Questions re: Silvio from a stickbike/lowracer rider

DuncanWatson

DuncanWatson

Well-Known Member
Hi all,

I am strongly considering getting a Silvio V30. I already have CFO approval once certain conditions are met. I am not a tall rider. I am 5'7", 30" inseam, ~40" xseam. I ride a raptobike (FWD lowracer) and a velomobile. I use to own a corsa with 650c wheels. The corsa was on the upper limit of my tolerability, it was pain at lights though it was prior to my full adjustment to recumbents. The lowracer is easy though not tolerate of road construction. The velo is just hard to work on.

I am mostly interested in the Silvio for the convenience.
  1. Standard parts (700c wheels, close to standard size chain, brifters, etc)
  2. Ease of short distance transport (inside a hatchback)
  3. Ease of long distance transport (trains, airplanes)
So are there any short people here who are riding a silvio? Has anyone travelled with a silvio and used a bike box of some sort for airline travel? I am not interested in trying to fit a bike into a standard bag, but I do want to be able to use standard commercial bike boxes like a Thule Roundtrip Sport 100500 or similar.

Also if anyone rides a Silvio in the Portland OR area I would be interested in hearing any experiences with Silvios and the Max bike hooks.
 
Rick Youngblood

Rick Youngblood

CarbonCraft Master
Welcome Duncan

The Silvio sits a couple inches lower than the Corsa 650, if my memory serves me. But the bigger difference is the BB height is much lower than the Corsa's. My inseam is about 32" with 42" xseam. I have no problems with the Silvio's seat height or BB. There are shorter riders here than me that ride the Silvio comfortably. The Corsa 650 was my first two wheeled recumbent, it took me about 500 miles to get acclimated to it...and less time for the Silvio. But maybe because I was already used to high racers, I don't know...But I think having high racer experience may help.

Bike boxes, maybe Robert might know more, he ships 'em out all over and he's lives in your neck of the woods.
 
LarryOz

LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
I am 5'7" and the Silvio fit me great. I could actually push more power to the pedals due to the 28 degree hip anglea than I can with the 20 degree of the Vendett.
You will probably want a chain-stay extension however, depending on the rest of your body measurements.
Good Luck.
 
DuncanWatson

DuncanWatson

Well-Known Member
Hmm. I will talk to Robert about sizing then. I have talked to him more than once at PIR. Unfortunately for me I can't get down to Portland this Memorial Day. When the time comes Robert will be the guy I buy from. I just need to sell my Velo.
 
Eric Winn

Eric Winn

Zen MBB Master
Duncan, sent you a note before getting to this post.

I'm about your same body morphology and have a Vendetta and I fit it pretty well with the headrest being the trickiest bit to get right.

Note the Vendetta seat is even lower than the Silvio's. I'm not talking recline but the seat bottom is closer to the ground. On my Vendetta I can be seated in the bike with both feet planted totally flat on the ground and still have some room to flex my legs up and down without moving out of the seat.

I'm thinking the V30 Silvio might be a better fit for our body size but I suspect the V20 Vendetta boom changes may make the differences moot now. On my v2 Vendetta I have the slider pivot cage at the limit and it is _almost_ right but just a tad off. Having the greater adjustment range of the current boom and slider of both the Silvio and Vendetta should allow an exactly right fit.

Not sure what to tell you about shipping via bike box as I have not done it. I usually take both wheels off my Vendetta and strap the frame inside the back of my Chevy Equinox for travel.

If you are willing to do more disassembly, removing the front triangle from the frame along with the wheels will allow the hole shebang to fit in the back of a Honda CRZ 2-seater. :D

-Eric
 
Robert Holler

Robert Holler

Administrator
Staff member
Duncan,

I know we have had a few chats on FB already - but definitely call or email me if you have specific questions on fit. A lot of good info above. I am not familiar with a lot of the standard bike boxes and fit - but I am sure the larger ones could accommodate the S30 though there would be some work involved above and beyond a DF.

I am not familiar with use on the MAX personally, but if the bike is stood on end it would hang similar to a road bike (might be a bit of length issue though)

Robert
 
ReklinedRider

ReklinedRider

Zen MBB Master
Larry said "...the Silvio fit me great. I could actually push more power to the pedals due to the 28 degree hip angle than I can with the 20 degree of the Vendetta."

In trying to decide between S30 and V20 I've read everything I can find comparing Silvio 2.x to Vendetta, and that's the second time Larry has mentioned being able to transfer more power to the pedals on his Silvio than on his V. Anyone else have similar experience? Is it just on hills, Larry, or overall? Contrast that to ratz and others who say they find V to be a better climber, and I'm as undecided as ever. (Unfortunately buying both is not an option....due to one of ratz's laws, not sure which one!)
I'm not aiming to race or time trial but as someone said , no one ever looked back and thought 'gee I wish I had a slower bike'! So taking Larry's observation into account, which is faster? Or is it kind of a wash, or just personal preference?

I have a Sofrider (heavily modified and currently getting a bit of a makeover, will post before and afters on Sofrider forum when thru) for social rides, poking around the neighborhood etc so just looking to maximize my feeble abilities with one or the other, S30 or V20, for faster solo and club rides. Any pontificating, lofty or otherwise will be most welcome!

Kline
 
Rick Youngblood

Rick Youngblood

CarbonCraft Master
As you know, I have both the Silvio 2.1 and Vendetta 2.0. On hills I can't say which is fastest, to close for me to tell (I don't use a power meter, only the seat-of-my-pants meter). However, I can start on a steep hill easier on the Vendetta than the Silvio, due it being lower to the ground. This maybe a variable to each individual.

What I can say at least in my opinion, is the Vendetta over all is faster bike than the Silvio, on flats and especially downhills, through rollers, etc, due to it being more aero. Overall I'm really liking the Vendetta (more and more) as my do everything, go-to, all around rider.

It has a longer wheelbase than the Silvio, I believe this helps soften the ride on really rough roads, though the Silvio will have a softer ride due to it rear suspension, and with the front suspension helping when taking hard hits. I ride on some pretty rough stuff, and find the Vendetta acceptable, especially when outfitted with 25-28mm tires running about 90 psi.

My pick is the Vendetta :D! But this is just my opinion ;)!
 
Lief

Lief

Guru Schmuru
Duncan,
I hear TTurner has already volunteered my bike(s) for a test ride. :)
My Silvio is a good start, to get used to the platform but you'll have to ride the Vendetta to get close to the same feel as the S30.

Shoot me a note and I'll meet you somewhere with the bikes. In fact - 2 weeks from this Saturday I plan to meet Tim for the Snohomish shop ride on Sat AM. I could bring both bikes with me then and we could do something with them after the ride if you like? Probably going out on that group ride would be too much too soon.

Lief
 
ReklinedRider

ReklinedRider

Zen MBB Master
Rick, that's the sort of feedback I'm looking for. I've definitely been leaning toward the V; just trying to set my mind at ease about it. Hoping Larry will chime in and tell me maybe his feeling of less power to the pedals was due to fatigue from riding far further on the V than the S :)

BTW how did Eric's pic become your avatar?? Hope the new website isn't randomly reassigning avatar photos!
 
ReklinedRider

ReklinedRider

Zen MBB Master
Maybe it's just on my display? It's clearly Eric Winn's pic (see above post by Eric) as your avatar. Strange days on the new forum......
 
LarryOz

LarryOz

Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
Kline,
My power testing comparing the output to pedals between the Silvio and Vendetta was on a 1/2 oval track. Silvio one day, Vendetta 3 days later. Similar weather wind and fitness level on my account
Based on my experience with both bikes, I still like the Vendetta better. Per my data it will go 3mph faster on the same wattage. If you want a higher hip angle for the V, just do some of the fancy seat adjusting mods like Rick has posted on this forum. I would definitely go with the Vendetta since you can pretty much make it "feel" like the Silvio if you want.
Rick - great idea!
I am going for the cheap man mods right now: Closed cell foam cut to an angle to give me 28 degree seat incline and just lay in on top of the carbonFiber seat. I am going to try this one out on the Assualt on Mount Mitchell race in 5 weeks. It has about 10000 feet climbing in the last 25 miles or so. Killer Century.
 
Eric Winn

Eric Winn

Zen MBB Master
I see an overlay of my avatar on the New Posts screen. I haven't quite figured out what that means yet. See the bottom of the image below. Too bad the problem isn't reversed - it would improve my looks since Rick has more hair and looks younger than I do. o_O

Another thing that is neat is I started typing the line above and tried to add an image from my iPad photos and decided I needed to create a media gallery to do so.

I created a new media gallery called New Forum Features. I expected to have to start my post over but when I drilled back to forums->silvio->this thread the post I had started was still showing in the edit box but grayed out. Once I clicked in it the text was enabled again and I could continue editing. If you notice there is also a "Save Draft" button.

I set the New Forum Features media gallery permissions to allow all members to view and add media. Please feel free to use this to post photos of aspects of the forum feature set with an explanation of how to use it and then we can use it as a reference. Hopefully this works like it sounds like....

-Eric


View media item 17
 
Rick Youngblood

Rick Youngblood

CarbonCraft Master
LarryOz said:
I am going for the cheap man mods right now: Closed cell foam cut to an angle to give me 28 degree seat incline and just lay in on top of the carbonFiber seat. I am going to try this one out on the Assault on Mount Mitchell race in 5 weeks. It has about 10000 feet climbing in the last 25 miles or so. Killer Century.
Click to expand...
Looking forward to your assault on the mountain. My advice, if you're going to make a change to your bike, especially when it comes to changing recline angle of the seat, which will effect your hip-to-leg angle. Do ASAP, and get some miles on your muscles, so they can get acclimated to the new change. This will certainly be an event where bike&rider weight takes president over aerodynamics.

Who else is competing in the event?
 
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