when I'm done.
Anybody out there with good ideas on a chain guard. Riding in a group with an inprotected chain ring in front of the bike is seldom popular.
Two solutions, a/ make sure you are always first in the line
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b/ put some sort of protection on the chain ring. Ideas anybody?
 

Andrew 1973

Zen MBB Master
Raceblades...

Not that it matters, but Raceblades do not go under the crown or brake bridge, so tire clearance is not an issue.
 
CHAINRING GUARD

I bought my chainring guard directly from ICE Trikes - in the UK (http://www.icetrikes.co/community/contact-ice) - and they told me the chainring guard wouldn't work. But I already knew that because the BB on the Silvio is "different". My LBS jury rigged something, which is UGLY, but it means I don't poke people with the big ring.

chainring_guard.jpg


A design oversight, if you want to be seen to play nice with DFs. My Quest V2 came with an integrated one.

You can see the ICE trikes one properly fitted, and perhaps buy it from http://www.utahtrikes.com/PRODINFO-tricechaingurd.html

I also bought another chainring guard which Velotecknick make, see: http://www.hpvelotechnik.com/produkte/spm/details_e.html and scroll down.

hpvelotecknik.png


I got it from Hostelshoppe, and it attached by screwing it up with the bottom bracket. It was SUPER UGLY, and Hostelshoppe appear not to stock it now, but have the ICE unit, see: http://www.hostelshoppe.com/cgi-bin/readitem.pl?Accessory=1231971527

My all time favourite has to be from: http://www.hembrow.eu/chainringguard.html

chainring_guard_2.jpg width: 470px; height: 353px;
 

georgec

Member
No need to change the caliper location.

John said:

> hmm ... but if I raise the fork crown standard road callipers are no longer sitting where they should.
> Does this not matter?

Hi John,

By removing about 2-3 mm of the fork crowns, front and rear, with a half-round file I was able to get
SKS P35 fenders installed with Conti gatorskin 700x25c tires and Shimano Integra brakes. I stopped
fileing when the fender started touching the brake caliper inner surface. So nothing about the wheel/
brake/rim setup is changed. It is tight, but seems servicable. I will know more once muck starts
accumulating inside fenders.
 

mikethebike

New Member
Almost done now

I have now attached most of the extra bits and pieces that I wanted.
Mudguards/fenders: since I live in a wet part of the world and prefer riding a bike to cleaning a bike, fenders are a must. having beforehand bought 28 mm tyres there was no room for stndard mounting of standard fenders. After some thinking I did as shown, using up two sets of fenders in the process. My rack is a left-over from a kiddies bike. I cut off the vertical struts and replaced them with 8 mm aluminium (aluminum for the Yanks) tubing cut to suitable length, flattened the ends and drilled holes so I could attach them to the thread inserts on the rear seat stay. For the front end support of the rack I used a piece of 3 x 30 mm aluminium bar which I drilled and sandwiched between the suspension link and the seat stay link plate. I substituted the M5x12 bolts for M5x15. I also removed the pre-load plastic spacer.
The rack will at no time be carrying any greater load. Normally just support a Carradice saddle bag. For longer tours I have a pair of Radical recumbent bags where the rear ends are supported by the rack but most of the load is taken by the straps over the seat.
I have SRAM RD and FD and brifters. Shimano Ultegra brakes. 50/34 chainwheels and an 11-32 SRAM cassette.
Remains: A chainwheel protection. Working on that but I might end up putting on a Catrike rotating guard from Hostel Shoppe.
Between tinkering and other business of life I have only managed to put i 40-odd miles, some of it without fenders which can be seen on the bike. Feeling a bit more confident but now winter has decended on us so streets and roads sre smothered in snow putting an end to outdoor training. Spring feels a very long way off
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.
 

Charles.Plager

Recumbent Quant
Hi Mike,
Looking nice!  Well


Hi Mike,

Looking nice! Well done.

By the way, I think you want the trainer to face the other direction so the wheel is turning the same way it would for a RWD bike. (And, for the record, I would have done it your way too until John pointed it out. :) ).

Cheers,
Charles
 

Eric Winn

Zen MBB Master
In your third photo above, I

In your third photo above, I would be tempted to put some sort of rubber pad between the fender tab and fender edge and the chainstay to prevent the tab and fender from abrading the chainstay arms. It might also help the tie-wrap hold everything in place better.

Do the extensions cause that area of the chainstay to flex more than without the extension? If so, even more reason to monitor for abrasion issues especially since your photo shows that will be an area to collect road grit and grime.

Nice stable of bikes in the background. How does the Raptobike compare to the Silvio? I was contemplating Arnold's Mid Racer before stumbling onto the Cruzbike site and ended buying a Vendetta after test riding a Silvio
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-Eric
 

kenhardwick

Well-Known Member
Trainer Position

>>>>>By the way, I think you want the trainer to face the other direction so the wheel is turning the same way it would for a RWD >>>>>bike. (And, for the record, I would have done it your way too until John pointed it out. ).
>>>>>Cheers,
>>>>> Charles

Charles..Thanks for pointing that out. I just received my new trainer Friday and did the exact same thing when I mounted my Silvio to the trainer. Took it off since as the temp have been in the 70's here in Oklahoma but will plan to put it back on correctly next time.
 
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