New to cruzbike

[Thomas Baldwin]

It’s a little chilly today maybe I will do a good training run today and bomb her tomorrow. Quick question. I’m on the tall side at 6’7” and carry a lot of weight in my upper torso. When I built the bike up I immediately installed the largest chainstay 23.5. I’ve got the bike dialed in pretty good right now but I’ve been reading through the forum that a lot of guys stated that a slightly shorter stay will help with handling, Especially in the higher speed realm. Anybody here do any real testing of this claim. I really love the bike, and want to squeeze every inch of performance out of it. I have the 19.5 stay sitting in the basement but heard there is a medium stay available. Where can you purchase these extra parts?

 

[bazzawill]

Bikes always know when to throw you. They watch. They also make a bee-line for holes in the road. Just what bikes do.

Indeed they do. I remember trying to do a track stand or just dawdle as I could see the lights were about to change; but of course the V does not like to stand still and the lights took just that bit too long. I was turning right across traffic (in Australia) in the middle of the right hand lane, right at the front, with a line of cars behind me. Down I went, luckily the cars behind me stopped.

 

[Thomas Baldwin]

It’s a little chilly today maybe I will do a good training run today and bomb her tomorrow. Quick question. I’m on the tall side at 6’7” and carry a lot of weight in my upper torso. When I built the bike up I immediately installed the largest chainstay 23.5. I’ve got the bike dialed in pretty good right now but I’ve been reading through the forum that a lot of guys stated that a slightly shorter stay will help with handling, Especially in the higher speed realm. Anybody here do any real testing of this claim. I really love the bike, and want to squeeze every inch of performance out of it. I have the 19.5 stay sitting in the basement but heard there is a medium stay available. Where can you purchase these extra parts?

Ok I finished a pretty good ride today and hit a new high speed of 52 kph, that was with feathering the brakes, very frightening to say the least. I thought I was going to bite it but kept my balance. I got to tinkering with the bike after my ride and said screw it and installed the short chainstay.
Hear are my two cents.
I got the bike adjusted for my height, with just a little room to spare.
Right away the bike handled better at slow speeds. My confidence with the shorter stay also improved, feels more controlled.
Pushed it as hard as I could to get a feel for speed compared to the longer stay.
Speed dropped by about 5kph. No kidding the longer stay produced more speed. The trade off though is stability. I’m going to keep the shorter stay on for now because it just feels safer. Low speed handling has also greatly improved.
Coming from a Cruzbike newbie. If you want great handling go short, if you want speed go long.
Those are my two cents for today!?

 

[bladderhead]

When you think you are going too fast to avoid dying, you realise you are going too fast to brake without skidding and dying. When you finally get it down to a manageable speed, you realise you have just been living.

 

[paco1961]

Ok I finished a pretty good ride today and hit a new high speed of 52 kph, that was with feathering the brakes, very frightening to say the least. I thought I was going to bite it but kept my balance. I got to tinkering with the bike after my ride and said screw it and installed the short chainstay.
Hear are my two cents.
I got the bike adjusted for my height, with just a little room to spare.
Right away the bike handled better at slow speeds. My confidence with the shorter stay also improved, feels more controlled.
Pushed it as hard as I could to get a feel for speed compared to the longer stay.
Speed dropped by about 5kph. No kidding the longer stay produced more speed. The trade off though is stability. I’m going to keep the shorter stay on for now because it just feels safer. Low speed handling has also greatly improved.
Coming from a Cruzbike newbie. If you want great handling go short, if you want speed go long.
Those are my two cents for today!?

Braver man than I! 3 weeks in and my high maintained speed has been 22mph/36kph. 28mph is comfy but things go down hill quickly above that. Got up to 25 mph but chickened out and hit the brakes. Still making steady progress. I'm assuming the S40 ships w the medium chainstay but not really sure.

 

[Seth Cooper]

Hear are my two cents.
Coming from a Cruzbike newbie. If you want great handling go short, if you want speed go long.
Those are my two cents for today!?

Good to know. I'm a tall newbie too, I'm 6'4" and riding a v20 with a 19.5 stay. I managed to get up to 54kph and the bike felt fine, but I'm going to wait a few months before trying a longer stay. I'm already faster than on any other bike I've ridden, so i say what's the rush?

 

[Brad R]

I have a T50 and my bottom bracket is an inch or two below my seat. I have about a 30 degree seat angle. I have a downhill on my most common ride on which I hit 25 to 35 mph coasting (top speed depends on how fast I am going at the top of the hill) I find the bike very stable.

I don’t have high enough top gear to pedal above about 28mph and I ease into the power during the rollout at the bottom of the hill after I slow down enough to be able to add power by pedaling.

You will find your comfort zone with the speed. Just make sure to ease into the power only after you slow down to a speed at which you can add power because spinning fast against no resistance is a good way to induce an unstable wobble.

Have fun and be safe.

 

[Thomas Baldwin]

Good to know. I'm a tall newbie too, I'm 6'4" and riding a v20 with a 19.5 stay. I managed to get up to 54kph and the bike felt fine, but I'm going to wait a few months before trying a longer stay. I'm already faster than on any other bike I've ridden, so i say what's the rush?

I’m going to do some testing today to see if the shorter stay can climb as good as the longer one. I hit some pretty nasty hills yesterday and she climbed like a billy goat. I think my main problem with speed stability is to much weight on the back wheel. I’ve been doing a lot of reading on this topic of going fast and it’s starting to make sense now. If you look at all the bike racers when they are really cooking they have all of their weight forward, better aerodynamics and weight distribution. I have also looked into wheel base comparisons. I’ve come to the conclusion that most long wheel base recumbents handle better at higher speeds than short wheel base bikes. The trade off is better climbing and better low speed handling on the short wheel base bikes. I moved my seat forward a little bit on the Vendetta so it’s now about 25-30 degree angle. If the bike still gives me issues at high speeds then I think my only other option is to extend the rear axle. I will give it a couple months before I start dicking with that though. Novosport in Germany has a carbon seat that’s adjustable from small to xl. I plan to order one in the next couple weeks and see how that plays out.

 

[bladderhead]

28mph is comfy but things go down hill quickly above that.

The only way to achieve that speed is to go downhill.

spinning fast against no resistance is a good way to induce an unstable wobble

Absolutely bloody terrifying. I did that at 30mph. Not funny. Since then I have reached 40mph. I had to stop afterwards to look at my maximum speed, because I could not take my eyes off the road to look at the speedo.

 

[paco1961]

Braver man than I! 3 weeks in and my high maintained speed has been 22mph/36kph. 28mph is comfy but things go down hill quickly above that. Got up to 25 mph but chickened out and hit the brakes. Still making steady progress. I'm assuming the S40 ships w the medium chainstay but not really sure.

Sorry . . . Typo above. Rather than 28mph being comfy, I meant to type 20!

 

[Thomas Baldwin]

This forum is great. Thanks for all words of encouragement and great tips. With the short stay I have no real issues with the low speed handling. I’m still a bit squirly with the high speed stuff. It’s Not fun going fast with a car on your ass. Or a motorcycle blasting by you at Mach one.
I had a very good ride yesterday, got lost on some back roads and ended up putting in 70km. A bit longer then I had planned. My knees were talking to me when I got home. Maybe time to get a q ring. I have the sram with the hidden bolt behind the crank arm so I need to figure out what I can fit it with.
Ok here is my report on the short stay. Just as I figured earlier. The shorter stay was great for handling of the bike but lacked top speed and climbing abilities. Not sure why at this time but those are my results. Maybe using different muscles because of the BB height is lower, or you can just generate more power with a higher BB. I’ll train with the short stay for the next couple of weeks and see if anything changes.

 

[DavidCH]

Maybe time to get a q ring

Q rings are good for big cranks. Smaller cranks are better on recumbents. The smaller the crank is the less advantage you have with q rings. I suggest chop the cranks. 155 mm pretty good if you are a 6 footer and you want to go faster on the V or Silvio ... the smaller the crank the faster the cadence. So perhaps a 50t chainring up front with a steady 105 rpm would just sing sweet.

Funny knees might be an adjustment on the cleats too.

Bring the cleats back and fit wedges if necessary. Never had any issues until started going long distance.

 

[Thomas Baldwin]

Q rings are good for big cranks. Smaller cranks are better on recumbents. The smaller the crank is the less advantage you have with q rings. I suggest chop the cranks. 155 mm pretty good if you are a 6 footer and you want to go faster on the V or Silvio ... the smaller the crank the faster the cadence. So perhaps a 50t chainring up front with a steady 105 rpm would just sing sweet.

Funny knees might be an adjustment on the cleats too.

Bring the cleats back and fit wedges if necessary. Never had any issues until started going long distance.

Quick question, sometimes my hips are sore after a long ride, Is that due to overreaching.

 

[bladderhead]

Chop the cranks or get cranks that are short in the first place from a company called Redline BMX. They fit in the Silvio2 BB shell.

 

[paco1961]

Or from bike smith designs

 

[DavidCH]

Quick question, sometimes my hips are sore after a long ride, Is that due to overreaching.

Might need slight adjustment with customizing fine tuning. But more likely just getting use to cruzbike. After the Christmas cold period I got on the bike and I felt awful but now fine. Flexing the leg muscles help as do the shoulders.

 

[Thomas Baldwin]

Chop the cranks or get cranks that are short in the first place from a company called Redline BMX. They fit in the Silvio2 BB shell.

I have a set of 180mm cranks that I can possibly cut down. What’s a good length 155mm?

 

[super slim]

I have a set of 180mm cranks that I can possibly cut down. What’s a good length 155mm?

They can not be hollow cranks.
Talk to Mark 612 710 9593 at Bikesmithdesign to see if your crank is suitable.

http://bikesmithdesign.com/Short_Cranks/crank-questions.html
http://bikesmithdesign.com/Short_Cranks/index.html

 

[telephd]

Ive got a set of Redlines that have never been installed. IIRC they are 145s. Good for a 1X setup but you would have to get out your dremmel or small angle grinder to cut a notch on the opposite side of the spider arms for a 2X. Let me know if youre interested and I can post some pics.

 

[ElyDave]

Out for 50km today, I knew I'd need plenty of fluid in the 25C heat, managed to take a bottle out of the cage and drink while riding without feeling like it was all going to go udders up at any moment.

500km on the cruzbike so far, took a lot longer than that on the M5, whatever other people say the S40 is pretty stable and not impossible to ride by any means.