Our Three T50 Builds, and Maybe a Sofrider Retro-fit
- Thread starter NeaL
- Start date
NeaL
Guru
We've decided that the front boom, the back of the seat, and the racks will provide enough fender-like protection from water for now. These are for kids, not business executives. If they ever start commuting to a job and need the additional protection from adding fenders, we can get them, then.
They'll probably have moved up to Q45s by then, or whatever model comes after the Q45.
So we're back to using the thicker tires we had selected.
They'll probably have moved up to Q45s by then, or whatever model comes after the Q45.
So we're back to using the thicker tires we had selected.
NeaL
Guru
My son's Cruzbike T50 "Batmobile" is complete.
https://scontent.fphl2-1.fna.fbcdn....=48d7f47161883b5d92ff9b70ad6642f7&oe=5BC67347
https://scontent.fphl2-1.fna.fbcdn....=48d7f47161883b5d92ff9b70ad6642f7&oe=5BC67347
NeaL
Guru
Panniers attached. Kid mounted.
https://scontent.fphl2-1.fna.fbcdn....=4dfaa9ef9534888c7c0fe4f3227685b7&oe=5C0B6020
https://scontent.fphl2-1.fna.fbcdn....=4dfaa9ef9534888c7c0fe4f3227685b7&oe=5C0B6020
ChaleJake
Guru
Now, that is impressive!!! Hands free and relaxed.
NeaL
Guru
He has had prior experience on my Sofrider, plus he got some of the best Cruzbike-riding instruction at the Recumbent Cycle-Con.
NeaL
Guru
The tires we found with "color" available, I thought it was weird how the manufacturers didn't offer them in a wider variety of sizes. For these red-wall tires, on that size rim, that one and only size was it!
There wasn't room to add a fender. These tires had something of a muffin top, looking at their cross section. That little bit of overhang where the tread met the sidewall, it rubbed inside the front fork. Just slightly enough to hear it.
I didn't know which would wear down first, the paint on the fork or the rubber of the tire. I fixed it by taking a power sander around the circumference of the tire, knocking a little of that rubber edge off.
There wasn't room to add a fender. These tires had something of a muffin top, looking at their cross section. That little bit of overhang where the tread met the sidewall, it rubbed inside the front fork. Just slightly enough to hear it.
I didn't know which would wear down first, the paint on the fork or the rubber of the tire. I fixed it by taking a power sander around the circumference of the tire, knocking a little of that rubber edge off.
NeaL
Guru
One little, two little, three little T50s...
"This is harder than riding a unicycle," my eldest said after riding her new T50 around an empty high school parking lot.
I reminded her, "Anything new is challenging at first."
I don't believe she has ever tried to ride my Sofrider but she did get to try out both or either a Qx100 and a S40 while at the Recumbent Cycle-Convention near Philadelphia, last October.
After riding around a while longer her assessment seemed to improve a little, "It hates me."
Her two younger siblings were off on their T50s, exploring further out around the school grounds while the eldest stuck to the parking lot around the truck. After the younger two were done riding for the evening, the eldest continued riding around on her new bike.
I've seen her since her first attempts at mounting a unicycle for the first time, to riding around on one so confidently that she could do it while licking an ice cream cone. She's not a quitter, as long as she's interested in learning something.
News on the Sofrider: Tonight the guy at the local bike shop told me that the reason I could never seem to get the brakes to work right was because the brake levers I have are not compatible with the kind of brake calipers straddling the rims. They're a mismatched set.
No wonder I couldn't get them to adjust right. The best I could do while squeezing the brake levers was get them to contemplate stopping the bike, as long as I wasn't on a downhill incline.
Hey, it came that way. I bought it off of an ad on Craigslist.
Front derailleur shifter has three shift positions, but only two rings on the crank.
Rear derailleur shifter has six shift positions but seven sprockets on the cassette.
Wrong brakes with brake levers. Heck, even the handle bars rendered it inoperable until I replaced them. I'd be amazed to try out a Sofrider equipped the way it was sold.
More pics to come.
"This is harder than riding a unicycle," my eldest said after riding her new T50 around an empty high school parking lot.
I reminded her, "Anything new is challenging at first."
I don't believe she has ever tried to ride my Sofrider but she did get to try out both or either a Qx100 and a S40 while at the Recumbent Cycle-Convention near Philadelphia, last October.
After riding around a while longer her assessment seemed to improve a little, "It hates me."
Her two younger siblings were off on their T50s, exploring further out around the school grounds while the eldest stuck to the parking lot around the truck. After the younger two were done riding for the evening, the eldest continued riding around on her new bike.
I've seen her since her first attempts at mounting a unicycle for the first time, to riding around on one so confidently that she could do it while licking an ice cream cone. She's not a quitter, as long as she's interested in learning something.
News on the Sofrider: Tonight the guy at the local bike shop told me that the reason I could never seem to get the brakes to work right was because the brake levers I have are not compatible with the kind of brake calipers straddling the rims. They're a mismatched set.
No wonder I couldn't get them to adjust right. The best I could do while squeezing the brake levers was get them to contemplate stopping the bike, as long as I wasn't on a downhill incline.
Hey, it came that way. I bought it off of an ad on Craigslist.
Front derailleur shifter has three shift positions, but only two rings on the crank.
Rear derailleur shifter has six shift positions but seven sprockets on the cassette.
Wrong brakes with brake levers. Heck, even the handle bars rendered it inoperable until I replaced them. I'd be amazed to try out a Sofrider equipped the way it was sold.
More pics to come.
Last edited:
bladderhead
Zen MBB Master
Been there, done that. Incompatible brakes on the Silvio. Downhill was great, as long as the lights at the bottom stayed green. And the palaver with the gears. The shifter had the thing you screw to make the cable looser or tighter. Turn it clockwise and get bottom gear but not top. Anti-clockwise for top but not bottom.NeaL said:
Stunning looking pictures. Those bikes will not look that good for long unless you get mudguards. Gunge all over the frame and the rack and the panniers and the gears. They appear to be standing up on kickstands without any wheel-flop, and without a flop-stop of any kind. Neat trick!
NeaL
Guru
They didn't stand that way by chance. I used a combination of surface friction, and direction of incline.
