Silvio

[Bender]

Hi Everyone,

I have just ordered my Silvio and can't wait to get it and start my build. I've been riding and building for many years. I have all kinds of uprights and three recumbents, two trikes and a swb Horizon. My garage/shop is filled with components that I have tried and set aside, so I have a lot of choices when it comes to a build. I live in Oregon and have a lot of hills in my daily rides. Any suggestions as to gearing and handlebar choice would be appreciated.

 

[timt]

some links that might answer your questions

Long thread with lots of handlebar ideas http://www.cruzbike.com/bullhorn-and-dropbar-options
My opinion: start with the bars that come with the Silvio. They are wide which is a good thing initially when you are first learning to ride an MBB and doing the push-pull thing. Several people have gone straight to narrow bars and managed just fine, but I think it would be easier with the wide bar. I may imitate Mrs. Ratz's drop bars and brifters shown in the thread a few hundred miles from now.

Thread that discusses fitting a triple crank to a Silvio, and includes some discussion of double vs. single.
http://cruzbike.com/74mm-bcd-inner-ring-silvio-2.0

Things to consider in gearing
Are you comfortable modifying parts?
In the riding you do, do you need smaller than a 30 tooth front ring?
Do you prefer a cassette with close ratio steps or a wide range cassette?
Do you prefer to leave your front in one ring all day or shift the front?

I went with an ultegra triple. I stay in the middle ring and use an 11-28 cassette. It's fairly flat around here, so I don't need a sub-30 granny (used the granny once so far when my legs were toasted). I went with the triple so that I'd have the option of downshifting. When it's necessary to replace my cassette, I may switch to a 12-27.

There's a vendetta a few miles from here with a SRAM 53/39 crank and 11-36 cassette. He has the same low end gear inches as me, and a little less weight in the drivetrain. But I have finer steps between gears.

 

[mzweili]

BULLHORNS & GEARS

I copied Mrs. Ratz's handlebar set-up, with a Deda Crononero Lowrider bar. It results in a rather tight cockpit and at starts I have a little more difficulties to get second foot on the pedal without touching the handlebar with the knee.
But I like the arrangement with the brifters serving as handles. Changing gears and breaking is right at your fingers, no need to change the grip position. Maybe the straight Deda Crononero TT bar would give a little more space (less leg interference).
Regarding gears, I have a triple front 30-39-50 combined with a 11-36 cassette.
During my last club ride (with DF buddies) we had several 10% climbs and I did all of them on the middle ring.
I tested on a very short and very steep hill (15deg.=26.6%) and was able to climb it with the 30 to 28 (28.2 GI). I'm not sure if I could keep this over a longer steep climb. The ''motor'' would certainly get exhausted.

 

[Jeremy S]

I've been happy with the

I've been happy with the stock handlebars. I would give them some time before trying something else.

 

[Robert Holler]

I would also second the idea

I would also second the idea of giving the stock handlebars a shot first. It takes a while and some miles to really dial in the comfort and fine tuning and getting used to the bike as designed can yield great results.

The set-up is rather dialed in as it is once built. I do see people ride a new recumbent (not just Cruzbikes) for less than a handful of miles and suddenly they want to change everything about it - but they never gave it a chance to settle in.

It saves money too. ;-)

Robert

 

[Bender]

New Build

Thanks for all your suggestions. I agree that using the stock handlebars for a while is a good idea.

 

[ratz]

Yes stock to start

I'll add to the voice of reason here too; start stock if you don't have a reason not to. You really need to have time to play if you are going to go custom.

In our case we by passed the the stock stuff for some special reasons: For me, (1) A poorly healed collar bone demands a straight arm; (2) A Neck injury needs my shoulders square and level (3) we have heavy heavy winds most of the time 10-12 is a clam day. Meanwhile Mrs. Ratz has an odd leg geometry (all thigh) and she just never fit right with the stock bars and we did try at length.

What gets lost in the thread mentioned above is that we did 2 full months of indoor testing. So while it looks like we went straight to custom bars we both started stock for 2-3 weeks of testing each, then we optimized. In the end, we love the results, but I still would concur, that they make more sense as an upgrade after settling into the bike unless you know why you want them.

Our Quests have stock handle bars and I see no reason to modify them. Now that we have road miles under our wheels; I'd put our indoor testing at an equivalence of about 150-200 road miles of experience.

However if you love to tinker go crazy and show us what you got, picture are of course not optional.

 

[Ivan]

Typically use the stock bars

Typically use the stock bars as designed first. I did about 2000km before I changed mine to carbon dropbars and chopped off the ends.

However, if you definitely know you want regular drop bars with narrower hands and have a 44-46cm bar just lying around then go ahead! In that case it is a fairly straightforward mod though of course you lose leverage due to narrower hand position. In contrast, anything bullhorn type bars will put you into the experimental arena - not where you want to be when you are first getting used to the bike.

 

[mzweili]

STOCK OR NON-STOCK

adopting a MBB-FWD bike '' will put you into the experimental arena'' anyway.
Something similar to using LINUX instead of Windows or IOS.
I like challenges.

 

[ReklinedRider]

Experimental....

You do have a valid point ....

 

[John Tolhurst]

I'm sorry, but I no longer

I'm sorry, but I no longer accept that this is experimental. There are too many people having too much fun. The bike holds significant records. Anyone can learn it, we have proven that.

It perhaps remains edgy in the bags and accessories department.

 

[mzweili]

Missunderstaning

Sorry John,
By no means I will say that Cruzbikes are something experimental.
I'm convinced that the bikes you developed are in many ways superior to what is on the market, otherwise I wouldn't have bought a Silvio 2.1 for my own pleasure.
Personally I road DF's and for over two years on a trike. In this sense I feel myself experimenting, and I'm happy having gone that way.

 

[John Tolhurst]

Ah ha .. thanks mzweili, yes

Ah ha .. thanks mzweili, yes I see your perspective.

 

[ratz]

I'm with him

I'm with Mark on that one; I'd say experimental in the best possible sense. As the riders we are experimenting with a "new to us platform" to get more out of our riding experience. The bikes themselves are far from experimental. 3 years ago a Trike was an experiment to see if I could ride post broken neck. This year the MBB was an experiment to see if I could get back on two wheels. All that bar stuff was fit and form; tweak test repeat; that's refinement not experiment. Now bags and bottles; I'd call that experimental by the # of holes I drilled in the seat pan...