New Silvio in the works

[truckeejim]

I just ordered my frame today after a week of research about recumbents. I want to thank the other forum members for your comments/reviews on this forum as well as BROL in helping me reach my decision. The Silvio will be my first bent and I will be stripping my road bike of its Spinergy Spox wheels and Ultegra 9 speed system. Since I live in Truckee, Ca, I wanted a bent that could balance climbing and comfort so I'm looking forward to the build process and actually getting on the bike. From what I've read about Tom's build, it looks like I will need a road tandem brake cable, 4 ft of brake cable housing, and 4 ft of shifter cable housing in addition to the donor bike parts.

Any other required components or a list of nice to haves that you guys can think of.

I'll let you know how the build goes and will post some pics when it's done.

Thanks

Jim

 

[Mark B]

truckeejim wrote: I just ordered my frame today after a week of research about recumbents. I want to thank the other forum members for your comments/reviews on this forum as well as BROL in helping me reach my decision. The Silvio will be my first bent and I will be stripping my road bike of its Spinergy Spox wheels and Ultegra 9 speed system. Since I live in Truckee, Ca, I wanted a bent that could balance climbing and comfort so I'm looking forward to the build process and actually getting on the bike. From what I've read about Tom's build, it looks like I will need a road tandem brake cable, 4 ft of brake cable housing, and 4 ft of shifter cable housing in addition to the donor bike parts.

Any other required components or a list of nice to haves that you guys can think of.

I'll let you know how the build goes and will post some pics when it's done.

Thanks

Jim

Hey Jim!

Congrats on pulling the trigger! You're not going to be disappointed in this bike. I never get tired of riding it.

You might actually be able to salvage enough brake cable housing from your road bike to do the build, but you definitely need that tandem brake cable. I'd buy all new cables, to tell the truth. Once they've been cut to length, a cable is pretty hard to get doing down through the housing without it unraveling. You get lucky once in a while, but generally, it's a good idea to replace them, anyway.

Be sure to post pictures! We have to talk to Tom about that, he's been slackin'!

Mark

 

[defjack]

You will like your new Silvio. My bike is set up with ultegra 9 speed triple and 11-32,med cage ultegra d?railleur. It will take some time to develop your bent legs so gear it low. Jack

 

[truckeejim]

Thanks..I'm going to start with my donor road bike setup which has a compact (50/34), Ultegra 9 speed, 11-34 cassette, and XT derraileur. I'm very curious how well the Silvio can climb compared to my donor bike. I have some very steep climbs around my house and should be able to a pretty objective assessment once I get comfortable with the MBB. Hopefully I won't have to go to a triple.

TruckeeJim

 

[Mark B]

truckeejim wrote: Thanks..I'm going to start with my donor road bike setup which has a compact (50/34), Ultegra 9 speed, 11-34 cassette, and XT derraileur. I'm very curious how well the Silvio can climb compared to my donor bike. I have some very steep climbs around my house and should be able to a pretty objective assessment once I get comfortable with the MBB. Hopefully I won't have to go to a triple.

TruckeeJim

I like my triple. The 42 tooth middle is a good gear to ride about 80% of the time. That being said, with a 34-34, you should be able to go straight up a wall. As long as you don't have to go up anything much more than 18-20% grade, where traction becomes an issue, you should find that the Silvio climbs really well. Yesterday, on our SoCal bent ride, we had three Carbents along. They climbed OK, but there was a noticeable drop off while they geared down and spun up. I just kept on going with the Silvio.

Mark

 

[teacherbill]

Mark B wrote: ... but there was a noticeable drop off while they geared down and spun up. I just kept on going with the Silvio.

Mark

And I bet you laughed all the way....... :mrgreen:

Bill

 

[enjoybiking]

truckeejim wrote: I just ordered my frame today after a week of research about recumbents. I want to thank the other forum members for your comments/reviews on this forum as well as BROL in helping me reach my decision. The Silvio will be my first bent and I will be stripping my road bike of its Spinergy Spox wheels and Ultegra 9 speed system. Since I live in Truckee, Ca, I wanted a bent that could balance climbing and comfort so I'm looking forward to the build process and actually getting on the bike. From what I've read about Tom's build, it looks like I will need a road tandem brake cable, 4 ft of brake cable housing, and 4 ft of shifter cable housing in addition to the donor bike parts.

Any other required components or a list of nice to haves that you guys can think of.

I'll let you know how the build goes and will post some pics when it's done.

Thanks

Jim

Jim,

I'd be careful about using SPOX on ANY bike, especially the front wheel. The typical failure-point is the nipples break, and the nipple being at the HUB means you now have a piece of Vectran fiber "string" whipping around from the edge of the wheel...if that catches on anything, your wheel LOCKS UP and away ya go!! I had 3 nipples break on separate days of a tour on which I was being kind to my bike... I got rid of the SPOX before they got rid of ME. Lighter riders would probably have better luck? But think about what happens when that nipple breaks. Also, there are 2 styles of nipples, one has more metal PAST the wider flange, those seem to hold up better, but guess which ones *I* had on my front wheels?? The SPOX ARE VERY comfy, and quite light...I just couldn't risk it. The modern version of that technology is VERY VERY costly, the Topolino

http://www.topolinotech.com/products/vx40.php