burando
Member
After a decade of all-weather urban commuting on RWD bents, I decided last month that I've had enough of high-maintenance chainlines, and went to the LBS to buy an S40. Due to some unicycle experience, the MBB was no problem, though handsfree riding was quite wobbly. Sadly, the S40's fixed seat was too upright for my tastes and the V20 didn't look commuter-convertible, so I took home the more adjustable Q45 for a seasonal audition.
Mods: I rode the Q45 as purchased for two days. Then off came the rear rack, 38T chainring & guard, seat tilt adjustment bracket, bottle cage, light mount stub (not enough clearance for my lights), front derailleur pulley (unused, collects dirt), and kickstand (actually, it fell off). On went fenders, a 48T chainring, a mirror, bell, air horn, clock, lights, clip-on pedals, a steering lock (makes the bike rigid), and a minimalist underseat pannier rack (accommodates large panniers with good ground clearance). Pictures below. I tilted the boom and seat back to ~28 degrees and put some shaped hard-foam inserts into the seat cushion to stabilize the pelvis and provide lumbar support. The result is a commuter bike with gearing and rider geometry halfway between a V20 and an S40, but generously suspended. Given the condition of local roads this winter, that's my sweet spot.
Speed: I did some roll-down timings and found that the Q45 is slightly slower then my previous commuter, a bombproofed Bacchetta Giro 26ATT whose higher bottom bracket and "superman" handlebars afford a more aero position. Could also be that the Giro just has better tires and more weight (it's kitted to carry a adult passenger), but it routinely overtakes a Silvio 2.1 on a flattish part of the route home. The Q45 does seem to be a better climber, except on very steep grades or wet hills, where front wheel slippage can completely kill forward momentum. At present, the Q45 adds ~2 minutes to my 16km morning commute. Totally worth it, considering how nicely it smooths out rough roads that I avoid on hardtail bents.
Forks & fenders: The steering fork is "pinched" and the chainstay fork is not. WTF (what's that for?) From a heel-clearance point of view, the wrong fork is pinched. For fenders, it's almost a deal-killer: The steering fork is too narrow to accept standard fenders (or my favorite tire) and the chainstay fork has no fender mount points. I used a heat gun to soften a polycarbonate rear fender and jam it into the pinched fork, and UV-robust zip ties to fix it to the unpinched fork. Getting a (front) fender onto the rear wheel required similar improvisations.
Tires: IMHO the main determinant of bike performance. The soft rubber tread on the stock Maxxis tires has a killer combination of high rolling resistance and poor traction. There's an alarming amount of tire slippage when powering out of a traffic stop or up a hill. The tread also collects pebbles to the point of getting noisy on the rare quiet road. Looking forward to replacing these with 50mm Schwalbe Marathon Supremes. And a wide fork.
To do: (1) Handlebar replacement. Ideally my hands would be higher, more centered, and in-plane with the steering axis, but the boom mount says no can do. Might try bullhorn or dirt-drop handlebars, tipped vertically. (2) Adjustable seat pan bracket. I'd be more aero and better leveraged if the seat pan were further back, lower, and slightly angled. Also safer, as I've learned that the rear wheel goes airborne during emergency stops. After some tinkering I concluded that a new bracket will have to be machined. (3) Better parts for all-weather commuting. Six weeks in and the chainring bolts are rusting and the drivetrain is showing wear.
Misc: (A) If the kickstand were 1cm longer I might have kept it. (B) The retro-reflective detailing doesn't really work under clear-coat (which frustrates the microbeads' total internal reflection). (C) The wheel flop could be traded off for a little less trail (something to keep in mind when replacing the fork). (D) The short s-curve in the rear brake cable routing is a head-scratcher. (E) The bike came home with a variety of assembly errors, some merely sloppy, some dangerous. Props to the LBS for fixes.
Now to pictures:
Conspicuity tape to make the bike pop in headlights on winter nights:
Mirror, horn, & bell had to be mounted on or near the brake hoods for knee clearance:
The steering lock is simply a hex key that goes through the fork bridge to a small machined receiver:
The pannier rack is a carbon fiber tube on two small aluminum standoff blocks. Unobtrusive & weighs <50g:
Hope this is useful to fellow commuters. Tailwinds, all.
Mods: I rode the Q45 as purchased for two days. Then off came the rear rack, 38T chainring & guard, seat tilt adjustment bracket, bottle cage, light mount stub (not enough clearance for my lights), front derailleur pulley (unused, collects dirt), and kickstand (actually, it fell off). On went fenders, a 48T chainring, a mirror, bell, air horn, clock, lights, clip-on pedals, a steering lock (makes the bike rigid), and a minimalist underseat pannier rack (accommodates large panniers with good ground clearance). Pictures below. I tilted the boom and seat back to ~28 degrees and put some shaped hard-foam inserts into the seat cushion to stabilize the pelvis and provide lumbar support. The result is a commuter bike with gearing and rider geometry halfway between a V20 and an S40, but generously suspended. Given the condition of local roads this winter, that's my sweet spot.
Speed: I did some roll-down timings and found that the Q45 is slightly slower then my previous commuter, a bombproofed Bacchetta Giro 26ATT whose higher bottom bracket and "superman" handlebars afford a more aero position. Could also be that the Giro just has better tires and more weight (it's kitted to carry a adult passenger), but it routinely overtakes a Silvio 2.1 on a flattish part of the route home. The Q45 does seem to be a better climber, except on very steep grades or wet hills, where front wheel slippage can completely kill forward momentum. At present, the Q45 adds ~2 minutes to my 16km morning commute. Totally worth it, considering how nicely it smooths out rough roads that I avoid on hardtail bents.
Forks & fenders: The steering fork is "pinched" and the chainstay fork is not. WTF (what's that for?) From a heel-clearance point of view, the wrong fork is pinched. For fenders, it's almost a deal-killer: The steering fork is too narrow to accept standard fenders (or my favorite tire) and the chainstay fork has no fender mount points. I used a heat gun to soften a polycarbonate rear fender and jam it into the pinched fork, and UV-robust zip ties to fix it to the unpinched fork. Getting a (front) fender onto the rear wheel required similar improvisations.
Tires: IMHO the main determinant of bike performance. The soft rubber tread on the stock Maxxis tires has a killer combination of high rolling resistance and poor traction. There's an alarming amount of tire slippage when powering out of a traffic stop or up a hill. The tread also collects pebbles to the point of getting noisy on the rare quiet road. Looking forward to replacing these with 50mm Schwalbe Marathon Supremes. And a wide fork.
To do: (1) Handlebar replacement. Ideally my hands would be higher, more centered, and in-plane with the steering axis, but the boom mount says no can do. Might try bullhorn or dirt-drop handlebars, tipped vertically. (2) Adjustable seat pan bracket. I'd be more aero and better leveraged if the seat pan were further back, lower, and slightly angled. Also safer, as I've learned that the rear wheel goes airborne during emergency stops. After some tinkering I concluded that a new bracket will have to be machined. (3) Better parts for all-weather commuting. Six weeks in and the chainring bolts are rusting and the drivetrain is showing wear.
Misc: (A) If the kickstand were 1cm longer I might have kept it. (B) The retro-reflective detailing doesn't really work under clear-coat (which frustrates the microbeads' total internal reflection). (C) The wheel flop could be traded off for a little less trail (something to keep in mind when replacing the fork). (D) The short s-curve in the rear brake cable routing is a head-scratcher. (E) The bike came home with a variety of assembly errors, some merely sloppy, some dangerous. Props to the LBS for fixes.
Now to pictures:
Conspicuity tape to make the bike pop in headlights on winter nights:
Mirror, horn, & bell had to be mounted on or near the brake hoods for knee clearance:
The steering lock is simply a hex key that goes through the fork bridge to a small machined receiver:
The pannier rack is a carbon fiber tube on two small aluminum standoff blocks. Unobtrusive & weighs <50g:
Hope this is useful to fellow commuters. Tailwinds, all.
