Good day everyone,
Just figured I'd chime in with some comments; my previous questions on the forums were met with helpful responses that led me to purchasing a Sofrider, and last Wednesday, it arrived and my recent biking adventures began.
First off, prior to this, I've never bothered myself with the intricacies of bike assembly and maintenance. At the first sign of any deviation in operation, I'd take it into my local bike shop (along with taking it in each year for its annual tune up).
I'd categorize myself as an intermediate+ rider.. but until this point a novice when it came to maintenance. I could change a tube and things like adjusting seat height. I've ridden the same bike, a Trek 850, for nearly 10 years (much to the chagrin of my friend who originally put it together for me out of a pile of parts, and my bike mechanic who would patiently indulge me by making sure it was road-worthy yet again). No suspension of any kind, the same chain for far too long (I realize now that I had more than gotten used to the chain skipping and had actually compensated for it), among I'm sure other things that would send an experienced bicycler's eyes rolling.
With the Cruzbike, I decided to finally take the plunge into getting familiar with bicycle maintenance. I practice the art of Computer Science, so the intrigue of how things work is always a good driving force with me.
First up- it's arrival. Wednesday. I tore into the box and more or less had the entire thing put together before the evening was up (still needing to do things like brake calibration).
As it turns out my seat post didn't come with the clamp pre-installed, which threw me for a loop for a while until I watched John Tolhurtst's Youtube assembly videos enough around the seat construction bit where I realized what was missing. I must say, the combination of those videos, the instruction manual, and these forums (along with some well placed google searches and my own common sense) provided not only a wealth of information, but the means to successfully accomplish the final assembly.
So that aside... I spent a few days fine tuning various aspects, and on Friday, the weather in upstate NY decided to grant us some spring-like reprieve, and I was able to take it out to a nearby parking lot to give it its first try. As it turns out, I had managed to get the V-brakes working in the front, and I thought also in the rear.. but as soon as I sat in the Sofrider, I quickly realized that wasn't the case... but for parking lot riding, not really a problem.
The initial experience was somewhat as I anticipated... a little wobbly... a lot of cautious feet disengaging from the pedals to provide stabilization on the ground... but after fidgeting with it for a few minutes, my strides were getting longer and longer... and turns were starting to happen (aiming for loops around the parking lot, then figure 8's).
Perhaps due to the weight being all in the front, I found my comfortable turning ability to be diminished. Something I knew that would improve with time, but kept me alert (had a few "near misses" with fringe shrubbery). I also realized the impact of good brakes, and how I'd been riding with lesser capable ones for years.
Before my first practice session was up, I was able to do some figure 8's, although still having the occasional need to have my feet on the ground (both acting as brakes and stabilization) to bail me out. All in all, about what I'd have expected from something new and different.
Satisfied (and a cold wind was starting to kick up), I returned back to tuning up other aspects of the bike. I had initially gotten the knee/handlebar interference problem, but with some seat adjustment (all the way front), I resolved it. I also had some free movement in the front fork, which I solved from consulting the forums.. Trevski's post where he had to sit on the TFT also worked for me. (In fact I was surprised at how quickly I solved the issue once I did that).
Finally got some success on the brakes, and ended up redoing my calibration on both the front and rear brakes.. so not wheel sliding when the brakes were engaged.
Sunday comes rolling around, and it is a warm and fantastic day (mid-50s... which for early March is quite warm and fantastic). We had gotten a large dumping of snow a little over a week prior, so everything was melting.
After a review in the parking lot, I was impressed at how sleeping on it (and then some) resulted in immediate better operating performance on the bike. Realizing I needed some longer stretches to really experience aspects of this bike, I decided to take it down some backstreets in town to the park.
Some immediate observations... the wobble returned (as I was sustaining my pedaling action longer, and going faster than the parking lot would allow). I had to be very aware, as I couldn't just correct this as I could on my old bike. When the occasional car would drive by in the opposite lane or pass me, I'd be very conscious of keeping a straight line... and ran into no obstacles.
I realized my shifting system was not yet calibrated... in the 8-gear hub, I found that any gears other than 2 and 7 would result in the chain rubbing and making noise.. so I merely kept myself to those two gears for this run (and fix it later). While playing between the lower and higher 2-gear hub, doing a quick downshift from high to low caused the chain to pop off... but from what I've read this is somewhat due to my lack of calibration. So I kept it in the lower of the 2 gears for the remainder of my ride, then going only to gears 2 and 7 as the situation demanded).
Got to the park, looped around it successfully. The only downside was that my front fender had not arrived yet... I had the rear Zefal fender that Trevski mentioned in his post. With everything melting, the roads were wet, and in some cases a couple centimetres of water. Got a little speckled, and had to mop down the Sofrider, but no worse for wear.
When I finished my run to the park, I decided to just keep going... hoping nothing was truly amiss in my configurations (my bike mechanic was not back in town until the middle of the following week), so I decided to undertake my regular biking route. Seeing as I was still uncomfortable with my ability to ride in close quarters, I opted to get out and walk my bike through the busier intersections. But soon I was off.
This ride proved to be even more satisfying for my bike learning intellect. Standing water in places on the trail (it's an old rail turned paved walking trail that runs through neighborhoods), snow, ice, and even entire families out walking/biking/dogwalking. Aside from the few moments of nerve-wracking sensations not wanting to hit anything, I made it through successfully (even with the super-wobbly 6 year olds on bikes with training wheels I had to share the path with as I encountered them).
I impressed myself on one patch of ice, as I went into it not truly aware of what could or would happen... my rear end swung out, yet my biking instincts took over and I recovered without really giving it any thought.
I also took on a hill (both up and down). Up I found strangely doable, where I might have had to stand on my bike before to pedal, I just learned forward close to the handlebars, as I read was commonly suggested in the forums, and it "just worked". I was very pleased.
On the downhill, I still felt uncomfortable. More of just the speed... so I gave it ample brake to slow me down, and was doing fine until I hit a speed bump I wasn't expecting, and went into a steering wobble I had to correct, but not until I would encounter this half-metre high snow bank that looked like it would have been the end of my incident-free trek... imagine my surprise when it was just as slushy as everything else, and I plowed right through it, and next thing I knew, was safely back on the path, no worse than realizing I had slightly damp socks.
And then made it back home with no other anomalies (but lots of good road experience to once again sleep on).
My next trip out was this past Wednesday (so a full week after getting it, but really only my third day riding it), my bike mechanic was back, and I rode it down to get everything checked. Yet again, noticeable improvements in handling. The human brain is truly an astounding thing.
And now I'm without it until middle of next week (due to backlog in the shop and lots of water falling from the sky preventing enjoyable riding anyway), but am probably around the 25.7km mark between those three days. Getting the clean bill of health from the mechanic should further minimize any concerns so I can focus more on working on my skill in general, so I look forward to the sunnier days this week.
I got some great "what is that?" looks as people tried to figure out what they were looking at, wanting to see a bike, but their brains throwing a temporary exception.
A couple things I find I still need to figure out/solve:
- the whole seat adjustment thing. I get how to move it forward and back... but it almost seems that with me having the seat forward, I *have* to have the seat reclined, instead of straighter. Not a problem really, but I find as I'm learning I want to sit up more, and as I relax back, I get less precise... I feel this is something that will correct itself with time/experience, but was one area I put some time in figuring out.
- the rear reflector mount couldn't mount cleanly (I used the larger of the two provided)... the screw just wouldn't fit. The bike shop just said to use twist-ties, but the perfectionist in me wants to find one that is ever so slightly larger to mount properly. For the time being, I ended up putting it beneath the rear fender to space it, as the fender was hitting the tire at times.
This whole "bike mechanics" seems to be making sense, all I have to do is read about it. In addition to the above-mentioned resources, I picked up a copy of the Park Tool Big Blue Book of Bicycle repair, and the two Zinn and the Art of (Road Bike|Mountain Bike) Maintenance books... so I am thankful to have been able to use the opportunity to obtain the Sofrider as a means of getting me more familiar in this area.
But wow... it has been fun so far, and I'm looking forward to more. I also love how it doesn't annoy my wrists, or leave any tingling sensations after a good long ride (my aforementioned big Sunday ride was just shy of 2 hours, which is about twice as long as usual for me, and add to that going from virtually no riding in the winter).
-Matthew
Just figured I'd chime in with some comments; my previous questions on the forums were met with helpful responses that led me to purchasing a Sofrider, and last Wednesday, it arrived and my recent biking adventures began.
First off, prior to this, I've never bothered myself with the intricacies of bike assembly and maintenance. At the first sign of any deviation in operation, I'd take it into my local bike shop (along with taking it in each year for its annual tune up).
I'd categorize myself as an intermediate+ rider.. but until this point a novice when it came to maintenance. I could change a tube and things like adjusting seat height. I've ridden the same bike, a Trek 850, for nearly 10 years (much to the chagrin of my friend who originally put it together for me out of a pile of parts, and my bike mechanic who would patiently indulge me by making sure it was road-worthy yet again). No suspension of any kind, the same chain for far too long (I realize now that I had more than gotten used to the chain skipping and had actually compensated for it), among I'm sure other things that would send an experienced bicycler's eyes rolling.
With the Cruzbike, I decided to finally take the plunge into getting familiar with bicycle maintenance. I practice the art of Computer Science, so the intrigue of how things work is always a good driving force with me.
First up- it's arrival. Wednesday. I tore into the box and more or less had the entire thing put together before the evening was up (still needing to do things like brake calibration).
As it turns out my seat post didn't come with the clamp pre-installed, which threw me for a loop for a while until I watched John Tolhurtst's Youtube assembly videos enough around the seat construction bit where I realized what was missing. I must say, the combination of those videos, the instruction manual, and these forums (along with some well placed google searches and my own common sense) provided not only a wealth of information, but the means to successfully accomplish the final assembly.
So that aside... I spent a few days fine tuning various aspects, and on Friday, the weather in upstate NY decided to grant us some spring-like reprieve, and I was able to take it out to a nearby parking lot to give it its first try. As it turns out, I had managed to get the V-brakes working in the front, and I thought also in the rear.. but as soon as I sat in the Sofrider, I quickly realized that wasn't the case... but for parking lot riding, not really a problem.
The initial experience was somewhat as I anticipated... a little wobbly... a lot of cautious feet disengaging from the pedals to provide stabilization on the ground... but after fidgeting with it for a few minutes, my strides were getting longer and longer... and turns were starting to happen (aiming for loops around the parking lot, then figure 8's).
Perhaps due to the weight being all in the front, I found my comfortable turning ability to be diminished. Something I knew that would improve with time, but kept me alert (had a few "near misses" with fringe shrubbery). I also realized the impact of good brakes, and how I'd been riding with lesser capable ones for years.
Before my first practice session was up, I was able to do some figure 8's, although still having the occasional need to have my feet on the ground (both acting as brakes and stabilization) to bail me out. All in all, about what I'd have expected from something new and different.
Satisfied (and a cold wind was starting to kick up), I returned back to tuning up other aspects of the bike. I had initially gotten the knee/handlebar interference problem, but with some seat adjustment (all the way front), I resolved it. I also had some free movement in the front fork, which I solved from consulting the forums.. Trevski's post where he had to sit on the TFT also worked for me. (In fact I was surprised at how quickly I solved the issue once I did that).
Finally got some success on the brakes, and ended up redoing my calibration on both the front and rear brakes.. so not wheel sliding when the brakes were engaged.
Sunday comes rolling around, and it is a warm and fantastic day (mid-50s... which for early March is quite warm and fantastic). We had gotten a large dumping of snow a little over a week prior, so everything was melting.
After a review in the parking lot, I was impressed at how sleeping on it (and then some) resulted in immediate better operating performance on the bike. Realizing I needed some longer stretches to really experience aspects of this bike, I decided to take it down some backstreets in town to the park.
Some immediate observations... the wobble returned (as I was sustaining my pedaling action longer, and going faster than the parking lot would allow). I had to be very aware, as I couldn't just correct this as I could on my old bike. When the occasional car would drive by in the opposite lane or pass me, I'd be very conscious of keeping a straight line... and ran into no obstacles.
I realized my shifting system was not yet calibrated... in the 8-gear hub, I found that any gears other than 2 and 7 would result in the chain rubbing and making noise.. so I merely kept myself to those two gears for this run (and fix it later). While playing between the lower and higher 2-gear hub, doing a quick downshift from high to low caused the chain to pop off... but from what I've read this is somewhat due to my lack of calibration. So I kept it in the lower of the 2 gears for the remainder of my ride, then going only to gears 2 and 7 as the situation demanded).
Got to the park, looped around it successfully. The only downside was that my front fender had not arrived yet... I had the rear Zefal fender that Trevski mentioned in his post. With everything melting, the roads were wet, and in some cases a couple centimetres of water. Got a little speckled, and had to mop down the Sofrider, but no worse for wear.
When I finished my run to the park, I decided to just keep going... hoping nothing was truly amiss in my configurations (my bike mechanic was not back in town until the middle of the following week), so I decided to undertake my regular biking route. Seeing as I was still uncomfortable with my ability to ride in close quarters, I opted to get out and walk my bike through the busier intersections. But soon I was off.
This ride proved to be even more satisfying for my bike learning intellect. Standing water in places on the trail (it's an old rail turned paved walking trail that runs through neighborhoods), snow, ice, and even entire families out walking/biking/dogwalking. Aside from the few moments of nerve-wracking sensations not wanting to hit anything, I made it through successfully (even with the super-wobbly 6 year olds on bikes with training wheels I had to share the path with as I encountered them).
I impressed myself on one patch of ice, as I went into it not truly aware of what could or would happen... my rear end swung out, yet my biking instincts took over and I recovered without really giving it any thought.
I also took on a hill (both up and down). Up I found strangely doable, where I might have had to stand on my bike before to pedal, I just learned forward close to the handlebars, as I read was commonly suggested in the forums, and it "just worked". I was very pleased.
On the downhill, I still felt uncomfortable. More of just the speed... so I gave it ample brake to slow me down, and was doing fine until I hit a speed bump I wasn't expecting, and went into a steering wobble I had to correct, but not until I would encounter this half-metre high snow bank that looked like it would have been the end of my incident-free trek... imagine my surprise when it was just as slushy as everything else, and I plowed right through it, and next thing I knew, was safely back on the path, no worse than realizing I had slightly damp socks.
And then made it back home with no other anomalies (but lots of good road experience to once again sleep on).
My next trip out was this past Wednesday (so a full week after getting it, but really only my third day riding it), my bike mechanic was back, and I rode it down to get everything checked. Yet again, noticeable improvements in handling. The human brain is truly an astounding thing.
And now I'm without it until middle of next week (due to backlog in the shop and lots of water falling from the sky preventing enjoyable riding anyway), but am probably around the 25.7km mark between those three days. Getting the clean bill of health from the mechanic should further minimize any concerns so I can focus more on working on my skill in general, so I look forward to the sunnier days this week.
I got some great "what is that?" looks as people tried to figure out what they were looking at, wanting to see a bike, but their brains throwing a temporary exception.
A couple things I find I still need to figure out/solve:
- the whole seat adjustment thing. I get how to move it forward and back... but it almost seems that with me having the seat forward, I *have* to have the seat reclined, instead of straighter. Not a problem really, but I find as I'm learning I want to sit up more, and as I relax back, I get less precise... I feel this is something that will correct itself with time/experience, but was one area I put some time in figuring out.
- the rear reflector mount couldn't mount cleanly (I used the larger of the two provided)... the screw just wouldn't fit. The bike shop just said to use twist-ties, but the perfectionist in me wants to find one that is ever so slightly larger to mount properly. For the time being, I ended up putting it beneath the rear fender to space it, as the fender was hitting the tire at times.
This whole "bike mechanics" seems to be making sense, all I have to do is read about it. In addition to the above-mentioned resources, I picked up a copy of the Park Tool Big Blue Book of Bicycle repair, and the two Zinn and the Art of (Road Bike|Mountain Bike) Maintenance books... so I am thankful to have been able to use the opportunity to obtain the Sofrider as a means of getting me more familiar in this area.
But wow... it has been fun so far, and I'm looking forward to more. I also love how it doesn't annoy my wrists, or leave any tingling sensations after a good long ride (my aforementioned big Sunday ride was just shy of 2 hours, which is about twice as long as usual for me, and add to that going from virtually no riding in the winter).
-Matthew
