yangmusa
Member
I've been enjoying my Sofrider V3 a lot, and thought I'd list my mods in one place in case the ideas might be useful to others.
- Sugino triple crankset (26/36/46) w. 165 mm cranks. I thought the stock crankset was geared too high and really wanted a triple. As I became more used to the MBB format, I've only rarely needed the granny ring - but it's still occasionally great to have with a loaded bike. I wanted to try shorter cranks since many people like them on recumbents - however, in retrospect I think standard length arms would have been fine and let me have the BB higher.
- Panaracer Pacela 26x1.5 tires. The stock Maxxis Detonators were ok, but on the potholed streets here they provided a rough ride, and they were nearly useless off pavement. I don't notice the Pacelas rolling slower, they provide more cushion on bumps, and have better traction on dirt paths. Interestingly, they have worse traction on road - I can easily spin the front wheel when I start if I'm not careful.. When the Paselas wear out, I think I'll try Schwalbe Kojaks - fat slicks, hoping to keep some advantages of both Detonator and Pasela.
- Ventisit cushion. I bought this while the bike was in transit to me, though subsequently I was quite impressed by the stock seat cushion. The Ventisit is noticeably cooler so I prefer it, but having tried both the difference might not be worth it to everyone.
- Seatback spacers. As I've posted elsewhere, the seatback is WAAAAY to short for me. I added 2" spacers but the seat is still too short. I'm weighing my options - might move the seat mounting holes to allow even longer spacers, or I might get a carbon Thorseat. (<RANT> Cruzbike provides different chainstay lengths to accommodate people of different heights - I wish they would also recognize that tall people have longer backs!! </RANT>)
- Rearward seat mounting. When I assembled the bike, I put the seat as far forward as possible, as recommended by the assembly instructions. Advantages of this setup: never ever had traction issues. However, with my long legs the cranks were very low and I felt I had problems applying real power to the cranks - the bike was my slowest by a wide margin (slower than my 40 lb upright commuter!) So I moved the seat back, which let me raise the cranks. Doing some back to back testing using Strava on the same loops - this mod made my Sofrider almost as fast as my road bike.
- Layback seatpost. Moving the seat back effectively increased the minimum seat angle possible with the stock seat post. Adding the layback post was a super easy mod and let me get the seat to a more comfortable & aero angle.
- Nitto Northroad handlebars. I added these fairly early on and really enjoy the hand position, more like conventional superman bars. Recently I added a longer stem - two weeks in, it seem that the more extended arm position makes it easier to get power down. It's also really comfy. The only potential downside is it seems to create some handlebar/knee interference on sharp turns.
- Luggage:
- A seatpost mounted rack does not work with a laid back seat - the rack ends up too low and touches the tire. This was a really disappointing discovery. (Good to see that Cruzbike finally added a decent touring rack to the QX100!)
- Radical Designs Solo Aero Narrow - this came with the bike when I bought it. With the seat fully reclined, I had to resow the sleeve on the back of the bag to keep it from touching the wheel. Other than that it works great - 12 liters is plenty for daily commuting.
- Side bags - I made these in 2004 for my then recumbent, from two waterproof GAP messenger bags. Estimate combined volume of about 40 liters. See picture below of loaded bike for a weekend tour.
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